Search Results for
"learning"

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While the need for evidence-based medical education is widely acknowledged, it is often assumed that the 'gold standard' used in evidence-based medicine is sufficient evidence for practising evidence-based medical education. Using the introduction of a problem-based learning (PBL) curriculum as an example, this paper argues that evidence from ethnography can provide valuable insight into medical education, although few such studies have been carried out. Ethnography attempts to capture the true nature of human social behaviour by going beyond what individuals say to what they actually do, and explores social and educational phenomena beyond mere mechanical products of our purported educational interventions. Applied to problem-based learning, ethnographic accounts would be valuable to help us understand the PBL process and improve our educational practice.

The past few years have seen an increase in the amount of attention focused on invention and design education at the college and K-12 levels. Given these efforts, the dearth of research on students' preexisting conceptions of invention is surprising. Knowledge of invention beliefs and attitudes will inform educational efforts by allowing educators to target the curriculum and accompanying activities more effectively than is possible without this knowledge. In this study, 55 sixth-grade students completed open-ended survey questions related to their conceptions of"invention." Results suggest that students have few or simplistic conceptions of the invention and patent processes. Prior exposure to invention instruction or previous experience with inventing did not appear to have an impact on students' conceptions of invention. In order to dispel these superficial implicit theories, educators involved with invention programs should consider the use of active, situated teaching techniques such as project- and problem-based learning. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article critiques some assumptions shaping the current discourse on workplace learning. It proposes that these assumptions restrict how workplace learning is conceptualised and discussed. Principally, describing workplace learning environments and experiences as ‘informal’ and that ‘informal learning’ occurs in workplaces constrains understanding about how learning occurs through work and, consequently, the development of a workplace pedagogy. As with educational institutions, in workplaces there are intentions for work practice, structured goal-directed activities that are central to organisational continuity, and interactions and judgements about performance that are also shaped to those ends. Therefore, describing learning through work as being ‘informal’ is incorrect. Instead, the structuring of workplace activities has dimensions associated with learning directed for the continuity of the practice, which also often has inherently pedagogical qualities. Moreover, the unqualified description of learning environments as being either ‘formal’ or ‘informal’ suggests a situational determinism. Instead, learning is proposed as being interdependent between the individual and the social practice. The core tension in this relationship is that between those needs for the continuity of the work practice and individuals' needs to realise their personal or vocational goals. It is proposed that considerations of learning, learning in workplaces and the development of a workplace pedagogy need conceptualising in terms of participatory practices. © 2002, © 2002 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Looks at the nature of workplace learning, stating that there is a concern about the link between it and the classroom. Examines the transition from training to work by means of research carried out among two cohorts of students from a private vocational training college in Australia. Concludes that college-based and workplace training are different which is a challenge that companies need to recognise and accommodate. © 2002, MCB UP Limited

learning-to-learn skills are essential for effective lifelong learning to develop over the entire lifespan. These skills, which consist of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, largely have been neglected in analyses of issues surrounding lifelong learning and in policy development. This article draws particularly upon the work of Weinstein, Meyer, Schraw and other cognitive psychologists to outline some of the knowledge and skills required and some of the educational implications for their development from a human developmental psychology perspective. Much of the initial work in establishing these skills needs to lie with schools for reasons of access and equity. However, since mastery of cognitive and metacognitive skills is not likely to be fully achieved by the end of secondary schooling, with metacognitive skills in particular only likely to reach fuller development through work experience, there are important implications for educators at further and higher education levels. © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

The aim of this research has been to examine the implementation of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in engineering in the Greater Nottingham area from the perspective of management of change. It has concentrated on the effects of change on those directly responsible for managing training programmes within their companies, and their reactions to it. A model for the management of change has been developed, which has been used to interrogate the data obtained from semi-structured interviews. By coincidence, or fate, the research was completed shortly before the introduction of the learning and Skills Council (LSC). A number of similarities have been discovered in the training backgrounds of those involved, despite differences in such factors as the engineering sectors in which they work, the size and age of their company. The major conclusions drawn from the results have been the need to identify key people at an operational level who are required to implement change practically, and to ensure that readiness, relevance and resources are identified for them, through the context, nature and politics of the change, if they are to engage with the vision. The implication of this study is that this has not been addressed in a systematic way for engineering in the Greater Nottingham conurbation. The result has been a flawed implementation of the original intention, which has led to the development of informal, ad hoc relationships to fill the vacuum. These are matters to be addressed by the LSC if the situation is not to be perpetuated. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Colleges may be well placed to compete with industry training providers if retention continues to be a key factor in attracting and retaining funding under the learning and Skills Council (LSC), but college managers will need to be proactive in their approach. Issues concerned with the retention and early leaving, or drop out of students have assumed renewed significance and emphasis in the further education (FE) sector since incorporation. Under the new LSC, where value for money is a key measure of success, increasing recruitment, improving retention and seeking to understand and address early leaving, from a wide range of education and training programmes, are set to remain high on the agenda, for managers working in FE and industry training organisation. This article summarises research carried out with training provider managers to explore strategies to improve retention on training programmes previously funded by the Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs). The article concludes that, staff employed by training providers to support trainees and provide training, are a key factor in reducing the rate of early leaving. Provision of monitoring, support and guidance is a key factor for improving retention, although not all factors affecting retention can be controlled by training provider managers, especially when trainees’ decisions are influenced by financial considerations. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article uses the findings from a qualitative study of Australian young people in their first year of full-time work to examine the nature and utility of off-the-job training in apprenticeships and traineeships. The findings confirm the conclusions of earlier studies about the importance of off-the-job training as a supplement for workplace learning. It was found that, while initially not attaching much value to off-the-job training, the young people gained more of an appreciation, during the course of the year, of what off-the-job training had to offer. Other findings about off-the-job training included: the superiority of face-to-face training as opposed to other forms of delivery; the importance of the young people’s relationships with their off-the-job trainers; the ‘implicit contract’ of expectations of the parties to the training contract; the different viewpoints of the parties; and the dissatisfaction of those in traineeships with the lack of intellectual challenge in their competency-based curriculum. © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This article analyses the impact of e-learning on the higher education skills agenda. The main question addressed in the article is whether the e-learning environment meets the learning needs of the student to enable skill development to take place. Analysis is provided of face-toface versus on-line teaching of Edexcel common skills and Qualification Curriculum Authority (QCA) Key Skills and challenges the view that soft skills are difficult to develop on line. The conclusions highlight that the dismissal of e-learning from the skills agenda would be a mistake. The challenge to higher education is to utilise the advantages of e-learning to skills development in ways that balance on-line learning with face-to-face learning. © 2002 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.