Recent investigations into the UK National Health Service revealed doctors' failures to act with compassion and professionalism towards patients. The British media asked questions about what happens to students during their learning that influences such behaviour as doctors. We listened to 200 medical students' narratives of professionalism…

To strengthen the motivation of learners, the professional training sector is focusing more and more on game-based learning. In this context, the authors have become interested in the design of Learning Role-Play Game (LRPG) scenarios. The aim of this article is to improve the designers' confidence in the validity of the game-based learning…

Great emphasis and recognition has been given to the potential of lifelong learning in the new millennium and the vast body of research on eLearning in Higher Education. However, to-date little research has been undertaken to review eLearning in the workplace. The present study aims to fill this gap to some degree by conducting a comparative…

This paper explores the concept of apprenticeship in the context of the professional formation of knowledge workers. It draws on evidence from research conducted in two knowledge intensive organizations: a research-intensive, elite university; and a "cutting edge" software engineering company. In the former, we investigated the learning…

Background: Workplace-based learning is a critical component of professional preparation in speech pathology. A validated assessment of this learning is seen to be "the gold standard", but it is difficult to develop because of design and validation issues. These issues include the role and nature of judgement in assessment, challenges in…

Use was made of adapted problem-based learning (PBL) practical exercises to address the disengagement of apprentices with the existing assembly-style electronic laboratory programme. Apprentices perceived the traditional routines as having little real-world relevance. This detracted from the value and benefit to them of the practical component of…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how students with workplace learning experience the process of the assessment of prior experiential learning (APEL) in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: This is an inductive and exploratory study drawing on methodology from the field of academic literacies. It addresses two questions:…

The aim of the paper is to advance understanding of in-service learning and skills sector trainee teachers' learning and propose ways of improving their learning. A conceptual framework is developed by extending Billett's ("International Journal of Educational Research" 47:232-240, 2008) conceptualisation of workplace learning, as a…

This paper deals with the professionalization of human service work. It analyses learning processes and identity development in the emerging profession of child care with concrete examples from empirical research, based on a life history approach. It discusses examples of careers mainly based on students' life experience, pointing out that their…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss a case study which examines and analyses a information communication technology training programme conducted using an e-learning platform at the Dartmoor National Park Authority, UK. Design/methodology/approach: The research adopted a mixed method approach which involved the use of questionnaires…

The Career Development Program is a nationally recognised, award-winning student-centred program designed to deal with the three university-wide learning and teaching initiatives: Transitions In; Work Integrated Learning; and Transitions Out. The program is oriented to preparing students for university; planning for and taking advantage of…

To prepare students for effective workplace learning, it is necessary to have insight into the contextual characteristics that affect students' developing interest. Aiming at students to become self-regulated learners, teachers should act as mindful coaches, encouraging their students to monitor the quality of collaborative group work. A field…

Preservice foreign-language teachers are adults with well-established beliefs. They start teacher-education programs with traditional beliefs about language teaching reflecting their own experiences. The field of foreign-language teaching, however, underwent a paradigm shift from grammar-based to communicative foreign-language instruction.…

This article describes and analyzes actors' experiences of distance learning systems in a wide variety of cultural and organizational contexts. In line with the project of this special series of issues, results of research, much of which is longitudinal, allow us to suggest answers to the following questions: Who are the actors of distance…

As noted by Moore (2007, xxiii), the fifth section of the second edition of the "Handbook of Distance Education" focused on "some of the main consumers and suppliers of distance education programs," including elementary and secondary education, community colleges, universities, the corporate sector, continuing professional…