This article is written in response to a recent report on a review of teacher education in Scotland undertaken by Graham Donaldson (2011). In particular it questions the recommendation that engaging teachers in professional enquiry and research-informed teaching is the way forward for developing the professional capabilities required of "21st…

A tendency of previous studies of lifelong learning to focus on learning and learning subjectivities may have led to an underestimation of potential effects in terms of a system of knowledge constitutive processes that operates powerfully to shape our societies. In this paper we explore lifelong learning and practices in the construction of…

Purpose: Radical changes and increasing competition in the global economy and markets lead enterprises to change their business policy and activities. This process demands the creation of effective organizational learning mechanisms. This paper seeks to illustrate how three service organizations designed and utilized organizational learning…

Learning design is currently slanted to reflect a course-based approach to learning. This article explores whether the concept of learning design could be applied to support the informal aspects of work-based learning (WBL). It also discusses the characteristics of WBL and presents a WBL-specific learning design that highlights the key features…

Purpose: This paper seeks to understand whether significant senior management and structural changes within an Australian university is the result of learning or other influences and how these explain the impact of change on the careers of two individuals within the organisation. Design/methodology/approach: The organisation and the changes are…

Whilst professional development (PD) is an activity required by many regulatory authorities, the value that enterprises obtain from PD is often unknown, particularly when it involves development of knowledge. This paper discusses measurement techniques and processes and provides a review of established evaluation techniques, highlighting…

This paper contains an account of a small scale investigation into the usefulness of the concepts of the learning organisation and organisational learning when seeking to describe the processes of knowledge creation and deployment within the small, but growing, enterprise (SME). A review of the literature reveals a concern that the relationship…

A qualitative research project was conducted to test the viability of augmenting an e-learning program for workplace learners using mobile content delivered through smart phones. Ten learners taking a six week web-based e-learning course were given smart phones which enabled them to access approximately 70% of the course content, in addition to…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore advantages, disadvantages, advice and concerns regarding workforce cross training practices, as well as examples of businesses and organizations that have successfully implemented cross training programs. Design/methodology/approach: This article is a general review, based on the literature available and the…

This paper examines the nature and significance of learning by experience during work, both paid and unpaid. Data about the relationship between costs, especially labour costs, and output have come to be interpreted as evidence of learning by experience, but these grouped data are unable to explain the nature and process of individual experience…

This paper examines how the knowledge culture of computer engineering--that is, the ways in which knowledge is produced, distributed, accumulated and collectively approached within this profession--serve to construct work-based learning in specific ways. Typically, the epistemic infrastructures take the form of information structures with a global…

Emily Dickinson wrote, "I dwell in Possibility--A fairer House than Prose--More Numerous of Windows--Superior--for Doors" (p. 657). Dickinson's simple yet profound reference to the expansive nature of poetry over prose may be taken as a metaphor for the possibilities of information and communication technologies (ICTs) over written modes…

Current endeavors to integrate competency-based learning approaches with e-learning systems designed for delivery of training to adult learners in the workplace are growing. However, academic efforts in examining learners' perceptions of, and reactions toward, this technology-delivered pedagogical innovation are limited. Drawing together…

By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school. That's a pretty strong statement in defense of the value of higher education in this country. But it will mean little unless the nation's colleges and universities--and, specifically, community colleges--can produce more workers…

This paper examines the ways in which credentials from a range of education providers are used to (re)produce transnational financial elites in London's international financial district. Extant research has examined the long-standing relationship between educational background and entry into these financial labour markets. Far less attention has…