Presentation by Betty Collis at International Seminar e-Learning Around the World: Achievements, Challenges and Broken Promises. CaixaForum, Barcelona. 7 June 2013.

1. LEARNING FROM A
WORKPLACE PERSPECTIVE
Dr. Betty Collis
Emeritus professor,
University of Twente, NL
Seminar UOC, 07 June 2013

2. MY BACKGROUND…
Academic Learning
Corporate Sector Learning

3. THIS PRESENTATION:
• Key trends in workplace learning
• Implications for university learning

4. KEY TRENDS IN
WORKPLACE LEARNING

5. Work processes with
learning as a by-product
Learning actions located
within work or learning
processes
Learning experiences at
or near the workplace
•Participating in group
processes
•Working alongside
others
•Consultation
•Tackling challenging
tasks and roles
•Solving problems
•Trying things out
•Consolidating, extending
and refining skills
•Asking questions
•Listening
•Observing
•Getting information
•Learning from mistakes
•Reflecting
•Locating resource people
•Giving and receiving
feedback
•Being supervised
•Being coached
•Being mentored
•Shadowing
•Visiting other sites
•Studying based on
individual needs/planning
•Going to conferences
•Taking courses
Source: Early Career Learning at Work and its Implications for Universities
Michael Eraut, University of Sussex, Teaching and Learning Research Briefing, TLRP & ESRC, 2007.
http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/Eraut%20RB%2025%20FINAL.pdf
LEARNING IS MORE THAN
STRUCTURED COURSES/PROGRAMMES

6. LEARNING 1: KNOWING
WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN
Need to know
how to ask the
right questions,
in an appropriate
way,
of appropriate
sources

7. LEARNING 1: KNOWING
WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN
Need to know
how to ask the
right questions,
in an appropriate
way,
of appropriate
sources
EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 1: NEW
EMPLOYEES WAIT TO BE TOLD
WHEN/WHERE/WHAT/HOW TO LEARN

8. LEARNING 2: LEARNING FOR AND
DURING PROJECTS WITH MULTI-
DISCIPLINARY TEAMS
-Complex and
fuzzy problems
-High pressure
tasks and
deadlines
-Need to find a
quick shared
understanding
with persons from
other disciplines
Team members have
different experiences
in the field and are
from all over the
world

9. LEARNING 2: LEARNING FOR AND
DURING PROJECTS WITH MULTI-
DISCIPLINARY TEAMS
-Complex and
fuzzy problems
-High pressure
tasks and
deadlines
-Need to find a
quick shared
understanding
with persons from
other disciplines
Team members have
different experiences
in the field and are
from all over the
world
EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 2: NEW
EMPLOYEES HAVE LITTLE
EXPERIENCE IN PROJECTS WITH
MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAMS

10. LEARNING 3: SHARING
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING
OF OTHERS
Need a sense of shared
responsibility for
knowledge sharing
and building within
one’s team, one’s
discipline group, the
enterprise

11. LEARNING 3: SHARING
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING
OF OTHERS
Need a sense of shared
responsibility for
knowledge sharing
and building within
one’s team, one’s
discipline group, the
enterprise
EMPLOYER FRUSTRATION 3: NEW
EMPLOYEES HAVE LITTLE
EXPERIENCE IN SHARING
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE LEARNING
OF OTHERS

12. IMPLICATIONS FOR
HIGHER EDUCATION

13. DESIGN CROSS-
DISCIPLINARY
PROJECTS
USE WORKPLACE
TOOLS AND
METHODS
•Tutor each other within
and across disciplines

15. FROM THE UOC
 Collaborative Masters Final projects
(between students in Biostatistics and
Nutrition)
 Set a virtual space for the Practicum
subject of the Master in Health and
Nutrition, including the interaction with
virtual patients and their evolution
depending on the work proposals of the
students
 - 2.0 tools for content creation

16. USE E-PORTFOLIOS AS LEARNING
TOOLS FOR OTHERS
Year 1: Study examples to see
examples of artifacts aligned to
competences
Year 2: Make choices of artifacts for
own use; Consider what would be
good to add for others and make first
additions
Year 3: Plan final products to include
a public view for other learners, make
additions of specific artifacts for
others to use

17. E-PORTFOLIO- SHARING WITH
OTHERS: EXAMPLE FROM THE
OU-UK

18. ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM THE
UOC
 iBook Lab, Telemedicine

19. PLAN LEARNING ACTIVITIES
ACROSS A PROGRAMME
1. Make a contribution1. Make a contribution
1.1 Find, contribute 1.2 Adapt or create,
contribute
2. Build on contributions
2.1
Locate
something
specific within
contributions
2.2 Compare
and
contrast,
contribute
results
2.4.1 For one-time use,
within the course
2.4.2 For multiple reuse,
within, across or outside
of the course
2.3
Add to,
update, extend
contributions
2.4
Combine
contributions
to create a
product

20. ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM THE
UOC
 From the eLC Masters Programme in IT and
Education (e-learning)
 User generated content, into WikiRAO

21. See the role of universities in a broader
perspective:
“Universities are no longer so dominant in
the knowledge game - but neither are they
so alone. Instead universities will constitute
crucial nodes in knowledge networks that
pervade the whole of 21st
-century society.
(Castells 1996)”
Develop a situative
perspective of learning
as social practice.
“Learners develop their
identities through
participation in specific
CoPs.” (JISC, 2012)
CONCLUSION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION:

22. To strengthen the student's transition to
productive functioning in a professional
workplace course designers in higher
education should:
•Anticipate the way the student/future
professional will learn and work in the
workplace
•Move to a vision of learning that
emphasizes knowledge co-construction and
sharing across a professional community.