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1 – 10 of over 8000Robert Farrell and William Badke
– The purpose of this article is to consider the current barriers to situating in the disciplines and to offer a possible strategy for so doing.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to consider the current barriers to situating in the disciplines and to offer a possible strategy for so doing.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews current challenges facing librarians who seek to situate information literacy in the disciplines and offers and practical model for those wishing to do so. Phenomenographic evidence from disciplinary faculty focus groups is presented in the context of the model put forward.
Findings
Disciplinary faculty do not have generic conceptions of information literacy but rather understand information-related behaviors as part of embodied disciplinary practice.
Practical implications
Librarians dissatisfied with traditional forms of generic information literacy instruction marketing will find a method by which to place ownership on information literacy in the hands of disciplinary faculty.
Originality/value
The article offers a unique analysis of the challenges facing current information literacy specialists and a new approach for integrating information literacy in the disciplines.
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Vincent Carpentier, Norbert Pachler, Karen Evans and Caroline Daly
The purpose of this paper is to explore efforts to bridge conceptualisation and practice in work‐based learning by reflecting on the legacy and sustainability of the Centre for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore efforts to bridge conceptualisation and practice in work‐based learning by reflecting on the legacy and sustainability of the Centre for Excellence in Work‐based Learning for Education Professionals at the Institute of Education, University of London. The Centre was part of the national CETL (Centres for Excellence in Teaching and Learning) initiative (2005‐2010) and focussed on exploring ways of transforming current models of work‐based learning (WBL) in a bid to respond to the diversity of professional learning needs within education and beyond.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents three case studies which are representative of the Centre's approach to drive theoretical development in WBL.
Findings
The three projects featured contributed to the development of WBL through synergetic cross fertilisation while operating independently from each other. Also, they are characterised by sustainability beyond the end of the CETL initiative. The Putting Knowledge to Work project developed and operationalised the concept of recontextualisation for WBL in successfully moving knowledge from disciplines and workplaces into a curriculum; and from a curriculum into successful pedagogic strategies and learner engagement in educational institutions and workplaces. The London Mobile Learning Group developed a research dynamic around theory and practice of learning with mobile media which contributed to the development of new approaches in (work‐based) learning. The Researching Medical Learning and Practice Network created a community of practice bringing together educational researchers with medical education practitioners and researchers resulting in a greater understanding of how professional attitudes and practices develop in both undergraduate and postgraduate contexts.
Originality/value
The experience of the WLE offers an example of innovative ways to continue to develop our understanding of work‐based learning and inform practice. The impact of the WLE activities on theory, policy and practice is evident in the creation of national and international platforms strengthening existing institutional links.
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Meredith I. Honig and Lydia R. Rainey
Districts across the country are calling on their principal supervisors to shift from mainly focusing on operations and compliance to dedicating their time to help principals grow…
Abstract
Purpose
Districts across the country are calling on their principal supervisors to shift from mainly focusing on operations and compliance to dedicating their time to help principals grow as instructional leaders. Learning theory elaborates that such support for principals demands that supervisors take a teaching-and-learning approach – which the authors define as consistently using particular strategies that are characteristic of high quality teachers and mentors across various apprenticeship settings – to their work with principals on their instructional leadership. Prior research on leadership supports these shifts but does not examine the conditions under which principal supervisors are able to persist and grow in taking a teaching-and-learning approach specifically. What are those conditions? The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper addresses that question through a re-examination of data from two studies with socio-cultural learning theory as the conceptual framework. The authors primarily use observation data (approximately 760 hours), supplemented by 344 interviews and reviews of hundreds of documents.
Findings
Contrary to extant research the authors did not associate high quality outside coaching with the positive cases of principal supervision. Nor did hiring principal supervisors with requisite prior knowledge explain why some principal supervisors regressed and grew. Findings underscore the importance of supervisors of principal supervisors (SPSs) being principal supervisors’ main mentors and principal supervisors not over-relying on others for assistance but actively leading their own learning, especially through work with colleagues and protecting their time themselves.
Originality/value
This analysis distinguishes conditions that support principal supervisors in taking a teaching-and-learning approach to their work with principals. The authors elaborate key roles for chief academic officers and others who supervise principal supervisors typically overlooked in policy and research on district leadership. Findings reinforce the importance of mentoring to learning and also district leaders serving as main mentors for each other, rather than relying on outside coaching.
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The purpose of this Guest Editorial is to introduce the papers in this special issue and outline how they help us to better understand the theory and practice of informal learning.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this Guest Editorial is to introduce the papers in this special issue and outline how they help us to better understand the theory and practice of informal learning.
Design/methodology/approach
The Guest Editorial provides an overview of the topics discussed in the special issue, focusing on teachers and schools, social workers, and knowledge management in academic and business settings.
Findings
In practice informal and formal learning are often inextricably intertwined.
Originality/value
The papers in this issue contribute to the search for a unifying framework to support theory, research and practice.
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Mandy Powell and Magda Pieczka
Over the last 50 years the social legitimacy of public relations has improved by standardising and monitoring the education and training of its practitioners. While successful in…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the last 50 years the social legitimacy of public relations has improved by standardising and monitoring the education and training of its practitioners. While successful in developing a professional development trajectory from novice to competent practitioner, the profession has struggled to fully understand the development trajectory of its senior public relations practitioners. The diversity of occupational contexts in which public relations is practised, the condition of professional seniority and the knowledge and tools required for working at occupational boundaries is challenging for senior public relations practitioners. It is also a challenge therefore, for the profession to develop and support the learning required for senior practice beyond competency frameworks. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper employs socio-cultural learning theory and supporting empirical evidence gained in semi-structured interviews with senior practitioners in the field to explore what senior practice entails and how senior professionals learn.
Findings
Communities of practice is useful for understanding novice practitioner learning but has insufficient explanatory power for understanding senior practitioner learning. There is an urgent need for support for senior public relations learning that moves beyond reified competency frameworks and enables senior practitioners to function autonomously outside the core community of practice. Seniority requires its learners to embrace uncertainty and confront the challenge of creating new knowledges and in the everyday practices of their professional lives.
Originality/value
“Communities of practice” has been influential in the fields of management and organisations (Bolisani and Scarso, 2014). This paper employs the idea of a learning process that takes place in “constellations of practices” (Wenger, 1998) to offer a view of senior practice as boundary dwelling (Engestrom, 2009) rather than boundary spanning and learning as situated (Lave and Wenger, 1991) in the liminal spaces those boundaries provide.
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David A. Griffith, Michael Y. Hu and Haiyang Chen
This study examines the factors influencing the number of partners forming an international joint venture (IJV) and the resultant outcome on performance. Various theoretical…
Abstract
This study examines the factors influencing the number of partners forming an international joint venture (IJV) and the resultant outcome on performance. Various theoretical paradigms (such as strategic behavior, organizational learning, eclectic theory, socio‐cultural distance, and role theory) are drawn upon from the literature to develop a set of testable hypotheses which may assist in understanding the factors influencing the number of partners forming an IJV. Size (overall equity investment), control, socio‐cultural distance, industrial characteristics (technology and capital intensity) and location are used to differentiate the number of partners in an IJV. Additionally, an outcome orientation was taken to determine the impact of the number of partners on performance. Empirical findings, based upon Sino‐foreign IJVs, indicate that the number of partners involved with the cooperative agreement were positively associated with the size of the IJV, and differed across control and location of the IJV. Further, performance tended to increase as more partners were included within the IJV.
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Although organizational learning occurs through individuals, it would be a mistake to conclude that organizational learning is nothing but the cumulative result of their members'…
Abstract
Although organizational learning occurs through individuals, it would be a mistake to conclude that organizational learning is nothing but the cumulative result of their members' learning. Organizations do not have brains, but they have cognitive systems and memories. A device cited in this literature as an important tool for organizational learning is the “Strategic Alliance” – an important element of contemporary firms' competitive strategies. This paper attempts to look at the phenomenon of inter‐organizational learning through the socio‐cultural‐historical lens of Vygotsky and hopes to advance a theoretical framework, which is more eclectic and can therefore better explain the dynamics of learning in alliances.
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The overall aim of this research is to investigate how aspects of organizational culture enable or constrain the facilitation of learning in the workplace.
Abstract
Purpose
The overall aim of this research is to investigate how aspects of organizational culture enable or constrain the facilitation of learning in the workplace.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative design was used involving 100 semi‐structured interviews conducted with air traffic controllers operating in three centers in Australia. The data were analyzed using a phenomenological approach in an attempt to uncover the lived experience of those interviewed.
Findings
The study illustrates how elements of organizational culture evidenced in collectively held values and beliefs mediated the approaches used by on‐the‐job‐training instructors. Three collectively held values and beliefs were identified: belief in ability; the value of performance in demonstrating ability; and the need to exude confidence. The degree to which instructors espoused these beliefs influences the type of instructional strategy they used. Three predominant strategies of engagement with the trainee were identified: acting on, working with, and working against the trainee.
Practical implications
The evidence here suggests that programs aimed at facilitating skills development for on‐the‐job‐training instructors need to focus on the existing knowledge and beliefs of those personnel and to provide opportunities for challenge and confrontation of those belief systems.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a growing understanding of the socio‐cultural influences present in workplace learning and the role of stereotyping and power in enabling or constraining the learning in the workplace.
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Pascale Benoliel and Izhak Berkovich
Schools are complex and imperfect organizations; thus, it is not possible for school leaders to completely avoid failures. The capacity to learn from failure is essential to the…
Abstract
Purpose
Schools are complex and imperfect organizations; thus, it is not possible for school leaders to completely avoid failures. The capacity to learn from failure is essential to the effectiveness of teachers as individuals and for teams and schools. However, it is hardly practiced in most schools. The present theoretical article seeks to offer an integrative conceptual framework in which intelligent failure is conceptualized as an organizational learning process. The purpose is twofold: first, to address the question of why school faculty fails to learn from failure; second, to show how learning from intelligent failure in the school context can be framed as a resource for school improvement.
Design/methodology/approach
The present theoretical article seeks to offer an integrative conceptual framework in which intelligent failure is conceptualized as an organizational learning process.
Findings
The present study draws upon the social capital theory as an overarching framework to develop a conceptual model that incorporates the learning settings and a leadership tolerant of “intelligent failure” that might enable us to identify the root causes of failure and the kinds of lessons that can be drawn from failure analysis. In the proposed conceptual model, school organizational features combine with a leadership tolerant of intelligent failures to enhance opportunities to analyze, manage and learn from intelligent failures in school settings.
Originality/value
An important lacuna in educational scholarship is that although detecting and correcting school failures is normal, investigating the root causes of these failures or pinpointing the behaviors necessary to avoid their reoccurrence is often neglected in both theory and practice. By integrating research from both non-educational and educational literature, this study may provide a new perspective for school management, since it emphasizes the reframing of intelligent failure as an organizational asset for school improvement. The present study broadens the literature on educational management and organizational learning and provides a new approach for school failures and failure management.
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