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This study aims to identify context-specific antecedents to schools’ absorptive capacity (AC) and to show how those can enact “a virtuous learning circle.”

The study uses a mixed method: an exploration based on semi-structured interviews with educational experts; the development of a measurement scale and a partial least squares structural equation modelling to test the impact of the antecedents.

The results yielded four empirically-grounded antecedents and their measurement scales, namely, prior knowledge, employees’ skills, educational projects and interactions with the environment (Studies one and two). All antecedents are significantly and positively related to AC processes (study three). Using the organizational learning theory perspective, the results have been interpreted as an AC “virtuous learning circle.”

With increasing pressures to adapt, a case of which was the COVID-19 pandemic, schools can greatly benefit from absorbing knowledge flows. This suggests the construction a favourable environment for AC. To this end, the individual (employees’ prior knowledge and skills), organizational (educational projects) and institutional level of managerial action (interactions with the environment) can be effective when create a recursive organizational learning circle. In addition, this study offers an expert-validated measurement scale for self-assessment of a school’s specific contingencies, and thus, for planning of punctual interventions to develop AC.

This study advances the existing body of knowledge management in the educational context by rigorously identifying and validating a scale for measuring the antecedents of AC and developing an interpretive approach to the AC “virtuous circle.”

Argues that residential training programmes and distance learning, currently the most popular methods used to provide and maintain changes in organizational structure, both have their drawbacks. Instead, it may be better to view training programmes as critical boosters in the search for continuous improvement. Provides a new model overcoming the shortcomings of both approaches and a short case history to illustrate.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the problematics of learning across knowledge boundaries in organizational settings. The paper specifically explores learning processes that emerge, when a new knowledge domain is introduced into an existing organizational practice with the aim of creating a new combined practice.

A case study was carried out as a “natural experiment” in an engineering consultancy, where emerging initiatives to integrate the newly acquired competencies into the existing practice were explored. A theoretical framework informed by selected perspectives on learning processes and boundary processes was applied on three illustrative vignettes to illuminate learning potentials and shortcomings in boundary processes.

In the engineering consultancy, it was found that while learning did occur in the consultancy organization, it remained discrete in ‘pockets’ of learning; mainly at an individual level, at project level or as domain-specific learning. Learning processes were intertwined with elements of domain-specific interests, power, managerial support, structural conditions, material and epistemic differences between knowledge domains.

The finding in this paper is based on a single case study: hence, the findings' generalizability may be limited.

The paper argues that learning across knowledge domains needs various forms of supporting initiatives and constant readiness to alter or counteract when an initiative's shortcomings appear or undesired learning loops arise.

The paper contributes to understanding the complexity of learning across knowledge boundaries in organizational settings.

This paper aims to explore what belonging is through the represented experience of people at work. The aim is to investigate employees’ interpretations of belonging at work and its interrelation with the material, aesthetic and emotional aspects associated to the where, the how and the when workplace is inhabited.

In line with the practice turn in social sciences, this study uses the visual method (snaplogs), which includes pictures and texts.

Belonging is situated in and integrated with social interactions, materiality, emotions and aesthetics. Belonging is about being part of something, the process of becoming through constant mediation between material aspects and social components, the process of experiencing boundaries and the attempt to perform, engage and participate (and find spaces for shared practices) in a workplace. Together, they constitute the situatedness, the here and now, of experiences of belonging and the perceived interpretation of being one among equals across organizational boundaries.

Data were only collected at one point in time. The authors also relied on their own interpretations of pictures and texts and did not involve the informants in the analysis.

Being, becoming and belonging comprise material, social and affective dimensions. These dimensions should be addressed for employees to belong at work.

This study contributes to the belonging literature on perceived interpretations of what belonging is at work. The paper is also original in terms of the visual method used to grasp the practice representation of belonging experiences.

This research paper aims to examine how incident‐reporting systems function and particularly how the steady growth of high‐priority incidents and the semi‐exponential growth of low‐priority incidents affect reporting effectiveness. Social pressures that can affect low‐ and high‐priority incident‐reporting rates are also examined.

The authors reviewed the incident‐reporting system literature. As there are few studies of information security reporting systems, they also considered safety‐reporting systems. These have been in use for many years and much is known about them. Safety is used to “fill in the gaps”. The authors then constructed a system dynamics computer simulation model. The model is used to test how an incident‐reporting system reacts under different conditions.

Incident reporters face incentives and disincentives based on effects on through‐put but have limited knowledge of what is important to the organization's security. Even if a successful incident‐reporting policy is developed, the organization may become the victim of its own success, as a growing volume of reports put higher pressure on incident‐handling resources. Continuously hiring personnel is unsustainable. Continuously improving automated tools for incident response promises more leverage.

The challenges in safety may not be the same as those in information security. However, the model does provide a starting‐point for further enquiries into information security reporting systems.

An examination of basic factors that affect information security reporting systems is provided. Four different policies are presented and examined through simulation scenarios.

In the light of the new millennium, discusses the shift in the power of paradigms, humorously illustrated with the examples of Christopher Columbus, Eratosthenes, Copernicus and Galileo. Tackles the problems involved in curriculum design, including the conflicting reductionist and constructivist epistemologies. Explores the concept of teaching myopia and the principles involved in pedagogy and andragogy. Highlights various approaches towards learning, covering traditional, action and Revans’ approaches. Outlines results, which suggest that graduates are not meeting the expectations of their employers in a variety of skills, including communication, teamwork and negotiation skills. Analyses what is perceived as a key attribute by Irish marketing practitioners and suggests radical changes in the methods used in the classroom.

The purpose of this paper is to explore users’ learning in the collaborative information search process when they conduct an academic task as a group.

This paper presents a longitudinal study for a three-month period on an actual task. The participants, who were undergraduate students, needed to write a research proposal in three months to apply for funding for a research project, including a three-hour experiment.

The results show that undergraduates’ learning in the collaborative search process for academic group work included knowledge reconstruction, tuning, and assimilation. Their understanding of the topic concepts improved through the process, and their attitudes became more optimistic. Besides, the learning in the collaborative information search process also enhanced participants’ skills in communication, research, information search, and collaboration. To improve learning outcomes, professional and appropriate academic resources are required, as well as effective division of labor, positive sharing behaviors, and use of collaborative systems.

The future development of collaborative information search systems should focus on the needs of academic research and support for elements such as instant communication and knowledge sharing.

This paper contributes to research into searching as learning by understanding undergraduates’ collaborative search behavior for writing a proposal.

Looks at the experience of action learning based on the words of those who have participated in such courses. From the responses of the participants a pattern of feelings emerged: the importance attached at the outset to being with the “right” people in a set, the camaraderie that develops within the set, the positive anticipation before a set meeting and the feelings of loss at the erosion or break‐up of an action learning set. Again from the responses, an action learning set within a course of higher education can be described as: a personal “think‐tank”; a place of much mutual support; a safe place to explore project and self; a place where friendships are formed; a place to be challenged; a place to get feedback (both positive and negative); and a group of people to keep you moving and keep you on the right track. Continues with a look at what the participants actually learned through their membership of an action learning set.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of Education + Training is split into four sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Further education; Higher education; Managemetn education; Generald education and training.

A new form of learning space has emerged across the world, marking a shift from Do-It-Yourself to Do-It-Together. This space, generically known as a makerspace, is located in accessible and affordable venues, both within communities and serving communities. It offers a resource that allows people to discover their latent capabilities through exploration, experimentation and iteration, alongside the knowledge openly shared by those around them. The underlying rationale is found in the work of John Dewey, notably Democracy and Education (D&E, 1916). This chapter examines this newer form of space to gain insight into what it implies for learning and education. It commences with a reflection of salient aspects of Dewey’s D&E (1916) and how this informs understanding on what is desirable in a learning space. This is followed by a reflection upon research on makerspaces to establish how they can be conceptualized. A case study provides rich insights into characteristics, ethos and practices, while acknowledging that each space is unique and not representative of them all. Nevertheless, it foregrounds the essence of what defines a makerspace. The chapter closes with discussion of the implications and what may be concluded.

Whatever has transpired between the publication of Dewey’s D&E (1916) and the present, his vision of the empowered individual clearly manifests in the makerspace. It allows individuals to break free from the limitations of the formal educational system and, as part of a social learning community, discover their potential in new, natural, non-linear and often unexpected ways. Further, and perhaps only just beginning to be understood, is its wider potential to ignite alternative approaches on how to contribute to society and catalysing new directions for the future of work. With increasing research insights alongside broadened awareness of the possibilities, individuals can gain the capability to design and build for their future – that is only limited by their capacity to imagine it.