Learning in vivo

Work-integrated Learning Flowchart

The South African Department of Education (DoE) & the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC)  imperatives regarding work-integrated learning (WIL) includes:

§  An obligation to place students

§  Structured learning

§  Learning agreements

§  Communication between role players

§  Mentoring system / supervision

§  Monitoring / assessment system

§  Recording system

An institutional flowchart may be illustrated as such:

  

  

A found a more elaborate flowchart, including references to Unisa's WiL Policy, among documents Download Flowchart WIL Model

 

Reflective practice for collective learning

Raelin (2000: 101) calls "the process of public reflection" reflective practice; it is a community of inquiry and creates a collective identity. He defines reflection as "the practice of periodically stepping back to ponder the meaning to self and others in one's immediate environment about what has transpired. It illuminates what has been experienced by both self and others, providing a basic for future education", he adds.

Raelin (2000: 101-2) emphasises learning dialogues, as element of reflective practice, taking place in the security of trustworthy peers based on the direct experiences of work. Raelin (p. 103) refers to Plato's statement that 'the unexamined life isn't worth living' meaning that others need to be included in the examination of life experiences. It is more than collective naval gazing; it isintorspection midst of practice and in the presence of others.

"Reflective practitioners 'reinvest' in learning by participating in continuing education" and "engage in problem posing as much as problem solving, continually expand[ing] their solution database rather than select the first solution that works, view inconsistencies as opportunities rather than inconveniences, and enjoy reflecting back on their decision making rather than sealing off debate" (Raelin 2000: 105). Four explicit reflective practices that can be used each on its own or combined are presented by Raelin (2000: 115-145):

1. Learning teams

Work-based learning often involves action learning in teams. Co-workers undertake projects together, discuss dilemmas of work actions, as well as "the application or misapplication of concepts and theories to these actions" (p. 115). The learning device is to pose questions to one another.

2. Journaling

But "the journal is arguably the most endemic technique we have to enhance our self-reflection" admits Raelin (p. 124). Yet, he continues, although it is "often used as an introspective tool for personal growth, it can also serve as an aid to bring together the inner and outer parts of our lives. It offers a lens to view experience—be it before, during, or after the event under scrutiny—and it even allows further reflection on the journal entries themselves." The journal is a potent vehicle to collect private data for public learning dialogues and may include any one or more of the following:

• Logs or reports of specific factual experiences.
• Lists of observations or ideas.
• Portraits or descriptions of people or situations.
• Memoirs of personal experiences.
• Catalogues of feelings/perceptions in situations or about people.
• Intimate accounts including personal sentiments, confessions and notes.
• Dialogues recordings.
• Conceptual understandings.
• Commentary of applications of concepts.
• Social histories (stories) of issues unfolding.
• Maps of consciousness to capture the state of mind.
• Guided imagery, meditated frames of reference and/or dreams.
• Altered points of view in different contexts or timeframes.
• Contradictions or dilemmas experiences or observed.
• Inconsistencies noticed
• Surprises experiences.

3. Developmental planning

Developmental planning often linked to career development. It involves the individual interests, needs and expectations, as well as the organisational objectives and resource requirements. It is often an element of the overall organisational performance management strategy.

4. Developmental relationships

Examples of developmental relationships include coaching and mentoring.

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Learning by steps of inference

When I showed my wife Raelin's (2000: 98) ladder of inference, she replied that this is much more her way of learning than memorising or having things hammered into her brain—memorising does not work for me! There are many people that much rather learn by engaging and figuring things out, consulting resources as and when necessary.

When I did a search for a picture of a ladder I found numerous ladders of interference, for example:

• Ladder of inference model from Peter Senge's (1994) 5th Discipline Fieldbook.
• Also called by some the ladder of influence or even ladder of innocence.
• Some give the ladder of inference six steps above the surface it is standing on.
• The ladder of inference is regarded as one of the most effective tools in understanding and explaining why we so often get into conflict and fail to get resolution—it was originally articulated by Chris Argyris (acknowledged by Raelin as work-based learning tutor, for his intellectual stimulation) and popularized in Peter Senge.
• William Goelkel emphasise, in the PM Notebook, that we make decisions and take action based on what we consider to be obvious truths based on objective data, however, the problem is the data is often selected to conform to our beliefs—not truths and often not obvious to others—a feedback loop is therefore important.

This four-step ladder is available in 12 colours, with a no handrail, a left, a right or both-sides handrails.

Raelin's (2000: 98) ladder of inference comprise:

Step 4: Take action.

Step 3: Draw inferences.

Step 2: Interpret data.

Step 1: Select data.

Surface: Observe available data.

I further found this very interesting (to me) four step rock climbing device and numerous other gadgets.

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Collective work-based learning

Raelin (2000: 66-100) discusses three kinds of collective work-based learning, namely:

• Action Learning
• Community of Practice
• Action Science

Action Learning

It is an educational strategy that entails groups seeking to derive learning from real-time (in vivo) problem solving. In about 1975, after conversion to adult membership of my congregation I engaged in entry-level instruction of catechumens. At the time the notion of learning by doing got impressed upon my mind. In trying to bring about learning, I have subsequently always tried to build in activity in learning facilitation. Raelin (2000: 66-7) remarks that such activities are useful; but neither sufficient to enable conversion of theory into tacit knowledge; nor for participants/delegates to challenge and reflect on their own theoretical assumptions. Only if people take real positions; are obliged to make moral judgements and required to defend those under pressure do real learning occur. Action learning teams present itself as a means to introduce work-based learning into a work environment.

Community of Practice

Raelin (2000: 75) asserts that "communities of practice evolve as people united in a common enterprise develop a shared history as well as particular values, beliefs, ways of talking, and ways of doing things". Membership is spontaneous and through involvement with one another—mutual engagement—in the process of pursuing the same practice. Problem solving together becomes (as a community) becomes a natural social activity and meanings are informally negotiated. Often knowledge creation is tacit and practices become interpersonally instinctive. A "shared repertoire, including routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, concepts, and the like that symbolize their shared practice" (Raelin 2000: 76)emerges. Members of a community of practice often serve as gate keepers with regard to the practice.

Raelin (2000: 78) observes that facilitation might accelerate the process toward the emergence of a community of practice, but he expresses reservation if an organisation as a whole could become a community of practice—there are just too many barriers and politics. He discusses the use of Future Search (pp 24-25 of PsychDigest Vol 1 No 3; Download FutureSearch_AfronautHigherEducationlaunchpad-posternarrative) technology (p. 83), Open Space Technology (p. 84) and Virtual Team Learning (p. 85), but cautions about the latter that nobody has yet "invented a technology that replaces a pitcher of beer".

Action Science

When I saw this heading I have been most intrigued. Raelin (2000: 89) defines action science as "a work-based intervention strategy for helping learners increase their effectiveness is social situations through heightened awareness of their action and interaction assumptions". It is a form of 'double-loop' learning derived from becoming aware of a mismatch between your values and your actions and an internal commitment to embracing new or other. The term reflection-in-action—described as rethinking to discover how and what that has been done contributed to the expected or unexpected outcome—is preferred by some, e.g. Donald Schön (p. 90). A member of a community of practice would typically offer a frame of the situation a hand. The members collectively would then reflect upon the frame/s and start testing the underlying assumptions and reasoning processes that surface. The aim is to narrow the inconsistencies between espoused (what is advocated) theories versus theories-in-use (actual practice).

Raelin (2000: 90) agrees with Habermas's views and points out three types of knowledge:

1. Technical knowledge entails "predictions about observable events, physical or social"; may result in empirical or theoretical discourse; and "relies upon hypothetico-deductive logic".
2. Practical knowledge involves "social norms, ideals, values, and moral decisions"; that in the absence of empirical tests rely on tradition and authority. However, consensus derived through dialogue is preferred and metaphors often used to resolve contradictions. Ideally, practical discourse searches for meaning rather than trying to outlining causality.
3. Emancipatory knowledge is gained through critical self-reflection about the taken-for-granted assumptions. The validity of premises for interpretation or understanding is tested through reflective discourse.

People are often socially conditioned—Model I behaviour—which is "characterised by a need to control, maximize winning, suppress emotions, and be rational" Raelin (2000: 91) with minimal learning, but reinforcement of existing socialisation. In contrast, Model II behaviour, "is based on directly observable data" at hand and entails exchange of viewpoints—resulting in increased learning and producing of intended end-results. The table below (based Raelin 2000: 94) on serves as illustration:

	Model I behaviour	Model II behaviour
Contextual cue or triggering condition	An elderly woman is curious about the use of SMSes	Another elderly person, similar age, notices how efficient SMS communication is
Underlying assumptions	Cellphones are complex, I would not master it.	Believe it is possible to master the use of the SMS function of a cellphone
Action strategies	Is shown by a user (grandchild) what an SMS is and how to go about creating a message, sending it, receiving it, retrieving it and responding	Ask a user to demonstrate how to go about creating a message, sending it, receiving it, retrieving it and responding. Make notes how to go about and try SMSing.
Consequences in the behavioural world for learning	Promptly forgets and ask again in future when observing fellow residents of the retirement facility receiving SMSes	Master the use of the SMSes and enjoy the benefit of keeping in touch with relatives and friends

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Work-based learning model

Raelin (2000: 49-65) theorises about work-based learning firstly by comparing theory and practice modes of learning, there after explicit versus tacit forms of knowledge. He then builds a conceptual model by first looking at individual work-based learning, in terms of the two mentioned modes of learning and the two forms of knowledge:

	Explicit	Tacit
Theory:	Conceptualisation	Experimentation
Practice:	Reflection	Experience

He next turns to the organisation, as collective, and builds further on his model of work-based learning:

	Explicit	Tacit
Theory:	Applied science	Action learning
Practice:	Action science	Community of practice

Then he completes his pyramid-shape model (Raelin 2000: 64)

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Learning organisation and work based learning

As individuals we (need to) learn lifelong in order to continue to actualise ourselves, we engage with our environment and grow (Raelin 2000: 27).

It is what we think we know already that often prevents us from learning — Claude Bernard (Raelin 2000: 27).

Organisations, as a collective, also need to learn in order to maintain themselves and improve. Raelin (2000: 28) observes that "Some pundits sell 'organizational learning' as another recipe for competitive advantage, but in fact it is more than that", he argues and indicates that the modus Vivendi (mode of 'living') of organisations that enables it to sustain—an ethos of ever adaptability to environmental surroundings, acting on intelligence and 'learning their way out' of challenges (Raelin 2000: 28).

• Trial-and-error learning only occurs after blunders
• True organisational learning should happen naturally when succeeding and upon breakthroughs
• There should be a deliberate continuous reflection

Learning organisations generate knowledge through a free exchange of information and experimentation. Whereas the focus of knowledge management is on improving accessibility and sharing of knowledge, the focus of organisational learning is concerned with the modus Vivendi, observes Raelin (2000: 29).

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Transcending competence—learning to learn

If you wish to be vocationally successful you need to transcend knowledge, skills and competence and gain meta-competence, argues Raelin (2000: 11)—it is not particular skills that are important, but the ability to adapt knowledge, skills and competence to changing environments. Acquired knowledge does not represent a competitive advantage, because it becomes stale and require continuous renewal. A continuous self-reflective approach must be acquired.

Raelin (2000: 13) highlights three levels of learning:

1.    First-order or single-loop learning—when we advance beyond habitual actions/responses (zero-order learning) to trying out new methods (trial-and-error).

2.    Second-order or double-loop learning—when the standard/established meanings underlying our habitual responses are challenged and we start transferring learning from one context to a next.

3.    Third-order or triple-loop (p. 14) learning entail becoming aware that the way the world is perceived (our underlying assumptions) might be based on questionable premises, learning about the context-of-contexts.

Raelin (2000: 13) asserts that transfer of learning, without third-order learning, may limit us to practitioner actions relying on preconceived criteria for appropriate actions. This limits innovation. Third-order learning entails holding virtual reflective conversations with the situation within which functioning—readjusting practice to changing circumstances.

 

Raelin (2000:14) advocates all three kinds of work-based learning, but emphasise the third-order as most important. He further make a link to just-in-time learning, where the individual's needs and preferences is responded to and learning is of use in work, as well as related to one's thinking and feelings.

 

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Make learning arise from changing work

The maxim of the inventor of action learning, Reg Rewans, rings true: "the rate of learning must equal or exceed the rate of change" (Raelin, 2000: 1).

Rate of learning ≥Rate of Change

Managers can no longer afford to continuously react to change; in order to compete successfully—urges Raelin (2000: 2)—managers must anticipate change and make time to reflect on actions. Raelin (2000: 1) calls the "need for continuous learning" the "sine qua non of organisational development"; learning has to become a way of conduct—part of the work ethic: "continuous reflection on actual experience" (p. 2).

Raelin, J.A. 2000. Work-based learning—the new frontier of management development. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Five-stage internship model

While browsing the table of contents of the Sweitzer and King (1999: 59-65) publication The Successful Internship, Chapter 4 caught my eye: The stages of an Internship. Looking at the names of the five stages, it reminded me immediately of a post I did on 14 October 2009, about Oden's (2001) four movements of hospitality. I would like to draw a comparison between an intern's five stages of mind-state and the four movements of hospitality the mentor or supervisor should enact to alleviate the intern's frustration and contribute to better accomplishment:

An intern's likely five stages of mind-state	A mentor/supervisor's four movements in hospitality
Anticipation	Welcoming
Disillusionment	Restoring
Confrontation	Dwelling
Competence	Sending forth
Culmination

An intern usually looks forward in anticipation to her/his internship, only to start at a very low level of responsibility and opportunity to accomplish. The mentor or intern supervisor should be sensitive as host and welcome the intern (as guess).

Often disillusionment sets in, because of the difference between the prior anticipation and the reality taking place. This is where the mentor or intern supervisor, as host, should act hospitably and help restoring the intern—think of a guess that travelled a distance in primitive circumstances, arriving with feet dusty, probably thirsty and hungry. Restoring the guess by attending to her/his needs is important, similarly by engaging the intern by putting her/him at ease, giving the intern an orientation and see to the intern's safety, etc.

Sweitzer and King (1999: 62) quote the saying "The only way around is through", that is confronting the situation. The mentor or intern supervisor preparedness to dwell, that is in Oden's words "hospitality of presence— the mentor's demonstration of willingness to share her/his work knowledge, experiences and expertise; involving the intern in day-to-day work happening and answering the intern's questions; but also asking the intern's opinions and listen to the intern's suggestions in terms of her/his academic knowledge.

The dwelling enables the intern to gain competence, which leads to the culmination phase. Similarly the preceding three movements of hospitality has restored and empowered the guess to go forth, the host sends the intern forth.

I noticed that Sweitzer and King (2008) subsequently produced a follow-up publication: The Successful Internship: Personal, Professional, and Civic Development.

References

Oden, AG (Ed.). 2001. And you welcome me: a sourcebook on hospitality in early Christianity. Nashville, TN: Abingdon.

Sweitzer, H.F. & King, M.A. 1999. The successful internship—transformation & empowerment. Pacific Groove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

Sweitzer, H.F. & King, M.A. 2008. The Successful Internship: Personal, Professional, and Civic Development. Thomson Brooks/Cole

Simply asking not necessary reliable

Most of my blog posts from 27 December 2009 to 4 January 2010 are about learning from life stories and narratives. Before I go any further, I feel it is necessary to convey the cautionary remarks of Raymond Lee (2000: 1). He cites Allan Kellehear (1993), who wrote "we ask people about themselves, and they tell us … the assumption is that important 'truths' about people are best gained through talk—a sometimes direct, sometimes subtle, interrogation of experience, attitude and belief". Lee states that the problem with what we gain by simply asking is that it is often influenced by the dynamics surrounding the interaction between the researcher and the researched—the act of eliciting data in itself may affect the truthfulness of the data. Lee then continues to explain what unobtrusive methods/measure mean, namely "data gathered by means that do not involve direct elicitation of information from research subjects". He encourages researchers to be attentive to physical traces (or the cliché 'foot print')—the evidence that people leave behind.

I believe it is important to collect data in different kinds of ways; it is a form of triangulation, i.e. data triangulation to contrast the data and validate the data if it yields similar findings (Groenewald 2003:10). Janesick (2000) promotes the concept crystallisation as a far better lens than triangulation, through which to view especially qualitative research design. The image of a crystal, rather than a land surveyor with a triangle, is put forward. Crystallisation represents a conceptual move from geometry to physics. A crystal combines symmetry and substance with an infinite variety of shapes, transmutations, multi-dimentionsionalities and angles. Crystals grow, change and what is seen when viewed depends on how it is viewed and how we hold it up to the light or not. The notion of crystallisation encourages an eclectic approach to the research design, the synthesis of multiple paradigms and methodology.

References

Groenewald, T. 2003. The contribution of co-operative education in growing talent. DPhil dissertation, University of Johannesburg. Electronically accessed on 6 January 2009 from: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/106

Janesick, V. J. (2000). The choreography of qualitative research design. In Denzin, N.K. & Lincoln, Y.S. (eds.) (2000). Handbook of qualitative research. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.

Kellehear, A. 1993. The unobtrusive researcher: a guide to methods. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Lee, R.M. 2000. Unobtrusive methods in social research. Buckingham: Open University Press.

Checklist for social research

Robert K. Merton's contributions to sociological research spanned more than five decades. O'Rand (1998: 55-56) presents a chronological (according to publication date) checklist for social research.

Download Merton table

O'Rand, A.M. 1998. The craft of life course studies (pp. 52-74). In Giele, J.Z. & Elder (Jr.), G.H. (Eds.) 1998. Methods of life course research—qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: SAGE

Life experiences of cohorts

Matilda Riley (1998: 30), at a ripe age of 87—died at age 93 on 14 November 2004, two years after her husband Jack—identifies an important principle, namely "Because society changes, members of different cohorts (born a different times) grow older in different ways (the 'cohort principle')". She cites a 1972 statement (p. 32), namely that "Over the life course, individuals enter roles but relinquish others, acquire certain capacities and motivations but loose others".

Riley (1998: 39) uses an escalator as metaphor for aging—"as people age, they move diagonally upward with age and across time (in this figure of speech they move through different societal scenery)". However, unlike the static floors that are connected by escalator, societal structures are continually changing. Riley (1998: 43) also emphasises that life courses do not only relate to society at large, but also to smaller groups within.

Riley, M.W. 1998. A life course approach—autobiographical notes (pp. 28-51). In Giele, J.Z. & Elder (Jr.), G.H. (Eds.) 1998. Methods of life course research—qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: SAGE

Life course inquiry mode

Giele and Elder (1998: 22) define life course as "sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time".

Human agency is one of the primary interests of life course scholars and their methodological challenge (p. 20) is the observation of ways in which the individual's detailed transactions with other and with context both steered the individual's life course. Before life course inquiry, social scientists observed human behaviour either (a) as "a snapshot of 'social relations' or structural approach" of impact of social surroundings, or (b) "a movie-like 'temporal' or dynamic approach" tracing live stories over time (p. 6).

The principal elements (p. 15) of life course and the sociology of aging include:

• The chronological age of an individual since birth
• The relevant historical period that characterised the society at large
• A cohort of persons—an aggregate of persons of similar age

The particular age and the historical events of a given cohort individuals typify a generation, not necessary as believed before, the embodiment of age norms of a particular age group (p. 23).

Giele, J.Z. & Elder (Jr.), G.H. (Eds.) 1998. Methods of life course research—qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: SAGE

Life-experience Research

I realised this morning that my interest in the wider scope of learning in vivo (learning from real-life experiences), combined with my interest in qualitative research, led to a focus on Life-story Interviewing, Narrative Research and Life Course Research.

In the forward of a publication on methods of life course research (Giele & Elder 1998) Anne Colby states about crafting life course studies that any point in a person's lifespan must be viewed and the consequence of both past experiences and future expectations. The researcher, she indicates, must both specify the research problem and understand how to organise the data, by using key concepts such as events, timing, impact of the period, and the distinctive experience of the particular cohorts.

Giele and Elder (1998), in their preface, states that the publication focuses on how one does life course research—the art and method of appropriate research design: how to collect life history data; the search for meaningful patterns; analyses of longitudinal data in qualitative form; conceptualisation of age, period and cohort; locating of research participants (respondents) to undertake follow-up surveys; the organising of life events' data; and the recording of data on a retrospective or prospective calendar.

In the introduction, the life course mode of enquiry, to part one of the publication, Giele and Elder (1998: 2-4) suggest a number of general principles:

• Bidirectional focus on social change—the the life events as well as the transitional rates of an individual or group
• Location—of time and place includes history, social structure and culture (p. 9)
• Linked lives—the interaction of individuals with societal institutions and social groups (p. 9)
• Human agency—embodied in the active pursuit of personal goals and the sense of self (p.10)
• Timing—the chronology of events of an individual's life that combines simultaneously that of personal, group and historical markers (p. 10)
• Transitional rate—is a comparative technique for assessment of change in individuals or groups at two different times
• Sociology of age—age, structure (constituent) and the dynamics of ageing as explications of differences in consciousness and status, bringing about social change
• Paradigm shift—a replacement of older deterministic and stage concepts of human development through many technical and theoretical steps

Giele, J.Z. & Elder (Jr.), G.H. (Eds.) 1998. Methods of life course research—qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks: SAGE