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A major obstacle to the diffusion of management development learning technologies from higher education institutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is a lack of understanding about how SME learners learn. This article examines the nature of learning in SMEs and considers the incidence of informal support for informal learning. Consideration is given to the potential for the use of learning technology to support SME learning, considering potential benefits, development of appropriate content, formal vs. informal learning technology support and the socialisation of learning content. Finally, the application of this study at both a macro and micro level is reflected upon.

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Equipping engineering students with the skills and knowledge required to be successful global engineers in the 21st century is one of the primary objectives of undergraduate educators. Enabling students to practice self-directed learning, to find solutions to design problems that are sustainable and to recognize that they are part of a global community are just a few of [the] educational goals. Self-directed learning can define an individual's ability to practice life-long learning. It places the responsibility on the individual to initiate and direct the learning process and can enable an individual to adapt to change. Project-based learning provides the contextual environment that makes learning exciting and relevant. It provides an opportunity for students to explore technical problems from a systems-level perspective and to develop an appreciation for the inter-connectedness of science and engineering principles.

In materials engineering, the model of a tetrahedron is often invoked to illustrate the bottoms-up principles associated with a material's processing, structure and properties, which must be optimized to reach a desired performance. In addition, a top-down tetrahedron can be envisioned with the need for sustainability guiding the balance between economic, societal and environmental factors, which also influence the choice of the optimum design solution for a project. For students to fully explore this paradigm, it is imperative that project-based learning experiences be integrated throughout their undergraduate education.

This article will explore methodologies that have [been] adopted to implement project-based learning through [the] four year undergraduate curriculum. Significantly, [the] course evaluations indicate that students strongly feel that this is a better method for 'learning' and believe that the projects provide a more realistic environment for applying the principles of engineering, science and mathematics towards solving practical problems.

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We live in powerful times and are experiencing a conceptual emergency. The imperative to learn is evident. Yet in spite of advances in knowledge about how we learn, our application of that knowledge in practice remains patchy at best. A key part of the challenge is to encourage government itself to participate in the learning process, and to overcome the psychological and structural constraints it faces that militate against learning. The article suggests a number of measures to facilitate learning within the policy process: including first tackling denial, making space for reflection, empowering the boundary spanners and - most important - practising innovation as learning. The Delors Commission for UNESCO on education for the 21st century [report indexed at TD/IRD 88.131] called learning ‘the treasure within’. It is no longer possible for government to ignore the turbulence and complexity of its operating environment: it needs to find its own treasure within. This is the case for policy learning.

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Since its foundation, the International Baccalaureate (IB) has made a number of statements concerning the characteristics gained by students as a consequence of successful participation in the diploma program. Prominent among these have been claims pertaining to the potential for high academic achievement in tertiary level study, the acquisition of skills associated with 'learning how to learn' and the development of 'international-mindedness' emergent from the overall experience of undertaking the program. However, there has been little in the way of systematic research undertaken to verify these claims across the wide range of schools and higher education institutions represented throughout all the regions of the IB. The intention of this study was to provide research-based evidence on whether or not, and if so to what extent, the IB achieves its objectives.

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This paper is a critique of the initial teacher education (ITE) of further and adult education teachers in the UK. It argues that the employer-led, national standards model in the UK is not the basis for ITE and professional development because it takes no account of learning in the workplace, disregards the multi-specialist and professional dimensions of professional practice and marginalizes the importance of knowledge. In the critique of the ‘standards-led model’ the paper draws upon research and ideas on work-based learning, seeing the learning of teachers in the workplace as a complex relationship with many ‘experts’ in multiple, often conflicting learning contexts. The paper stresses the importance of seeing work-based learning as more than just ‘learning by doing’ to one that sees it as an intentional structuring of participatory activity. In other words, a ‘pedagogy of the workplace’. Finally the paper suggests that learning is not just a process of ‘participation’, but a learning zone where different types of knowledge and pedagogy are learnt and transformed. In highlighting the importance of knowledge the paper draws upon theories of professional knowledge that suggests that certain types of knowledge cannot be gained in the workplace alone, therefore focusing on the issues of the different types of knowledge, their acquisition and their transformation or recontextualisation.

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This paper offers a reflectively critical analysis of the theoretical basis of independent, or learner-managed learning, and the pedagogical assumptions which underpin it. It considers the potential for personal development through work-based learning, and the tensions for educators in addressing sometimes competing perspectives of personal and professional development in such programmes. In doing so it considers the use of learning contracts or ‘agreements’, linked to experiential learning and reflective practice, as tools to facilitate formative and emergent learning, rather than more rationalist interpretations. It concludes that the term ‘independent’ is misleading, as the learning process is the result of reflective dialogues with contexts and others. The context for the study is a foundation degree, a collaborative initiative between a university, five colleges of further education, responsible for the curriculum delivery, and five local authorities in which the colleges are located. These also provided the students for the programme.

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Purpose - What is required of job design and production planning, if they are to result in a work group taking a self-starting approach and going beyond what is formally required of it? This paper aims to contribute to group research by testing a theoretical model of relations between job design on the one hand (captured as completeness, demand on responsibility, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand, and learning opportunities), and reflexivity and learning processes within natural work groups in industry on the other hand. Design/methodology/approach - The results are based on detailed task analyses and questionnaires from 40 work groups at the shop-floor level in manufacturing industry in Sweden. Findings - Job design and work routines show strong effects on reflexivity and learning processes. Four dimensions of job design - completeness, demand on cooperation, cognitive demand and learning opportunities - impact on reflexivity and learning processes. Job design correlates with social routines, and social routines with work routines. Practical implications - It is crucial to create a job design that puts challenging demands on the group if group processes are to be characterized by reflexivity and learning. Managers have a challenging task to provide both a space and a climate that supports reflexivity and learning. All functions affected by production planning need to be involved in job design to balance conflicts between productivity and innovation. Originality/value - Detailed task analysis is worthwhile as it captures aspects that are prerequisites for innovative groups not previously accounted for.

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This special issue focuses on mobile learning, which is about not only providing access to information through handheld devices, but also the ability to create and share knowledge, through services such as Google Maps, which is now available on mobile phones. In the near future, issues such as preserving copyright and maintaining quality will have to be faced. Articles include: ‘Introduction to special issue of JCAL on mobile learning’ by M. Sharples; ‘Do handheld devices facilitate face-to-face collaboration? handheld devices with large shared display groupware to facilitate group interactions’ by C.C. Liu and L.C. Kao (pp. 283-284); ‘Enriching spaces in practice-based education to support collaboration while mobile: the case of teacher education’ by E.M. Morken, M. Divitini and O.K. Haugalokken (pp. 300-311); ‘Development of a cross-platform ubiquitous language learning service via mobile phone and interactive television’ by S. Fallahkhair, L. Pemberton and R. Griffiths (pp. 312-325); ‘Affordances of mobile technologies for experiential learning: the interplay of technology and pedagogical practices’ by C.H. Lai … [et al.] (pp. 326-337); and ‘Innovative socio-technical environments in support of distributed intelligence and lifelong learning’ by G. Fischer and S. Konomi. Show less

Purpose - The paper seeks to explore workers' learning in relation to the racialized and gendered organization of contingent work. Design/methodology/approach - This paper is informed by Marxist theorization of labour power and learning. It draws on the interview data of 24 highly educated immigrant women from the research project 'Skilled in vulnerability: work-related learning amongst contingent workers'. Findings - The two types of learning that we have identified include conformative and transgressive learning. Conformative learning refers to the learning that workers engage in to conform to the workplace expectations. The workers are not rewarded or acknowledged for their learning endeavors, and their efforts end up being appropriated by employers to maximize surplus value. Transgressive learning refers to the learning initiatives undertaken by workers to challenge and transcend the depressing work environment and life conditions. Research limitations/implications - This research was not able to capture what conditions facilitate transgressive learning versus conformative learning. Practical implications - The study first calls on the state to deal with the systemic negation of professional immigrants' previous skills and learning experiences. Second, it encourages employers to provide appropriate training and reward the workers for their learning endeavor. Third, drawing on the research findings, work educators could help foster the forms of learning that are conducive to workers' better control of work and life. The authors also suggest that to optimize their work and life opportunities in general, immigrant women workers need to come together, exchange information and knowledge, learn from each other, and form collective actions amongst themselves. Originality/value - This paper contributes to the literature on workplace learning from a learning perspective. It is one of the first endeavors to look at how highly educated immigrant women learn to exercise agency to challenge contingent work structures.

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This article aims to clarify some of our pre-conceived assumptions when we address issues of learning in practice. It argues that we need to develop an understanding of practice based on its own premises. For this purpose the German philosopher Martin Heidegger’s (1889-1976) understanding of practice and learning is introduced. Heidegger emphasises the use of equipment as crucial for a practical understanding. This perspective is contrasted with an intellectualistic approach to learning in practice exemplified by the work of Donald Schon. Heidegger and Schon’s perspectives on learning in practice are evaluated and discussed throughout the article. Examples from studies of apprenticeship are used to illustrate Heidegger’s comprehension of learning in practice. Especially learning through the use of tools and equipment, learning in context, learning as a consequence of making mistakes and learning as a matter of developing a sense of familiarity are types of learning emphasised in this article.

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