Preparing for Flexible Delivery
by Peter Smith, Lyn Wakefield, Ian Robertson for NCVER 2002
Providers need to make sure that mechanisms are established to assist learners in developing self directed learning skills. This may be an area where the elearning foundation may be able to assist in developing a range of information literacy skills (P9). Another benefit may be through increasing opportunity for contact that is not dependent on f2f physical presence.
A workplace learner’s position in organisation affects the types of choices they are allowed to make about learning; this may include participation, style of activity and subject matter.
The time that would be needed to achieve individual learning plans for all learners is seen as a barrier (p45).
Role conflict - learner vs. worker
Workplace learning can easily be interrupted because of overriding imperatives for production, finite resources, and finite skills ranges. Independent or resource based learning may be seen as time -out more so than on campus training (P23)
Learners “largely become responsible for their own skills development ... and the activities used to develop that skill are largely initiated by them” (p34)
Enterprises
"The literature review indicated that those workplaces which have developed an effective training environment are characterised by the following:
· Development of articulated training policy that indicates the valuing of learning and learners
· Implementation of training structures that provide access to identified trainers and other
· Personnel, and space in the production schedule to enable learning to occur
· Skilling training staff to support:
· Development and management of self-directed learning
· Acquisition of needed skills and knowledge
· Engagement in the community of practice at the workplace to support authentic learning
· availability of learning resources—human, physical, courseware"(P8)
Hawke (1998), like Field (1997), observed that workplaces vary greatly on a range of features, which influence the development, and delivery of formal training programs:
· The extent to which learning is valued and rewarded within the enterprise
· The role of knowledge in setting the competitive climate for the enterprise
· The size of the workplace or site
· The range of products, processes and/or services provided by the workplace
· The capacity and willingness of the workplace to network with other related organisations (p22)
Supervisor involvement increases learner ownership of learning (p59)
Where supervisors were seen by their staff to be taking an interest in staff development, and where the supervisor had taken ownership of that responsibility, there was evidence that staff also took a greater degree of ownership.
So what is the potential of Flexible Delivery in the workplace?
Methods
· Considerable customisation
· Wider range of resources - those that are integrated are more effective and favoured more than resource based and independent training models (p20)
· Also needed are clear connections to the context within which the new knowledge is to be used, and access to human interaction that may be provided through mentoring, demonstration, problem solving and opportunity for discussion with fellow workers or learners. (P21)
· Learners able to be close to the action and be able to ask questions
· Classes - because able and encouraged to ask questions (in contrast to workplaces)
· Spiral of responsibility
· Smaller businesses eg hairdressing salons - learners more closely supervised and easier to observe other workers because of physical proximity (P31)
What is feasible?
Summarised from pages 43-47
· New learning is best situated in existing knowledge
· Assistance to learners to understand their learning within the broader context of the workplace
· The development of their own learning goals
· Development and negotiation of their own learning goals - feasibility dependent on setting of learning outcomes and timing of completion
· Discussion to assist in identifying authentic workplace tasks through which learning could be pursued.
· Systems for monitoring the learning that took place
· Learning through scaffolding
· Development of knowledge through a spiral of responsibility
· Use of a broad range of resources for training eg expert others, demonstrations and practice, training resource banks
· Recognition that employees are both workplace and learners.
Barriers to use of flexible delivery in the workplace include:
· It is time consuming
· Supervisors not equipped with necessary skills
· Incongruency with training plans
More detail on page 47
Recommendations are in detail on pages 72- 77
Posted by Kirsty at October 14, 2004 08:48 PM