This paper provides a self-ethnographic investigation of a continuing education program in engineering in Central Finland. The program was initiated as a response to local economic structural change, in order to offer re-education possibilities for a higher educated workforce currently under unemployment threat. We encountered considerable…

Experiential learning styles remain popular despite criticisms about their validity, usefulness, fragmentation and poor definitions and categorisation. After examining four prominent models and building on Bergsteiner, Avery, and Neumann's suggestion of a dual cycle, this paper proposes a twin-cycle experiential learning model to overcome…

Workplace learning research has taken what could be termed a turn to the subjective. This brings the person and agency of workers to the centre of work learning theory. Within sociocultural perspectives that emphasise participative practice as the basis of vocational learning, a key concept that emerges from this subject centred approach is…

Little research and practice has focused specifically on Stage 2 of the doctoral student experience--the critical transition from "dependence to independence". In the United States, a student completes coursework, passes candidacy exams, and begins the dissertation proposal process during Stage 2. Given the distinct experiences associated with…

Kolb's experiential learning theory has been widely influential in adult learning. The theory and associated instruments continue to be criticized, but rarely is the graphical model itself examined. This is significant because models can aid scientific understanding and progress, as well as theory development and research. Applying accepted…

The aim of this article is to discuss how learning opportunities can be organized to promote expansive learning in work practice. The discussion draws on results from a case study examining local development work and conditions that facilitate processes of expansive learning in a work team within a public sector organization in a Swedish…

Drawing on studies of teachers, accountants and pharmacists conducted in Canada, this essay examines models for assessing professional learning that currently enjoy widespread use in continuing education. These models include professional growth plans, self-administered tests and learning logs, and they are often used for regulatory as well as…

This paper reports on empirical research into formative assessment conducted in a blended learning environment within a professional doctorate in education (EdD.) programme in an English university, focusing primarily on peer discussion forum activity. This was conceptualised within sociocultural learning theories, where learning entails processes…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the nature of learning in work role transitions from specialist roles to managerial roles in a context of a large international technology organisation. Prior theorisation of learning in role transitions has been based on quantitative, psychologically-oriented studies prescribing different role and…

This article proposes the need to address scaffold instructions from a situated learning perspective. Based on an empirical study of how apprentice bakers learn their trade, it is claimed that studies of learning at the workplace yield important insights into our understanding of scaffold instructions. Seen from the perspective of the apprentices,…

This paper considers the bottom-up vision of the learning society. Unlike the top-down approach, the bottom-up approach does not start by specifying the purposes of learning which should direct the development of the learning society, but from observing interactions among learning individuals as agents. While in the relevant literature and…

This paper focuses on learners' experiences of text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC) as a means of self-expression, dialogue and debate. A detailed case study narrative and a reflective commentary are presented, drawn from a personal, practice-based inquiry into the design and facilitation of a professional development course for which…

Much recent theorizing about learning has focused on its socio-cultural nature, including the significance of history and the ontogeny of learners. This paper explores the relevance of such an approach to our understanding of the reasons why academics associate themselves with particular theoretical approaches to learning. The authors each present…

A model describing experiential learning in terms of 10 attributes was tested with a group of 311 education majors. They compared the effectiveness of experiential learning (readings, case study, observation, interview, report) to learning with study journals using assigned readings. The validity of the model was upheld and students reported that…

Considers the implications of globalization for rethinking instruction. Suggests the use of location/dislocation in the sense of positioning as a metaphor and discusses its application to the theory of experiential learning. Contains 38 references. (SK)