If you're like me, when a topic I know little about crosses my desk, I go directly to my computer and do a Google search.And that's exactly what I did when I reflected on the topic of Bruce Spencer and Jennifer Kelly's book, Working and Learning: An Introduction.It examines how context and perspective influence students' learning.Together, Spencer and Kelly have crafted an insightful literature review of the socioeconomic beginnings of work and vocational training.It's a compact book.In 130 pages the authors have jammed in eight chapters on the dimensions of work and learning.One can thumb through the book and select chapters of interest to read, or one can read the book cover to cover and come away with a deeper appreciation of the complexities of how the workplace and union collectivity have shaped what we know today as professional development and skills training.Chapter 1 is built on the premise that the learning people do at work is "managerialist" (p. 1).Managerialist learning makes organizations better by strategically providing employee learning that results in the work being completed more efficiently and effectively.The other seven chapters cover such topics as organizational culture and learning, workers' rights, school to work learning, and the challenges of democratizing work in a global economy.Chapter 5, "From School to Work . . .," is a must-read chapter for learners who want to explore transitional spaces.But, in my humble opinion, this chapter would have been better placed closer to the start of the book because it provides the fodder for responding to today's key instructional queries.For example, What exactly is workplace learning?What is the role of industry in driving the business of continuing or contingency education?How should the curriculum be selected and taught?Chapter 5 raises provocative questions on the role of authentic education versus teaching the curriculum, the merit of teaching the hidden curriculum (rules, routines, and regulations needed to survive the educational system), and the fundamental question of who is responsible for providing the building blocks of human capital.In Chapter 6, ". . .And Workplace Learning to School," Spencer and Kelly provide insights into a process known as PLAR (Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition), whereby university credits are earned by recognizing workplace learning.They argue that critical assessment
Creating transformational learning experiences through aesthetic practices, though not a new idea, continues to be a fruitful area of investigation in adult education.The authors in this anthology draw heavily from two foundational education theorists: American pragmatist John Dewey and Brazilian educator Paulo Friere.Emerging from radically different social contexts, Dewey and Friere shared a belief in the idea that education is a tool for social change, in which tangible experiences inform the learner through the integration of mind and body.In his only book on aesthetics, Art as Experience (1934), Dewey states his basic premise: When you learn by participating in aesthetic experience, you enrich the process and the quality of learning (p.122).Friere, too, put great emphasis on learning as doing, seeing the learner as a "co-creator" rather than a passive receiver (1972, p. 60).It is on this foundation, of direct experience as transformational learning and its impact on wider community practices of social justice and adult education, that the authors in Aesthetic Practices and Adult Education articulate their perspectives and diverse case studies.The studies range across the topics of museum education, community arts practice, social justice, leadership, and mental health.While each chapter is notable for providing insight into a particular case study of how aesthetic practices have been integrated into an educational process within a specific context, all the chapters address, to some degree, the broader topic of "community arts engagement."The authors analyze how adult learning can benefit from collective aesthetic practices, and they identify key issues within that area of questioning, including the relationship between the individual and the collective, the importance of embodied experience in transformational learning, and the relationship between collective aesthetic practices and social change.Community, in the democratic context, implies a collective social identity that can unify and give voice to underrepresented people.Yet the collective can also oppress individual difference within a generalized identity.In the chapter entitled "Imagining and Engaging Difference in the Art Museum," Kimberly F. Keith explores the tensions involved when museum educators and curators seek to represent "difference" to audiences, using objects, images, and narrative texts.Aesthetic experience in this context is often restricted to a passive visual experience Reviews /
In this final issue of the Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education (CJUCE), on behalf of the CAUCE Board of Directors 2015–2016 and the CJUCE–JPCOE Working Group, I would like to reflect on CJUCE’s past and JPCOE’s future.
In this study, the perceptions and experiences of an interprofessional team responsible for the development and delivery of the Registered Practical Nurse (RPN) to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BScN) Blended Learning Program at Nipissing University were examined. In this program, RPNs can acquire a BScN through distance-based part-time study, including online courses and clinical practicum. In three years, the program has grown from an initial intake of 60 students to a current enrolment of over 600 students (Fitzgerald, Beattie, Carter, & Caswell, 2014).The success of the program is attributed to three factors: a part-time curriculum that permits students to work as they study; partnerships with hospitals and other clinical facilities to support the nurse-learner’s clinical placements; and the performance of a highfunctioning interprofessional team. This study of teamwork will benefit nursing and adult learning educators as well as e-learning professionals involved in the development and delivery of flexible programs for working nurses.
This report of practice describes a five-year process to establish and implement quality standards for a substantial portfolio of distancedelivered courses at the Centre for Continuing and Distance Education, University of Saskatchewan. The report describes an analysis of the issues and the solutions found that led to our current curriculum design standards and procedures, the implementation of learning technologies, and the identification of issues and solutions regarding copyright law. Lastly, the future prospects of these distance-delivered postsecondary courses are considered. Focusing on the issues and solutions for each category of challenges, this report describes the five-year journey of a small instructional-design team that faced roadblocks and barriers common to many postsecondary continuing and distance education units.
This will be the final issue of the CAUCE journal, the Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education (CJUCE). The CAUCE board, in consultation with the membership, decided at the 2015 spring conference to retire CJUCE and develop a new journal that better represents the changes occurring in continuing education.
In a networked world that does not seem to be weary of Web 2.0's ubiquitous influence in our lives, new opportunities and options for students to pursue formal and informal learning experiences continue to emerge.Arising in tandem is a veritable cacophony of books, articles, practitioner blogs, web-based special interest group sites, instant message and RRS feeds, and even whitepapers from software companies trying to secure market shares-many with the intent to improve practice and ease the discomfort of practitioners new to the field of online instruction.Discussion-Based Online Teaching to Enhance Student Learning: Theory, Practice, and Assessment cuts through the online noise and serves as a comprehensive resource for practitioners entering the field of online instructional practice in higher education.More than just an introductory resource, it offers a detailed exploration of three key facets of online teaching that is reinforced with research and linked to personal experiences.The author weaves general pedagogical theory and knowledge with theories explicating teaching and learning online.Importantly, the "Yes, but how do I . . .?" questions from practitioners are addressed, as are ways to assess learning outcomes.According to the liner notes of this second edition of 2003's original publication, Bender has added content reflecting the impact and potential of social media, as well as re-crafted insights based on additional online teaching and learning experiences and recent research literature.The text is conveniently divided into three parts, but readers are to be forewarned: this is neither an easy nor a quick read.The first section contains five chapters exploring the theoretical implications in building a body of online pedagogical knowledge.Bender gently guides the reader
This issue of the journal contains four papers, including three articles and one report of practice paper, as well as five book reviews. The theme permeating the papers is the exploration of best practices in organizational processes, as well as in teaching and learning in courses and programs related to face-to-face, blended, and online environ-ments for continuing, professional, and higher education. Coming from a slightly different perspective, “Learning is Change: Creating an Environment for Sustainable Organizational Change in Continuing and Higher Education,” by Christie Schultz, examines best practices in organizational change processes that facilitate outstanding learner experiences in continuing education units. The author explores the ways in which learning in and of itself is a form of organizational change that supports organizational readiness for change, through an examina-tion of the challenges and benefits of moving from a decentralized and independent student records and administration system (student registration, student financials, student academic records) to the university’s central student management system. The article demonstrates that creating an environment for sustainable organizational change is supported by recognizing that learning itself is change, and that workplace learning may therefore help to create organizational readiness for change. The four key emerging linked elements of People, Previous Experience, Preparation, and Perspective (the 4Ps) contribute to the success of the change initiative, along with the underlying unifying concept of learning being change—both the “act of learning” and “learners who act.” Through this framework, the author offers practical best-practice observations for sustainable, technology-based organizational change initiatives in continuing and higher education. “The Use of Scaffolding and Interactive Learning Strategies in Online Courses for Working Nurses: Implications for Adult and Online Education” explores best practices Caswell, describes a blended-learning, best-practice model used to offer a part-time Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BScN) program for Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs) in North Bay, Ontario. The program bridges the nurses’ college diploma and a curriculum that enables them to continue to practice nursing as they study. Flexibility, accessibility, partnership, innovation, and excellence in teaching and learning are the hallmarks of this learner-centred, best-practice program model. Through synchronous and asynchronous online technologies, theoretical content is delivered along with face-to-face learning in the clinical settings, facilitated through partnership agreements with learners’ employers. The authors contend that the RPN to BScN blended-learning, best-practice program model demonstrates Nipissing University as a leader in continuing education for RPNs and its commitment to driving change in the field of professional and adult education. All readers, including those on a hunt for best practices in continuing, professional, and higher education, to improve teaching, learning, students’ learning experiences in face-to-face, blended, and online learning in a variety of formats, and their organizational practices for outstanding learner experiences, will find these documents well worth the read.
The convenience and flexibility of online learning clearly make it an attractive option for learners in professional development contexts. There is less clarity, however, about how it fares as a vehicle for enabling the applied, practice-oriented outcomes typically associated with professional development learning.This paper presents a case study describing how transfer-of-learning strategies were employed in a continuing professional education (CPE) course developed for practicing pharmacists, called ADAPT (ADapting pharmacists’ skills and Approaches to maximize Patients’ drug Therapy effectiveness).To gain insight into the extent to which learning was transferred to practice as a result of participation in the course, qualitative data were collected over a 12-month period from participants of the 2010 pilot offering of ADAPT. Participants reported making changes to their practice as a result of participating in the course, and they identi- fied three course features as being particu- larly useful in facilitating practice transfer: providing learners with (i) a vision of targeted outcomes and skills, (ii) support to enable them to attain targeted outcomes and skills, and (iii) explicit preparation for action.
Our field is replete with examples of the leadership role and innovative practices for which university continuing education units have become renowned.The three papers and five book reviews in this must-read issue of the Journal are excellent exemplars of the types of leadership and innovative practices that are hallmarks of our field.The papers are written by a range of scholars, academics, administrators, and practitioners and provide great material for
This book is almost an encyclopedia of higher education, covering history, theories, challenges, and advice in managing higher education.It offers guidance to the academic leadershipincluding presidents, trustees, deans, chairs, and heads of departments-on how to effectively carry out their respective responsibilities.It explains the governing structure and functions of the institution and reaffirms the academic leadership and board of trustees as the centre for decision making.Academic leadership refers primarily to the president, while governance refers to the board of trustees, which helps the academy fulfill the institution's mission.The book covers five critical parts.Part One issues the clarion call for the university to stay relevant amidst changes in the environment.The authors unabashedly approach the university like a business corporation, stressing the need for an effective strategic management process-including planning, assessing, and budgeting-which is echoed through the rest of the text.Academic institutions ought to conduct regular self-assessments to enhance their strengths, exploit opportunities, and overcome their weaknesses in order better to manage threats.For instance, they need to set goals and formulate strategies (Perrow, 1970) to improve technological support for teaching and learning (Scott & Davis, 2007), build formal and informal networks of communication with stakeholders, and attract, develop, and retain talent (Barnard, 1938; Simon, 1945 Simon, /1997)).Part Two urges universities to collaborate with external constituents to stay relevant and effective, much like a public relations strategy to build goodwill with stakeholders.Instead of fighting or ignoring the policies of federal and provincial governments, universities ought to engage with them for funding and directions that help to develop graduates with employable skillsets (Sparks & Waits, 2011), thus enhancing the nation's global competitiveness (Lane & Johnstone, 2012).The judiciary is a critical stakeholder to build relations with because the laws they set protect the interests of students and instructors, but may not safeguard the interests of the academic leadership.For example, the academic leadership may face challenges with student and faculty unions, as well as issues with academic freedom and academic dismissal.
NSCAD University is a visual arts university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, that houses the NSCAD-TD Centre for Community Service Learning (the Centre). The Centre’s purpose is to manage and promote community part- nership requests with the institution.While community service learning and community– university partnership approaches necessarily inform the Centre’s operation, these need to be modified to reflect NSCAD’s unique position in art and design education. Each partnership request is assigned to one of three partner- ship categories, based on distinct criteria that account for NSCAD’s mission, the duration of the partnership, the level of NSCAD involve- ment, and the support capacity of the Centre.Using these criteria, partnerships are addressed in a consistent, sustainable manner that main- tains collaboration and affords room to grow more sophisticated partnership arrangements. The Centre allows prospective partners to access NSCAD’s extraordinary creativity and skilled artists, leading to receptive partnerships that benefit a range of communities.
For this study, we interviewed eight Canadian and American continuing education deans and directors to explore how their personal accounts or “stories” about leadership high- light the dynamic nature of their leadership roles. This article focuses on the potential impact of these stories to better integrate and serve the adult learner within the higher education environment. Four major themes emerged from our analysis of the data: the non-traditional career trajectories of the leaders; marginalization and identity; lead- ership and innovation; and alignment and resistance.Our study suggests that continuing education leaders generally excel in sharing student-centered narratives and in pushing boundaries—in part to convince diverse stakeholders of the importance of the field of continuing education. Interviews with participants indicate that continuing educa- tion leaders think in interdisciplinary terms and weave a master narrative about life- long learning, combining several individual threads. Continuing education leaders strive to have conversations leading to collaborative partnerships and educational innovation.
