This is a conceptual article in which we try to connect some of our previous publications into a coherent new model of learner identity. The first phase of our research concerns the research and theories about professional and work-related learning, followed by work on the learning landscape: a metaphor for organizational learning. The third phase looks at added learning preferences: five ways of work-related learning. Phase four introduces the concept of the learning professional, and phase five looks at research and theories about professional identity: what inalienably connects: who you are (person), the work you do (profession) and the context in which you shape it. In the discussion, we try to explain how the various models can be connected, differentiated and integrated. Professional identity is the basis for all the other approaches. In an integrated set of questions, we bring it all together, introducing the new concept of learner identity and focusing on consequences for facilitating a professional learning culture.

Selles kontseptuaalses artiklis püüame ühendada mõned oma varasematest käsitustest uueks sidusaks õppija identiteedi mudeliks. Artikli esimeses osas esitame ülevaate teadusuuringutest ja teooriatest, mis käsitlevad professionaalset ja töökohal õppimist. Teises osas vaatleme töötamist nn õppe maastikul. See on metafoor, mida kasutame organisatsioonilise õppimise kirjeldamiseks. Kolmandas osas käsitleme õppimiseelistusi: kirjeldame viit töökohal õppimise viisi. Neljandas osas tutvustame õppiva professionaali kontseptsiooni. Viiendas osas anname ülevaate teadusuuringutest ja teooriatest, mis käsitlevad professionaalset identiteeti, mille lahutamatuteks osadeks on see, kes sa oled (inimesena), millist tööd (elukutse) ja kus sa seda teed (keskkond). Arutelu osas püüame selgitada, kuidas saab erinevaid mudeleid ühendada, diferentseerida ja lõimida. Kõikide käsitluste puhul lähtume professionaalsest identiteedist. Lõimitud kontseptuaalses küsimustikus võtame kogu teema kokku, pakume välja õppija identiteedi uue kontseptsiooni ja näitame, milliseid tulemusi annab professionaalse õppimiskultuuri soodustamine. Full text

The aim of this study is to investigate whether it is possible for a manager to get a professional to become conscious of his or her thoughts during a complex new social experience. In all, 19 managers from organizations in the Netherlands were trained to use the Episodic Memory Interview (EMI), a method to retrieve thoughts intertwined with episodic memory. The managers conducted interviews with professionals immediately at the end of training sessions and after some time at the workplace. In this quasi-experimental longitudinal study, we analyzed 104 interviews in a deductive way. We found that managers often succeeded in using EMI after training, and even more often back at the workplace. We conclude that it is possible for managers to get professionals to retrieve thoughts that occurred during a complex new social experience and become conscious of them. Hence, EMI can contribute to research on the conscious competence learning model on how to advance to the conscious incompetence stage.

Feedback can have different forms and functions depending on its objectives as well as its provider: teacher feedback, student feedback, peer feedback, written feedback, oral feedback, etc. One of the most constructive forms of feedback may be peer feedback, since it involves group learning (Van Gennip, Segers and Tillema, 2010). According to Topping (1998, p. 250) peer feedback is “an agreement in which individuals consider the amount, level, value, worth, quality, or success of the products or outcomes of learning of peers of similar status.” Cunningham (1992) argues that the interaction and communication that result fromthe production of feedback get more important in online instructional courses than in face to face courses, because, in his view, nothing can bring about learning more than the dialogue among the community members. Hewitt (2000) and Tuzi (2004) also emphasize the importance of peer feedback in online environments and point out that in such environments peer feedback can influence the students’ outcomes more than in face-to-face environments because of the ease of communication as well as the absence of affective factors. Thus, researchers believe that deep learning can take place in online settings in which students give and receive feedback from one another in a calm, stress-free and individualized environment.What do we know about feedback from previous research?

This paper reviews studies of peer feedback from the novel perspective of the providers of that feedback. The possible learning benefits of providing peer feedback in online learning have not been extensively studied. The goal of this study was therefore to explore the process of providing online peer feedback as a learning activity for the provider. We concluded that (1) providing online peer feedback has several potential learning benefits for the provider; (2) when providing online peer feedback, students use different cognitive processes; (3) the cognitive processes and the potential learning benefits can be realised when students use specific elements in the feedback they provide.

The increasing complexity of work and strategic choices made in organisations affect the professional severely. He or she is challenged to be self-regulating, resilient, to excel and be a wise collaborator. We theorise that, when these challenges are at play, the professional identity is addressed. We see professional identity as a collection of characteristics that colour each learning professional in the way he or she works. Professional identity emerges in the interaction between individuals and their professions and contexts. To find more grounds for our way of theorising, an exploratory study in two stages was carried out. The objective was to find out if and how organisations address professional identity in their HRD activities. Stage one was an online survey, and stage two was a series of in-depth interviews with HRD-professionals. We found a confirmation of our way of theorising; little attention is paid to professional identity itself, although all respondents see the relevance. This leads to our statement that professional identity is a neglected core for professional development.

Introduction Nowadays, one of the most important questions in teaching and learning involves increasing the degree of students’ engagement in learning. According to Astin’s Theory of Student engagement, the best learning environment is one in which it is possible to increase students’ engagement. The current study investigates the influences that using these networks for educational purposes may have on learners’ engagement, motivation, and learning. Results By a detailed comparison of a control group using face to face education and an experimental group using the social network Facebook, this study found significant differences between the two groups in terms of learning, engagement and motivation. The Facebook group showed higher outcomes in the TOEFL post-test than the face to face group with no differences in the pre-test. The Facebook group report significantly higher levels of engagement and motivation after the course than the face to face group. Conclusion Engagement was related to learning outcomes in the Facebook group, but not in the face to face group. Also the results of the Facebook group supported Astin’s theory (the fourth principle: ‘Development is proportional to quantity and quality of involvement’ and fifth principle ‘The effectiveness of any educational practice is directly related to the ability of that practice to increase student engagement’). No correlation between engagement and motivation was found. The discussion focuses on the role of engagement in learning.

Today, online social networks are at the centre of the world's attention. Their specifications and efficiency increase every day, however research shows that their scientific and educational functions are still limited. We believe online social networks have the potential to create new opportunities for success in learning. As frame of reference, we employed the Technology Acceptance Model, which focuses on satisfaction and usefulness. We used a questionnaire to investigate the attitudes of students (N=162) and teachers (N=70) towards online social networks in learning. After gathering information about their attitudes in terms of usefulness and satisfaction, we investigated their expectations for these networks in terms of their applicability to learning. Furthermore, we sought to discover whether or not the attitudes of teachers and students towards online social networks were different. Results showed that both participating groups expressed satisfaction with social networks, had confidence in the usefulness of these networks and held high expectations for their potential to enhance learning. Surprisingly, the expectations of teachers were higher than those of the students. Usefulness was the best predictor of expectations for learning. Age proved to be an important factor for teachers but not for students.

This article aims to explain differences between a group learning English on a Facebook page and a face-to-face group in terms of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SOT focuses on three main variables, which improve self-determination and motivation outside but also inside the classroom: autonomy, competence and relatedness. The main research question was: how can we explain differences between a face-to-face group (FTF) and a Facebook group learning a foreign language in terms of autonomy, competence and relatedness? The results indicate that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of learning outcomes as well as in the three SOT variables. Students in the Facebook group felt more autonomous, competent and related. All three SDT variables correlated with learning outcomes. There was, however, almost no relationship among the SDT variables with learning outcomes within the two groups. The strongest predictor of the difference in learning outcomes proved to be relatedness, followed by competence. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Active participation in economic and social settings increasingly demands social–communicative skills, i.e., interactive and interpersonal skills, as well as the networking skills to access and use resources provided by online social networks. The development of these skills both depends upon and determines the proficient and strategic use of social media and explicit participation in different types of formal or informal networks and communities. Low-educated early school leavers typically lack the access, awareness and attitude required to develop these skills, suggesting a widening digital divide or participation gap. This study presents results regarding low-educated early school leavers’ attitudes towards social media and social networks as a factor that can influence the conditions and opportunities that determine or enhance their economic and social mobility and improvement. The data were analyzed by means of 12 cases. Looking beneath the surface of a complex compound problem involving cultural, social and attitudinal factors, we found signs of ambivalence or even conflict in attitudes, stemming from personal doubts and insecurities or contextual fears and restraints. These attitudinal thresholds should be overcome by aiding and supporting these young people as much as possible in gaining leverage in the online world of ‘haves and have nots’.

Self-determination theory is a general theory of human motivation and personality, emphasizing the dialectical relationships between growth-oriented human beings and social contexts that facilitate or impede people’s motivation to actualize their potentials. The three main factors that consist this theory are autonomy, competence, and relatedness improving self-determination in the classroom. According to the SDT, a sense of curiosity, interest, and inclination to change the environment or to influence it through developing relatedness is what an appropriate learning environment should be capable to meet. Moreover, you know one of the most important functions of social networks is their function of relatedness. The present study aimed at a comparative analysis of the two Facebook and face to face groups with regard to the relatedness variable of Self-determination theory and the influence of this variable on motivation. The results indicated that relatedness was capable of predicting motivation. Moreover, the results showed that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of relatedness and motivation. The motivation means correlation from relatedness improved more in the group using social networks than in the face to face group.

Students' reflective essay writing can be stimulated by the formative assessments provided to them by their teachers. Such assessments contain information about the quality of students' reflective writings and offer suggestions for improvement. Despite the importance of formatively assessing students' reflective writings in teacher education programmes, it is difficult for teacher educators to provide high-quality formative assessments. In this article, a quantitative content analysis procedure (QCA) is used to assess the level of argument and content of 34 student teachers' reflective writings over the course of two semesters. The study showed that the mean argument levels of students' reflective essays differed between the two consecutive semesters. The modes of the reflective essays were primarily descriptive and evaluative. The results indicated that it is important to encourage students to focus on the content of the justification, dialogue and transformative learning in their reflective essays. It is concluded that QCA can be used as a procedure for teacher educators to formatively assess their students' reflective writings, reliably and validly.

'Professions' were called "learned professions in ancient times." Since then professions and professionals have played a continuing, but constantly changing role, in our organizations and society. Despite the amount of vagueness and ambiguities, the concept of `professional' remains popular. It has been used as a standard, a demand, a defense and as an attack. It is also a concept with many definitions and many connotations and denotations formed by history and social contexts. Many authors have even suggested abandoning the notion of professional as a conceptual tool. We think that it is time to give this concept new clarity, use, and interpretation, fitting better within our time and, most of all, providing value to our work systems. In this chapter, we harvested what history has taught us in order to find a different mindset, to further define and contemplate the professional. Our main tenet is that professionalism is a self-chosen characteristic that is closely related to learning. From the literature, we derived eight characteristics of professionals and connected these to learning. The question of who is and is not a professional has fundamentally changed, going from learned professions to learning professionals. Finally, we present a model of different ways of learning that learning professionals need, both individually and collectively. The chapter ends with implications for theory, research and practice.

Studies on educational change efforts abound but generally limit themselves to post hoc explanations of failure and success. Such explanations are rarely turned into attempts at providing models for predicting change outcomes. The present study tries to develop such a model based on the teachers’ impact analysis of a management-driven intervention, introducing new public management principles at a Dutch school for vocational education and training. The study uses a mixed method approach, the quantitative part of which encompasses the accomplishment of a cultural domain analysis. It appears that in this case the new public management ideology of result-oriented teacher teams contradicts substantial aspects of the existing teachers’ meaning system, and fails to meet not yet satisfied needs within the current meaning system. As a consequence, the relevance of a substantial number of the cognitions that constitute result-oriented teacher teams appears to be limited. The authors discuss the consequences for the chance to successfully change the teachers’ meaning system and draw conclusions that suggest a set of more general building blocks for assessing change policy plans and practices in educational settings.

To deal with recent reforms and the accompanying complexity of work in secondary education, ongoing collaboration between teachers has become more important. A community is seen as a promising learning environment to support and embed collaboration into the culture of the school. However, community theory for the design of teacher communities seems underdeveloped. Therefore, this study aims to formulate a set of design principles to foster the development of teacher communities in secondary education. The set of design principles is based on a review of literature, as well as on a best-practice case. The case study was used to validate design principles from the literature in the target context. The resulting design principles were based on context-intervention-mechanism-outcome logic that takes into account the context-dependency of interventions as well as the mechanisms that help with understanding of how interventions produce certain outcomes. Implications for practice relate to ownership and co-design of the arrangement. The set of design principles provides a practical basis for teachers and administrators aiming to facilitate community building in their school. Future research is recommended on testing the effectiveness of the arrangement in the target context by means of a multiple case study.

Today, social networks are becoming rather popular throughout the world. Their multi-dimensional uses and specifications increase every day. However, research shows that their scientific and educational functions are still limited. We believe that social networks have the potential to create new contexts and opportunities that increase students’ motivation for learning. Specifically, we believe that this is the case for learning a foreign language (English), which leads to more efficient and more successful experiences with language learning, as well as more positive attitudes towards the efficiency of social networks for educational purposes. As a frame of reference, we rely on the Technology Acceptance Model (Azjen and Fishbein, 1980; Davis, 1989) which focuses on satisfaction, expectations and perceived usefulness of technology. We studied the expectation of social networks in learning languages, as well as on their perceived usefulness. Twenty Iranian PhD students were enrolled in an online English course via Facebook. Through a study composed of a set of questionnaires, we investigated students’ attitudes towards using social networks in learning languages The results indicated that there is a significant difference between participants' attitudes before and after the course. In the pre-course questionnaire, the majority of participants considered Facebook to be generally useful because through these networks, they can communicate and share knowledge. After the online course, however, most students stated that, Facebook has high potentials for being used as effective formal educational tools. Furthermore, the post –course questionnaires revealed that students’ positive attitudes towards the usefulness of social networks increased. In fact, by the end of the course, all participants agreed that using these networks for language learning can be effective and yield satisfactory linguistic outcomes. This study confirmed that every participant considered social networks to be highly effective and potential educational tools, especially for improving linguistic knowledge and performance in various online contexts and activities.