Employee learning provides significant competitive advantage for organizations. Understanding how employees learn in different work contexts can support continuing, effective, and frequent learning. Although most workplace learning is done informally, the characteristics of that learning are minimally reported and the criteria used to define learning as informal are inconsistent. Research into continuing professional development in knowledge-intense environments or distributed workforces is sparse. The pharmaceutical sales industry is a previously unexamined knowledge-intense environment with a geographically distributed workforce. This qualitative case study sought a better understanding of how pharmaceutical sales representatives learn for work by documenting and describing those ways of learning reported as most effective and most frequent. Twenty sales agents from 11 organizations participated in a Delphi collaboration to create a comprehensive list of 64 ways they learn for work. In-depth individual interviews with five agents provided deep detail about learning in this industry, including the ways of learning that the participating agents perceive to be most effective and most frequent. The Colley, Hodkinson and Malcom (2003) framework was interpreted, applied, and extended in order to identify attributes of formality and informality and other characteristics inherent in the ways of learning reported as most effective and most frequent. This study showed that agents learn in a wide variety of ways and that most of those ways are self-initiated, self-directed, minimally structured, and often involve intentional incidental learning: agents are constantly alert to capture learning while engaged in work activities. Learning during customer interactions on the job was reported as particularly effective and frequent. Other reported effective ways of learning varied with the agent but usually involved self-directed learning with mixed formal and informal attributes. It was determined that learning plays a special role in this industry: much of what is learned for work is not being applied directly to the job of sales promotion. Instead, agents use learning to develop themselves as resources for physicians in order to gain the customer-access required to promote their products. In this way, learning on the job is the job. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2009-04-23 16:16:11.431

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2002.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN, 2001. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-259).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN, 2001. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #046-0053. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-259).

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-122). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Bethel Seminary, St. Paul, MN, 2001. / This is an electronic reproduction of TREN, #046-0053. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 248-259).

Service-learning helps students experience the practical applications of learning to write well; it also offers opportunities for students to develop a sense of civic responsibility. Although service-learning is growing in popularity, this pedagogy is not prevalent in English departments. Additionally, service-learning courses across all disciplines typically do not empower students to make their own project decisions. Given these tendencies, it is useful to consider whether service-learning is an effective pedagogy for writing, whether students should be designing their own projects, and what writing instructors could do to facilitate students' growth as writers while completing projects in the community. This is a qualitative case study, incorporating quantitative data, of two technical writing courses. I reviewed the students' answers to surveys developed for this research, plus their course evaluations, individual reflective writing, and collaborative project documents, and then I compiled and collated the students' references to what they were learning and what they were struggling with. The references fall within the following themes: student decision-making; the role of the instructor; the rhetorical tenets of audience and purpose; service; collaboration with peers and community members; written expression; and professionalism and motivation. Relying upon the students' comments in regard to these themes, I suggest that service-learning can help students become invested in the outcome of their written expression, motivating them to learn how to address audience and purpose through strong writing. Students learn to work collaboratively and develop their own individual voices as they discover, reflect upon, and express their ideas and shared knowledge. Instructors should ask students to design their own projects, allowing them to engage with and learn how to contribute to the community: through self-directed experiential projects, students become more likely to understand the power of writing and to transfer their new knowledge to later situations. I conclude with a discussion of the need for targeted research and suggestions for teaching writing through community-based pedagogy to enhance civic engagement.

Developing critical thinking in early childhood is vital especially in Western culture since it improves an individual’s skills in creative thinking and enhances a person’s sense of responsibility. This is the fundamental contention of this thesis. These skills assist in developing and implementing a state of mind of not accepting negative situations and instead directs the individual towards trying to resolve and improve it. These issues have not yet been fully explored in Arab-Palestinian society in Israel. The development and application of notions of personal responsibility, critical thinking, and kindergarten-age children’s involvement in learning has yet to emerge as a reality in this community. This is needed because existing theory and practice involving these aspects of learning within the Palestinian system is problematic. Moreover, the development of a new approach to teaching and parenting of kindergarten-age children that fosters critical thinking and personal responsibility may not be a reality that is immediately achievable, but it is a possibility. This study aims to investigate how educational leaders can help kindergarten children aged 3-5 years to develop critical thinking and personal responsibility skills. The research focuses on Arab (Palestinian) children in Israel as these skills are not traditionally taught in the home or in educational settings in this culture. The literature shows that there is a marked disparity between the educational achievements of Arab and Jewish children in Israel, making the implications of this study salient not only to practitioners, but also to policymakers and educational institutions. In order to examine these goals, a case study involving qualitative research approaches of a kindergarten classroom has been conducted. The context of this study is an important and complex set of factors determining and shaping the content and form of the thesis and of the research that is embodied in the text. This study has been conducted in a kindergarten belonging to an Arab Municipality located in Northern Israel that was established in 2010 and is situated in a rural area in the north of the country. Lesson plans following the National Curriculum for Kindergarten Education were infused with teaching activities designed to facilitate the acquisition of critical thinking skills. The findings of the project showed that the presence of a strong educational leader had a positive impact on facilitating kindergarten children’s development of personal responsibility and critical thinking skills. This was especially the case if the leader played an active role in facilitating a learning environment at home and in school in which children were acknowledged and given greater autonomy and access to opportunities in which they could engage openly with parents and peers. This study calls attention to the need to further explore educational leadership in the context of early childhood education, as its implications for childhood development, particularly regarding critical thinking and personal responsibility, have not been sufficiently examined. This study claims to open possibilities for doing this in at least the Palestinian Kindergarten communities in Israel and perhaps beyond.

The concept of self-directed learning (SDL) has been extensively studied; however, the majority of studies have explored learners’ perspectives on SDL, with less attention paid to investigating SDL from educators’ perspectives. Surprisingly, while assessment and feedback have long been recognized as powerful elements which influence how learners approach their learning, and key research studies have examined how both assessment and feedback can encourage and enhance the development of SDL, this nevertheless remains an area that would benefit from increased attention. Moreover, although there is a growing body of literature investigating the cultural dimension of SDL, most of these studies are limited to examining the formation of SDL among individuals influenced by Western or Confucian cultures, ignoring the existence of other cultural groups. This study, which investigates Malaysian teacher educators’ conceptualisations of SDL, begins to address these gaps. The key research questions which guided the study are: 1) How do teacher educators in Malaysia conceptualise learning? 2) How do teacher educators in Malaysia conceptualise SDL? 3) To what extent do teacher educators in Malaysia perceive themselves as self-directed learners? 4) What kind of learning opportunities do teacher educators in Malaysia create for their learners to foster the development of SDL, and what is the particular role of assessment and feedback in SDL? Twenty Malaysian teacher educators were interviewed to obtain their views on SDL and to identify their pedagogical practices which may foster or hinder the development of SDL approaches among their learners. A constructivist grounded theory approach was used to inform the methodological framework of this study, whilst a hybrid inductive and deductive analysis approach was used to analyse the interview data. The findings of the current study suggest that most assessment and feedback practices are heavily focused on assessments designed by educators and on educator-generated feedback, in which learners are passive recipients. It is argued that these practices have significantly contradicted the primary principle of SDL, which characterises the learner as the key agent of his or her own learning. The findings of this study suggest that a more comprehensive conceptualisation of SDL is required that recognises the fundamental role of both the self and of educators in SDL, and acknowledges the impact of the socio-cultural context on SDL. Informed by the existing SDL literature, and derived from fine-grained analysis of the interview data, the proposed definition of SDL and reconceptualised SDL framework foreground SDL as socially constructed learning where the learner takes control of his or her own learning processes within complex socio cultural contexts. The thesis concludes by recommending that future research (i) explores the central role of assessment and feedback in the context of SDL and (ii) investigates the impact of various cultures on learning, in order to develop a broader and more nuanced understanding of SDL.

Thesis (MTech (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2007 / Daar kan nie van leerders (wat geleer is wat om te leer, hoe om dit te leer, wanneer en waar om dit te leer) verwag word om skielik verantwoordelikheid vir hulle eie leer in ons moderne informasie-era te aanvaar nie. Die probleem is dat die leerders nie blootgestel of die geleentheid gebied word om hulle eie leer te bestuur nie. Daarom moet onderrigmateriaal verseker dat die leerders blootgestel word aan die geleentheid om hulle eie leer te bestuur. Deur die gebruik van bestaande onderrigmateriaal, wat nie selfgerigte leer (SGL) koester me, kan leerders geforseer word om afbanklike leerders te bly en nie te ontwikkel tot lewenslange en selfgerigte leerders (leerders wat bevoeg is om op hulle eie te kan leer) nie. Verder veroorsaak die gebruik van bestaande onderrigmateriaal deur opvoeders dat die unieke behoeftes van die leerders in 'n klas nie in ag geneem word nie en dat opvoedergerigte leer in plaas van selfgerigte leer bevorder en aangemoedig word. Die rede hiervoor is dat opvoeders, weens 'n gebrek aan kennis van SGL, nie van beter weet nie. Die betroubaarheid van selfgerigte leer word versterk wanneer die opvoeders en die skeppers van onderrigmateriaal 'n deeglike begrip en kennis van die SGL-proses het. Die primere doel van hierdie navorsing is om kriteria te ontwikkel, wat as 'n riglyn kan dien om onderrigmateriaal wat SGL koester te ontwikkel- dus materiaal wat rigting aan die leerders gee om hulle eie leer te bestuur. Die kriteria is gevorm na aanleiding van 'n literatuurstudie van bestaande navorsing oor SGL en kundiges se evaluering van die kriteria. Na aanleiding van die kundiges se kommentaar is onderrigmateriaal, wat SGL koester, ontwikkel en weer aan die kundiges vir evaluering voorgele.