Learning in interactive work situations: It takes two to tango; why not invite both partners to dance?
✍ Scribed by Hanneke Koopmans; Anja J. Doornbos; Ilse M. van Eekelen
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2006
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 145 KB
- Volume
- 17
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1044-8004
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Learning that arises from interactions at work is the focus of this study. More specifically, the concrete activities of adult learners and their interaction partners were of interest because such learning activities largely determine the quality of learning outcomes. The results of the study are summarized in the form of a typology of interactive learning behaviors for adult learners (that is, workers) and their interaction partners at work. The similarities and differences among three occupational groupsteachers, financial service professionals, and police officers groups-were examined, and explanations were sought based on the nature of work and power. The results can help adult learners and their interaction partners enter into a more equal, dyadic, and reciprocal learning process and thereby contribute to a critical human resource development perspective.
The importance of interaction for workplace learning is being increasingly emphasized. Research shows that people are often asked to work closely with others within the work organization to develop creative new solutions to various challenges (Marsick & Volpe, 1999). In a broad qualitative study of learning within the fields of engineering, business, and health care, "learning from other people and the challenge of the work itself proved to be the most important dimensions of learning" (Eraut, Alderton, Cole, & Senker, 1998b, p. 37). Daley (2001) examined how knowledge becomes meaningful for different professional practices and, consistent with the findings of Eraut et al. (1998a), found that work experiences and interactions with colleagues contribute the