Epistemic Fluency And Professional Education

This book, by combining sociocultural, material, cognitive and embodied perspectives on human knowing, offers a new and powerful conceptualisation of epistemic fluency – a capacity that underpins knowledgeable professional action and innovation. Using results from empirical studies of professional education programs, the book sheds light on practical ways in which the development of epistemic fluency can be recognised and supported - in higher education and in the transition to work. The book provides a broader and deeper conception of epistemic fluency than previously available in the literature. Epistemic fluency involves a set of capabilities that allow people to recognize and participate in different ways of knowing. Such people are adept at combining different kinds of specialised and context-dependent knowledge and at reconfiguring their work environment to see problems and solutions anew. In practical terms, the book addresses the following kinds of questions. What does it take to be a productive member of a multidisciplinary team working on a complex problem? What enables a person to integrate different types and fields of knowledge, indeed different ways of knowing, in order to make some well-founded decisions and take actions in the world? What personal knowledge resources are entailed in analysing a problem and describing an innovative solution, such that the innovation can be shared in an organization or professional community? How do people get better at these things; and how can teachers in higher education help students develop these valued capacities? The answers to these questions are central to a thorough understanding of what it means to become an effective knowledge worker and resourceful professional.

This book presents a mobile technology capacity building framework that offers academics, students, and practitioners involved in workplace education a deeper understanding of, and practical guidance on, how mobile technology can enhance professional learning. Approaching professional and workplace learning as a hybrid space in which work, learning and technology meet, the book discusses the value of mobile technology in shaping professional education, particularly during student placements. The framework focuses on staying professional and safe, considering issues of time and place, planning learning activities, initiating dialogue, networking, creating learning opportunities on-the-go, and deepening reflection. It is designed to assist students and their educators to use mobile technology knowledgeably and responsibly, and to help bridge the gap between university learning and workplace practice. This book also contributes to a better understanding of the interconnectedness between learning, practice and technology. It demonstrates how to enhance learning and working with mobile technology by drawing on two perspectives: the ‘professional-plus’ and the ‘deliberate professional’.

A collection of the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training written by international experts The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an in-depth guide to the theories, practices, and policies of vocational education and training (VET). With contributions from a panel of leading international scholars, the Handbook contains 27 authoritative essays from a wide range of disciplines. The contributors present an integrated analysis of the complex and dynamic field of VET. Drawing on the most recent research, thinking, and practice in the field, the book explores the key debates about the role of VET in the education and training systems of various nations. The Handbook reveals how expertise is developed in an age of considerable transformation in work processes, work organization, and occupational identities. The authors also examine many of the challenges of vocational education and training such as the impact of digital technologies on employment, the demand for (re)training in the context of extended working lives, the emergence of learning regions and skill ecosystems, and the professional development of vocational teachers and trainers. This important text: Offers an original view of VET’s role in both the initial and continuing development of expertise Examines the theories and concepts that underpin international perspectives and explores the differences about the purposes of VET Presents various models of learning used in VET, including apprenticeship, and their relationship with general education Explores how VET is shaped in different ways by the political economy of different countries Reviews how developments in digital technologies are changing VET practice Discusses the challenges for universities offering higher vocational education programs Draws on both recent research as well as historical accounts Written for students, researchers, and scholars in the fields of educational studies, human resource development, social policy, political economy, labor market economics, industrial relations, sociology, The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training offers an international perspective on the topic of VET.

Beginning and well-seasoned researchers alike face significant challenges in understanding the complexities of research designs arising from both within and across methodological paradigms, and in applying them in ways that maximise impact on knowledge, practice, and policy. This volume engages educational and social researchers in a scholarly debate offering some crucial re-interpretations of established research methodologies in light of contemporary conditions and critical introduction to some contemporary research approaches yet to gain general recognition. This book is a contemporary vademecum for researchers, practitioners and graduate students on research methodologies and designs for educational and social change in today’s world. The chapters chart and analyse the conceptual and practical complexities of a variety research designs for contemporary educational and social work research. This anthology, taken overall, provides readers with the knowledge and understanding needed not only to design technically sound and coherent research studies, but also to develop methodologically innovative research projects that cross the boundaries between different methodological traditions to the benefit of scholarship, policy, and practice. The chapters cover nine research approaches: - Design-based research - Action research - Ethnomethodological research - Negotiated ethnography - Arts-informed research - Historical analysis and postcolonial scholarship - Policy analysis - Comparative research - Quantitative modelling of correlational and multi-level data The book provides a critical discussion of epistemological questions and methodological frontiers: - Knowledge and epistemology in scholarship, practice and policy - Digital knowledge and digital research - Emerging methodological challenges for educational research - Challenges and futures for social work and social policy research methods - Methodology and the knowledge industry

Challenging Future Practice Possibilities examines influences that are maintaining the status quo and others that are pushing interest-driven change.

understandings that can make a difference in students' lives. --

In Knowledge, Curriculum, and Preparation for Work, Stephanie Allais and Yael Shalem offer a timely collection of articles approaching debates on economic and social change and employment within different types of economies.

This textbook evolves from the intersection between ‘Research’, ‘Educational Information Technologies’ and recent ‘Best Practices’. It offers diplomacy and erudite rhetoric in order to harvest from innovation projects and see how new professional needs for teachers are emerging day by day. The volume launches the compact background for the 21st century education that every teacher faces after being in charge for 3 or 6 years after pre-service training. ‘Sources for a better education’ refers to the deep understanding and to the incentives for encouraging teachers to leave the comfort zone and experiment the next steps into a further sophisticated professionalism, without the threat of feeling in a ‘Dilemma’. The first candidate for extending one’s teaching effectiveness is to tailor one’s teaching to the test to be expected. ‘Teaching to the Test’ is an understandable tactic, however it endangers the students’ full understanding of underlying concepts and analogies. The second candidate for professionalism is the deeper layer of knowledge on how curricular domains are related. In simpler terms: better teachers know how to ‘bridge’ topics and subjects so that students develop a deeper understanding on the patterns and structure in knowledge. The 21st century education prioritizes higher degrees of flexible-, divergent and abstract thinking, so that creative problem solving comes into reach. ICT tools for making prior knowledge explicit is a major example on how learners harvest upon prior knowledge, thinking and intuition. The third source for a better education is the courage to envisage one’s meta knowledge in order to see patterns in learning and understanding. The more conscious prior knowledge gets decompiled into genetic metaphors; the better future learning can be anticipated. The fourth asset for meta-cognitive skills is the wide spectrum of tools that the web offers for building knowledge infra-structures so that knowledge becomes transformed into problem solving skills; the availability of knowledge is no longer sufficient for finding creative and authentic solutions in future situations. This is the case for both students and teachers. By tradition, the bottom-up strategy from reproductive factual learning up to the levels of problem solving and creative thinking has been favoured. The ‘one-click away’ access to information on the web asks a more strategic attitude from learners and practitioners to cope with the periphery between known and unknown, so that a more effective meta-cognition develops. The fifth stimulus for more effective learning is the expanding impact of social media. Social media tend to intimidate learners with incomplete understanding to jump on biases as delivered through political and conspiracy agendas. This books aims at the challenge to build upon learners’ existential needs and developing interest for a longer-term learning perspective. “Renaissance man and philosopher Piet Kommers presents us with an interesting question: What makes education exciting? His book covers a range of lessons learnt through research and practice, covering philosophies and paradoxes, ranging from learning to learn to machine learning for learning. In 35 chapters he takes us on an exciting, comprehensive journey of just about every conceivable aspect of technology and education. This is a must-have for every 21st Century bookshelf!” By: Johannes Cronjé, professor of Digital Teaching and Learning in the Department of Information Technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa. “Piet Kommers has in 400 pages provided an overview of teaching based on practical experience. It is not a summary of pedagogic models, but a guide to important factors in how to motivate students and thus improve their learning. New technologies changes teaching, and we need to understand how application of such technologies can improve the learning. This book provides such knowledge and I wish I had it when I started teaching at university many years ago.” By: Jan Frick, Professor Business School, University of Stavanger, Norway. "Piet Kommers delivers a very thorough book with a holistic perspective on Learning Technologies. This book is a result of many years of experience that the author has in Higher Education. It comprises lessons learned from the author ́s professional career, including inputs from European Union research projects, as well as diversified interactions with a wide range of Peoples and Cultures. The result is a unique perspective that is a must-read for anyone interested in Learning Technologies, past, present, and future!" By: Pedro Isaias, associate professor at the Information Systems & Technology Management School of The University of New South Wales (UNSW – Sydney), Australia. “Distinguished Professor and Thinker Dr. Piet Kommers presents the academic community with a new horizon on education that reflects the current and future technology trends in the e-Learning and Fast Internet ubiquity. The Book discusses the current and most recent advances in research and application of most effective learning methods in conjunction with the future directions in machine learning in support of learning. The Book's 35 chapters present cutting-edge technologies and state-of-the-art learning methods in support of best educational practices and the student's best learning experience. The Book is most valuable asset to educator's community pursuing the mission of excellence in the Third Millennium!” By: Eduard Babulak, Professor, Computational Sciences, Liberty University, Lynchburg, USA. "Well-known scientist, (e-)learning expert and philosopher Piet Kommers presents us with an interesting question: What makes education exciting? His book covers a range of lessons learnt through research and practice, covering philosophies and paradoxes, ranging from ‘learning to learn’ to ‘machine learning for learning’. In 35 chapters he takes us on an exciting, comprehensive journey of just about every conceivable aspect of technology and education. This is an interesting and useful publication for all educators as well as learners and must-have for every 21st Century bookshelf!" By: Eugenia Smyrnova-Trybulska, Dr. hab., associate professor, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Art and Sciences of Education, University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. “The book presents a mosaic of assets reflecting the vast international experience in research and realization of learning technologies of the author, honourable professor of the UNESCO Chair in New information technologies in education for all, Piet Kommers. Describing various aspects of learning strategies, approaches, techniques and technologies in a concise way, he engages the readers into the mental construction of a "big picture" and makes them reconsider routine processes of teaching and learning. Exciting and thought-provoking reading for educators, researchers, and devoted learners.” By: professor Volodymyr Gritsenko, Director of the International Research and Training Centre for Information Technologies and Systems, National Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Head of the UNESCO Chair.