Background: Preparing healthcare professionals for teaching is regarded as essential to enhancing teaching effectiveness. Although many reports describe various faculty development interventions, there is a paucity of research demonstrating their effectiveness.Objective: To synthesize the existing evidence that addresses the question: “What are the effects of faculty development interventions on the knowledge, attitudes and skills of teachers in medical education, and on the institutions in which they work?”Methods: The search, covering the period 1980–2002, included three databases (Medline, ERIC and EMBASE) and used the keywords: staff development; in-service training; medical faculty; faculty training/development; continuing medical education. Manual searches were also conducted.Articles with a focus on faculty development to improve teaching effectiveness, targeting basic and clinical scientists, were reviewed. All study designs that included outcome data beyond participant satisfaction were accepted....

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A systematic review of faculty development initiatives designed to improve teaching effectiveness in medical education: BEME Guide No. 8.

A systematic review of faculty development initiatives designed to improve teaching effectiveness in medical education: BEME Guide No. 8

Continuing to learn is universally accepted and expected by professionals and other stakeholders across all professions. However, despite changes in response to research findings about how professionals learn, many professional development practices still focus on delivering content rather than enhancing learning. In exploring reasons for the continuation of didactic practices in professional development, this article critiques the usual conceptualization of professional development through a review of recent literature across professions. An alternative conceptualization is proposed, based on philosophical assumptions congruent with evidence about professional learning from seminal educational research of the past two decades. An argument is presented for a shift in discourse and focus from delivering and evaluating professional development programs to understanding and supporting authentic professional learning.

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Reframing Professional Development Through Understanding Authentic Professional Learning

This study investigates the effectiveness of using e-learning in teaching in tertiary institutions. In institutions of higher education, the issue of utilizing modern information and communication technologies for teaching and learning is very important. This study reviews literature and gives a scholarly background to the study by reviewing some contributions made by various researchers and institutions on the concept of e-learning, particularly its usage in teaching and learning in higher educational institutions. It unveils some views that people and institutions have shared globally on the adoption and integration of e-learning technologies in education through surveys and other observations. It looks at the meaning or definitions of e-learning as given by different researchers and the role that e-learning plays in higher educational institutions in relation to teaching and learning processes, and the advantages and disadvantages of its adoption and implemention.

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The role of e-learning, the advantages and disadvantages of its adoption in Higher Education.

In the last 20 years we have witnessed a return of the practice concept in studies of organizing, learning and knowing. Practice has been used as a lens for the reinterpretation of many organizational phenomena, and it seems that a bandwagon of practice-based studies has been set in motion by the coining of labels, which comprise the term ‘practice’. A bandwagon can serve to institutionalize a field of studies by progressive labelling and a collective appropriation of the general label.We wonder if this has been the case for practice-based studies? The article presents seven labels and discusses their similarities and differences in order to demonstrate that, while the institutionalization of practice-based studies may be considered an achieved goal, the collective appropriation of the label has not been achieved, and therefore, the bandwagon is heading for a partition.

Through the practice lens: Where is the bandwagon of practice-based studies heading?

This paper addresses the question of who is involved in learning in workplaces and the ways in which members of workgroups learn as part of their normal work. It draws on qualitative data from a study of multiple worksites with differentiated work within a large organisation. It examines the value of the notion of communities of practice in conceptualising such workplace learning and suggests that other forms of conceptualisation are also needed.

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Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning

This paper addresses the question of who is involved in learning in workplaces. It draws on a study of multiple worksites with differentiated work within a large educational organization. It discusses the value of communities of learning in conceptualizing the question and suggests that additional factors such as social networks, structural relationships and the context of particular work need to be considered. Introduction Learning at work constitutes a large part of the learning undertaken by adults during their lives. This paper investigates a fundamental aspect of this: who do we learn from at work? This is important because firstly, there have been suggestions that formal systematic learning is of much lesser importance than informal learning and, secondly, it has been argued that the person who is expected by organizations to foster learning in the workplace—the workplace supervisor—is unable to do so effectively because of other features of their role (Hughes, in press). The work reported here is part of a broader study focusing on the relational aspects of learning at work which aims to uncover informal learning. It draws on interviews with workers in diverse worksites within a single organization and presents preliminary findings about how these workers find what they need to learn effectively. The study draws on the framework of communities of practice (Wengers 1998). This idea is utilized to represent the informal learning that takes place every day in workplaces. According to Wenger, social participation within the community is the key to informal learning. It is embedded in the practices and relationships of the workplace and helps to create identity and meaning. It both complements and can substitute for formal learning mechanisms. However, informal learning is often not acknowledged as learning, but is typically regarded as being ‘part of the job’ or a mechanism for ‘doing the job properly’ and is thus rendered invisible The project of which the research reported in this paper is a part is a joint endeavour between the University of Technology, Sydney and the largest provider of vocational education and training in Australia–the New South Wales Department of Education and Training (a state government department) (Solomon et al 2001). The project aims to find ways in which informal learning can be more effectively utilized within organizations. Method The focus on the ‘who’ of learning informed the methodological approach in that the research has been qualitative—employing long interviews and social network analysis as the primary instruments to draw out subjective experiences of work and learning. Each member of a workgroup was given a semistructured interview lasting approximately 45 minutes which sought to investigate general information on their role and their career trajectory, who were the primary sources of workplace information, and how any challenges in the jobs were dealt with. They were then asked to draw a map of who they communicated with regarding workplace matters over the period of the following five days. The data was analyzed to identify the issues discussed with other workers and who they related to with respect to which kind of issue. In addition to these interviews, members of the project team spent time in the worksites seeking to understand and document the context of the work and the nature of the activities in which participants engaged. Those interviewed were employees at four worksites of the organization within the Sydney metropolitan area. The sites were chosen to maximize variation in workplace activity and the diversity of work and working relationships. The first group (strategy planners) is a specialized unit offering advice to the leader of a group of colleges (the Institute Director) on current trends and future educational planning. It includes senior college management and administrative support personnel across several geographical locations. A second group (tiling teachers) is a unit in a single physical location comprising floor and wall tiling teachers of many years standing. Another (human resources) is an administrative, office-based human resources unit with personnel staff working in teams closely with each other. The fourth (business outreach) is a group of business studies teachers who offer training exclusively off-campus to commercial clients. Because of space limitations, this paper will report directly on the findings of the first three of these groups. Findings Analysis of the interviews and social networks yielded two significant findings with regard to the ‘who’ of informal learning. The first concerns the interaction between context and the form of the learning that occurs, and the second is the significance of informal networks for learning. These are considered together here. Despite belonging to a large bureaucracy which sought to homogenize work practices through extensive documentation of policy and procedures, unsurprisingly, each of the workgroups exhibited a unique context and learning experience. Tiling Teachers The tiling teachers are a well established unit who have worked together for at least ten years. Formally, they are considered to be peers, apart from the senior head teacher who is two grades above them. In recent years their learning has encompassed coming to grips with significant changes in their curriculum imposed by the institution, the use of computers for both teaching and administrative purposes and product changes within the industry. The head teacher has attempted to master all of this, plus come to terms with the multiplying administrative demands of the organization. The head teacher’s role is key in managing the information flow to the unit and therefore the learning of its staff. He passes information on verbally at regular informal lunchtime gatherings. He reads trade journals, newsletters and the administrative updates that come into the unit, marks the relevant sections and passes them around to the other teachers to read. He receives information about ongoing changes within the institution through involvement with committees, his participation in external working groups and consultancies on behalf of the organization. When one of the tilers was asked how he accessed information about what was happening or what counted in the organization, he responded: “we’ve got a head teacher to do that”. When it comes to teaching matters, the picture is less clearcut. Discussions about the lack of effectiveness of the new curriculum have taken place extensively among all of the teachers, both at their informal meetings and among individuals. The results of the discussions were reported to other levels in the college, once again by the head teacher, and feedback on their input was received. Interestingly, another source of feedback to the teachers about the effectiveness of the curriculum is a vicarious one—the students who are apprenticed to tilers report the opinions of their bosses about what they have learnt, and sometimes information about new products filters back to the teachers in this way. The challenge of adapting to computers has been a key area of learning. While some have taught themselves how to use computers with enthusiasm, there has been resistance to their use by others. The cause of the resistance for most of them appears to be because retirement is their next career move, and they are not prepared to invest effort in learning how to use email or new online student administrative systems. The computer enthusiasts within the group act as a learning resource for the others. One teacher describes both his learning and his resistance this way: “Hank’s incredible with the computer. He’s taught me everything I know, which is probably nothing.” The teachers draw primarily on each other as resources for solving issues with students and have devised an informal division of labor among themselves for administration tasks such as typing and filing the curriculum notes and drawing specialized diagrams—tasks which may well have been done by an administrative assistant in the past. There is little need for them to seek any kind of assistance outside their own unit. In fact they have very little contact with other tiling teachers in the state, and meet only informally with these colleagues on annual golf days. They have some contact with industry specialists who visit them and speak to their students about new products and these people are relied on in turn to solve problems that occur with the use of those products. Occasional social contacts with working tilers help to keep them informed about developments in the industry. Strategy Planners The contrast between the tilers and the strategic planning group could not be greater. Many of these people have reached the pinnacle of their careers in the organization, having been teachers and head teachers or having held other significant management positions. They were drawn together as assistant faculty directors (ADFs) to form part of a unit which was created only two years prior to this study. The roles they undertook were also newly created, and evolved from a major restructure. In addition to providing planning advice to the Institute Director, each one holds responsibility for a faculty of up to five divisions. Initially they were required to explore what their role on paper entailed in practice, which was fundamentally a process of trial and error. Some months into the job it emerged that the advice they were providing to the Director was not what was required and a major reassessment of the roles ensued. This was undertaken as a problem solving exercise. While there was some formal input, sharing of their experiences and collective knowledge over time was the focal point. This pattern of sharing knowledge is now characteristic of the ADFs, with all of them nominating their colleagues as primary sources for information and discussion of issues within their own facul

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Who Do We Learn from at Work? Interlinked Communities of Practice and Informal Learning

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many refugee communities faced intensified economic and social challenges. This longitudinal study began three years prior to the COVID pandemic and examined the effects of COVID on refugee outcomes in the United States including employment, health insurance, safety, and discrimination. The study also examined participant perspectives on COVID-related challenges. Participants included 42 refugees who resettled approximately three years prior to the onset of the pandemic. Data were collected at six months, 12 months, two years, three years, and four years postarrival, with the pandemic beginning between years 3 and 4. Linear growth models examined how the pandemic impacted participant outcomes over time. Descriptive analyses examined perspectives regarding pandemic challenges. Results indicated that during the pandemic, employment and safety significantly decreased. Participant concerns regarding the pandemic centered on health, economic challenges, and isolation. Attention to refugee outcomes during the COVID pandemic highlight the need for social work practitioners to promote equitable access to information and social supports, particularly during times of uncertainty.

Heather Middleton

Papers

Learning from others at work: communities of practice and informal learning

Who Do We Learn from at Work? Interlinked Communities of Practice and Informal Learning

A Longitudinal Study Examining the Effects of COVID-19 on Refugees Four Years Postresettlement in the United States.