Catherine H. Monaghan

Communities of Practice: A Learning Strategy for Management Education.

Teaching students self-directed learning skills provides benefits that outlast individual courses. An individual self-directed approach is insufficient, however, given the fast pace of change students encounter in their professional lives. Communities of practice combine self-directed and collaborative learning to meet the challenges of today’s dynamic organizational environment. This article introduces a learning strategy based on communities of practice to help students gain in-depth knowledge about an individual passion related to the course topic that, in turn, contributes effectively to students’ professional development outside of the formal classroom setting. In this article, I briefly discuss the characteristics of communities of practice in organizational environments, including their relevance and effectiveness; provide the details for implementing communities of practice as a learning strategy in a management education classroom; and present an assessment of this learning strategy.

From Students to Scholars: The Transformative Power of Communities of Practice.

Participating in a doctoral program can be a transformative experience that shapes the identity of the learner. What learning spaces might best facilitate that identity development? This article presents the findings of a study examining doctoral student perspectives of participating in a Community of Practice (COP) intentionally used to foster emerging scholar identities. The researchers examined the actual experience of the participants, explored the impact on their identities as scholars, and, finally, compared with other types of similar teaching models. The findings suggest identities shifted and self-efficacy increased among all the participants in the COP. In addition, the power of this model may be most important in the area of continuity and continued growth a year after the class ended.

Transformative Vocational Education: Bridging Transitions of Underserved Urban Adult Learners

How our culture thinks about particular events as linear, normal, and expected does not always fit with the experiences of every learner, particularly underserved urban adult learners. As adult educators in this context, are there ways we might improve or change our pedagogy of instruction by developing a better understanding of transitional life moments for vocational learners. What is the role of alternative approaches to transformative learning for these learners? Specifically, what is the role of alternative approaches learning for underserved adult learners transitioning into a vocational education classroom, after years of disengagement with formal learning institutions with the need to update their technology skills? In this article, we discuss the need to use alternative conceptions of transformative learning to understand vocational learners as they make decisions to participate in vocational education programs. We explore the key issues for adult educators including implications for practice and research.

Review of Studying Management Critically

lytical or critical enough. Is it therefore a comparative account? I am not sure that such descriptive accounts could be called comparative in themselves. So if it is not really comparative, what general points can be made? There are some obvious ones: political history, educational history, and relevant educational legislation help us understand what has happened to UCE within geographical contexts. Issues such as social exclusion are of great concern in European lifelong learning policy, and it is interesting to see how (and why) they are taken up in some, but not all, accounts. However, for me, this somewhat superficial analysis does not really satisfy. First, I want to know much more about the hidden stories I sometimes glimpsed of passionate individuals and departments who were committed to opening up their institutions to adults. This localized activism might explain why systematic approaches within countries are relatively rare; but it should not be dismissed as “patchy” or “incoherent”—it is often the “engine” of UCE. Second, like all guidebooks, I think the book will have to be judged by the use others make of it. Is it an adequate start for those who are trying to understand the range of perspectives on this issue, or to grapple with an initial understanding of a country’s UCE system? Third, I judge guidebooks by what they say about my own town or country. I recognize the place described by Mike Osborne in his chapter on the United Kingdom, although I do not always agree with his analysis; for example, the issue of class that has informed so much debate about higher education and UCE in the United Kingdom is not given the preeminence I would expect. However, he has managed to give a flavor of the historical and political complexity of what it has been like to be in the field. So from this point of view, if the other chapters are in such trustworthy hands (and I have no way of judging), at least I have some references to follow up. This is a very expensive text and it will only be current for a short time. However, even if you are only interested in working out where you should visit on your next academic tour, you will find it useful. If you are a serious comparative scholar, you will not find enough here to write your papers, but you will find some decent leads.