Colin Milligan

Charting collective knowledge: supporting self‐regulated learning in the workplace

Purpose – This study aims to outline an approach to improving the effectiveness of work‐based learning through knowledge creation and enhancing self‐regulated learning. The paper presents a case example of a novel approach to learning through knowledge creation in the workplace. This case example is based on empirical data collected through a study of the learning practices of knowledge workers employed within a large, multinational organization.Design/methodology/approach – The case example presented in this article is based on a study of the learning practices of knowledge workers employed within a large, multinational organization. Participants were members of a number of global, online knowledge sharing networks focused around the core technical and commercial disciplines of the company. Membership of each network ranged from a few hundred to a few thousand professionals at various stages of their career. The survey is available online at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6017514/survey.pdf The case study repo...

How health professionals regulate their learning in massive open online courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are typically designed around a self-guided format that assumes learners can regulate their own learning, rather than relying on tutor guidance. However, MOOCs attract a diverse spectrum of learners, who differ in their ability and motivation to manage their own learning. This study addresses the research question ‘How do professionals self-regulate their learning in a MOOC?’ The study examined the ‘Fundamentals of Clinical Trials’ MOOC offered by edX, and presents narrative descriptions of learning drawn from interviews with 35 course participants. The descriptions provide an insight into the goal-setting, self-efficacy, learning and task strategies, and help-seeking of professionals choosing to study this MOOC. Gaining an insight into how these self-regulatory processes are or are not enacted highlights potential opportunities for pedagogic and technical design of MOOCs.

Charting Collective Knowledge: Supporting Self-Regulated Learning in the Workplace

The aim of this paper is to propose an approach to enhancing self-regulated learning in the workplace. Drawing upon social-cognitive theories of self-regulated learning, we argue that current, individualised conceptualisations of self-regulated learning should be re-examined. These contradict the interactional and collaborative nature of the workplace where goal actuation is socially mediated, structured by and closely integrated within work tasks. We outline a mechanism that integrates individual and collective components to enhance goal actuation processes for self-regulated learning in the workplace. We term this mechanism ‘charting’ and provide scenarios illustrating how it might work in practice.

Measuring self‐regulated learning in the workplace

In knowledge‐intensive industries, the workplace has become a key locus of learning. To perform effectively, knowledge workers must be able to take responsibility for their own developmental needs, and in particular, to regulate their own learning. This paper describes the construction and validation of an instrument (the Self‐Regulated Learning at Work Questionnaire) designed to provide a measure of self‐regulated learning (SRL) behaviour in the workplace. The instrument has been validated through a pilot study with a cohort of 170 knowledge workers from the finance industry. Results indicate that the five scales of the instrument are reliable and valid, testing a broad range of sub‐processes of SRL. The instrument can be used to identify knowledge workers who demonstrate different levels of SRL in workplace contexts for further exploration through qualitative studies and could also provide the basis of professional development tools designed to explore opportunities for self‐regulation of learning in the workplace.

Validation of Davenport's classification structure of knowledge‐intensive processes

Purpose – This study aims to test the validity of a knowledge work typology proposed by Davenport. Although this typology has been referenced extensively in the literature, it does not appear to have been empirically validated.Design/methodology/approach – The typology was tested through a questionnaire survey among knowledge workers (n=459) in a multinational company. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to determine the knowledge work groupings arising from the survey.Findings – The vast majority of the respondents could not be grouped into any one of Davenports four knowledge work types. Furthermore, PCA revealed four groupings: low‐agency collaboration; low‐ agency routine work; rule‐based work; and high‐agency expert work. The results confirm only one of Davenports typology models, the Expert model. Davenports Collaboration model was found to have elements of the Transaction model. The Transaction and the Integration typology models were not confirmed. Instead, two further models incor...

Self-Regulated Learning Behaviour in the Finance Industry.

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the role of self-regulatory behaviours in predicting workplace learning. As work practices in knowledge-intensive domains become more complex, individual workers must take greater responsibility for their ongoing learning and development. Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted with knowledge workers from the finance industry. In all, 170 participants across a range of work roles completed a questionnaire consisting of three scales derived from validated instruments (measuring learning opportunities, self-regulated learning [SRL] and learning undertaken). The relationship between the variables was tested through linear regression analysis. Findings – Data analysis confirms a relationship between the learning opportunities provided by a role, and learning undertaken. Regression analysis identifies three key SRL behaviours that appear to mediate this relationship: task interest/value, task strategies and self-evaluation. Together they provide an insight int...

Workplace Learning in Informal Networks

Learning does not stop when an individual leaves formal education, but becomes increasingly informal, and deeply embedded within other activities such as work. This article describes the challenges of informal learning in knowledge intensive industries, highlighting the important role of personal learning networks. The article argues that knowledge workers must be able to self-regulate their learning and outlines a range of behaviours that are essential to effective learning in informal networks. The article identifies tools that can support these behaviours in the workplace and how they might form a personal work and learning environment.

Learning at transition for new and experienced staff

Purpose – This study aims to improve the understanding of the learning and development that occurs during initial and subsequent role transitions within knowledge intensive workplaces.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 19 knowledge workers in a multinational company and the learning experiences of new graduates contrasted with those of more experienced workers who had recently joined or changed role within the organization.Findings – Graduate recruits and more experienced workers utilise a similar range of learning approaches, favouring a combination of traditional formal learning, learning by doing and learning with and from others, but differ in the precise modes and strategies used. It was found that graduate induction provides appropriate support for initial transition into the workplace, but that experienced workers undergoing subsequent career transitions do not receive similar socialization support despite encountering similar challenges.Research limitation...

Developing early stage researchers

Purpose – Employability has been the focus of much activity at both research and policy levels within higher education. Initially focused primarily on undergraduate students, in the past few years this area has broadened to include the employability of doctoral candidates discussed within a larger debate on development of researchers. Despite a strong focus on this aspect of researcher development, discourse in this area still lacks evidence of the views of postgraduate researchers themselves on the issues of employability. In an attempt to address this gap, this paper seeks to explore the perceptions of social science doctoral candidates on a range of employability‐related issues.Design/methodology/approach – Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 full‐time doctoral candidates in different social science disciplines at a single UK university.Findings – The paper presents the views of social science doctoral candidates on three aspects of employability: the concept of employability and its mean...

Employability Development in the Context of Doctoral Studies: Systemic Tensions and the Views of Key Stakeholders

Although the employability of doctoral candidates has been a topic of much discussion, the views of key institutional stakeholders on the subject are little understood. In order to address this gap, this study explores the perceptions of doctoral candidates, supervisors and researcher developers through semi‐structured interviews. This small‐scale exploratory study adopted activity theory as an analytical lens in order to explore the key components of the employability development process and the tensions that might arise as a result of their interaction. Tensions identified relate to mismatches between the perceptions of key stakeholders and external requirements, drawbacks of employability development support as well as engagement of community members and low awareness of the rules that underpin the employability development process. The paper argues that in order for the employability agenda to be successful, it needs to become an integral part of the doctoral learning process.