Gayle Morris

Enhancing the Experience of Student Teams in Large Classes Training Teaching Assistants to be Coaches

To address the increasing demand for mass undergraduate management education and, at the same time, a greater emphasis on student teamwork, this study outlines the development, delivery, and evaluation of a training intervention designed to build team-coaching skills in teaching assistants. Specifically, practice-centered and problem-centered techniques were used to provide teaching assistants with experiential learning opportunities to help them develop their skills. The authors evaluated the training intervention using a mixed-method multiple-data source design. Both the teaching assistants being trained as well as the student teams’ experiences and perceptions of their coaches’ performance were assessed. The evaluation showed that teaching assistants reported finding the program a positive experience. Importantly, students with trained coaches reported higher levels of coaching performance, team functioning, and productivity than those with untrained coaches. The implications of this intervention are discussed.

Learning for/at work:Somali women “doing it for themselves”

This article draws on the understanding of the lives and experiences of two Somali women, as case studies, to examine the relationship between identity, work and language learning. It begins with a brief discussion of embodied knowledge, with a view to exploring how “know how” intersects with literacy and identity. The article then moves to the two case studies to illustrate how certain experiences of work, and of seeking work, embody vital knowledge. The article concludes by considering how this practical embodied knowledge can be confirmed and harnessed to enrich adults’ learning for the workplace.

The Role of Assessment in the Development of Judgement

Abstract This paper introduces an integrated assessment model developed within a project management discipline stream in a Construction Management course. Following Boud and Falchikov (2007) this model starts with practice, that is, the actual ‘doing’ of project management as the basis for shaping assessment that equips students to learn for the rest of their lives. Practice is understood as a holistic conception of what professionals do in particular contexts, and a theoretical construct that provides a method of framing ways in which we can investigate the world (Schatzki, 2001). This approach opens the way for considerations of assessment that engage with, and cultivate, certain kinds of professional learning and identity formation including the development of judgement. Integral to the model is the non-sequential nature of assessment activities, evolving team formation and ongoing self and communal reflection. The paper concludes that the use of an authentic and integrated assessment model creates a compelling learning environment that contributes meaningfully to the development of skills, knowledge and identities for future professional learning.