Marcel van der Klink

Exploring the contribution of formal and informal learning to academic staff member employability: A Dutch perspective

Purposen – Little attention has been paid to the employability of academic staff and the extent to which continuous learning contributes to academic career success. The purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of formal and informal learning to employability. nnDesign/methodology/approachn – Survey data were obtained from 139 academic staff members employed at the Open University in the Netherlands. The questionnaire included employee characteristics, job characteristics, organizational context factors, formal learning and informal learning and employability variables. nnFindingsn – Informal learning, such as networking and learning value of the job, appeared to be solid contributors to employability, while the impact of formal learning activities was far less significant. Further, the study revealed the impact of employee and organizational context factors upon informal learning and employability. Age, salary and learning climate appeared to be strong predictors for informal learning, while promotions were shown to be highly positive contributors to employability. nnPractical implicationsn – The findings stress the value of informal learning, although human resource policies that encourage both formal and informal learning are recommended. nnOriginality/valuen – Academic careers comprise an under-researched area and the same applies to the relationship between learning and employability in the context of these types of careers.

Professional development of teacher educators: what do they do? Findings from an explorative international study

The attention being devoted to teacher educators as professionals and their professional development is unquestionably increasing. Whilst much of that attention is being directed at teacher educators in different countries, international comparisons have been quite rare to date. The research question addressed in this study was: ‘Do experienced teacher educators from different countries differ in their concerns, professional development activities and developmental goals?’ Interviews were conducted with 25 participants from 10 different countries, all of whom were experienced teacher educators. Teacher educators’ concerns varied in the course of their careers. During their induction their primary focus tended to be on survival, whereas later on in their careers their concerns became linked to their own professional identity and their students as individuals. Participants from all the participating countries were involved in a range of developmental activities. A large majority was involved in research-related activities which they perceived as an important tool in their professional development. All the participants had plans for their further professional development but sometimes foresaw hindrances to the realisation of those plans, such as a lack of resources and time. The interview data did not provide evidence to suggest clear country-specific differences. In fact, the opposite would appear to be the case: teacher educators from different countries seem to have similar concerns, and their current professional development activities and plans for future development are also quite comparable.

Unravelling the social dynamics of an industry–school partnership: social capital as perspective for co-creation

Increasingly, innovative collaboration between industry and schools is being exploited as a way of improving the quality and relevance of education. Even though these innovations appear to have substantial benefits, often the impact proves to fade away after their implementation. A better understanding of how to sustain complex innovations seems important. Unfortunately, only a limited amount of research investigates the ‘inside’ of complex innovations. This article reports on a three-year, large-scale industry–school programme in the Dutch Leisure sector. The research, from start to finish, adopted a qualitative case study methodology with a mixed-methods approach, drawing upon social capital theory as lens to understand the dynamics of processes and effect on outcomes. Findings indicate that the social capital theory helps to unravel crucial factors of processes and outcomes. The researched innovation process depended not so much on formal project plans and objectives but largely built on the quality of social relationships at all levels. Sustaining this social capital proved crucial, while managing according to a planned change strategy appeared to be counterproductive. The outcomes show to be twofold, in terms of new knowledge and products for the organisations and of sustainable benefits for the professionals, in terms of new abilities.

Knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation: social capital as HRD target

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of a conceptual model on relations between organisational innovation, knowledge productivity and social capital. It explores processes of knowledge productivity for sustainable innovation and associated HRD implications in knowledge intensive organisations, taking the perspective that social capital is a key influencing condition. Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative case-study concerned a large-scale innovation project between knowledge-intensive organisations. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 participants from six innovation groups as well as with the project management. Findings – Findings showed that four dimensions of social capital influence knowledge productivity, each requiring a minimum quality to create a rich innovation environment for sustainable results. The relational and cognitive dimensions seem most important, while the action dimension makes them productive. Knowledge productivity appears twofold, i...

The Co-Creation-Wheel: A four-dimensional model of collaborative, interorganisational innovation

Purpose n n n n nThis study aims to design and validate a conceptual and practical model of co-creation. Co-creation, to design collaborative new products, services and processes in contact with users, has become more and more important because organisations increasingly require multidisciplinary collaboration inside and outside the organisation to respond to challenges and create added value. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThis is a design and validation study, which uses mixed-methods, a reconstructive design and a semi-structured interview with a questionnaire as validation. The designed model is validated by 14 scholars and practitioners across fields. n n n n nFindings n n n n nDesigned is a conceptual and practical model, the four-dimensional Co-Creation-Wheel, which contains success factors for co-creation: 12 internal team factors plus 4 external conditions and a core. The validation study of this model, scientifically and as a practical instrument, supported the importance of the components of the model and suggested slight improvements. This resulted in a refinement of the first designed Co-Creation-Wheel. n n n n nResearch limitations/implications n n n n nAlthough restricted usefulness to large-scale structured innovation practices was expected, the instrument has a broader reach. First applications demonstrate that this Co-Creation-Wheel is multifunctional and international. It inspires, supports reflection of collaboration, stimulates interventions to enhance co-creation practices and human resource development (HRD) activities and is able to measure the quality of co-creation elements. Further research on its effects in co-creation practices is necessary, especially on the role of HRD in co-creation.. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nThis study is the first to design and validate a multifaceted, holistic conceptual and practical model of co-creation that is easy to use for innovators in practice and is multifunctional.

When Leadership Powers Team Learning: A Meta-Analysis:

Team learning behavior is found to be one of the most effective team processes, as learning behavior at the team level (e.g., sharing, discussing, and reflecting on knowledge and actions) enables teams to adapt existing or develop new knowledge. Team leadership behavior is considered a critical accelerant for creating conditions that are essential to engage in team learning behavior, such as a safe environment. Yet despite the growing amount of research in team learning, this relationship remains unclear. Meta-analytic techniques were used to examine when team leadership behaviors support team learning behavior and how the task type moderates that relationship. Forty-three empirical studies reporting 92 effect sizes were synthesized. Analyses show that team leadership behavior explains 18% of the variance in team learning behavior. Furthermore, results indicate that person-focused leaders foster team learning for both adaptive and developmental tasks, whereas task-focused leaders influence team learning for adaptive tasks only.

Is the first-year predictive for study success in subsequent years? Findings from an academy of music

ABSTRACT In higher education, departments are under increasing pressure to improve study success. Research in this field focusing on higher music education is scarce. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the predictive capability of the first year for study success of students at an academy of music in subsequent years. Data on study progression of 327 students were examined and courses with low pass rates were identified. In order to determine to what extent the first-year curriculum is selective, feasible and representative for the curriculum of subsequent years, group interviews and a survey were carried out. A clear relationship was found between study progress in year 1 and subsequent years. These results provide more insight into the predictive capability of the first year and have led to recommendations in how to improve study success in an academy of music.

Toetsen van werkplekleren

Leren op de werkplek is een belangrijk onderdeel van het curriculum in het hoger onderwijs. Van oudsher wordt leren op de werkplek synoniem geacht aan stages, maar de laatste twintig jaar zijn ook andere vormen van werkplekleren in opkomst, zoals duale opleidingen, leerafdelingen en het leren in communities. Veel opleidingen beschouwen werkplekleren als iets wat buiten hun gezichtsveld plaatsvindt en de bemoeienis met studenten en hun werkplekbegeleiders gedurende de periode van het werkplekleren is dan ook minimaal. Dat is onterecht, omdat uiteindelijk de opleiding ook de eindverantwoordelijkheid draagt voor de kwaliteit van werkplekleren en voor de toetsing ervan. In dit hoofdstuk wordt gepleit voor het hanteren van een mix van instrumenten voor het beoordelen van werkplekleren. Het hoofdstuk beschrijft een aantal kenmerken van werkplekleren en gaat vervolgens in op instrumenten voor toetsing die passend zijn bij werkplekleren.