Provides leaders with strategies and methods to change the way learning and training occurs for new engineers Takes a holistic view behind the low numbers of women in engineering using a problem solving approach centered on Lean Development (LD) Provides a direct comparison with the field of STEM and medicine and how the methods of training and learning can help minimizes bias and increase gender confidence Explores the lack of written knowledge (reusable knowledge) and uses methods of Lean Development (LD) to level the playing field between men and women Highlights the critical need for new female engineers to have access to mentors using technical coaching methods

Knowledge is one of today's few meaningful resources. Equip yourself to ride the rollercoaster of racing change, globalism and technological super-innovation that is life and work in our age. Completely revised and updated for the 2000s, The Adult Learner at Work, 2nd edition is for educators, trainers and managers who want to stay in touch with the latest thinking in their fields. Dr Robert Burns explains the important changes that have swept through the field of post-compulsory education and the worldwide swing to the lifelong learning as the gateway to a learning society. When work, education and life satisfaction can truly intermesh, sustainable prosperity becomes achievable. Robert Burns explores such questions as: * What conditions have created lifelong learning, learning societies and learning organisations? * How have government and business responded? * What methods and processes enhance the learning potential of adults? * How can we motivate adults to learn? * What are the effects of advancing age on our ability to learn? * Is competency training an effective tool for encouraging learning? This new edition examines how and why we must facilitate the learning potential of all members of society. The Adult Learner at Work, 2nd edition provides an attractive vision of the development of learning environments in the workplace and the community setting-integrating skill learning and personal development using well founded principles of adult learning.

As part of e-learning, adaptive systems are more specialized and focus on the adaptation of learning content and presentation of this content. An adaptive system focuses on how knowledge is learned and pays attention to the activities, cognitive structures, and context of the learning material. The adaptive term refers to the automatic adaptation of the system to the learner. The needs of the learner are borne by the system itself. The learner did not ask to change the parameters of the system to his own needs; it is rather the needs of the learner that will be supposed by the system. The system adapts according to this necessity. Personalization and Collaboration in Adaptive E-Learning is an essential reference book that aims to describe the specific steps in designing a scenario for a collaborative learning activity in the particular context of personalization in adaptive systems and the key decisions that need to be made by the teacher-learner. By applying theoretical and practical aspects of personalization in adaptive systems and applications within education, this collection features coverage on a broad range of topics that include adaptive teaching, personalized learning, and instructional design. This book is ideally designed for instructional designers, curriculum developers, educational software developers, IT specialists, educational administrators, professionals, professors, researchers, and students seeking current research on comparative studies and the pedagogical issues of personalized and collaborative learning.

Microlearning in the Digital Age explores the design and implementation of bite-sized learning and training in technology-enabled environments. Grounded in research-based best practices and a robust, eight-dimensional framework, this book applies the latest developments in mobile learning, social media, and instructional/multimedia design to one of today's most innovative and accessible content delivery systems. Featuring experts from higher education, information technology, digital gaming, corporate, and other contexts, this comprehensive guide will prepare graduate students, researchers, and professionals of instructional design, e-learning, and distance education to develop engaging, cost-effective microlearning systems.

Adults have been and remain marginalized in academic institutions because of the persistence of a deeply rooted culture bias. This work analyzes the current state of the adult student experience in higher education, exploring the organizational, instructional, and interpersonal barriers that adults face in reaching their educational goals. Using applied critical and postmodern theory, the author explores the hypothesis that adults are at-risk in higher education settings because of such bias. The book includes an extensive review and critique of the literature and of contemporary adult programs and practices. In addition, adult students' personal accounts of their academic experiences are presented. This study not only reveals the nature and scope of the obstacles faced by adult students, but begins to suggest tangible ways students and educators can work to overcome them.

This book presents a comprehensive overview of extant literature on competence-based vocational and professional education since the introduction of the competence concept in the 1950s. To structure the fi eld, the book distinguishes between three approaches to defi ning competence, based on 1.functional behaviourism, 2. integrated occupationalism, and 3. situated professionalism. It also distinguishes between two ways of operationalizing competence: 1. behaviour-oriented generic, and 2. task-oriented specifi c competence. Lastly, it identifi es three kinds of competencies, related to: 1. specific activities, 2. known jobs, and 3. the unknown future. Competence for the unknown future must receive more attention, as our world is rapidly evolving and there are many 'glocal' challenges which call for innovation and a profound transformation of policies and practices. Th e book presents a range of diff erent approaches to competence-based education, and demonstrates that competencebased education is a worldwide innovation, which is institutionalized in various ways. It presents the major theories and policies, specifi c components of educational systems, such as recognition, accreditation, modelling and assessment, and developments in discipline-oriented and transversal competence domains. Th e book concludes by synthesizing the diff erent perspectives with the intention to contribute to further improving vocational and professional education policy and practice. Joao Santos, Deputy Head of Unit C5, Vocational Training and Adult Education, Directorate General for Employment, Social Aff airs and Inclusion, European Commission: "This comprehensive work on competence-based education led by Martin Mulder, provides an excellent and timely contribution to the current debate on a New Skills Agenda for Europe, and the challenge of bridging the employment and education and training worlds closer together. Th is book will infl uence our work aimed at improving the relevance of vocational education to support initial and continuing vocational education and training policy and practice aimed at strengthening the key competencies for the 21st century." Prof. Dr. Reinhold Weiss, Deputy President and Head of the Research, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB), Bonn, Germany: "This book illustrates that the idea and concept of competence is not only a buzzword in educational debates but key to innovative pedagogical thinking as well as educational practice." Prof. Dr. Johanna Lasonen, College of Education, University of South Florida, Tampa, USA: "Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education is one of the most important multi-disciplinary book in education and training. Th is path-breaking book off ers a timely, rich and global perspective on the fi eld. Th e book is a good resource for practitioners, policymakers and researchers."

Further and Higher Education in the UK has expanded greatly in recent years, bringing into education large numbers of young people who present teachers with new challenges. At the same time, there is an immense pressure to improve the quality of learning and teaching, and to encourage students to be active participants in the process.
This book is aimed at teachers, aspiring teachers and other professionals in upper secondary schools, further education colleges and universities who wish to increase learner motivation and to create opportunities for greater learner autonomy. It will:
* relate learning theory to practice
* provide practical help for teachers to understand how they tend to interact with students
* suggest how they may build a repertoire of teaching styles that foster sharing of responsibility with learners for more effective learning.

This handbook offers an expanded discourse on transformative learning by making the turn into new passageways to explore the phenomenon of transformation. It curates diverse discourses, knowledges and practices of transformation, in ways that both includes and departs from the adult learning mainstay of transformative learning and adult education. The purpose of this handbook is not to resolve or unify a theory of transformation and all the disciplinary contributions that clearly promote a living concept of transformation. Instead, the intent is to catalyze a more complex and deeper inquiry into the "Why of transformation." Each discipline, culture, ethics and practice has its own specialized care and reasons for paying attention to transformation. How can scholars, practitioners, and active members of discourses on transformative learning make a difference? How can they foster and create conditions that allow us to move on to other, unaddressed or understudied questions? To answer these questions, the editors and their authors employ the metaphor of the many turns into passageways to convey the potential of transformation that may emerge from the many connecting passageways between, for instance, people and society, theory and practice, knowledge created by diverse disciplines and fields/professions, individual and collective transformations, and individual and social action.

Policies for vocational education vary greatly from nation to nation, but one thing remains clear throughout: such policies reflect aspirations and achievements in economic growth, as well as concern over the quality and supply of labor. This book uses the findings of an international seminar held in 1996 to explore how the principles of stakeholding, consensus, participation and democracy have been implicated in the development of vocational education policies and programs. The contributors to this volume provide case studies of policies and processes that have successfully coordinated the efforts and interests of state, industry and individual in seven different nations. "Changing Vocational Education and Training" is a timely collection of the latest theory, research and practice in vocational education, and will be essential reading for policy-makers, practitioners and academics.

Policies for vocational education vary greatly from nation to nation, but one thing remains clear throughout: such policies reflect aspirations and achievements in economic growth, as well as concern over the quality and supply of labor. This book uses the findings of an international seminar held in 1996 to explore how the principles of stakeholding, consensus, participation and democracy have been implicated in the development of vocational education policies and programs. The contributors to this volume provide case studies of policies and processes that have successfully coordinated the efforts and interests of state, industry and individual in seven different nations. "Changing Vocational Education and Training" is a timely collection of the latest theory, research and practice in vocational education, and will be essential reading for policy-makers, practitioners and academics.

For the first time, a user-friendly handbook has been written on America's workplace literacy gap. Work Force Education has become the quintessential human resource issue of the 1990's. Its impact is now felt by more than 80 million adults, and carries an annual $300 billion price tag in lost employee productivity. This unique book offers readers a complete review of past, present, and future adult literacy programs. It provides essential context on how this training/educational issue suddenly appeared. Also considered are how current programs consistently fail to close an ever-widening workplace education gap. The book does not talk around potential solutions. Instead, it gives practical, real-life case study examples, from successful on-site company programs conducted by the authors. A blueprint is outlined on how to offer Work Force Education for any business large or small. This book will provide insights to senior executives, human resource/training and development managers, or adult educators. They will obtain a clear understanding of how to organize a multi-level, cost-justified Work Force Education program that meets America's 21st century international productivity requirements.

This open access book looks into the roles and practices of small and micro-enterprises in formal and informal economies across seven countries and one territory in terms of how they contribute to environmental and sustainable development and green skills promotion. By taking into account the perspectives in these four sectors, catering, automotive, waste management and polyvinyl chloride production, this book maps environmental green practices in the region, identifying mechanisms used to assess existing skills (i.e. knowledge, skills and competencies), and evaluating the potential for green skills inclusion in recognition, validation and accreditation.

This book will enable teachers and managers in the post-compulsory sector to consider a range of approaches to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in their practice in the post-compulsory sector. There will be the opportunity to consider key debates, useful links and suggested reading to encourage further investigation and development of practice. Fundamentally, this book aims to empower teachers to critically analyse ESD through their own subject specialisms, engage in the debate and learn with their students. Democratic and participative approaches introduced will help readers to question traditional transmissive styles of teaching and learning and move on to the radical and transformative approaches required to embrace ESD. Therefore this book, whilst including illustrative examples, will encourage the reader to look at their own subject specialisms, practice, interests and those of their students to co-construct a curriculum that embeds ESD.

As new and emerging technologies continue to become more familiar to educators and the education system, the vast opportunities for web-based learning has transformed the ideals of the traditional classroom. Pedagogical Considerations and Opportunities for Teaching and Learning on the Web concentrates on theory, application, and the development of web-based technologies for teaching and learning and its influence on the education system. This book would be of particular interest to academics, professionals, and researchers interested in the best practices of virtual learning environments.

"Adult ESL/Literacy from the Community to the Community: A Guidebook for Participatory Literacy Training" tells the story of a university-community collaboration to develop, implement, and evaluate a project designed to train immigrants and refugees as adult ESL and native literacy instructors in their own communities. Beyond the story of this one project, the book is also a clear and powerful explication of the underlying principles and premises of the program model it describes: community leadership development, a participatory approach to literacy instruction and instructor training, native language adult literacy instruction, and collaboration.

Online education has become a prevalent means of program and course delivery, especially within teacher education programs. However, the lack of preparation in online design is concerning, especially in the field of teacher education where the focus is preparing preservice and practicing teachers to implement effective, evidence-based instructional strategies. Effective Practices in Online Teacher Preparation for Literacy Educators is an essential scholarly resource that shares innovative ideas for translating face-to-face reading/literacy specialist preparation into effective online instruction for courses in literacy education. Highlighting various topics such as instructional design, teacher education, and literacy assessment, this book is ideal for instructors, curriculum developers, instructional designers, IT specialists, education professionals, instructors, administrators, academicians, and researchers.

Based on a five-year research project across thirteen countries, this comprehensive book analyses how national characteristics frame a central feature of European Union social and economic policies - lifelong learning. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a wide-ranging international comparative study, the book explores how far the EUs lifelong learning agenda has been successful and what factors have limited its ability to reshape national adult and lifelong learning systems. The chapters also look at adults' participation in formal education, what they see as the obstacles to taking part, and the nature of their demand for learning opportunities. Using country typologies, the authors challenge assumptions - whether held by policy makers or researchers - that there is just one economic trajectory for market economies and their lifelong learning systems. This book will therefore be valuable to scholars, researchers and policy-makers who are investigating, or trying to change, education and labor markets. Contributors: B.E. Aaslid, S. Altorjai, S. Ayupova, E. Boeren, P. Boyadjieva, P. Downes, L. Dromantien , G. Gornev, G. Hefler, J. Holford, A. Ivan i , A. Khokhlova, V. Kozlovskiy, L. Labanauskas, J. Markowitsch, C. Maunsell, V. Milenkova, A. Mleczko, D. Nenkova, I. Nicaise, K. Petkova, M. Radovan, S. Rammel, S. Riddell, P. Ringler, P. Robert, T. Roosalu, E.-L. Roosmaa, E. Saar, M. Talj nait , A. Tamm, O.B. Ure, M. Veits, R. Voeoermann, E. Weedon, T. Welikala, I. emaitaityt

This book explores the gradual evolution of Adult literacy policy from the 1970s using philosophical, sociological and economic frames of reference from a range of perspectives to highlight how priorities have changed. It also offers an alternative curriculum; a transformative model that presents a more socially just different value position.

This book sets out a contemporary perspective on music education, highlighting complex intersections between informal, non-formal and formal practices and contexts. At a time when the boundaries between music learning and participation are increasingly blurred, this volume is distinctive in challenging a 'siloed' approach to understanding the diverse international music education landscape. Instead, the book proposes a multi-layered continuum of practices that can be applied across a range of formal, informal or non-formal concepts to support the development of musical possible selves. It challenges existing conceptions of learning in music education in part by drawing on research in adult learning, but also by considering the contexts in which learning takes place, and the extent to which this learning can be classified as formal, informal or non-formal.

This book presents and advocates for a framework of competing epistemologies and conceptions of ethics as a way of understanding modernist lifelong learning. These epistemologies are grounded in a recognition of the normative nature of knowledge that informs lifelong learning; each being framed by a different account of the sort of knowledge that is most valued and therefore foregrounded in lifelong learning policy, provision and engagement informed by the epistemology. Each epistemology is also characterised by its constituent conception of ethics. Four such epistemologies and conceptions of ethics are here recognised as having been important in the lifelong learning movement to date: disciplinary, developmental, emancipatory, and design. The authors argue that assumptions about knowledge and moral positions constitute a powerful but not well-understood feature of such arguments: awareness of these assumptions and positions could serve to powerfully advance the overall understanding of what is at stake in lifelong learning and adult education at all levels.

We are surrounded by thousands of animals, alive and dead. They are an intimate and ever-present part of our human lives. As a society, we privilege veterinarians as experts on these animals: they are our educators and teachers in what they say, what they do, and the decisions that they make. Yet, within the field of education, there is little research on the curriculum, pedagogy, and experiences of veterinary school and students. What do veterinarians learn in veterinary school? How do their experiences during those four years shape their perceptions of animals? How do the structures, curriculum, and pedagogy of veterinary college create and influence these experiences? Learning Animals opens up this conversation through an exploration of the complicated, fascinating and often painful stories of a cohort of veterinary students as they make their four-year journey from matriculation through graduation. The book examines how the experiences of veterinary students shape how humans relate to animals, from public policy and decision-making about the environment and animals slaughtered for food, to the most personal decisions about euthanizing companion animals. The first full-length, critical, qualitative study of the perspectives of our primary teachers about animals, this will be a thought-provoking read for those in the fields of both educational research and veterinary education.