Understanding work-related learning: The role of job characteristics and the use of different sources of learning

It is argued that internships have a distinctive contribution to professional education. It is suggested that the confrontation with the workplace triggers learning. Based on the Demand-Control-Support (DCS) model, this chapter aims to investigate the influence of job characteristics such as job demands, job control and social support on the learning in the workplace during internships. We investigated different dimensions of knowledge construction and regulation that can take place during internships (Oosterheert IE, Vermunt JD, Learn Instr 11(2):133–156, 2001). Four such activities were distinguished in our sample: (1) external-regulated knowledge construction, (2) self-regulated knowledge construction, (3) shared regulation of knowledge construction and (4) avoidance of learning. Moreover, we looked how these relate to the perceived competences reported by both the students and the supervisors. One-hundred seventeen engineering students conducting an internship and their supervisors in the companies participated by completing questionnaires based on contextualised versions of existing and validated scales. The results of the correlational analyses indicate that both individual and contextual factors need to be taken into account when (re)constructing workplaces for learning during internships. This study provides insight in workplace characteristics that affect learning during internships. Moreover, it disentangles different dimensions of knowledge construction and regulation, hereby identifying different ways in which learning is shaped in the workplace. This suggests pathways to promote learning during internships.

[1]  Mien Segers,et al.  Redesigning a learning and assessment environment: The influence on students' perceptions of assessment demands and their learning strategies , 2006 .

[2]  S. Billett.  Workplace participatory practices: Conceptualising workplaces as learning environments , 2004 .

[3]  Wim H. Gijselaers,et al.  Learning at the Crossroads of Theory and Practice: Research on Innovative Learning Practices , 2012 .

[4]  John T. E. Richardson,et al.  Learning patterns in higher education : dimensions and research perspectives , 2013 .

[5]  Jan D Vermunt,et al.  Assessing orientations to learning to teach. , 2002, The British journal of educational psychology.

[6]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Healthy Work : Stress, Productivity, and the Reconstruction of Working Life , 1990 .

[7]  J. Johnson,et al.  Job strain, work place social support, and cardiovascular disease: a cross-sectional study of a random sample of the Swedish working population. , 1988, American journal of public health.

[8]  Mien Segers,et al.  Contextual Antecedents of Informal Feedback in the Workplace. , 2012 .

[9]  Robert Karasek,et al.  Job decision latitude and mental strain: Implications for job redesign , 1979 .

[10]  David Gijbels,et al.  What keeps low- and high-qualified workers competitive: Exploring the influence of job characteristics and self-directed learning orientation on work-related learning , 2012 .

[11]  Frans J. Oort,et al.  How to Improve Teaching Practices , 2011 .

[12]  Jan D. Vermunt,et al.  Individual differences in learning to teach : Relating cognition, regulation and affect , 2001 .

[13]  Elsy Verhofstadt,et al.  Testing Karasek's learning and strain hypotheses on young workers in their first job , 2007 .

[14]  D. Gijbels,et al.  Understanding work‐related learning: the case of ICT workers , 2012 .

[15]  Maaike Dorine Endedijk,et al.  Student teachers’ learning patterns in school-based teacher education programmes: the influence of person, context and time , 2014 .

[16]  Peter Van Petegem,et al.  Assessing preservice teachers' orientations to learning to teach and preferences for learning environments , 2005 .

[17]  Scott N. Taylor,et al.  Learning Cognitive and Emotional Intelligence Competencies Through Graduate Management Education , 2002 .

[18]  David Gijbels,et al.  Influencing Work-Related Learning: The Role of Job Characteristics and Self-Directed Learning Orientation in Part-Time Vocational Education , 2010 .

[19]  Lisa A. Steelman,et al.  The Feedback Environment Scale: Construct Definition, Measurement, and Validation , 2004 .

[20]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Reliability and Predictive Validity of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Mslq) , 1993 .

[21]  Sven De Maeyer,et al.  The Impact of Personality, Goal Orientation and Self-Efficacy on Participation of High School Teachers in Learning Activities in the Workplace , 2014 .

[22]  M. Eraut.  Developing professional knowledge and competence , 1994 .

[23]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[24]  de J Jan Jonge,et al.  Psychosociale theorieën over werkstress , 2003 .

[25]  P. Tynjälä.  Perspectives into learning at the workplace , 2008 .