Abstract
This article examines a new training design for continuing professional development that aims to support the learning of the novel knowledge and skills needed in emerging professional fields by interconnecting academic and workplace settings. The training design is based on using two advisors, one from working life and the other from an academic context. The article examined whether participants’ personal orientation to adaptive expertise predicts the success of a guidance process. The interconnection of workplace and academic contexts was expected to occur through guidance practices. In addition, the features underlying the most successful guidance relationships were analysed. Data were collected by conducting repeated semi-structured interviews with 18 course participants, eight academic advisors and eight workplace advisors in the context of a 1-year energy efficiency training programme. The results indicated that a trainee’s personal orientation towards adaptive expertise is a significant component in successful guidance processes. An interconnection of workplace and academic knowledge and practices was hardly found in the guidance provided by each participant’s academic and workplace advisors. The feature underlying the most successful guidance relationships are related at the personal, dyad and context levels. An excellent match between the expert profiles of the learner and the advisor appears to be especially critical for successful guidance and powerful knowledge exchange in emerging fields. However, finding matching advisors is often challenging. Many problems are presumably solved if these ‘right persons’ can be found and if the trainees are themselves oriented to utilise the novel resources provided to them by the advisors.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barnes, B. J., Williams, E. A., & Archer, S. A. (2010). Characteristics that matter most: doctoral students’ perceptions of positive and negative advisor attributes. NACADA Journal, 30, 34–46.
Bereiter, C., & Scardamalia, M. (1993). Surpassing ourselves. An inquiry into the nature and implications of expertise. Chicago: Open Court.
Billett, S. (2008). Realising the educational worth of integrating work experiences in higher education. WACE/ACEN Asia Pacific Conference E-Proceedings.
Billett, S., & Henderson, A. (2011). Developing learning professionals. London: Springer.
Billett, S., Henderson, A., Choy, S., Dymock, D., Kelly, A., Smith, R., James, I., Beven, F., & Lewis, J. (2012). Continuing education and training models and strategies: An initial appraisal. Adelaide: NCVER.
Boud, D., & Costley, C. (2007). From project supervision to advising: new conceptions of the practice. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 44, 119–130. doi:10.1080/14703290701241034.
Bromme, R., & Tillema, H. H. (1995). Fusing experience and theory: the structure of professional knowledge. Learning and Instruction, 5, 261267.
Carlile, P. R. (2004). Transferring, translating, and transforming: an integrative framework for managing knowledge across boundaries. Organization Science, 15, 555–568.
Choy, S., Smith, R., & Kelly, A. (2014). Continuing education and training at work. In T. Halttunen, M. Koivisto, & S. Billett (Eds.), Promoting, assessing, recognizing and certifying lifelong learning (pp. 151–171). Dordrecht: Springer.
Collin, K., & Tynjälä, P. (2003). Integrating theory and practice? Employees’ and students’ experiences of learning at work. Journal of Workplace Learning, 15, 338–344. doi:10.1108/13665620310504828.
Costley, C., & Lester, S. (2012). Work-based doctorates: professional extension at the highest levels. Studies in Higher Education, 37, 257–269. doi:10.1080/03075079.2010.503344.
Edwards, A. (2010). Being an expert professional practitioner. London: Springer.
Edwards, A. (2012). The role of common knowledge in achieving collaboration across practices. Learning, Culture, and Social Interaction, 1, 22–32.
Endedijk, M. D., & Bronkhorst, L. H. (2014). Students’ learning activities within and between the context of education and work. Vocations and Learning, 7, 289–311. doi:10.1007/s12186-014-9116-x.
Eraut, M. (2007). Learning from other people in the workplace. Oxford Review of Education, 33, 403–422. doi:10.1080/03054980701425706.
Ericsson, K. A. (2006). The influence of experience and deliberate practice on the development of superior expert performance. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. Feltovich, & R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 683–703). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Evans, K., Hodkinson, P., Rainbird, H., & Unwin, L. (2006). Improving workplace learning. New York: Routledge.
Gardner, H., Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Damon, W. (2001). Good work: When excellence and ethics meet. New York: Basic Books.
Gruber, H., Lehtinen, E., Palonen, T., & Degner, S. (2008). Persons in shadow: assessing the social context of high abilities. Psychology Science Quarterly, 50, 237–258.
Hakkarainen, K. (2013). Mapping the research ground: expertise, collective creativity, and shared knowledge practices. In H. Gaunt & H. Westerlund (Eds.), Collaborative learning in higher music education (pp. 13–26). Surrey: Ashgate.
Hakkarainen, K., Palonen, T., Paavola, S., & Lehtinen, E. (2004). Communities of networked expertise: professional and educational perspectives (Advances in learning and instruction series). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Hakkarainen, K., Lallimo, J., Toikka, S., & White, H. (2011). Cultivating collective expertise within innovative knowledge-practice networks. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: new tools, infrastructures and practices (Earli series: new perspectives on learning and instruction, pp. 69–86). New York: Routledge.
Hakkarainen, K., Hytönen, K., Vekkaila, J., & Palonen, T. (2016). Networked expertise, relational agency, and collective creativity. In A. Edwards (Ed.), Collaborating on complex problems: cultural-historical accounts of relational work. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. In press.
Hatano, G., & Inagaki, K. (1986). Two courses of expertise. In H. A. H. Stevenson & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan (pp. 262–272). New York: Freeman.
Hughes, C. (2004). The supervisor’s influence on workplace learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 26, 275–287. doi:10.1080/158037042000225254.
Hytönen, K., Palonen, T., & Hakkarainen, K. (2014a). Cognitively central actors and their personal networks in an energy efficiency training program. Frontline Learning Research, 5, 15–37. doi:10.14786/flr.v2i2.90.
Hytönen, K., Palonen, T., Lehtinen, E., & Hakkarainen, K. (2014b). Does academic apprenticeship increase networking ties among participants? A case study of an energy efficiency training program. Higher Education, 68, 959–976. doi:10.1007/s10734-014-9754-9.
Jensen, K., Lahn, L. C., & Jensen, M. (2012). Professional learning in the knowledge society. Rotterdam: Sense.
Kessels, J., & Kwakman, K. (2007). Interface: establishing knowledge networks between higher vocational education and business. Higher Education, 54, 689–703. doi:10.1007/s10734-006-9018-4.
Knorr-Cetina, K. (2001). Objectual practices. In T. Schatzki, K. Knorr-Cetina, & E. Von Sa-vigny (Eds.), The practice turn in contemporary theory (pp. 175–188). London: Routledge.
Lehtinen, E., Hakkarainen, K., & Palonen, T. (2014). Understanding learning for the professions: how theories of learning explain coping with rapid change. In S. Billett, C. Harteis, & H. Gruber (Eds.), International handbook of research in professional and practice-based learning (pp. 199–224). Dordrecht: Springer.
Margaryan, A., Milligan, C., & Littlejohn, A. (2013). Managers as workplace learning facilitators. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 13, 206–223. doi:10.1504/IJHRDM.2013.055397.
Mieg, H. A. (2006). Social and sociological factors in the development of expertise. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. Feltovich, & R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 743–760). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mustonen, V., & Hakkarainen, K. (2015). Tracing two apprentices’ trajectories toward adaptive professional expertise in fingerprint examination. Vocations and Learning, 8, 185–211. doi:10.1007/s12186-015-9130-7.
Nerland, M. (2012). Professions as knowledge cultures. In K. Jensen, L. C. Lahn, & M. Nerland (Eds.), Professional learning in the knowledge society (pp. 27–48). Rotterdam: Sense.
Ohlsson, S. (2011). Deep learning. How the mind overrides experience. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Paavola, S., Lipponen, L., & Hakkarainen, K. (2004). Modeling innovative knowledge communities: a knowledgecreation approach to learning. Review of Educational Research, 74, 557–576.
Palonen, T., Boshuizen, H. P., & Lehtinen, E. (2014). How expertise is created in emerging professional fields. In T. Halttunen, M. Koivisto, & S. Billett (Eds.), Promoting, assessing, recognizing and certifying lifelong learning (pp. 131–149). Dordrecht: Springer.
Poortman, C. L., Reenalda, M., Nijhof, W. J., & Nieuwenhuis, L. F. M. (2014). Workplace learning in dual higher professional education. Vocations and Learning, 7, 176–190. doi:10.1007/s12186-014-9111-2.
Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp. 67–98). Chicago: Open Court.
Sosniak, L. A. (2006). Retrospective interviews in the study of expertise and expert performance. In K. A. Ericsson, N. Charness, P. Feltovich, & R. Hoffman (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of expertise and expert performance (pp. 287–301). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tynjälä, P. (2013). Toward a 3-P model of workplace learning: a literature review. Vocations and Learning, 6, 11–36. doi:10.1007/s12186-012-9091-z.
Tynjälä, P., Välimaa, J., & Sarja, A. (2003). Pedagogical perspectives on the relationship between higher education and working life. Higher Education, 46, 147–166. doi:10.1023/A:1024761820500.
Välimaa, J. (2006). Analysing the relationship between higher education institutions and working life in Nordic context. In P. Tynjälä, J. Välimaa, & G. Boulton-Lewis (Eds.), Higher education and working life. Collaborations, confrontations and challenges (pp. 35–53). Oxford: Elsevier.
van Zolingen, S. J., Streumer, J. N., de Jong, R., & van der Klink, M. R. (2000). Implementing on-the-job training: critical success factors. International Journal of Training and Development, 4, 208–216. doi:10.1111/1468-2419.00108.
Vanthournout, G., Noyens, D., Gijbels, D., & Van den Bossche, P. (2014). The relationship between workplace climate, motivation and learning approaches for knowledge workers. Vocations and Learning, 7, 191–214. doi:10.1007/s12186-014-9112-1.
Acknowledgments
Research has been funded by FUTUREX project that is part of European Social Fund programme, Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture (Asko-project) as well as OPPI doctoral programme.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hytönen, K., Palonen, T., Lehtinen, E. et al. Between two Advisors: Interconnecting Academic and Workplace Settings in an Emerging Field. Vocations and Learning 9, 333–359 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-016-9156-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-016-9156-5