Universalized Workplace Education

2010 ◽  
pp. 40-65
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Workplace Education ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

This chapter looks at the socio-cultural implications of universalized education for workers. A universalized education for workers by workplace e-learning happens through hypermedia-centric, constructivist-based workplace e-learning that configures technologies, constructivism, and instructors, for a knowledge-based workplace. Workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training has changed over the past decade with respect to the changes and complexities of the learning process. This is especially true given the growing prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Distance education in the tertiary sector is looked at to see what is revealed from workplace adult education and training encounters with workplace e-learning. This raises questions about workplace e-learning for a global workforce. Workplace e-learning epitomizes a constructivist practice in the workplace; heavily based on European and Western industrialized values; and, remains unconcerned with the culturally specialized adult learning needs and goals of a diverse, global, and multi-facetted, cohort of adult learners. Looking primarily at the constructivist turn in distance education, perspectives of epistemology, ontology, and pedagogy, are referenced that support this trend. The universalizing ramifications of this hypermedia- centred, constructivist trend in workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training are concerning for a global and diverse cohort of adult learners, who will come to represent the workforce in the future. Technique is increasingly used as the omnibus answer for all learners’ needs and goals. ‘Technology’ increasingly replaces epistemology and ontology as the singular perspective for authentic learning. Some of the unseen, conformist, and persuasive effects of technology, constructivism, and instructors, are now problematized for a global workforce.

Primacy of Commodified Knowledges

2010 ◽  
pp. 107-127
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Cultural Paradigm ◽  
Knowledge Based Economy ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
And Training

This chapter discusses the cultural paradigm of ‘commodified knowledges’ in the workplace. This cultural paradigm is the second of two paradigms discussed in this book that shape socio-culturally insensitive, technological artefactual approaches to workplace e-learning research and study. Subsequently, this paradigm also socially reshapes workplace e-leaning historicity for workplace adult education and training, resulting in socio-cultural impacts on the workforce. ‘The knowledge-based economy’ as a concept of the global age comes from the various schools of thought. Each of the theories forwarded by these schools of thought continues to influence knowledge-based economic policy today, whether in regards to information-based societies; knowledge products; knowledge workers; or, technological innovations. These are the global policies that afford commodified knowledges their priority in the (knowledge-based) workplace. Organizations specifically concerned with knowledge governance, now invest in practices better known as ‘knowledge management’. Organizational apparatuses such as strategic priorities, value chains, and business processes, all become appropriated towards the materialization and reification of knowledge as an economic commodity for the benefit of the workplace. ‘Business process reengineering’ continues to have impact on the workplace as both a mandate and method for knowledge management towards the commodification of knowledge in the workplace. Workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training now becomes another means for commodified knowledges through continuously reengineered knowledge management apparatuses. For workplace e-learning, adherence to the belief in the primacy of commodified knowledges leads to two workplace e-learning scenarios: (a) dehumanizing ideologies (see Chapter 9); and, (b) social integration (see Chapter 10).

E-Learning and the Global Workforce

2011 ◽  
pp. 276-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Complex Profile ◽  
Global Workforce ◽  
Global Age ◽  
Cultural Implications ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

Workplaces are transforming in the global age. Jobs are expanding and varying. Workers are more and more participating in a global workforce comprising people who are socially and demographically diverse, multicultural, multifaceted, and whose views on workplace priorities, accountabilities, performance, and productivity may be socially and culturally very different from one another. Ultimately, these trends infer that how workers are educated and trained in the workplace must also evolve to meet a dynamic cohort of employees with a progressively complex profile of learning needs. To make matters more interesting, one of the most noticeable trends in the workplace today is ‘e-learning,’ which is frequently upheld as the panacea for workplace adult education and training needs. This chapter is about e-learning, the global workforce, and their social and cultural implications for workplace adult education and training in the global age.

Normative Learning for Normalized Work

2010 ◽  
pp. 23-39
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Early 21St Century ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
Value Propositions ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training ◽  
Normalized Work

This chapter discusses the socio-cultural implications of normative learning for normalized work. Normative learning for normalized work from workplace e-learning happens through informationalization of roles and skills as well as the convergence of rules and competencies, for a knowledge-based workplace. Workplace ‘form’ is relevant for workplace e-learning, both as a space for doing work and ultimately for undertaking workplace adult education and training. Workplace form designs have progressed in tandem with changes in society be they social, cultural, political, technological, or economic. In the early 21st century, as workplace form designs again advance to accommodate diverse, global workforces and information and communication technologies (ICTs), workplace e-learning too is impacted. The manifestation of workplace form into daily organizational life depends on particular types of values, capabilities, and organizational structures. What becomes clear is that each workplace form design (as a space for work and learning) may lead to the development of several organizational structures (as specific sites for work and learning). Each form of workplace design and organizational structure also comes with inherent value propositions that lead to the development of specific capabilities based around the fulfillment of key success factors. Workplace e-learning and workplace adult education and training are becoming progressively more normative as workplace forms and organizational structures evolve and change. This is happening more often and as a direct consequence of the convergence and informationalization of skills and competencies from organizational structural development and value propositions. All these hold certain ramifications for normative learning; normalized work; the global workforce doing the learning and the work; and, workplace e-learning.

Homogenization through Social Integration

2010 ◽  
pp. 186-206
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Social Integration ◽  
Organizational Development ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Workplace Design ◽  
Organizational Communications ◽  
Knowledge Based ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

This chapter produces a socio-cultural critique of the ‘social integration’ workplace e-learning scenario to homogenize the workforce through organizational communications; workplace design and organizational development; recruitment, rewards, and retention; and, learning and knowledge management. Workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training, as a result of the normalization of skills and competencies and the commodification of knowledges, becomes progressively more homogenized. This leads to an increasingly socially integrated workplace. The socio-cultural impacts are understood through the homogenization of the modes and media of workplace e-learning. An exploratory case study considers some of the socially integrationist repercussions of this homogenizing trend in workplace e-learning for workplace adult education and training. The modes of learning are becoming more homogenized through policies, value chains, and business processes. The media of learning are becoming more homogenized through workplace e-learning artefactual foci. Socio-cultural insensitivity from workplace e-learning, in this scenario, comes from the basic, unquestioned assumption that workers are essentially socially flawed and culturally inferior; accountable for overcoming their socio-cultural flaws and inferiorities; and, need to be homogenized by workplace e-learning, through communications, design, recruitment, and learning, to meet the expectations of the infallible and commodified workplace. Social integration by workplace e-learning happens through the application of homogenizing modes and media towards organizational communications; workplace design and organizational development; recruitment and retention; and, learning and knowledge-building, to socially integrate the workforce for a knowledge-based workplace. Social integration, as an analytical metaphor for workplace e-learning, also reveals and exposes some of the unseen, conformist, and persuasive, outcomes that inexorably lead towards pedagogies of workforce alienation and contingency.

scholarly journals Domestic and International Perspectives on Financing Adult Education and Training

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 389-390
Author(s):  
Abigail Helsinger ◽  
Oksana Dikhtyar ◽  
Phyllis Cummins ◽  
Nytasia Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Low Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Middle Aged ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
And Training

Abstract Adult education and training (AET) over the life-course is necessary to participate in economic, social, and political activities in the time of globalization and technological advancement. However, little research has been done to identify mechanisms to fund AET opportunities among middle-aged and older adults from a comparative international perspective. Our study aimed to identify strategies to finance AET opportunities for middle-aged and older adults through an international lens, to help identify barriers and facilitators in effort to best support adult learners regardless of education background or socioeconomic characteristics. We carried out a descriptive qualitative study to facilitate an in-depth understanding of funding mechanisms available to adult learners in the selected countries, from the perspective of adult education and policy experts. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with 61 international adult education experts from government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and education institutions. Our informants represented 10 countries including Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Data included at least one in-depth phone or web-based qualitative interview per informant in addition to information gathered from written materials (e.g., peer-reviewed publications and organizational reports). We identified three financing options that arose as themes: government-sponsored funding; employer-sponsored funding; and self-funding. We found that government-sponsored funding is especially important for low-skilled, low-income older adults for whom employer-sponsored or self-funding is not available. Our results have implications for lifelong AET policy changes, such as adaptations of successful AET funding programs across global communities.

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

2014 ◽  
pp. 2026-2042
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Technical Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
And Training

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and study are not producing the expected learning outcomes from workplace adult education and training to the degree anticipated. Given increasingly global and diverse workforces, the research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally ‘negotiated' space may be an alternate approach toward a more socially and culturally informed understanding of adult learning from workplace e-learning.

Justification Based on Rational Training

2010 ◽  
pp. 146-165
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Cultural Critique ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Exploratory Case Study ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Worker Identity ◽  
And Training

This chapter produces a socio-cultural critique of the ‘rational training’ workplace e-learning scenario. In this workplace e-learning scenario, workplace e-learning for workplace adult education training is used to justify the workforce through standards, categories, and measures. The alienating effects that arise out of this rush towards technocentric rationalization of the workforce through workplace e-learning are also discussed. These are the unintended and paradoxically opposite outcomes to the effects actually anticipated. An exploratory case study problematizes the unquestioned acceptance of the technological artefacts of workplace e-learning within organizations as credible sources to provide a rationale to justify workforces within workplaces. This approach critiques the presumption of infallibility of the technological artefacts of workplace e-learning; considers the short-comings of the conceiving of workplace e-learning as ‘finished’; and, reveals the ‘underdetermined’ nature of workplace e-learning technological artefacts. Socio-cultural insensitivity from workplace e-learning, in this scenario, comes from the basic, unquestioned assumption that workers are essentially socially flawed and culturally inferior; accountable for overcoming their sociocultural flaws and inferiorities; and, need to be justified by workplace e-learning, through standards, categories, and measures, to meet the expectations of the infallible and commodified workplace. A workplace e-learning that is deployed to justify the workforce, through standardization, categorization, and measurement, all result in a workforce being alienated from: (a) each other (worker-worker alienation); (b) their work (worker-work alienation); and, (c) their personal identities and sense of self (worker-identity alienation). Social rationalization is not the means to social justice in the workplace when it comes to workplace adult education and training, workplace e-learning, and the diverse and multicultural learning needs of a global cohort of adult learners.

Towards More Socio-Culturally Sensitive Research and Study of Workplace E-Learning

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Karim A. Remtulla
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Career And Technical Education ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Career And Technical ◽  
Culturally Informed ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Learning Research ◽  
And Training

This article advocates workplace adult education and training researchers and scholar practitioners interested in career and technical education (CTE), adult education and technology, and who are attempting social and cultural critiques of workplace e-learning. The emphasis on the technological and artefactual in workplace e-learning research and study are not producing the expected learning outcomes from workplace adult education and training to the degree anticipated. Given increasingly global and diverse workforces, the research and study of workplace e-learning as a socio-culturally ‘negotiated’ space may be an alternate approach toward a more socially and culturally informed understanding of adult learning from workplace e-learning.

An Innovative E-Learning Platform for Vocational Training of European Local Police Forces

2011 ◽  
pp. 1204-1211
Author(s):  
Ioannis P. Chochliouros ◽  
George Heliotis ◽  
Anastasia S. Spiliopoulou ◽  
George Agapiou
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Knowledge Society ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Telecommunication Networks ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Market Competitiveness ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Training

Over the last years, the astonishing progress of modern telecommunication networks and the simultaneous spread of the Internet have brought about unprecedented access to a wealth of information and resources. The full development of Internet’s potential to improve access to education and training, and to enhance the quality of learning, is a key prerequisite for building a European (and a global) knowledge society. In particular, not only education but also social cohesion and market competitiveness depend more and more on Europe’s ability to adapt (appropriately) its educational and training systems in order to realize this major challenge (Stewart, 2004). Without any doubt, information and communication technologies (ICT) can offer significant potential for the improvement of education and training (Kruse, 2002; Tsai & Machado, 2002) in several areas, as they can strongly support learning processes through enhanced communication, discovery, simulation, exploration, and problem solving (Ewing & Miller, 2002).

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