Aligning Local Knowledge to Global Contexts: A Work-Based Perspective

1. UALL Annual Conference York 2017Dr Paula Nottingham Aligning local knowledge to global contexts: a work-based perspective

2. Local, regional, national I originally grew up and studied in Virginia and got my undergraduate at the University there. I then went to Louisiana State – the south could be considered another ‘country’. Louisiana is like an island. http://89gmc02.tripod.com/virginiastateyaba/vastyaba.htm http://www.lsu.edu

3. The american story - critical fictionwhat we know and how we know it is complex

4. Back to local, regional, national,and global perspectives Britain – another island.. …which was a part of a larger entity – the European Union… Which has global connections http://people.bath.ac.uk/cf233/maps/ukmap.html http://www.eucountrylist.com http://www.gaiatheory.org

5. Context – WBL pedagogy Work Based Studies/DProf Professional Studies The pedagogic discourse of WBL linked to the tradition of lifelong and recurrent education – flexible alternative for P-T mature Middlesex has based its practice on the ‘field of study’ WBL (Costley et al , 2010) (learner-centred PN) but has a variety of approaches that incorporate ‘hybrid’ learning and credit systems MDX WBL students and candidates at the IWBL engage in study within their work practice and/or role and do an independent work-based project/portfolio of practice

6. Context - London based Challenges vs. Potential Innovation with Insider-researchers: The use of local situated knowledge that is then compared to global contexts – cultural implications and creating knowledge that has relevance Facilitating WBL with blended learning - people all over the world and doing different studies (based on our framework) – engaging in peer conversations/sessions • Standards from HE UK – England – but students based all over the world – global contexts • Professionals – early career and senior practitioners (DProf) • Individuals, groups, cohorts, corporate organisations and progression partners • WBL pedagogy - disciplinary/interdisciplinary/transdisciplinary

7. TNE transnational education relationship with WBL programmes 1.2 Globalisation has affected the nature and extent ofthe demand and supply of international education…HE TNE activity involves highereducation institutions delivering their educationalservices in another country rather than the studentstravelling to the foreign university to study. It caninclude but is not limited to branch campuses, distancelearning, online provision, joint and dual degreeprogrammes, flying in faculty for short courses, ormixed models (known as blended learning) (UUK and British Council, 2016, p. 7).

8. Research territory and questions (work in progress) The territory involves individuals who are doing research and work-based projects that are developed around the learning that occurs ‘out there’ in supercomplexity (Barnett, 2000). What are the current pedagogic and delivery issues facing WBL curriculum designers regarding international learners (research/project work) at Middlesex University? What are the current issues facing WBL students/candidates (DProf) engaging in local/regional/global practice (research/project work) MDX What blended learning approaches have facilitated this two-way peer process? Cohort practice?

9. Current issues for UK curriculum An international lens is being applied to most higher education studies in the UK. Sue Crowley talks about the nature of knowledge changing beyond disciplines… “Increased migration and social networking are creating more multicultural societies and globalisation means many of us work if not face to face then remotely with many in other countries and from different cultures. This transnational contact challenges cultural and linguistic norms and leads to different ways of seeing and being. Acknowledging this further increases multiple interpretations and the contestability of knowledge and truth” (2014, p. 11). …so says we need to keep our ‘minds open’. Shiel talks about the importance of engaging with global perspectives, sustainable development and global citizenship (2013). Jarvis’s global learning – associates global learning with the life world from Habermas, society “a complex network of political and economic power relations” (p. 23) and culture – the second nature we pass on – now practice is multicultural…

10. Work-based learning/professional practiceConsidering practice Students at the IWBL are geographically widely located, but while undertaking practitioner research must then consider their experience and how the research is seen regarding the local, regional and global e.g. micro/meso/macro (shades of Bronfenbrenner, 1979 - thank you AR) circumstances influence their experiences e.g. ethical considerations Senior practitioners think about how cultural aspects affect their conceptualisation of their work-based projects e.g. how the “west’ has models of practice that influence how practice is undertaken world-wide Walker- capability approach uses Sen’s definition of attainable options and agency to gain freedom Work-based studies continue to be developed alongside international perspectives of practice (Nikolou-Walker, 2016) when she talked about her own experience doing a doctorate. Studies can focus on formal, informal and non-formal learning in the workplace (Eraut, 2011) so ‘social learning’ needs to be unpacked.

11. Examples of practice - Choosing samples from undergrad and postgrad In the WBL project work - the practice must be explained in a project report that examines situated knowledge in a particular context/case.

12. Building identities in the landscape of practice “Engagement: this is the most immediate relation to a landscape - engaging in practice, doing things, working on issues, talking, using and producing artifacts, debating and reflecting together…. Imagination: we are also construction an image of the landscape that helps us understand who we are it…. Alignment: our engagement in practice is rarely effective without some degree of alignment with the context - making sure that activities are coordinated, that laws are followed, or that intentions are implemented” (Wenger-Trayner and Wenger -Trayner, 2016, p. 20-21) engaging with global communities of practice http://wenger-trayner.com/reflections/blending-online-and-face-to-face/

13. Summary - pedagogy for the current transnational WBL practice – research directions Traditional models of the classroom need to be rethought and the virtual engagement more personal – thinking about part-time, busy people who live in different time zones Pedagogy shifts in WBL – finding new peer co-created models to help people in their individual situations – issues own and organisation’s The final negotiated projects consider local cultural circumstances and the “the wider dimensions of organisational learning and the social dimensions of work” (Boud and Costley, 2007). It could be that designing higher education WBL curriculum to accommodate local practice could be of great use to the wider academic community and those working with partners outside of the academy.

14. UALL Work & Learning Networkour next conference… The UALL Work & Learning Network Annual Conference will take place on the 23th June 2017 at Middlesex University Leading the Way: Shaping Practice in the Workplace and the Academy Keynote Speakers: Marty Wright, Academic Head of School, Work Based Education, Glasgow Caledonian University; working title: ‘Leadership in the Academy’ Darryll Bravenboer, Deputy Director for the IWBL, Middlesex University; Proposals needed by 2nd May 2017. http://www.onlinestore.mdx.ac.uk/conferences-and-events/institute-for-work-based-learning/conferences/uall-work-learning-network-annual-conference-2017 https://www.uallworkandlearning.org

15. Indicative Bibliography Barnett, Ronald (2000) Supercomplexity and the Curriculum, Studies in Higher Education, 25:3, 255-265, DOI: 10.1080/713696156 Boud David and Costley, Carol (2007) ‘From project supervision to advising: new conceptions of the practice’, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, Vol. 44, No. 2, pp.119–130. Costley, C., Elliott, G. & Gibbs, P. (2010) Doing Work based Research; approaches to enquiry for insider-researchers. London; Sage. Crowley S. (2014) ‘What sort of professionalism’, in Crowley, Sue (ed) Challenging Professional Learning, Abingdon: Routledge. Eraut, Michael (2011),"Informal learning in the workplace: evidence on the real value of work-based learning (WBL)", Development and Learning in Organizations: An International Journal, Vol. 25 Issue 5 pp. 8 – 12. Jarvis, P. (2007) ‘Globalisation, Lifelong Learning and The Learning Society’, Sociological Perspectives, Abingdon: Routledge Taylor Francis Group. Light and Cox (2001) Learning &Teaching in Higher Education the Reflective Professional London: Paul Chapman Publishing.

16. Indicative Bibliography Nikolou-Walker, E. (2016) Postgraduate Work-based Learning for Non-Traditional Learners: Focused across All Four UK Regions, Storey, Valerie (2016) (Ed) International Perspectives on Designing Professional Practice Doctorates: Applying the Critical Friends Approach to the EdD and Beyond, Basingstoke, Palgrave McMillan, pp. 159-182. Shiel, C. (2013) Developing global perspectives: global citizenship and sustainable development within higher education. PhD Thesis. Bournemouth University, School of Applied Sciences. Universities UK and British Council (2016) The Scale and Scope of UK Higher Education Transnational Education, June 2016, Birmingham: UK Higher Education International Unit. Walker, Melanie (2006) Higher Education Pedagogies, Maidenhead: The Society for Research into Higher Education and Open University Press. Wenger-Trayner E.. and Wenger-Trayner B. Learning in a landscape of practice’, in Learning in Landscapes of Practice Boundaries, Identity, and Knowledgeability in Practice-based Learning ed Etienne Wenger-Trayner, Mark Fenton O’Creevy, Steven Hutchinson, Chris Kubiak and Beverley Wenger-Trayner Abingdon 2015 Routledge YMCA (2017) BRONFENBRENNER’S ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS THEORY, Available from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4e10/6bc1dff6c82655f0fedca6807a0feb589265.pdf

17. Thank you Contact Details: Paula Nottingham p.nottingham@mdx.ac.uk 02084115087 07799033978 Skype paulanottingham Co-convenor UALL Work and Learning Elda Nikolou-Walker E.Nikolou-Walker@mdx.ac.uk