Conceptions of Work and Learning at Work: Impressions from Older Workers

There is substantial literature on new work practices and the associated skills required of workers in the 'new capitalism' but very few consider workers’ perspectives on the advocacies. The study reported here involved 39 participants aged 40 plus who were interviewed to obtain data in relation to their conceptions of work and learning at work. This was conducted with consideration given to the changing work practices occurring around them. The participants were from a medical service and an engineering organization. The data were analyzed qualitatively and results indicated four and five hierarchical conceptions of work, and learning at work, respectively. It became apparent that a significantly large number of older workers conceived of work and learning at work in quantitative terms and as separate entities. The data were further analysed to ascertain how the conceptions mapped with the participants’ AQF levels. This analysis indicated some dissonance between AQF levels and conceptions. The findings of this study provide baseline data to understand older workers’ behaviours in light of the current changes in work practices

Grounded sensorimotor interaction histories in an information theoretic metric space for robot ontogeny

The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Adaptive Behavior, Vol.15 No.2, 2007, Copyright SAGE Publications Ltd on SAGE Journals Online: http://online.sagepub.com/ --DOI : 10.1177/1059712307078662Peer reviewe