Interactive research on innovations in vocational education and training (VET): Lessons from Dutch and German cases

This article focuses on two examples of interactive research (IR) in vocational education and training. IR is a process which brings together practitioners and researchers with the aim to implement an innovation. This innovation in the first project meant to create a hybrid learning environment; in the second it supported introducing digital media in a training centre. The process of innovating thereby turned into a learning process for all concerned persons: original ideas of the concerned concepts matured, boundaries between research and practice were crossed and new, sometimes surprising ideas for further development emanated. These experiences point attention towards the processes of research and innovation instead of only documenting results in the sense of summative evaluation. They also show that IR requires a certain framework in order to enable important learning cycles. (DIPF/orig.

Researching routines:innovative lessons from a consultancy firm

In this chapter we present the results of a study that concentrates on the relation between the innovation strategies of enterprises and learning activities on the shop floor within communities of practice. This study combines economic theories of innovation and educational theories of learning. Such a multidisciplinary approach seems fruitful to bridge individual and organisational learning. Our aim is to study the change in routines. To do so, we have to be able to determine what the existing routine is in a given situation. Until now there has research that is available is experimental research in laboratory settings The strength of a routine is that it represents automated action. As a consequence, for this chapter is: What (integration of) methods are useful to study routines in real-life settings