Measuring the impact of learning at the workplace on organisational performance

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore the importance of workplace learning in the context of performance measurement on an organisational level. It shows how workplace learning analytics can be grounded on professional identity transformation theory and integrated into performance measurement approaches to understand its organisation-wide impact. Design/methodology/approach: In a conceptual approach, a framework to measure the organisation-wide impact of workplace learning interventions has been developed. As a basis for the description of the framework, related research on relevant concepts in the field of performance measurement approaches, workplace learning, professional identity transformation, workplace and social learning analytics are discussed. A case study in a European Public Employment Service is presented. The framework is validated by qualitative evaluation data from three case studies. Finally, theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed. Findings: Professional identity transformation theory provides a suitable theoretical framework to gain new insights into various dimensions of workplace learning. Workplace learning analytics can reasonably be combined with classical performance management approaches to demonstrate its organisation-wide impact. A holistic and streamlined framework is perceived as beneficial by practitioners from several European Public Employment Services. Research limitations/implications: Empirical data originates from three case studies in the non-profit sector only. The presented framework needs to be further evaluated in different organisations and settings. Practical implications: The presented framework enables non-profit organisations to integrate workplace learning analytics in their organisation-wide performance measurement, which raises awareness for the importance of social learning at the workplace. Originality/value: The paper enriches the scarce research base about workplace learning analytics and its potential links to organisation-wide performance measurement approaches. In contrast to most previous literature, a thorough conceptualisation of workplace learning as a process of professional identity transformation is used

How Open Is the Maker Movement?:Integrative Literature Review of the Openness Practices in the Global Maker Movement

This article explores the multiple meanings of the concept of openness in the global maker movement. Openness is viewed as one of the key principles of the maker movement. As the global maker movement is a bricolage of diverse and situated practices and traditions, there are also many different interpretations and ways of practicing openness. We have explored this diversity with an integrative literature review, relying on the Web of Science™ database. We identified three interrelated but also, in part, mutually contested approaches to openness. Firstly, openness often refers to applying open hardware. Secondly, it is in many cases related to the inclusion and empowerment of various groups in making. Thirdly, openness appears to be seen as a means to pursue economic growth through increasing innovation activity and entrepreneurship. Our results also highlight the substantial barriers encountered by makers while aiming to open up their practices. These barriers include: value conflicts in which openness is overridden by other important values; exclusion of lower income groups from making due to a lack of resources; and difficulties in maintaining long-term activities. The different meanings of openness together with the barriers create tensions within the maker movement while implementing openness. We propose that engaging in a reflexive futures dialogue on the consequences of these tensions can enhance the maker movement to become more open, inclusive and resilient

How Open Is the Maker Movement?:Integrative Literature Review of the Openness Practices in the Global Maker Movement

This article explores the multiple meanings of the concept of openness in the global maker movement. Openness is viewed as one of the key principles of the maker movement. As the global maker movement is a bricolage of diverse and situated practices and traditions, there are also many different interpretations and ways of practicing openness. We have explored this diversity with an integrative literature review, relying on the Web of Science™ database. We identified three interrelated but also, in part, mutually contested approaches to openness. Firstly, openness often refers to applying open hardware. Secondly, it is in many cases related to the inclusion and empowerment of various groups in making. Thirdly, openness appears to be seen as a means to pursue economic growth through increasing innovation activity and entrepreneurship. Our results also highlight the substantial barriers encountered by makers while aiming to open up their practices. These barriers include: value conflicts in which openness is overridden by other important values; exclusion of lower income groups from making due to a lack of resources; and difficulties in maintaining long-term activities. The different meanings of openness together with the barriers create tensions within the maker movement while implementing openness. We propose that engaging in a reflexive futures dialogue on the consequences of these tensions can enhance the maker movement to become more open, inclusive and resilient.EC/H2020/101006285/EU/Critical Making: Studying RRI Principles in the Maker Community/Critical Makin

Editorial: Participatory Evaluation and Impact Assessment in Citizen Science

Editorial to the fteval Journal's special issue #5

Virtual Excursions: a new way to explore science in class

The educational platform Virtual Science Hub (ViSH) has been developed as part of the GLOBAL excursion European project. ViSH (http://vishub.org/) is a portal where teachers and scientist interact to create virtual excursions to science infrastructures. The main motivation behind the project was to connect teachers - and in consequence their students - to scientific institutions and their wide amount of infrastructures and resources they are working with. Thus the idea of a hub was born that would allow the two worlds of scientists and teachers to connect and to innovate science teaching. The core of the ViSH?s concept design is based on virtual excursions, which allow for a number of pedagogical models to be applied. According to our internal definition a virtual excursion is a tour through some digital context by teachers and pupils on a given topic that is attractive and has an educational purpose. Inquiry-based learning, project-based and problem-based learning are the most prominent approaches that a virtual excursion may serve. The domain specific resources and scientific infrastructures currently available on the ViSH are focusing on life sciences, nano-technology, biotechnology, grid and volunteer computing. The virtual excursion approach allows an easy combination of these resources into interdisciplinary teaching scenarios. In addition, social networking features support the users in collaborating and communicating in relation to these excursions and thus create a community of interest for innovative science teaching. The design and development phases were performed following a participatory design approach. An important aspect in this process was to create design partnerships amongst all actors involved, researchers, developers, infrastructure providers, teachers, social scientists, and pedagogical experts early in the project. A joint sense of ownership was created and important changes during the conceptual phase were implemented in the ViSH due to early user feedback. Technology-wise the ViSH is based on the latest web technologies in order to make it cross-platform compatible so that it works on several operative systems such as Windows, Mac or Linux and multi-device accessible, such as desktop, tablet and mobile devices. The platform has been developed in HTML5, the latest standard for web development, assuring that it can run on any modern browser. In addition to social networking features a core element on the ViSH is the virtual excursions editor. It is a web tool that allows teachers and scientists to create rich mash-ups of learning resources provided by the e-Infrastructures (i.e. remote laboratories and live webcams). These rich mash-ups can be presented in either slides or flashcards format. Taking advantage of the web architecture supported, additional powerful components have been integrated like a recommendation engine to provide personalized suggestions about educational content or interesting users and a videoconference tool to enhance real-time collaboration like MashMeTV (http://www.mashme.tv/)

Transforming identities and co-constructing careers of career counselors

New theories for practice, which take account of contextual shifts such as labor market volatility, are essential for maintaining the professional status of career counseling. Career construction theory (CCT), as an exemplar of an innovative, contextually sensitive approach not only provides a way of making sense of the turbulent landscapes in which career transitions are taking place, but also provides practical tools to facilitate individual adaptation to change. However, development and evaluation of new theories and related tools have tended to overlook the career development and support needs of career counselors in the adoption and integration of these approaches into their practice with clients, as well as into their own career development. Here, the focus is on supporting the continuing professional development of career counselors as crucial for the enhancement of practice, through the provision in 2017 of an open access online learning program relating to the changing world of work, with facilitation of dialogue and reflection. The adaptive responses of an international group of participants facing challenges of identity transformation in the workplace, which emerged as they worked through the online learning resource, are examined. Four hundred and two international participants registered, with 86 actively engaging in the course, which was made available over three months, with content analysis of their online dialogue providing insights into the processes of psycho-social adaptation to the career-related challenges they faced. The learning design and course delivery were underpinned by the theory of professional identity transformation (PIT), with a commitment to supporting participants both individually collectively to shape their evolving roles and identities in ways compatible with their life themes. In order to progress toward that goal, processes of co-construction, also central to career construction theory, emerged strongly from the content analysis of data

Contours of citizen science: a vignette study

Citizen science has expanded rapidly over the past decades. Yet, defining citizen science and its boundaries remained a challenge, and this is reflected in the literature-for example in the proliferation of typologies and definitions. There is a need for identifying areas of agreement and disagreement within the citizen science practitioners community on what should be considered as citizen science activity. This paper describes the development and results of a survey that examined this issue, through the use of vignettes-short case descriptions that describe an activity, while asking the respondents to rate the activity on a scale from 'not citizen science' (0%) to 'citizen science' (100%). The survey included 50 vignettes, of which five were developed as clear cases of not-citizen science activities, five as widely accepted citizen science activities and the others addressing 10 factors and 61 sub-factors that can lead to controversy about an activity. The survey has attracted 333 respondents, who provided over 5100 ratings. The analysis demonstrates the plurality of understanding of what citizen science is and calls for an open understanding of what activities are included in the field