The relationship of the individual to work, learning, and continuing education is interwoven with life history and the dynamics of identity formation. A life-history approach to professional learning provides one way to examine the historical and subjective processes of the development of a profession. (SK)

In-depth interviews with professionals to explore their work and learning processes can support reflective practice. Analysis of the processes and the characteristics of the interviewers suggests that human resource development professionals could be trained as learning facilitators in this type of one-on-one dialogue. (Contains 24 references.)…

Models of how professionals learn include mental schema, skill acquisition, and reflective practice. Effective continuing professional education for the development of expertise should be dynamic, authentic, practice based, collaborative, and future oriented. (SK)

This document contains four papers from a symposium on integrating learning and performance in human resource development (HRD). "Action Imperatives that Impact Knowledge Performance and Financial Performance in the Learning Organization: An Exploratory Model" (Gary L. Selden, Karen E. Watkins, Thomas Valentine, Victoria J. Marsick)…

Considers higher education and professional learning and describes a Web-based course focusing on project management skills, including collaboration. Discusses professional knowledge; self-directed learning; social processes of professional learning; integration of learning and assessment; social support for professional skills; cognitive support…

As an area of research, instructional communication has struggled to map out the role of communication in the teaching process. More recently, the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) movement has emphasized the importance of applying the same systematic, informed rigor in the teaching that educators do in their research pursuits. Both…

Professionals frequently are least able to learn because they have rarely experienced learning-related failure and are prone to defensive reasoning. Companies can become learning organizations by helping managers and employees learn to analyze their behavior and learn productively. (SK)

A model of foreign language instruction for professionals, particularly those with limited time and budget, is proposed. Principal components of the model include: (1) a detailed, diagnostic linguistic profile of the learner, including lexical, grammatical, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural characteristics; (2) an inventory of the learner's…

Information on research efforts concerning higher education in Sweden is presented. Questions that have been addressed by the Swedish research program in the past five years have included the long-term social effects of higher education activities, the knowledge traditions of higher education programs, and the conditions of research with and…

The question of what determines the appropriate use of self-directed learning (SDL) as opposed to teacher-directed learning (TDL) for midcareer professionals was examined through a review of the literature on SDL, SDL in professional development, and through interviews with 12 midcareer adults in a wide variety of professions. In general, the…

The midcareeer learning of 120 professionals in 12 contrasting business, engineering, and health care organizations was examined to identify factors facilitating workplace learning. Individuals were interviewed regarding their current work and ways they acquired the necessary know-how and knowledge for their jobs and improved or extended their…

The question of how to theorize the subjective side of work within a life history perspective was explored. The findings of a study on engineers' subjective recognition of their lives, their education and jobs, and their life perspectives and the findings of a study of continuing education within a number of white-collar and semiprofessional work…

The determinants of self-directed learning (SDL) among professionals of high attainment were examined through open-ended, semidirected interviews with a purposeful sample of eight professional men and women who have acquired identifiable, high-level professional knowledge/skills typically taught in postsecondary learning institutions without ever…

The hypothesis that making judgments is the basis for workplace learning was examined by studying work in a range of occupations with a view to identifying and analyzing the main judgments involved in individuals' work performance. To test the hypothesis, six practicing professionals (three men and three women) were interviewed. Two of…

Learning in the first professional job was examined in a study of 40 nurses, 27 engineers, and 16 accountants who were in their first full year of full-time employment after college in hospitals and firms located in the United Kingdom. Data were collected through the following activities: (1) interviews with the respondents; (2) 1- to 2-day visits…