Day: 6 July 2020

Categories
CYPW, HSC and Dementia Care Training

Experience based learning

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Experience based learning

A constructivist perspective sees the person as cognitively and affectively constructing meaning and knowledge at the same time emphasising the social environment of knowledge as inclusive of ‘the historical context, prevailing and contradictory social values and norms, dimensions of culture and gender and the influence of political realities and power’ (Neuman & Blundo 2000, p. 24-25).

Constructivists are interested in the way in which the development of human understanding is shaped by social, environmental, historical, local and cultural factors. They hold that understanding can never be independent of the individuals involved in this process and the context in which it takes place. The constructivist view differs significantly from the perspective of knowledge as external, objective or true. Knowledge is not acquired through a process of copying or replicating. It holds that one comes to know reality only by acting on it. What we learn in active interaction with the environment is dependent upon our own structuring of these experiences (von Glaserfeld & Smock 1974). An educational approach based on this view therefore focuses on students’ experiences both in and outside the classroom and on the processes by which they construct meaning from these experiences. Constructivist learning is based on students’ active participation in problem-solving and critical thinking regarding a learning activity which they find relevant and engaging. They are ‘constructing’ their own knowledge by testing ideas and approaches based on their prior knowledge, theories and experience, applying these to a new situation and integrating the new knowledge gained with pre-existing intellectual constructs.

 

Table 1. Traditional and constructivist classroom models

Traditional Classroom

Curriculum is presented part to whole, with emphasis on basic skills

Strict adherence to fixed curriculum as established is highly valued

Students are viewed as blank slates onto which information is etched by the teacher

Teachers generally behave in a didactic manner disseminating information to students

Teachers seek the correct answer to validate student learning

Assessment of student learning is viewed as separate from teaching and occurs almost entirely through testing.

 

Constructivist classroom

Curriculum is presented whole to part with emphasis on inclusive concepts

Curriculum is responsive to students and the pursuit of student questions is highly valued

Students are viewed as participatory thinkers with emerging theories about the world.

Teachers generally behave in an interactive manner, mediating the environment for students Teachers seek the students’ point of view in order to understand the students’ present conceptions for use in subsequent lessons.

Assessment of student learning is interwoven with teaching and occurs through teacher observations of students at work and through personalised assignments such as student exhibitions and portfolios

Brooks and Brooks (1993), p. 17

Categories
CYPW, HSC and Dementia Care Training

Leadership

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Researchers investigating creativity and innovation among work teams have focused on three main themes (West, 2002): (a) the group task and the demands and opportunities it creates for creativity and innovation, (b) diversity in knowledge and skills among team members, and (c) team integration—the extent to which team members work in integrated ways to capitalise on their diverse knowledge and skills. Whether and how leadership in teams influences team innovation has not been explored. Little is also known about how leaders create and manage effective teams and promote effective team processes (Cohen & Bailey, 1997; Zaccaro et al., 2001) and how leaders create and maintain favourable performance conditions for the team (Hackman, 1990, 2002). The research reported in this paper investigated the contribution of leadership to promoting team innovation in multidisciplinary health care teams. We focus on the role of leadership in developing team processes that facilitate innovation. These include developing clear objectives and encouraging participation, a focus on quality, and support for innovation (West, 2002; West & Anderson, 1996).

Team performance (including innovation) is determined by a wide range of factors— team composition (size, skills, knowledge, and diversity), team’s task, organizational context, team processes, level effort on the task, appropriateness of the strategies for achieving the task, and resources available to the team (Hackman, 1990; West, 2002). The behavior of the team leader has the potential to influence all the factors that contribute to team innovation, but particularly the team processes. The leader brings task expertise, abilities, and attitudes to the team that influence the group design and group norms (Hackman, 1990, 1992, 2002) and through monitoring, feedback, and coaching develops these processes, which enables the team to achieve its tasks (McIntyre & Salas, 1995) and to innovate. The leader also helps to define work structures and ensures that organizational supports are in place for the team (Tesluk & Mathieu, 1999). Zaccaro et al. (2001) proposed that there are three factors critical for effective team performance: first is the ability of team members to successfully integrate their individual actions and second is their ability to operate adaptively when coordinating their actions.

 

Transformational leadership according to Jyoti & Dev (2015) is a form of leadership that can motivate the actions and ethical intentions of employees. These motivations and ethical intentions bring the organization to a higher capacity to deal with organisational change and employee influence. Nordin (2014) organisational leaders strive for organisational change initiatives due to competition in the marketplace, organisational change includes, restructuring, development of functions, and the creation of new departments. Through understanding leadership methods, organisational change can be enhanced and employees will have a higher retention and influence. Organisations that do not adjust to organisational change could experience organisational change resistance.

 

Nordin (2014) mention research construct is consisting of events, programs, or processes within a specific social context and demonstrating a time-bound manner.  Some areas of the construct measure the variables consisting of organisational change and organisational resistance, the relationship between leaders and employees, the behavior of transformational or non-transformational leaders, and employee success or failure for organizational change ratio. The construct validity will provide results of experimental measures testing the true meaning of the concept within this qualitative research study. Creswell, 2014 explains construct validity focuses on scores of the study, to serve as useful information with positive consequences when used in practice. The meaningful conclusion of this study would determine if behaviours of transformational leaders that infer a better transition during organisational change initiatives understanding that employees have positive outcomes.