World Café

Question 3:
What are the enabling conditions in the organization/ institution/community that promote learning from practice?

POE requires appropriate resources. Adequate resources include time, space, and money to initiate and sustain learning. Organizations must also have reward systems that provide incentives to learners and learning guides.

Institutions must also create an environment where POE can occur. Some of the institutional factors important to developing such a climate include:
• Allowing open dialogue
• Maintaining good communication channels
• Providing opportunities for reflection

Teachers/ mentors/ supervisors should understand the theory behind learning from practice. Both practitioners and scholars – especially those in the liberal arts – may need to learn about new methods of teaching and learning and to understand their theoretical bases. Ideally, a POE-centered institution should create a culture where POE practices are valued and learning guides are encouraged to reflect on their teaching. The institution should promote a model where learning guides ask probing questions, make links, and are encouraged to discuss and ask questions about their practices.

Questions raised in the discussion:
• How can classrooms deal more with real life issues?
• How do we surface theory in practice?
• How do you connect context with practice and practice with context?
• Does research exist that actually supports lectures as a way of learning?

The conditions that support learning from practice may vary, depending on the setting (organization vs. university) and the discipline. To encourage a POE-orientation in both universities and the workplace, we need to legitimize the crossover between practitioners and academics. Each group needs to strive to understand the other, especially when navigating unfamiliar terrain. On the surface, it may be easier to make the case for POE in professional fields, such as engineering, but it may even be valuable for liberal arts students to reflect on POE content, such as ethical issues in the workplace and POE philosophy, such as questioning the assumptions of practice.
Questions raised in the discussion:
• Is it easier to initiate learning ideas in work organizations or in educational institutions?
• In what ways do practitioners and scholars hold different world views?

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