Overview
This course allows students to critically examine the new enthusiasm for “workplace learning” and “learning organizations,” and it examines the relationship between education and work. The course is divided into twelve units, drawing from scholarly papers, book chapters, podcasts, and publications of governments, think tanks, community organizations, and supra-national organizations such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). There is no textbook for this course.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Appreciate the interconnections between the dynamically changing workplace of the 21st century, the pressure that creates for life-long learning, and relevant theories of education.
- Mobilize students’ experience in both the working world and in the classroom, integrate that experience with the course content, and help create a guide for workplace and educational challenges in the contemporary workforce.
- Examine dominant theories of adult learning, and articulate the relationship of those theories to the challenges of the contemporary social context, including an appreciation of unacknowledged learning and its relationship to “credentialized” learning.
- Develop the ability to analyze the context of the changing dynamics of the contemporary -workplace, mobilize evidence to outline the skill and educational needs created by these dynamics, and formulate pathways to relevant life-long learning in response.
Evaluation
To receive credit for this course, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete the assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least 60 per cent. Students should be familiar with the Master of Arts—Interdisciplinary Studies grading system. Please note that it is students' responsibility to maintain their program status. Any student who receives a grade of "F" in one course, or a grade of "C" in more than one course, may be required to withdraw from the program.
The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weights associated with them.
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1: Online Participation | 15% |
| Assignment 2: Compare/Contrast Paper | 25% |
| Assignment 3: Group Presentation | 25% |
| Assignment 4: Term Paper | 35% |
| Total | 100% |
Materials
All course materials are entirely online and include course information, a study guide, a digital reading room (DRR), and links to articles and videos.