Learning plan

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A learning plan is a term to describe a document (possibly electronic or interactive) that is used for learning development over a period of time. [1] [2]

Contents

Any entity can have a learning plan. They are often used by individuals to plan and manage their own learning, but they can also be used by teams, communities of practice or organizations.[ citation needed ] An organizational level plan can be the aggregate of its individuals plans or it can add information on the emergent learning needs of the overall organization.

The active development and maintenance of a learning plan can enrich a person's life and the sharing of learning plans can help to strengthen a community.

Components of a learning plan

A good learning plan is a well articulated document with the following components:

A set of 'learning goals' that the person (or organization) hopes to achieve within a specific period of time. It is often useful to divide larger goals into more manageable sub-goals that can be realized within weeks or months.

Each learning goal (or sub goal) should have a series of concrete steps or actions that the person will take to move towards the goal. Actions should be actual behaviors. Writing a quality article for Wikipedia is an example of an action. Or, if the learning goal is "understand Indian cooking", preparing and serving a masala to a group of East Indian friends might be an appropriate action.

Each action should be associated with one or more resources and with evidence.

Resources are anything that can be used to realize the actions to be taken towards the learning goal. One of the best resources is a mentor or coach, but there are many others, including books, courses, travel, the Internet and especially Wikipedia. Once a resource has been applied to a goal it is often helpful to rate the effectiveness of the resource, especially in cases where the learning plan will be shared.

Evidence is used to demonstrate that an action has been taken, that progress towards the goal has been made, and finally that the goal has been achieved. Evidence can be private, when the person does not need to demonstrate to other people that the goal has been achieved, or public, when evidence is required.

Modes of learning

A learning plan can be used for many modes of learning. One taxonomy is as follows:

A learning plan will often have parts that are strictly private, others that are only shared with one's intimates, others that are for various groups, and it may have some parts that are public.

Learning plans, learning records, and the ePortfolio

As a learning plan evolves, goals are attained, evidence is collected and becomes a learning record. There has been much attention to learning records or the Electronic portfolio in recent pedagogy and andragogy.[ citation needed ] Whereas a learning plan looks forward to what is to be achieved, a learning record looks backwards to the past and what has been accomplished. Two sides of the same coin.

Learning landscape

A learning landscape is a broader concept than a learning plan, placing the individual at the centre of their learning, allowing them to connect with other learners and create online communities. A learning landscape brings together the strengths of electronic portfolio and social networking. A learning landscape is usually based on an individual's interests, skills, reflection and competencies. By sharing these aspirations and thoughts other members can offer support and encouragement. Tools such as Elgg [3] provide facilities for developing learning landscapes.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Team</span> Group linked in a common purpose

A team is a group of individuals working together to achieve their goal.

Organization development (OD) is the study and implementation of practices, systems, and techniques that affect organizational change, the goal of which is to modify an organization's performance and/or culture. The organizational changes are typically initiated by the group's stakeholders. OD emerged from human relations studies in the 1930s, during which psychologists realized that organizational structures and processes influence worker behavior and motivation. More recently, work on OD has expanded to focus on aligning organizations with their rapidly changing and complex environments through organizational learning, knowledge management, and transformation of organizational norms and values. Key concepts of OD theory include: organizational climate, organizational culture and organizational strategies.

Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to attain strategic goals.

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Communications management is the systematic planning, implementing, monitoring, and revision of all the channels of communication within an organization and between organizations; it also includes the organization and dissemination of new communication directives connected with an organization, network, or communications technology. Aspects of communications management include developing corporate communication strategies, designing internal and external communications directives, and managing the flow of information, including online communication. It is a mere process that helps an organization to be systematic as one within the bounds of communication.

An electronic portfolio is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web. Such electronic evidence may include input text, electronic files, images, multimedia, blog entries, and hyperlinks. E-portfolios are both demonstrations of the user's abilities and platforms for self-expression. If they are online, users can maintain them dynamically over time.

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Goal setting involves the development of an action plan designed in order to motivate and guide a person or group toward a goal. Goals are more deliberate than desires and momentary intentions. Therefore, setting goals means that a person has committed thought, emotion, and behavior towards attaining the goal. In doing so, the goal setter has established a desired future state which differs from their current state thus creating a mismatch which in turn spurs future actions. Goal setting can be guided by goal-setting criteria such as SMART criteria. Goal setting is a major component of personal-development and management literature. Studies by Edwin A. Locke and his colleagues, most notably, have shown that more specific and ambitious goals lead to more performance improvement than easy or general goals. The goals should be specific, time constrained and difficult. Vague goals reduce limited attention resources. Unrealistically short time limits intensify the difficulty of the goal outside the intentional level and disproportionate time limits are not encouraging. Difficult goals should be set ideally at the 90th percentile of performance assuming that motivation and not ability is limiting attainment of that level of performance. As long as the person accepts the goal, has the ability to attain it, and does not have conflicting goals, there is a positive linear relationship between goal difficulty and task performance.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Youth empowerment</span> Process where young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives

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Organizating or organising is the establishment of effective authority relationships among selected works, persons and work places in order for the group to work together efficiently, or the process of dividing work into sections and departments.

Network of practice is a concept originated by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid. This concept, related to the work on communities of practice by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, refers to the overall set of various types of informal, emergent social networks that facilitate information exchange between individuals with practice-related goals. In other words, networks of practice range from communities of practice, where learning occurs, to electronic networks of practice.

Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable and improve the efficiency or performance of a job. The term "competence" first appeared in an article authored by R.W. White in 1959 as a concept for performance motivation. In 1970, Craig C. Lundberg defined the concept in "Planning the Executive Development Program". The term gained traction when in 1973, David McClelland wrote a seminal paper entitled, "Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence". The term was used by McClelland commissioned by the State Department, to extract characteristics common to high-performing agents of embassy, and to help them recruit and develop. It has since been popularized by Richard Boyatzis and many others, such as T.F. Gilbert (1978) who used the concept in relationship to performance improvement. Its use varies widely, which leads to considerable misunderstanding.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to management:

A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educational theorist Etienne Wenger in their 1991 book Situated Learning. Wenger then significantly expanded on the concept in his 1998 book Communities of Practice.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goal</span> Idea of the future or result that a person or group wants to achieve

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Organizational conflict, or workplace conflict, is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests between people working together. Conflict takes many forms in organizations. There is the inevitable clash between formal authority and power and those individuals and groups affected. There are disputes over how revenues should be divided, how the work should be done, and how long and hard people should work. There are jurisdictional disagreements among individuals, departments, and between unions and management. There are subtler forms of conflict involving rivalries, jealousies, personality clashes, role definitions, and struggles for power and favor. There is also conflict within individuals – between competing needs and demands – to which individuals respond in different ways.

Text and conversation is a theory in the field of organizational communication illustrating how communication makes up an organization. In the theory's simplest explanation, an organization is created and defined by communication. Communication "is" the organization and the organization exists because communication takes place. The theory is built on the notion, an organization is not seen as a physical unit holding communication. Text and conversation theory puts communication processes at the heart of organizational communication and postulates, an organization doesn't contain communication as a "causal influence", but is formed by the communication within. This theory is not intended for direct application, but rather to explain how communication exists. The theory provides a framework for better understanding organizational communication.

References

  1. "What is a Learning Plan?". sielearning.tafensw.edu.au.
  2. "Developing a learning plan" (PDF). carleton.ca. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
  3. "ELGG Open Source Engine".
  4. "The Development/Learning Plan". Yale University Library. Archived from the original on 8 August 2010.