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The learning portfolio in the Royal Danish Air Force
Bridging sensemaking and resilience engineering in management curriculum by using a particular didactic design
Industrial and Organizational Psychologist Allan Cohn Shapiro, the Royal Danish Defence College
Abstract
Integrating the resilience approach in the management curriculum is a challenge. The study claims that the epistemological constructivist mindset of sense-making delivered via the learning portfolio, can be an advantageous individual prerequisite in acknowledging resilience
engineering, as an important new way of conceptualizing and designing aeronautic safety. By using this particular didactic design, the study shows promising results in terms of making highly specialized personnel (pilots) grasp the complexity of the sense-making approach the human being as a complex autonomous meaning system - in regard to safety issues in aeronautical organizations.
Background
Research Questions
The study was conducted at the Royal Danish Air Force
Academy, at a course for specially selected pilot officers with 510 years’ experience focusing on professional development and
leadership in aviation.
In what way is engaging in methodical consideration of one’s
preconceived views, on the individual level, conducive to
understanding and adapting the sense-making mindset in which
reality is relative to one’s own POV?
The management curriculum in the course emphasizes in
accordance with resilience thinking the paradigm shift from
information processing and a conception of people as simple
stimuli-response systems to an understanding of human beings
as autonomous systems of meaning. The curriculum focuses on
sense-making as a state of mind, in which reality is perceived
relative to one's own point of view, which is considered counterintuitive to the practice and reasoning amongst the specialized
personnel (pilots) in a high reliability organization.
What kind of pedagogical structure enhances motivation for a
practice of reflective thinking in a work environment defined by
technical, competitive and high reliable demands and a
population of professionals socialized in a realist informationprocessing paradigm?
In what way can understanding and adapting the sense-making
mindset enhance the understanding of resilience as a strategy
for improved safety?
The learning portfolio was introduced in 2012 and on the
foundation of sense-making it aligns learning activities,
curriculum and assessment systems across the course. The
course design alternates between blended learning – including
class activities (real time), groups and individual work – and part
time work in aviation leadership positions.
Methods
The explanatory case explores underlying principles for
enhancing the sensemaking mindset.
The research strategy is to design an empirical inquiry that
investigates the phenomenon of portfolio design effects on
reflection regarding POV within its real-life context. The
research includes quantitative evidence (self-reporting
evidence) and qualitative evidence such as essays, screenshots
and videos.
Results
The pilots who experienced the greatest improvement
throughout the course all displayed a high frequency of: 1.
Emphasizing dilemmas 2. Relativizing own professional belief
systems 3. Sharing and handing in ‘work in progress’ 4.
Showing non-conforming aesthetics.
Learning model
The course defines successful professional development (the
resilient aeronautical safety II leadership) as the ability to
succeed under varying complex conditions all of this is tested in
specially designed assignments with relation to the aeronautical
context.
The calculating of the self reporting quantitative data has been
done by using a principle of merging data. The main level of
self-reported ‘sensemaking’ in regard to the curriculum on
resilience has risen over time.
The learning portfolio
Conclusion
Resilience engineering is an important new way of
conceptualizing and designing aeronautic safety but difficult to
comprehend, because resilience engineering entails a
constructivist mindset with epistemological conceptions that can
be counterintuitive to the training of aviation specialists. The
learning portfolio train the professionals in making inquiry into
their own sense-making and systemic thinking which can be a
successful epistemological prerequisite for engaging in the
mindset of resilience.
Theory
The learning portfolio (LP) is a personal homepage designed by
the student containing a concise, reflective narrative, plus
selected evidence of learning. The participants exhibit such
evidence of learning in assignments (reflective essays), cases,
pictures/videos and feedback videos from teachers and fellow
students. It is important that individual LPs are evaluated
according to the participant's own norm and the student activity
is evaluated by integrating the perspectives of the participant.
Resilience engineering is key to bringing safety to a new level
(Hollnagel, 2013). Resilience thinking comes with the
understanding of complexity theory (Bergstrom, Henriqson &
Dahlstrom, 2011). Sense-making ability is a resilient capacity at
the front (Pariès, 2013).
Understanding the human being as a complex and closed
system is important (Maturana, 2001). The LP perceives
learning as a process in which a person connects something
new with something old in a meaningful way (Weick, 1995).
In LP model any combination of two components ensures a
deeper learning experience (Zubizarreta, 2008).
Discussion
The students show primarily transactional effects. How does
sensemaking transfer to real-life situations?
The students create the main themes themselves in the LP. How
can we really control learning outcomes with many variables
(assessment system, curriculum, activities)?
The LP demands a lot of teacher activity. How much of the result
is centered on teachers’ relational skills?
The resilience approach shares its critical position on realistic
application of knowledge to practice with chaos theory. But does
it include an epistemological constructivist position?
The study points to four abilities that are achieved when
understanding sense-making as a specialized professional: the
ability to reflect and understand one’s POV, the ability to understand how one learns and thereby better monitor ongoing
developments, to anticipate future threats and opportunities, and
to learn from past failures and successes alike.
The learning portfolio is successful because it goes beyond
behavioral markers or error classification in professional
development training. The learning portfolio takes the student’s
prior knowledge into consideration. The anxiety connected with
struggling with a new paradigm decreases when using LP as a
pedagogical structure.