Master of Arts Integrated Studies (MAIS) 645
Understanding Work and Learning (Revision 3)
Delivery Mode:Grouped study.
Credits:3
Prerequisite:Priority will go to students who have successfully completed MAIS 601 and MAIS 602.
Centre:Master of Arts Integrated Studies
Program: Master of Arts Integrated Studies
**Note:Students in Group Study courses are advised that this syllabus
may vary in key details in each instance of the course. Always refer to
the Moodle site for the most up-to-date details on texts, assignment structure, and grading.**
Introduction
This course allows students to critically examine the new enthusiasm for "workplace learning," "learning organizations" and the relationship between education and work. The course is divided into five units:
- Perspectives on Work and Learning
- The Learning Organization
- Workers, Unions, and Learning
- From School to Work and Workplace Learning to School
- Gender and Difference. Training and Skills. The Democratization of Work and Learning in the "Economic South"
The course draws on a number of readings from around the globe and in particular on North American and Australian texts.
Student Evaluation
To receive credit for this course, you must complete the following activities and assignments.
Online Participation. You are expected to participate in an online group discussion each week. Each Monday the course professor will post the week’s discussion questions and instructions. Online participation consists of one or more postings, including responses to discussion questions initiated by the course professor and responses to comments by other students. These messages should demonstrate knowledge of the assigned readings.
Presentation. You must prepare notes on an agreed (with your course professor) topic or theme related to work and learning. You must post your topic to the online course website and moderate the discussion on it.
Book Review You must write one review of approximately 1,500 words of two chapters, articles, or papers on work and learning from the course materials.
Term Paper You must complete a final term paper of approximately 4,000 words. Before you do this, you must agree on a topic with your course professor.
Course Structure
Students are expected to participate in online group discussion each week. Each Monday the course professor will post the week's discussion questions and instructions. Online participation consists of one or more postings: responses to discussion questions initiated by the course professor and responses to comments by other students. These messages should demonstrate knowledge of the assigned readings.
The following table summarizes the evaluation activities and the credit weight associated with each evaluation activity.
| Activity | Weighting | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Participation | Varies | |
| Presentation | Varies | |
| Book Review | 1,500 words | |
| Term Paper | 4,000 words | |
| Total |
Course Materials
The course materials for Master of Arts-Integrated Studies 645 include the items listed below.
Textbooks
The following textbooks and readers are used in this course. Please consult the Study Schedule in the Course Guide to learn at which points in the course the different readings are required.
-
Bratton, Helms-Mills, Pyrch & Sawchuk. (2004). Workplace Learning: A Critical Introduction. Aurora, Ont: Garamond. Hereafter referred to as Bratton et al., 2004
-
Boud, D. & Garrick, J. (Eds.). (1999). Understanding Learning at Work. London: Routledge. Hereafter referred to as Boud & Garrick, 1999.
Reading File
The following assigned readings, which supplement the course textbooks, are reproduced in the Reading File.
- Mirchandani, K., Ng, R., Colomo-Moya, N., Maitra, R., Rawlings, T., Siddiqui, K., Shan, H., & Slade, B. (2008). The Paradox of Training and Learning in a Culture of Contingency. In Livingstone, D., Mirchandani, K. & Sawchuk, P. The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work: Critical Perspectives.
- Wotherspoon, T. (2009). Schooling and Work. In The Sociology of Education in Canada: Critical Perspectives. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
- Taylor, A. & Watt-Malcolm, B. (2008). Building a Future for High School Students in Trades. In Livingstone, D., Mirchandani, K. & Sawchuk, P. (2008). The Future of Lifelong Learning and Work: Critical Perspectives.
- Critoph, U. (2003). Who Wins, Who Loses: The Real Story of the Transfer of Training to the Provinces and its Impact on Women. In Cohen, M. Training the Excluded for Work.
- Freedman, J. (1995). Why the Charter School Solution?” In The Charter School Idea: Breaking Educational Gridlock, 40–49. Red Deer, AB: Society for Advancing Educational Research.
- Kachur, Jerrold L. & Trevor W. Harrison. (1999). Public Education, Globalization and Democracy: Whither Alberta?” In Contested Classrooms: Education, Globalization, and Democracy in Alberta, edited by Harrison, T. & Kachur, J. xiii–xxxv. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press / Parkland Institute.
- Peruniak, G. (1998).Dimensions of Competence-based Learning. In Learning for Life: Canadian Readings in Adult Education, edited by Scott, S., Spencer, B. & Thomas, A. (313–329). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
- Fenwick, Tara. (1998). Questioning the Concept of the Learning Organization. In Learning for Life: Canadian Readings in Adult Education, edited by Scott, S., Spencer, B. & Thomas, A. (140–152; 373-391). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing.
- Fenwick, Tara. (2006). Control, Contradiction and Ambivalence: Skill Initiatives in Canada. In CASAE proceedings.
- Miller, D., Turner, S. & Grinter, T. (2009). Back to the Future: Mature Systems of Industrial Relations Approaches and Social Compliance in Outsourced Apparel Supply Chains.
Digital Reading
Statistics Canada Report. Working and training: First results of the 2003 Adult Education and Training Survey.
Athabasca University Material
Course Guide: The Course Guide contains the introduction, objectives, reading assignments, commentaries, online activities, assignments and evaluation criteria, and other information students will need to complete the course successfully.
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.
Opened in Revision 3, April 11, 2007.
Last updated by SAS 03/22/2012 15:19:35
