The contributing authors of this multidisciplinary text agree that
workplace learning truly is extraordinary when it is marked by
structural congruence and a positive synergy among the intended and
formal preparation of professionals, that tacit learning occurs within
the hidden curriculum, and that the subsequent demands, both formal and
tacit, are embedded in subsequent workplace settings. Thus, for this
text, these authors explore research and practice literature related to
curriculum, instruction and assessment of professionals' learning in the
workplace and the implications for best practices. But what makes this
book truly unique is that the authors examine that literature in the
context of four professions-education, nursing, medicine and clergy-at
the point of those professions wherein students are learning during the
degree program stages of their education.
Extraordinary Learning in the Workplace is broken into four main
sections. Part I explores curriculum, both formal and hidden. Part II
focuses on conceptions and theories of learning and instruction and is
intended to inform the work of educators with regard to components of
professional education that occur in the practice settings of the
workplace. Part III covers assessment, using medicine as its example to
argue that assessment has remained largely unchanged for years, thus
making the multiple choice questions tests introduced in the 1950s the
de facto gold standard for "quality" assessment. And Part IV focuses
on the training of the instructors, visiting the three key themes of
relationships, activities or tasks, and work practices.
