Volunteer Work, Informal Learning and Social Action

Volunteer Work, Informal Learning and Social Action

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  • Author: Fiona Duguid
  • Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
  • ISBN: 9462092338
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 253

Since most research on work focuses on paid work, and most literature on education concentrates on schools, it is not surprising that studies on the relations between work and learning emphasize the relations between paid employment and organized education. This unique book deals with an area that has been rarely covered in the literature on work and education: the connections between volunteer work and informal learning. Through a variety of examples, ranging from the Red Cross to teacher-labourers, from cooperatives to social housing, and from participatory democracy to environmental social movements, this volume examines the learning dimension of volunteer work in different contexts. It also considers the special case of volunteerism among recent immigrants. The case studies analyze three basic types of voluntary organizations: those providing social services, representing local communities and mobilizing for social change. The chapters include profiles of the actual work their members do and detailed accounts of the learning practices they are engaged in during their work, and the impact of such learning on their personal and professional development. The concluding chapter offers a comparative analysis, practical recommendations and steps for further research.


Informal Learning to Support Volunteer Performance

Informal Learning to Support Volunteer Performance

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  • Author: Heather Camille Kent
  • Publisher:
  • ISBN:
  • Category : Instructional systems
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 0

Volunteer engagement is critical to achieving the mission of volunteer organizations (Boone and others, 2002). Fogarty and others (2009) found that 4-H volunteers are a mediating factor in achieving positive youth development outcomes and are responsible for teaching at least 50% of the life skills youth gain from participation in the organization. For 4-H to consistently achieve positive youth development outcomes, volunteers must be prepared for their roles (Arnold, 2009). However, most 4-H volunteer education programs are offered sporadically (Smith and others, 2017) and tend to focus on fundamental skills (Serafino, 2001), rather than more complex skills volunteers need to create supportive environments for positive youth development outcomes to occur (Arnold and others, 2009). Volunteers often state that a lack of learning opportunities is the reason why they do not continue to serve as a volunteer (Fahey and others, 2003). Also, many volunteers face obstacles participating in formal training, particularly when it is only offered face-to-face in a physical location (Ouellette and others, 2014). To address these issues, Spink (2016) recommends integrating more opportunities for self-directed learning and on demand resources. Studies by Homan and others (2020) and White and others (2020) found that 4-H volunteers desired more opportunities for mentoring, networking, and access to communities of practice to build content-specific knowledge and skills. 4-H volunteers also want more opportunities for mentoring and online and virtual learning (Dillard, 2020; Hensley and others 2020; Kok and others, 2020). Intentionally providing opportunities for volunteers to learn through informal learning may be a solution to address issues related to volunteer education. The relationship between work and informal learning is the strongest within the context of volunteering (Livingstone, 1999) but is the least understood (Duguid and others, 2013). While informal learning has been studied in the context of paid work, informal learning that occurs through volunteering is often considered passive (Cox, 2002), and is unplanned, unstructured, and ignored by organizations (Duguid and others, 2013; Livingstone and Guile, 2012). As a result, a systematic framework for organizations to intentionally develop and support pathways for informal learning does not currently exist. The purpose of the current study was to explore how volunteers in the Florida 4-H Positive Youth Development program engage in informal learning to support their volunteer roles. The goal of the study is to develop a list of informal learning activities volunteers participate to design a conceptual framework to guide organizations in the development of informal learning activities for volunteers to select from and explore. Four research questions guided this study: 1. What types of informal learning activities do Florida 4-H volunteers participate in to support their performance as a volunteer? 2. How frequently do volunteers engage in these types of informal learning activities? 3. Which informal learning activities do volunteers identify as most helpful to support their volunteer performance? 4. Why do Florida 4-H volunteers engage in informal learning? This two-part study consisted of an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews with current Florida 4-H volunteers. Respondents to the survey included 237 adult volunteers of which 20 participated in semi-structured interviews. The results from both survey and interview data indicated that volunteers frequently engage in a variety of informal learning activities. The top five activities volunteers did on a weekly basis included: searching the internet, reading newsletters, blogs, curriculum, and other print materials, collaborating with others on a joint task, setting personal goals, and using social media. When 4-H volunteers use informal learning, they want to learn about topics related to positive youth development, educational design and delivery, organization, 4-H program management, and interpersonal relationship skills. These topics are domains of learning Culp and others (2007) found to be essential for volunteers to be successful. Volunteers shared the number one reason why they choose to participate in informal learning is because they want to improve their performance. This supports the motto of the organization, which is "to make the best better." Volunteers also stated that they use informal learning because they have learning needs that are not currently being met by the organization and because it is more convenient and flexible for them than traditional didactic methods. Finally, volunteers said that informal learning aids in not only motivating youth but keeps them excited about the volunteer work they do for the organization. This study resulted in several implications for volunteer organizations, as well as a conceptual framework for organizations to guide intentional informal learning for volunteers.


Measuring and Analyzing Informal Learning in the Digital Age

Measuring and Analyzing Informal Learning in the Digital Age

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  • Author: Mejiuni, Olutoyin
  • Publisher: IGI Global
  • ISBN: 1466682663
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 336

In the twenty-first century, learning—and the definition of education—is changing. New digital, online, and social tools have the ability to transform the classroom and engage learners like never before. In the midst of this technological revolution, it is crucial for educators and administrators to be able to gauge the impact of digital tools on learners in a variety of settings. Measuring and Analyzing Informal Learning in the Digital Age addresses the need for educators, administrators, and professionals across industries to be more attentive to the learning process outside of a traditional classroom setting. As online learning, and MOOCs in particular, become more mainstream, tracking informal learning becomes difficult despite the necessity of feedback and measurement in non-formal learning environments. Investigating some of the primary technologies being used in educational settings and how a less structured and more open learning environment can effectively motivate students and non-traditional learners, this premier reference is a crucial source of information for educators, administrators, theorists, and other professionals in the field of education.


Lifelong Learning in Paid and Unpaid Work

Lifelong Learning in Paid and Unpaid Work

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  • Author: D.W. Livingstone
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1136981721
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 268

Lifelong Learning is essential to all individuals and in recent years has become a guiding principle for policy initiatives, ranging from national economic competition to issues of social cohesion and personal fulfilment. However, despite the importance of lifelong learning there is a critical absence of direct, international evidence on its extent, content and outcomes. Lifelong Learning in Paid and Unpaid Work provides a new paradigm for understanding work and learning, documenting the active contribution of workers to their development and their adaptation to paid and unpaid work. Empirical evidence drawn from national surveys in Canada and eight related case studies is used to explore the current learning activities of those in paid employment, housework and volunteer work, addressing all forms of learning including: formal schooling, further education courses, informal training and self-directed learning, particularly in the context of organisational and technological change. Proposing an expanded conceptual framework for investigating the relationships between learning and work, the contributors offer new insights into the ways in which adult learning adapts to and helps reshape the wide contemporary world of work throughout the life course.


Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Southeastern Europe

Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Southeastern Europe

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  • Author: George A. Koulaouzides
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 9463511733
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 136

Contemporary adult education policy development and lifelong learning practice are experiencing an autonomy loss imposed by the dominant neoliberal economic paradigm. As a consequence, in many countries, especially those that depend economically from supranational organizations and donors, the critical approach and its adjunct idea of emancipation have been sacrificed in favour of ambiguous developmental goals like employability, flexibility and adaptability. On the other hand, in many countries, adult education as a social movement is deeply rooted in the conviction that learning is an essential process related to personal transformation and social change. The result of this conflict between the external pressure for policies in favour of the labour market and the internal assumption about the value of emancipation has led to interesting insights that have produced policies and practices that attempt to reconcile these two forces of development. In this volume, we offer a consideration of the above paradoxical situation, and the critical view of adult education policy and practice in the region of Southeastern Europe. Some chapters in this volume present also positive lifelong learning practices, policy development analyses and conceptual understandings that highlight the efforts to develop adult education within a framework of the dominant neoliberal forces that shape European and international adult education policy.


Managing Human Resources for Nonprofits

Managing Human Resources for Nonprofits

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  • Author: Kunle Akingbola
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1135021872
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 315

The core resources and capabilities of any nonprofit organization lie in their human capital; their knowledge, skills and behaviors are critical to the achievement of the organization's mission and performance. Thus, effective management of this key resource is integral to the nonprofit organization's success. This book focuses on the unique characteristics, challenges and contribution of human resource management to the strategic objectives of the nonprofit. It explores contemporary issues that place the management of people at the intersection between the mission, strategy and performance of the organization. The book: * Uses the latest theory to build models that explain the determinants and dimensions of strategic HRM within the nonprofit sector * Examines the core HRM functions in the context of the nonprofit sector to provide insight into how nonprofits can optimize HRM contributions to performance * Provides a step-by-step process to develop, implement and manage HR practices that are aligned with the strategy of the nonprofit organization * Demonstrates how to integrate volunteer management into strategic HRM Using examples from around the world, as well as cases to facilitate learning, this book is ideal for students and professionals interested in strategic human resource management, and nonprofit management.


Social Media and European Politics

Social Media and European Politics

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  • Author: Mauro Barisione
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 1137598905
  • Category : Social Science
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 324

This volume investigates the role of social media in European politics in changing the focus, frames and actors of public discourse around the EU decision-making process. Throughout the collection, the contributors test the hypothesis that the internet and social media are promoting a structural transformation of European public spheres which goes well beyond previously known processes of mediatisation of EU politics. This transformation addresses more fundamental challenges in terms of changing power relations, through processes of active citizen empowerment and exertion of digitally networked counter-power by civil society, news media, and political actors, as well as rising contestation of representative legitimacy of the EU institutions. Social Media and European Politics offers a comprehensive approach to the analysis of political agency and social media in European Union politics, by bringing together scholarly works from the fields of public sphere theory, digital media, political networks, journalism studies, euroscepticism, political activism and social movements, political parties and election campaigning, public opinion and audience studies.


Power and Possibility

Power and Possibility

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  • Author: Fergal Finnegan
  • Publisher: BRILL
  • ISBN: 9004413324
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 199

Power has been a defining and constitutive theme of adult education scholarship for over a century and is a central concern of many of the most famous and influential thinkers in the field. Adult education has been particularly interested in how an analysis of power can be used to support transformative learning and democratic participation. In a fragile and interdependent world these questions are more important than ever. The aim of this collection is to offer an analysis of power and possibility in adult education which acknowledges, analyzes and responds to the complexity and diversity that characterizes contemporary education and society. Power and Possibility: Adult Education in a Diverse and Complex World explores the topic of power and possibility theoretically, historically and practically through a range of perspectives and in relation to varied areas of interest within contemporary adult education. It is concerned with addressing how power works in and through adult education today by exploring what has changed in recent years and what is shaping and driving policy. Alongside this the book explores ways of theorizing learning, power and transformation that builds and extends adult education philosophy. In particular it takes up the themes of diversity and solidarity and explores barriers and possibilities for change in relation to these themes.


The Routledge Handbook of Volunteering in Events, Sport and Tourism

The Routledge Handbook of Volunteering in Events, Sport and Tourism

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  • Author: Kirsten Holmes
  • Publisher: Routledge
  • ISBN: 1000471772
  • Category : Business & Economics
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 704

This timely handbook examines the most contemporary, controversial and cutting-edge issues related to the involvement of volunteers in the fields of events, sport and tourism. Split into thematic sections, the primary areas covered include: key disciplinary approaches to understanding volunteerism, international contexts, managing volunteers, the impacts and legacies of volunteering and future trends in these sectors including online and digital volunteering. Commonalities and differences of volunteering in these sectors are drawn out throughout the volume. A diverse range of case studies are examined including the 2007 UEFA Under 21 Championship hosted by Poland, the development of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, the Vancouver, London and Pyeong Chang Olympic Games, Belgium’s National Day in 2019, the Puffing Billy railway in Australia, as well as many other examples looking at destination services organizations, museums, grassroots associations, corporate events, community events and visitor attractions. Drawing on the academic and practical expertise of over 50 authors from across the globe, the handbook provides an invaluable resource for all those with an interest in volunteering in these sectors, encouraging dialogue across disciplinary boundaries and areas of study in order to advance volunteering research and practice in the fields of events, sport and tourism.


The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning

The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning

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  • Author: Marcella Milana
  • Publisher: Springer
  • ISBN: 1137557834
  • Category : Education
  • Languages : en
  • Pages : 1049

This Handbook provides a wide-ranging frame of reference for researching adult and lifelong education and learning. With contributions from scores of established and newer scholars from six continents, the volume covers a diverse range of geopolitical and social territories across the world. Drawing on the multiple heritages that underpin research on education and learning in adulthood, this Handbook addresses the inner tensions between adult education, adult learning, lifelong education, and lifelong learning, by using current research and theorizations from disciplinary backgrounds, including philosophy, psychology, biology and neuroscience, anthropology, sociology, history, political science, and economics. It provides an explicit discussion of the differences and tensions between adult and lifelong education and learning, and locates these in different policy and historical contexts, theories and practices. It explores a variety of discipline-based theoretical perspectives, and highlights how these have influenced, and been influenced by, research in the education and learning of adults. The Handbook also explores the inevitable frictions and dilemmas these present, and carefully examines the role of the international dimension in researching education and learning in formal, non-formal and informal contexts, beyond traditional schooling. This state-of-the-art, comprehensive Handbook is the first of its kind to explore adult education, lifelong education and lifelong learning fully as distinct activities on an international scale. It will be an indispensable reference resource for students of education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and for academic researchers, professionals and policy-makers concerned with adult and community education, further and vocational education, or work-based training and human resource development.