Consider…

Educators may well be more interested in different learning models than the company and the participants. Education, especially in language and literacies, is often associated with tutors and classrooms rather than drawing on other models of informal learning and coaching more common in the workplace.

Meeting the expectations of learners might mean that opportunities include more traditional delivery with tutor and classroom delivery. Sometimes it takes experience with an education provider to trust in different options that might suit the type of work organization and the way people learn at work. For instance, in a high performance workplace with cells of workers, the educators were considered essential to the improvements in the company’s communications. They decided to experiment with shop floor learning — going out onto to the floor and being right in the middle of where people normally work and learn. This model fit in with the informal learning that was always going on as people consulted with each other in their cells. At the same workplace, the educators worked with staff and cell leaders by modeling and coaching skills needed for successful teaching and learning — for example, using clear language and visual learning and following the action — reflection — action cycle. They succeeded in moving the company and the workforce to a new understanding of informal learning by building awareness of when and how people learn best.

Suitable Location and Timing

Location and timing, a subset of accessibility and delivery, gets specific mention in a number of good practice statements. Here, the emphasis is on the most accessible, private and suitable location — on or off-site. Likewise, the timing aims for convenience and to accommodate the largest number of participants.