Pedagogical aspects of interprofessional workplace learning: a case study

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article we aim to elucidate some pedagogical aspects of interprofessional workplace learning, using the learning strategies of the Centre for Interprofessional Workplace Learning, Norway (TVEPS) as a case. We find the Expansive Learning Theory well suited for a creative interaction with the learning strategies at our interprofessional training centre. The Expansive Learning Theory focuses on learning over a substantial time horizon, but also opens for micro-cycles of learning over a shorter time of hours or days, which mirrors the learning system of TVEPS. As the social premises for learning are both situated and in change, human learning as a social process is diverse and in continuous change. Expansive Learning Theory focuses the interprofessional team learning at the workplace rather than on individual learning. Thereby such team learning is regarded as situated at the workplace premises physically, interpersonally, administratively and social-historically. The interprofessional student team’s learning process creates an object, a construct within the physical, ethical, social, administrative, or theoretical domain. In the TVEPS learning system, the object is the patient care plan which the student team produces, by working on resolving contradictions in the zone of proximal development. By debriefing the object (the care plan) with the staff, the object is developed further in creative interplay. New objects may be developed, as changed care or change in administrative systems at the workplace. By linking these concepts, Expansive Learning Theory can function as an analytical tool for understanding interprofessional learning activity at the workplace.