Dear Students

 

Through your studies in Workplace Learning and Development I hope you will gain valuable insights into the successful management and delivery of learning (training) and development. Organisations place great importance on the need to continually develop a motivated and skilled workforce to achieve high performance and competitive advantage. For individuals, the workplace provides much of their ongoing learning throughout their working lives. This course will assist in your understanding of how learning environments can be designed, developed and sustained, and the strategic role of learning and development in organisations.

The study materials have been structured in such a way that will help you plan your study and readings each week and focus on key issues.

Best wishes for a productive and rewarding semester.

 

Dr Jane Burdett
Course Coordinator

 

There are no prerequisite courses to be completed before this course can be undertaken.

There are no corequisite courses to be completed in conjunction with this course.

To devise strategies for the design, delivery and management of workplace learning and development.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CO1. Analyse the role of learning and HR development in the organisational environment

CO2. Compare and contrast a range of adult learning theories and methods

CO3. Analyse needs, design and plan the implementation of learning programs

CO4. Devise strategies to enhance learning outcomes and evaluate results

CO5. Apply knowledge and critical thinking skills to respond to learning scenarios

CO6. Communicate effectively to demonstrate understanding of concepts and their application

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:

A graduate of UniSA:

GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice

GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice

GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional

GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen

GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community

GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen

The organisational environment and workplace learning. HR development, strategy and knowledge management. Adult learners - learning theories, models and methods. Needs analysis, design and implementation of learning programs. Strategies to enhance learning outcomes and change. Evaluation of results. Issues and challenges.

4.5 units

This course will involve the production of audio and/or video recordings of UniSA students. To protect student privacy, you must not at any time disclose, reproduce or publish these recordings, or related material, in the public domain including online, unless the videoed students give consent for reproduction, disclosure or publication. This requirement is consistent with University statutes, by-laws, policies, rules and guidelines which you agreed to abide by when you signed the Student Enrolment Declaration.

You will need continual access to the following text(s) to complete this course. Where possible the Library will make the book available for student use. Please check the Library catalogue before purchasing the book(s). The Library will always seek to purchase resources that allow an unlimited number of concurrent users, however availability is dependent on license arrangements with book publishers and platforms. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au

Noe, RA (2017). Employee training and development (7th edn). Irwin McGraw Hill.

Journals and periodicals
The following journals are available in Library online databases such as Emerald Insight and EbscoHost:
Academy of Management Learning & Education
Education + Training
Human Resource Development Quarterly
People Management
T + D: Better Performance through Workplace Learning
The International Journal of Training and Development
The Journal of Workplace Learning
The Learning Organisation
Training and Development
Training and Development in Australia
Training for Quality

Electronic books in the library catalogue. The ebook collection is extensive - enter 'Workplace Learning' or 'Training and Development' titles in the Catalogue Search facility, and then refine the search by choosing the ebook format.

Biech, E & Development, AS 2014, ASTD handbook : the definitive reference for training & development, 2nd edn, ASTD Press, USA (ebook)

CCH 2012, Managing Training and Development, North Ryde, NSW, CCH Australia. (ebook)

Griffin, R 2014, Complete Training Evaluation : The Comprehensive Guide to Measuring Return on Investment, Kogan Page, London.

Kearns, P 2014, Organizational learning and development : from an evidence base, Routledge, New York.

Kirwan, C 2013, Making Sense of Organizational Learning Putting Theory into Practice, Ashgate Publishing Ltd, Farnham

Knowles, MS, Holton, EF & Swanson, RA 2014, The Adult Learner : the definitive classic in adult education and
human resource development, 8th edn, Taylor and Francis, Hoboken (ebook UniSA library)
Kozlowski, S & Salas, E (editors) 2010, Learning, training, and development in organizations, Routledge, New York.

Mcguire, D & Jorgensen, KM 2011, Human Resource Development Theory and Practice, SAGE Publications, London.

Moskowitz, M 2008, A practical guide to training and development: assess, design, deliver, and evaluate, John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco USA.

Page-Tickell, R 2014, Learning and development, Kogan Page, London, England. (ebook UniSA library)

Pollock, VH, Jefferson, AM & Wick, CW 2015, The six disciplines of breakthrough learning: how to turn training
and development into business results, 3rd edn, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ (ebook UniSA library)
Quinn, CN 2014, Revolutionize Learning & Development Performance and Innovation Strategy for the
Information Age, Wiley, Hoboken (ebook UniSA library)

Weber, E 2014, Turning Learning into Action: A Proven Methodology for Effective Transfer of Learning, Kogan Page, London

Wilson, JP 2012, International Human Resource Development Learning, Education and Training for Individuals and Organizations, 3rd edn, Kogan Page, London.

Books
Blanchard, PN & Thacker, JW 2013, Effective training: systems, strategies and practices, 5th edn, Prentice Hall, NJ.

Delahaye, BL 2011, Human resource development: adult learning and knowledge management, 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Milton, Qld.

Harrison, R 2009, Learning and development, 5th edn, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. (There are other titles by this author in the library.)
Holland, P & De Cieri, H (eds) 2006, Contemporary issues in human resource development: an Australian perspective, Pearson Education Australia, NSW.
Saks, A & Haccoun, R 2016, Managing Performance through Training and Development, 7th edition, Nelson Education; Canada.
Tovey, M & Lawlor, DA 2011, Training in Australia, 3rd edn, Pearson Education Australia, NSW.

All course related materials can be accessed through your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the my Courses section in myUniSA.

All study related materials can be accessed through: https://my.unisa.edu.au

Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within two to three weeks of submission.

 

Cover sheets

A cover sheet is not required for assessment tasks submitted via learnonline, as the system automatically generates one.

 

If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help (https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1843&chapterid=567) and in myUniSA.

 

The feedback proforma is available on your course site.

Case study one is based on the following scenario and must be answered in essay form with an introduction (150 words), main discussion and conclusion (150 words). Word limit: 1,350 to 1,500 words (not to be exceeded) with support of 6 to 10 academic journals or books as references. You will need to read the details here as well as those in the 'Further Assessment Information' in this Course outline and the 'Getting started' document and the 'Feedback form' in the Assessment tab on the Course site.

 

You may work with another (one) student on this assignment and submit one paper for a shared mark. You will need to apply by the end of week 2 by email to the Course Coordinator in advance for approval. No joint assignment will be accepted without approval.

Flextech decides to cut its Learning and Development budget

 

Kate is the Learning and Development Manager for Flextech (ficticious name) a global technology services company which operates in a highly competitive environment. David, a senior manager, has advised Kate that because of the fall in the company’s annual profits, a substantial cut to the Learning and Development (L & D) budget is planned for the coming year. David believes that training programs are too costly and are not delivering improved performance results for Flextech. He also noted that attendance at training programs offered by the company has been poor in the previous year and he felt there was a general lack of employee interest in training. Often employees complained that time away from their work for training was frustrating and the training was not relevant to them. He is unaware of any evidence of the value of programs in the past from employee feedback.

Furthermore, feedback from senior department heads had reported that new employees, after completing a six-week induction (onboarding) program, were ‘none the wiser’. When David asked for an analysis of this statement and evidence on which this was based, the department heads could not provide this. They just said it was their personal observations.

David also feared that after employees were trained, they were likely to leave having gained jobs and career opportunities elsewhere. David instructed Kate that it would be a good idea to identify poor performing employees and require them to undertake and pay for their own training courses offered by external providers. In this way, individuals would invest in their own learning and career development and reduce costs for Flextech. He knew that rival company IBM had implemented such a scheme for its employees to update and gain new skills. (Note: The IBM case is on p. 108 of Noe at the end of chapter 2).

Kate believes that David’s plan is unjustified and will have a detrimental effect on the performance of Flextech and the morale of employees. Present an argument that Kate can use against the proposed L&D budget cuts based on the value of Learning and Development for Flextech and its employees. Draw on course concepts, literature and readings to support your argument.

 

Case study two details will be provided by the end of week 4.

Assessment for this course includes a 2.5 hour exam plus 10 minutes reading time, plus 20 minutes for ENTEXT students. University policy allows extra time, use of a bilingual dictionary (for ENTEXT card holders) and other variations to exams as required in some circumstances. The University defines a bilingual dictionary as one that 'translates words or phrases from one language to another without providing a definition of the word in either language'. Dictionaries must comply with University rules and cannot be enhanced or altered in any way. Mobile phones and electronic devices cannot be taken into the exam. All instructions must be followed.

The exam will comprise two case studies with questions. One of the case studies will be released prior to the exam. All weekly topics are relevant. There are no past exam papers but appropriate guidance will be provided in advance on the course site to assist preparation. More information will be available closer to the date. Exams will be assessed based on the demonstrated understanding and application of workplace learning and development objectives, theories and concepts, problem solving and written communication skills.

 

Please refer to the section on Exam Arrangements.

Refer to Assessment details and Further Assessment Information

You may apply by email to the Course Coordinator in advance to seek approval to work together on assignment 2 with another student and to submit one copy as a joint paper for a shared mark.

Students will receive advance notice of scheduled examination. All students are required to sit their examination at the scheduled date, time and location irrespective of any conflict with a planned holiday or special event.
Internal students are required to sit their examination on-campus or at the central exam venue.
More information about examination procedures and arrangements for students can be found by consulting the relevant policy http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/ (Section 6)

Extra time in exams (ENTEXT) and the use of a dictionary is available to some students (for example, Aboriginal peoples and those of non-English speaking background) as follows:

• extra time for reading or writing. This will be an extra ten minutes per hour for every hour of standard examination time, and
• the use of an English language or bilingual print dictionary (without annotations). (APPM 7.2.2)

More information about variation to assessment is available in section 7.2 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual. http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/ (section 7)

The 2.5 hour exam will comprise two case studies with questions. One of the case studies will be released prior to the exam. All weekly topics are relevant. There are no past exam papers but appropriate guidance will be provided in advance on the course site to assist preparation. More information will be available closer to the date. Exams will be assessed based on the demonstrated understanding and application of workplace learning and development objectives, theories and concepts, problem solving and written communication skills.

 

Please refer to the section on Exam Arrangements in this document.

Supplementary assessment or examination offers students an opportunity to gain a supplementary pass (SP) and is available to all students under the following conditions unless supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for the course:

1. if the student has achieved a final grade between 45-49 per cent (F1) in a course
2. if a student who has successfully completed all of the courses within their program, with the exception of two courses in which they were enrolled in their final study period, a supplementary assessment or examination may be granted where the final grade in either or both of these courses, is less than 45 percent (F1 or F2) and all assessments in the courses were attempted by the student. Supplementary assessment will not be available for a course under investigation for academic integrity until the investigation is completed, and determined that it did not constitute academic misconduct.

More information about supplementary assessment is available in section 7.5 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual.
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.

There are no additional assessment requirements identified for this course.

Students with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers of a person with a disability may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements.  See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

 

Students who require variations or modifications to standard assessment arrangements should make contact with their Course Coordinator as early as possible in order to ensure that appropriate supports can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner.

 

Students can register for an Access Plan with UniSA Access & Inclusion Service. It is important to make contact early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. See the Disability Hub for more information:  http://www.unisa.edu.au/Disability/Current-students

Students are advised there is a deadline to finalise Access Plan arrangements for examinations. Further information is available at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/

Deferred assessment or examination is available for the course.

Special consideration is not available for this course. APPM 7.7.4

Variation to assessment methods, tasks and timelines may be provided in:

Unexpected or exceptional circumstances, for example bereavement, unexpected illness (details of unexpected or exceptional circumstances for which variation may be considered are discussed in clauses 7.8 - 7.10 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.

Special circumstances, for example religious observance grounds, or community services (details of special circumstances for which variation can be considered are discussed in clause 7.11 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variations to assessment in expected circumstances must be requested within the first two weeks of the course (or equivalent for accelerated or intensive teaching).

 

Students with disabilities or medical conditions please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.

Assignments and examinations will be checked or moderated to ensure consistent marking standards. Marks and grades in this course may be altered as a result of moderation. When the marks of a whole group of papers are adjusted, this is called scaling. Scaling can happen at any stage in the assessment process before the final grade in a course is published.

Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.

An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas, and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.

The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin http://www.turnitin.com.

More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM): http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/. The Academic Integrity Module explains in more detail how students can work with integrity at the University: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142

This is important information about the assignments:

 

Assignment submission

All assignments should be prepared using Microsoft Word software and submitted online through Gradebook on your Learnonline course site. Gradebook submission will be open two weeks prior to the due date of each assignment. Keep copies of all assignments and check that the correct assignment has been submitted. Upload 2 files: your assignment file as a Word document and the Feedback form. Blank, incomplete assignments, faulty files and non-submissions will be marked zero so please ensure that you have submitted the correct file, for the correct course.

Assessment will be based on the following criteria (see Feedback forms on the Course site - upload the feedback form as a separate document with your assignment file

 

 Presentation and Format (10%)

• Correct grammar and language use (no dot points or note form may be used);
• line spacing is set at 1.5 line spacing; 12pt Calibri font; pages are numbered, in a Microsoft Word document;
• introduction and conclusion included;
• word limit is maintained ie 1,350 to 1,500 words, not over (marking stops at upper limit); word count includes the content, all intext references and excludes the reference list;
• the Feedback form is uploaded as a separate document.

Referencing (10%)

• Correct application of Harvard author-date format of referencing (page numbers must be included with references as per the Harvard Referencing Guide);
• correct acknowledgement of quality academic information sources (i.e. all ideas that are not your own must be referenced correctly);
• use of quality library journal articles or ebooks, no web sites and blogs;
• number of current academic sources: 6 to 10 recommended for each Case Study; year 2002 and later unless of significant importance. 
• reference list included at the end of the assignment and correctly formatted as per Harvard Referencing style.

Content, structure and discussion (80%)

• Relevance and accuracy of your answer to the assignment topic;
• clear and logical discussion of key ideas;
• comprehensive coverage, reflecting engagement with relevant course theory, concepts and resources;
• evidence of research, quality insights, analysis and interpretation - assignments must not be purely descriptive.
• evidence of engagement with the case study.

Extensions and late penalties

Extension requests will only be considered before the due date in the case of severe illness and with the support of a medical certificate. Requests must be submitted through the 'Course essentials' block on the course site. As per School of Management guidelines, assignments submitted after the due date and without an authorised extension will receive a penalty of 10% a day deducted from the total available mark for the assignment for up to 7 calendar days. After 7 calendar days the assignment will no longer be accepted.

Resubmission and remarking

Refer to the Information and Policy Guide for Students in the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual http://www.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp.

Students may resubmit an assignment only if invited to do so by the Course Coordinator.

Passing this course

A passing grade is achieved with an aggregate total of 50% for the assignment and examination. Attendance is not assessed but you are expected to attend at least 80% of sessions and if you will be absent, please email the Course Coordinator.

Student feedback on this course will be sought at the end of the study period using an anonymous online survey.  You are encouraged to complete the survey which provides valuable information for course development. Previous feedback has contributed to changes in content and online design.