In a knowledge economy such as that of the Netherlands, the importance of higher education is widely recognized. Dutch universities of Applied Sciences aim to create successful learning environments to prepare young people for their future work and role in society.

Most distributed and virtual online environments for and pedagogies of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) neglect the social and social-emotional aspects underlying the group dynamics of learning and working in a CSCL group. These group dynamics often determine whether the group will develop …

Vocational education and training (VET) plays a central role in preparing young people for work, developing adequate skills and responding to the labour-market needs of the economy. The transition learners are required to make from education to the workplace is a complex, and often problematic, process …

Today professionals have to deal with more uncertainties in their field than before. We live in complex and rapidly changing environments. The British philosopher Ronald Barnett adds the term ‘supercomplexity’ to highlight the fact that ‘we can no longer be sure how even to describe the world that faces …

The aim of this study is to understand how social media contribute to face-to-face collaborative learning by introvert students in higher education. A total of 233 students participated. This study shows that more introvert students perceive that social media are more helpful for increasing their collaborative …

Literature shows that ‘new ways of learning’ cause a shift in learning settings with a growing attention to facilitating autonomy, interaction and knowledge exploration anytime, anywhere. These trends show evident similarities with developments in office environments known for as ‘new ways of working’. …

In small businesses with no employees, learning environments have a low learning readiness. Consequently, learners need to rely on their own agency to shape their learning experiences. Results from a study of agricultural entrepreneurs indicated that the components of motivation and self-regulated learning …

This paper investigates how firms adapt their innovation strategies to cope with constraints in national institutional environments. It is a comparative case study of Dutch and British dedicated biotechnology firms focusing on a particular type of strategy, the hybrid model. Patterns of skill accumulation …

Background: The aim of this study is to validate a newly developed nurses' self-efficacy sources inventory. We test the validity of a five-dimensional model of sources of self-efficacy, which we contrast with the traditional four-dimensional model based on Bandura's theoretical concepts. Methods: Confirmatory …

This paper deals with the problematic nature of the transition between education and the workplace. A smooth transition between education and the workplace requires learners to develop an integrated knowledge base, but this is problematic as most educational programmes offer knowledge and experiences in …