New: join the Community of Research on Workplace Learning

The ICO theme group workplace learning (Theme group 3) has changed the set-up of its courses; we do what we teach! We turn all member of this theme group into a community, a Community of Research on Workplace Learning. This is a social, continuous and community-of-practice. It offers PhD candidates and other ICO members a place to learn together about workplace learning theories, doing research about workplace learning and career development in the worldwide workplace learning community. This is done by discussing new articles, share each other’s work in progress, and build a sustained research network.
 
Why a community?
In the previous set-up, the theme group offered a course on Workplace Learning once every three years in a 6–8 week block. This proved to be inflexible: some PhD candidates had to wait a long time and found the course less relevant later in their trajectory, while external PhD candidates experienced the format as intensive and demanding (and hardly doable in combination with a parttime PhD trajectory). Former participants also indicated they wanted more in-depth discussion, peer feedback, and methodological exchange, although they valued the variety of themes and perspectives.
The new community format addresses this by making learning:

• Continuous – you do not have to wait several years for the next edition of a course.
• Situated – connected to your own PhD challenges and research questions.
• Social – focused on personal connection, collective meaning-making, and ongoing peer support.

How the community works
The Community of Research on Workplace Learning functions as a community of practice for all members of the ICO Theme Group Workplace Learning.

• Intake & onboarding
  Before joining, each PhD candidate has a short online intake (±30 minutes) to discuss expectations and the way of working. Afterwards, they are added to the online community environment (MS Teams), which also provides introductory and advanced readings in workplace learning and adjacent fields.
• Meetings
  The community meets several times per year (approximately 4–5 sessions), with at least one in-person meeting and the other sessions online. Each meeting lasts about 1.5 hours and requires around 4 hours of preparation.
• Topics & learning activities
  Sessions may include, for example:
  • Discussion of recent, thought‑provoking papers (ideally with the lead author present)
  • Contrasting papers on the same topic to explore different paradigms and help the researcher to position its own work
  • Discussion of work in progress (manuscripts, proposals, data excerpts) with structured peer feedback
  • Sessions with experts from inside or outside ICO on emerging research agendas
  • Methodological deep dives and innovative methods in workplace learning
  • Collective data analysis sessions

The exact topics are proposed both by coordinators and participants, and coordinators participate on an equal footing with PhD candidates.

For whom?
The Community of Research on Workplace Learning is open to:

• ICO PhD candidates who want to deepen their expertise in workplace learning and earn ECTS for their training and supervision plan.
• All other ICO members within the theme group who wish to engage in the community’s activities.
• Non-ICO PhD candidates who work in the field of workplace learning and wish to join the course for credits as external participants.

For external PhD candidates (non-ICO members), ICO prefers that they pay once for the full trajectory (course fee of €1.000), which makes administration easier and encourages sustained engagement throughout their PhD journey.

Learning trajectory and credits
For PhD candidates who register for course credits, the community counts as a 3 EC (approx. 84–90 hours) ICO course.
To obtain the credits, PhD candidates:

1. Participate in at least five community sessions in total (doable in 1 year)
2. Take an active role in at least two sessions, for example by co-organising a session or acting as a lead discussant. Each active role involves about 4 additional hours of preparation.
3. Write a position paper (±40–48 hours of work) that can feed into their research proposal, an introduction or discussion chapter, or a standalone article/chapter. The paper is reviewed by one coordinator and one peer chosen by the candidate; serving as peer reviewer also counts as an active contribution.

This structure spreads the workload over time and allows for more timely uptake of new articles and studies, in-depth discussion, flexible participation, and rich peer feedback, while keeping total study load within the standard for a 3 EC course.
At the end of the trajectory, a course certificate will be issued after completion of the course requirements and (for non‑ICO PhD participants) payment of the course fee of €1.000.

How to join
ICO members and interested PhD candidates can join the Community of Research on Workplace Learning in two ways:

1. By email: Send an email to the coordinators of the Community Workplace Learning (Theme Group Workplace Learning) indicating your interest and whether you wish to participate with or without course credits.
2. Via the ICO course registration form (to enter with course credits): Register for the ICO course “Workplace Learning / Community Workplace Learning” by filling in the ICO course registration form and selecting the option for this course.

Non-ICO PhD candidates who wish to join for credits can also use the ICO course registration form and will be informed about the external participant fee (currently €1.000 for the full trajectory) and payment procedure.

You are warmly invited to become part of this community and help shape the future of research on workplace learning together.

Summarizing the credits:

Activity	Counting in hours	Total hours
Intro readings	3x 2 + 0,5 intro meeting	6,5
Preparation of and participation in 5 sessions	5×5.5	27,5
Active engagement in 2 sessions	2×4	8
Writing a position paper about	48	48
Total		90