Inaugural Lecture by Professor Anoush Margaryan

Emergent learning and skill development practices in the platform economy: Implications for higher education practice and policy

Crowdwork platforms are emergent global workplaces operating outside conventional organisational settings. Crowdworkers who earn income through these platforms have no access to formal training, professional development and incidental knowledge sharing opportunities that employees in conventional organisations typically do. Crowdwork has been criticised for being low in learning-intensity, causing deskilling and preventing workers from developing and applying their skills. Emergent empirical findings challenge these accounts indicating that crowdworkers engage in extensive and sophisticated forms of self-initiated and self-regulated learning developing core skills, such as technical, communication, learning to learn, analytical and other skills through their everyday work on the platforms. In this talk, findings from a series of recent surveys and interviews with crowdworkers, platform providers and other stakeholders will be presented to elucidate the workplace learning activities and self-regulated learning strategies crowdworkers undertake; the skills they develop and the issues and opportunities for learning and professional development in platform workplaces. Key implications for higher education institutions and the future of learning and skills will be outlined.  

About Anoush Margaryan: 
Professor Anoush Margaryan is Full Professor in the Department of Digitalisation and the holder of the Endowed Chair of Blended Learning as part of CBS's cross-institutional, strategic project 'Research in Blended Learning'. Anoush is a learning scientist specialising in workplace and organisational learning. Over her career spanning 25 years, Anoush has been studying how people learn in the workplace, individually and as part of collectives such as organisations and networks, and how they use technology to support their learning.  The domains of her research included organisations in the energy, finance and higher education sectors. Most recently, Anoush has been studying workplace learning and skill development practices within emergent forms of crowd labour in microwork and online freelancing platforms and analysing the implications of these new forms of work for learning and teaching in educational institutions, focusing on principles, models and policies to foster alignment between the worlds of education and work. Anoush has over 130 scientific publications, including 2 books. She has led 18 collaborative, interdisciplinary, intersectoral, international research projects, funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Shell, BP, ConocoPhilips, Centrica, Energy Institute, the UK Higher Education Academy, and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (CEDEFOP). She has received international awards for research excellence such as Alexander von Humboldt Senior Fellowship (2016-2018); Excellence in Research-to-Practice Award from the American Society of Training and Development (2005), and Shell Research Fellowship (2008-2010).

Programme:

Date: Friday, 25th of October, 2019.

Location: Kilen K1.46

14:00-14:05

Welcome by Head of Department Professor Helle Zinner Henriksen

14:05-14:15

Introduction by CBS Dean of Education Professor Gregor Halff

14:15 - 15:00

Inaugural lecture by Anoush Margaryan

15:00-16:00

Reception (How 60, 4th floor)