Call for papers: Learning Theories and Practices: the Perspective of Individual, Organisation, Region and Society

Call for papers: Learning Theories and Practices: the Perspective of Individual, Organisation, Region and Society

A special issue of International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital

The learning organisation has become a popular concept since it was described by Peter Senge in 1990. Learning organisations should train staff to be learning individuals. The issues which need to be explored include how to be a learning individual, how to learn consciously, and how to overcome the obstacles to self-motivated learning and career learning.

OECD (2001) claims that the theory of the learning region not only emphasises individual learning, but also stresses organisational learning. The most effective innovations arise from organisational internal environments in which learning is via intensive inter-organisational information exchange, while at the same time there exist steady and high mutual trust relationships among a variety of organisations. The successful communication networks among organisations are based on the efficient information exchange and sufficient social interaction; therefore, the organisation must be developed into learning organisation. The establishment of regional learning mechanisms and systems is the critical point in global competition, learning regions provide a series of related infrastructures which are propitious in the diffusion of knowledge, ideas and learning, and then further become major learning and innovation bases.

A learning society is a theoretical description for the development character of modern society, and learning is becoming the urgent need for individuals, organisations and society in the information society. Learning society demands the socialisation and generalisation of learning behaviour, including learning citizens, learning organisations, the learning city, learning governments. It is worth for us to explore how to create the learning society, strengthening national information networks, improving the technological conditions for knowledge diffusion, creating a cultural atmosphere for encouraging learning and promoting innovation, and cultivating the concepts and mechanisms for appreciating knowledge and talents.

The goal of the special issue is to publish the most recent results in learning theories and practices. Researchers and practitioners working in this area are expected to take this opportunity to discuss and express their views on the current trends, challenges, and applications in terms of learning individual, learning organisation, learning region and learning society.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The earning individual, learning organisation, learning region, learning society
• Social networks
• Effective learning
• Competence building
• Performance measures
• Learning tools
• Collective learning
• E-learning
• Intellectual capital (human capital, relational capital, social capital and organisational capital)
• Learning environment establishment
• Knowledge management, knowledge spillover, knowledge diffusion
• Government policies
• Case studies and other related topics

Important Date
Deadline for Submissions: March 1, 2009