Dual Learning

Our traditional system of education foresees in a long period at school and college – and the professional application of that knowledge afterwards  – with a few exceptions as in the German apprentice system of vocational training, in which school and work are more synchronized.  Such an integration of school and work, of thinking and doing, could also be useful in other forms of education. The big advantage is that the gap between an abstract curriculum and concrete application could be bridged, which would increase the motivation of many students, make it easier to grasp abstract concepts, and would make the content more memorable.

A good example of dual learning in an academic context was the LWWL-project at the University of Amsterdam in the late 1990s. LWWL stood for ‘Learning while working, working while learning’. The project was designed by Annemieke Roobeek and went much further than just occasional internships. It showed the great potential of dual learning for innovation in both – universities as well the institutions where graduates work.

Core of the LWWL-concept was the development of new forms of learning on the one hand  – from short “superlearning” programmes to virtual programmes with experts from all over the world, and on the other hand a reorientation of companies and bureaucracies to become learning institutions that benefit from the curious questions of students and get a quick answer to their research needs, instead of waiting for years for the outcome of PhD research.  To make this interaction work, the programme also paid a lot of attention to a broad range of social skills (communication, presentation, interviewing, networking), – not only for students, but also for teachers and managers, who play a crucial role in making dual learning a success. LWWL also stressed the importance of a suitable infrastructure of attractive spaces with optimal ICT-systems to work and meet .

Companies and other organisations in that way got better access to the knowledge of universities, and universities remained connected to the world of production and services for society. For students, the continuous interaction with many stakeholders and the permanent cross-pollination between real life challenges and more abstract generalization became an internalized habit, which would be of tremendous value throughout their professional life.