Bridging the gap - students’ information practices in the transition to working life

Introduction

This paper deals with students’ journey between academic education and working life. Many people experience a distinct barrier between academic education and working life, due to the different characteristics of the practices. Professional relevance and interaction between education and working life is a well-discussed issue in higher education, where higher education tries to achieve the demands from students, employers and academia. Higher education should be based on scientific research, but has to maintain a dialogue with working life (Agevall and Olofsson, 2015; Laursen, 2015).

‘It’s like stepping into a new world’, says Joanna, a student participating in this study (interview D:9). She describes her experiences during placement studies in the social worker program. Many students describe placement studies as something completely new that provides them with new experiences. Professional training is a way to bridge the perceived gap between higher education and working life, and develop the relations between them (Bird, Chu and Oguz, 2015; Coleman, 1989; Huggins, 2017). There are different kinds of professional training, for example, placement studies, study visits and tasks including field studies. However, the role of professional training has been questioned (Ball, 2008; Berner, 2010). Therefore, theoretical knowledge should relate to professional skills during the journey to working life (Agevall et al., 2011). The connection between professional skills and scientific research has implied an academisation of former vocational educations.

The academisation requires higher education to prove the relevance of theoretical knowledge to professional experience. The academisation has created new conditions, contributing to new dilemmas (Agevall and Olofsson, 2015; Smeby and Sutphen, 2015). There are increased demands on higher education to build on scientific research.

Professional skills are often theorised by higher education, and therefore causing students difficulties translating the theoretical knowledge into a workplace context (Huggins, 2017; Smeby and Sutphen, 2015). The demands on higher education to build on scientific research, and at the same time educate employable students contribute to an already identified problem area, which needs further research (Lindberg, 2015).

Higher education and working life comprise different practices, where different norms and values contribute to the difficulties of entering social workplace communities (Moring, 2009; Lloyd, 2009). The transition between education and working life, as well as the dilemmas when people move between different practices is a well-known research area in information research (Hedman, Lundh and Sundin, 2009; Lindberg, 2015; Lloyd, 2011; Moring, 2009). The identified dilemmas emerge when information practices during education vary from information practices at the workplace, which causes problems in the transition from education to working life. In this paper, the transition between higher education and working life is regarded as a continuous journey during their course of study.

The aim of this study is to provide more knowledge about how students’ information activities contribute to their transition into the workplace social communities. Transition is in this study regarded as an ongoing process moving from education to working life. Information activities such as information seeking, sharing and use, and how they provide opportunities for students to engage in working life, and learn how to act at the workplace are emphasised. Information research is interested in how students’ information practices develops and re-creates when students meet working life during professional training, and how these activities constitute a basis for how students act in working life. Students’ information practices were explored through their narratives about their information activities related to professional training. The study was conducted through 22 group interviews and 9 individual interviews with students on five different education programs where professional training is part of the program syllabus.

This study is addressed through the following research questions:

• Why, and in what ways do students’ information practices change during professional training?
• In what ways do students’ adaptation to workplace information practices affect their relationship to academic education?
• In what ways do students’ adaptation to workplace information practices contribute to their socialisation into professional practice?

Previous research

This study positions itself in two different problem areas. First, the study connects to professional training in higher education, and the transition to working life. Second, it relates to an area of research in information science concerning information practices in working life. Professional training has been studied in different disciplines, for example pedagogics, but there are even studies from library and information research. The research about professional training usually connects to research about professional relevance and learning in working life. Learning through professional training is often overlooked in research (Billett, 2014), but on the contrary professional training has been studied with a focus on bringing academic educations and working life together (Olofsson, 2010; Rubenstein, 2017).

Several higher education programs aimed towards a particular occupation, for example, social worker, nurse and teacher include professional training in their curriculums, and there is an increasing interest of professional training (Hoffmann and Berg, 2014). Professional training exposes students to the challenges of working life (Bird and Crumpton, 2014), and a further understanding of the professional role (Coleman, 1989). Since professional training is placed between education and working life, it enables students to start their professional identity creation in and between social practices (Bird, Chu and Oguz, 2015; Lindberg, 2015).

Due to the academisation of earlier vocational educations, professional training has been replaced with the growing demands on scientific information (Lindberg, 2015; Smeby and Sutphen, 2015). The arguments against professional training has been that it does not connect to the aim of higher education (Billett, 2009), and that higher education should educate students rather than adjust to the job market (Säljö, 2003).

In this study, it is central to discuss two different kinds of knowledge, vocational knowledge and professional skills, which comprise higher education (Olofsson, 2011). Hence, one of the challenges in higher education is to translate vocational knowledge to professional skills (Agevall et al., 2011).

This section creates a basis for the analysis, as well as an understanding of how information practices change and develop between education and working life. A starting-point of this study is that information activities in academic studies are different compared to working life, and the meaning of information activities is negotiated in each context (Hedman, Lundh and Sundin, 2009). Moring (2009, 2011) has explored the relation between information seeking and learning, and how information literacy develops in the transition between different communities. The transition between education and working life implies that the meaning of information activities are re-negotiated. New information practices are created in and between social practices (Moring, 2009). Lloyd (2005, 2007, 2009) scrutinises the transition between education and working life, and how information literacy is performed in working life. Lloyd emphasises information literacy practices, which shows that the meaning of information changes in working life.

At the workplace, information is often mediated through social stories shared with colleagues (Lloyd, 2006, 2010; Olsson, 2010, 2013). Therefore, social stories play an important role for a collective understanding of the professional role among newcomers (Lloyd, 2009). Social stories are also central for participation in the workplace practice, together with textual and physical ways of mediating information. Hence, the dialogue between people is crucial for participation in social practices (Johannisson and Sundin, 2007). Information activities’ collective character are then emphasised, as well as how they contribute to the creation and development of practices (Pilerot and Limberg, 2011).

In this study, the professional identity construction is essential to the development of information practices. Information activities is regarded as manifestations of the professional identity (Sundin and Hedman, 2005). The creation of a professional identity affects students’ information practices between education and working life (Moring, 2009, 2011; Lindberg, 2015). Previous research about information practices in working life create a basis for the study of the transition between education and working life. Previous research also support the understanding of information practices as facilitating participation and socialisation in working life during professional training.

A practice theoretical approach

This study is based on practice theory, which means that people’s doings and sayings are regarded as social practices. Information practices deals with people’s practices concerning information seeking, sharing and use.

Practice theory research concerns what happens within practices focusing on social activities repeatedly performed by people. This means there are several concepts that comprise practices. According to Reckwitz (2002) practices consists of routinized activities, connected to their specific context. Practices could develop and change, and are shaped by the social activities, in the same way as practices shape the social activities. Accordingly, practices are characterised by repeated actions negotiated in each practice.

Due to the routinized character of practices, norms and values comprise a crucial part of practices (Veinot, 2007). The physical dimension of practices means that practices involve invisible actions performed by the human body (Reckwitz, 2002; Schatzki, 2001). Through implicit actions, the human body performs embodied knowledge, informing people how to perform for example work tasks (Cox, Griffin and Hartel, 2017; Lindh, 2015; Lloyd and Olsson, 2018; Olsson, 2016). In this study, embodied knowledge is supposed to play an important role as information source during professional training.

The theoretical approach also brings several notions utilised for understanding practices. A practice theoretical perspective enables the study of how people interact with information through situated practices (Lloyd, 2010). Information practices are therefore identified as social practices created and re-created in a certain context through interaction (Talja and McKenzie, 2007; Talja and Hartel, 2007). They are characterised by complex social activities including information (Lloyd and Talja, 2010), and regarded as repeated activities concerning information seeking, sharing and use, negotiated in specific contexts (Pilerot and Limberg, 2011).

Information practices are closely connected to both participation and learning (Limberg, Sundin and Talja, 2012). Learning occurs from participation in practices (Lave and Wenger, 1991). This study regards information activities as situated social practices (Wenger, 1998). Communities of practice in this study entail a further understanding of information practices’ situated properties and their significance for participation. Hence, information activities are central for participation and learning in social communities (Limberg, Sundin and Talja, 2012). Communities of practice is in this study recognised as social workplace or professional communities.

The negotiation of meaning closely connects to a professional identity creation, where information plays a crucial role (Moring, 2009; Sundin, 2003). Students start their identity creation as an on-going process during their education, and is in this study regarded as an important part of joining professional communities. Information practices are central to the construction of a professional identity since they indicate social belonging.

The process of appropriation describes a deeper dimension of learning where people imitate others before performing a task on their own (Wertsch, 1998). The concept of appropriation creates an understanding of what happens during professional training. Interaction through language constructs a common understanding, and enables learning at the workplace (Säljö, 2014). Therefore, interaction has played a crucial role for the analysis of the empirical material.

This study focuses on students’ information activities related to professional training consisting of actions, relations, as well as interaction. The different dimensions of practices formulated above together form a practice theoretical approach for this study, focusing on how practices create routinized activities.

Interviews

The empirical material was conducted through 22 group interviews and 9 individual interviews with students where focus was to explore the students’ descriptions of their activities related to professional training. The methodological approach emphasised the students’ narratives about their information activities related to professional training (Charmaz, 2006). In this study, I regard interviews as conversations where the researcher and the participants together create meaning (Kvale and Brinkmann, 2015).

The empirical material comprises of both group interviews and individual interviews. The individual interviews provided opportunities for deeper interaction with the participant. Group interviews were important since the interaction between participants is focused (Wiklund, et al., 2013). Further, participants in group interviews were able to formulate their accounts together (Wilkinson, 2004). I tried to facilitate their narratives by means of encouraging them to further deepen their stories. The narrative approach was framed by the researcher through a thorough elaborated interview guide, which supported the students’ perspective.

The participants were studying at five different higher education programs at a university in Sweden. The programs selected were the psychologist program, the social worker program, the sports management program, the human resource program and the marketing program. Students were informed about the study at lectures, and were then contacted via e-mail. When creating the groups I strived for social groups meaning students in each group already knew each other.

Interviews were conducted during autumn 2015 and all interviews were recorded. The individual interviews lasted between 45-60 minutes, and the group interviews lasted 60-90 minutes. There were between two to seven participants in each group, even though most of the interviews contained between three or four participants. In total 22 group interviews and 9 individual were conducted. Eighty five students participated.

An interview guide guided the interviews, but they concentrated on topics chosen by the participants. The interviews focused on topics like information activities in academic studies, professional training and future working life. The aim was to emphasise the students’ perspective to explore the development of information practices.

The empirical material was analysed as an interplay between the empirical material, previous studies and the practice theoretical approach. In the empirical material, I looked for narratives describing activities, relations and interactions showing different information practices, with particular focus on collective aspects, inspired by an empirically driven approach (Charmaz, 2006). The identified narratives composed a basis for four different themes inspired by the practice theoretical approach, which also provides a general structure for the analysis and findings section. The four different themes were composed by the identification of similar narratives negotiating the same phenomenon, for example socialisation or identification. The analysis considered the differences between material produced by group interviews and individual interviews. Material from group interviews was analysed focusing on collective understanding from the participants’ dialogue, while material from individual interviews was analysed focusing on separate sayings.

Analysis and findings

During their course of study, students go through a continuous process towards working life. This ongoing process is in this study regarded from a practice theoretical approach, focusing on students’ information practices, and how they change, develop and re-creates over time related to professional training. In the empirical material four themes related to the practice theoretical approach were identified. The students’ information practices were recognised as manifestations of vocational knowledge and academic practices, socialisation, identification and consolidation, which show how students approach working life with the support of professional training.

Academic practices

Students seek, share and use information in different ways to develop vocational knowledge. Vocational knowledge is regarded as epistemic knowledge related to an academic discipline, for example psychology or marketing, thus concerning academic content. Students’ situated information practices related to their epistemic settings firmly connect to academic practices, and the construction of practices are recognised as intertwined.

Within this theme, the students manifest information activities, which support the students’ production of vocational knowledge, as well as professional knowledge. Compared to professional knowledge in workplace practices, vocational knowledge develops in academic studies, and is regarded as a starting point for the students’ journey towards working life. Hence, the development of practices for seeking, sharing and using information in academic studies proceed from vocational knowledge.

In academic practices, students demonstrate various information activities connected to vocational knowledge. Some examples are information seeking via scientific databases or reading scientific articles. Students use course literature to develop vocational knowledge, but sometimes they seek further information. They develop strategies as going through reference lists, or reading scientific articles recommended by teachers (interview C:19, C:22). Simone describes that ‘our teachers always publish a list of reference literature which we could plunge into’ (interview C:22). Psychologist students reflect on the amount of textual information in academic practices, and compare it to the significance of professional experience during professional training (interview C:21).

Students on all programs emphasise that their teachers challenge them to apply a scientific and critical approach even in working life.

About research and so, to seek information […], it has been useful, it actually has, to be critical. This is also something we talked about a lot, not to take anything for granted, rather ‘is it really like this?’ (interview E:1)

According to students on the psychologist and social worker program, the scientific approach is part of an evidence based practice (interview C:20, C:23). However, scientific information is less important in working life, while professional experience is necessary. ‘There are many of them [the teachers] telling us that you will never stop developing as a psychologist, it’s an endless education’ says Annelie (interview C:23).

In academic practices, students’ information activities are shaped through interaction with other students and teachers. Hence, information activities emerge and develop in relation to practice, and the ongoing discourses. Some psychologist students seek information on web sites, designed for professionals to find further explanations (interview C:19). Some marketing students discuss that the course literature are written for students, while web-based information often is composed for professionals (interview B:2). Therefore, students need a solid base from the course literature before seeking web-based information. Additionally, students on the human resource program show that they focus on information mediated by teachers, but later they develop information seeking strategies. Instructions from professionals is a vital source of information, such as reading instructions from supervisors during professional training. The norms and values of academic practices appear as dominating for the creation and development of students’ information activities.

Socialisation

Students’ information practices during professional training develop through interaction and social relations between students, their supervisors and other colleagues. The social dimension of practices focus on relations between people. This section concentrates on information activities during professional training enabling students to socialise into the social workplace communities or professional communities. This often occurs through introductions, observations and social stories in order to appropriate information activities allowing students to identify norms and rules in social communities. Students need to be present at the workplace to get access to information about how to approach social communities, as well as how to perform work tasks, and how to adopt terminology and discourses. Socialisation might be regarded as a move to the next dimension in the transition.

Observing and watching professionals performing work tasks is a common activity for students during professional training. To observe professionals and listen to conversations is regarded as valuable information sources (interview D:27, D:31). In this way, observing emerges as a part of the students’ socialisation process as they adopt a certain terminology negotiated in practice.

Meja describes how she watched her therapist during the education therapy sessions.

I’ve recognised that sometimes I almost copy my therapist when I meet my own clients, yes, how I should sit, how I should […] deal with something… in which order I’m supposed to do things […], for example how to organise an exposure (interview C:6).

Paula discusses how she observed professionals structuring meetings with users, and reflects that meeting users require skills developed in working life but might be prepared during education (interview D:29). Observing might be recognised as the first step in the process of appropriation, where students imitate professionals.

Another source of information during professional training is conversations with professionals. Social stories often include the norms and values at the workplace, and provide students with information about work methods and formal rules and regulations. Students to perform work tasks and socialise into the community then use this information. The conversations often have an informal character, and at the same time allows students to develop a social constructed awareness for performing work tasks and specific terminology, which constitutes the collective knowledge in practice, and supports the negotiation of meaning.

Sometimes, there was someone who had made the wrong decision, and didn’t look up enough and then there was a youth who had become pregnant and so on […], and it clearly was a lack of attention because they haven’t done a pregnancy test, they should’ve paid attention to it, mistakes like these […] were made. (interview D:30)

On the first term, the psychologist students meet a psychologist serving as a mentor, who provides students with personal stories (interview C:17). A social worker student recognised that she was included in the professional team, and the colleagues included her in informal conversations during lunch breaks (interview D:30). The human resource students account for their discussions with their business mentors who provide them with information about entrepreneurship (interview A:15, A:16). Since they meet their business mentor continuously, they develop a close relationship. Social stories is regarded as a tool for socialisation, included in the common repertoire for each workplace and profession. They could function as either socialising or informing.

By observing and listening to professionals, students get informed about legitimate knowledge in professional communities or workplace communities. This shows the physical dimension of information practices through information mediated by the human body. Legitimate knowledge is negotiated through collective processes, often instinctively. Students observe professionals in order to evaluate their own knowledge. Therefore, observations and interacting contribute to create information practices where students are provided with information about legitimate knowledge. Meja, on the psychologist program, explains that she observes how a therapist welcomes her clients, and then she imitates her when she meets clients (interview C:6).

During professional training students try to identify reliable information sources, who can provide them with useful information. By observing and interacting, students learn how to identify reliable information sources. For several students, their supervisor is the most important information source, as well as colleagues.

I was encouraged to write down points […] we might talk about this at the meetings with the supervisor, because I’ve talked to them [the supervisors, my remark] a lot but I think that I got much out of them (interview D:29).

Even professionals ask each other at the workplace, meaning that students reproduce the existing information activities. Social worker student Joanna describes that she needed more support from her supervisor in the beginning of her placement studies, but then, she became more like a colleague (interview D:9). The supervisor is often the students’ first connection to the norms and rules of the workplace.

Within the theme socialisation, activities like observing and listening to professionals, social stories and participating in conversations with colleagues constitute students’ information practices. The activities imply that students approach social workplace communities or professional communities.

Identification

During their course of study, students continuously meet a considerable amount of new experiences and perspectives, which implies that they start to develop a professional identity. This section deals with information practices related to the creation of a professional identity. The process of creating a professional identity often overlap with the process of socialisation. Although, there is a thin barrier between the processes, the process of identity creation is separated from the socialisation process due to the various character of the information practices.

The creation of a professional identity starts with the relations developed within social communities. Identity creation deals with how we regard ourselves, as well as how others regard us. During professional training students start their identity creation using different information activities to develop a professional identity, as well as claiming the identity. Identity construction closely relates to the appropriation process, and the negotiation of meaning. There is a continuous process during academic education, but the process appears more clearly during professional training.

Information activities support the transition from academic studies to working life, and the move contributes to the development of a professional identity through social interaction. ‘It’s important that early in the education, and they [the program coordinators, my remark] had really emphasised this, that we get to come along and meet professionals’ (interview C:19).

Students also identify role models within the identity process. Meja, on the psychologist program, refer to their mentor activities, and their mentor as one of her role models ‘with our mentor it felt more like “yes, this could be my role-model, yes, this could be me when I’ve finished”’ (interview C:6). Moreover, role models might be teachers, guest teachers or professionals. Students observe role models to seek information about how to approach social workplace communities, which clearly shows the similarities between the socialisation process and the identity creation.

To approach social workplace communities and feel like a colleague in the team is crucial to students. In particular, the psychologist students formulate a need to develop a professional identity. Vilhelm describes that when he started the education, teachers were important in order to develop a professional identity (interview C:23).

You create your own identity […] within psychology studies, but in the beginning I think that what they [teachers] said, what they taught us was what we learnt, nowadays you maybe seek some more information on your own. (interview C:23)

Over time, professionals become more and more central to the students’ identity creation. Students on the marketing program sometimes experience difficulties connected to their role as marketers. Lolo explains that she has searched for information about different alternatives concerning her future professional role (interview B:13).

Before summer, I was like, […] what am I doing, what am I supposed to do, what is marketing, what will you be able to do? But slowly it feels like it starts to turn out and […] that the situation would ease. (interview B:13)

To talk with professionals has helped Lolo to come to terms with the multifaceted professional role as a marketer. The social worker students discuss that their identities become legitimised during professional training through the identification of similar values among other social workers.

During professional training, students develop a sense of “we” to claim their identity against other professional groups. For example, there is a divergence between psychologists and physicians, which students adopt during placement studies. By keeping distance to other professional groups, other people legitimise students’ professional identity. Besides, students also wish for teamwork with other professional groups during professional training. Klara on the psychologist program reflects on how different competencies might complete each other. ‘They had a lot of teamwork, and discussed with each other, and I thought it was really valuable … there was no competition, rather a will to support each other’ (interview C:21). Students experience a more holistic view of workplaces with several professions working in teams.

To summarise, students’ information activities closely relate to the creation of their professional identity during their educations. The identity creation implies more safety concerning how students act during professional training.

Consolidation

This theme deals with how students’ information practices have changed and developed through professional training. Most of the students manifest that professional training has developed their understanding of workplace practice, and its norms and conditions. After completing professional training, the students change their approach to the relation between academic education and working life. They deepen their understanding about not just the workplace practice, but also the vocational knowledge, and its role to explain workplace practice. In that way, this theme feeds back to the first theme concerning academic practices and vocational knowledge. In this theme students move back to the academic practices where their new knowledge from the workplace practice contribute to the re- shaping of information practices. Information practices form a solid base for learning when experiences from the workplace practice meet vocational knowledge. Hence, professional training broaden students’ understanding of vocational knowledge, and its application in working life.

Students start to regard working life as the normative practice. Approaching new social communities in working life brings new routines, and developed methods for seeking and using information. Students also change their approach to information, how they use and evaluate information. When they share information about working life with other students, they show the move towards working life. This theme focus on interaction between academic education and working life, likewise the interaction contributing to the shaping and re-shaping of students’ information practices. Similarly, participation and socialisation in workplace practices support students’ awareness of the professional role.

Professional training seems to contribute to a deeper understanding of the workplace practice. Awareness and understanding imply that students can perform work tasks on their own and use the specific terminology. Therefore, students develop a holistic understanding when they move back to the academic practices, and bring stories and terminology from the workplace practice. Freja explains

I think that I came back to the university with a different view on what reality looks like because […] we had contact with […] social services [and] meetings with them, and… […] you reached out to other parts as well, other authorities […] and how it really worked, and actually […] meet the users who we’ve read about […] a lot […]. Then when I started reading literature then when I came back, I felt that I could apply it to some kind of experience (interview D:29).

In the students’ narratives there are some examples of professional training as a eureka effect when they gained further understanding of the deeper meaning of the course content (interview C:6), and they emphasise their education as ‘a bridge between the school context and working life’ (interview C:18). The bridge between education and working life consists of interaction with professionals, and their seeking, sharing and use of information in the workplace practice. Emmy, a social worker student, demonstrates how the course literature contributed to the interaction between education and working life. The course literature

was really useful because before the placement studies it combined psychological theories with different situations in working life, and ‘you act like this and this in this situation, and [apply] this theory’. (interview D:26).

It is central that higher education provides an interaction between education and working life. Within programs, that generates a professional degree, the psychologist program and the social worker program, the interaction is more explicit and frequently appearing. Students report that the interaction with professionals form a basis for developing their information activities. During time, students also experience a transition from student to professional, where they identify themselves with a professional role. There is an evident increased understanding of both vocational knowledge and workplace practices after completing professional training. The development emerges at a comparison between the students’ information activities before and after professional training. Apparently, the development is more explicit within programs offering a professional degree, where there are several different tasks connected to professional training, as well as placement studies. Professional training on an ongoing basis entails that students’ information practices develop continuously, and therefore it is possible to talk about the transition to working life as an ongoing process during an academic education.

The presented results show the students’ journey towards working life using a practice theoretical approach explaining how information practices contribute to students’ transition from academic practices to professional practices. Sometimes the themes overlap, and at some points students move back and forth between the different dimensions of the transition process. Even though, the last theme appear as deepening the process of transition, and strengthening students’ professional identity.

Discussion and conclusions

This section will discuss the results of this study, and place the results in a broader context. The aim of this study has been to contribute to the knowledge about how students’ practices for seeking, sharing and using information construct, re-construct and develop during professional training in higher education.

Students’ information activities looks different in academic practices compared to workplace practices, since practices are negotiated in context and shaped by the social activities (Hedman, Lundh and Sundin, 2009). Their information practices show that they create vocational knowledge during academic studies, which forms a basis for their actions in the workplace practice. Academic practices seem central to the students, and already in the academic practices, students start their journey towards working life. The process of consolidating implies that students elaborate their experiences of their future profession, and consolidate both academic practices and professional practices. Evidently, the process of consolidating indicates that information practices strengthen students’ understanding of professional practices with the support of vocational knowledge, and continue asking why work tasks are performed in a certain way. Accordingly, professional training is regarded as a means to translate vocational knowledge into professional skills, which is one of the major challenges higher education faces today since theoretical knowledge has replaced professional training (Agevall et al., 2011; Smeby and Sutphen, 2015).

During professional training students approach the workplace practice, and develop a further understanding for how professionals act, in order to be able to act in the same way. Students interact with professionals in different ways, and try to approach the social workplace and professional communities, proving the dialogue as a crucial tool for participation (Johannisson and Sundin, 2007). Therefore, information practices appear as important tools to learn how to participate and socialise into the community (Moring, 2009). In the same way, students also start to create their professional identity through the legitimation of knowledge (Lindberg, 2015).

By support of information practices, students create, and maintain a relation to the workplace practice during professional training. In the workplace, practice students adjust their information practices according to the norms and rules in each practice (Lloyd, 2007). Hence, the development of the information practices at the workplace constitutes a step forward when students approach the professional community. Then professional training in higher education is central in order to enable interaction with working life during academic studies (Bird and Crumpton, 2014; Coleman, 1989). The ongoing journey towards working life is visualised through an information practice perspective, and the transition to working life appear as an ongoing process during the program. The process of transition starts in the beginning of the education but in contrast, it does not seem to have a final ending in working life, since professionals continue their transition process all the way through working life. An apparent dimension of time is visible by means of the process of transition, showing that students map out their journey towards working life already during the education.

A practice theoretical perspective has entailed a holistic understanding of how students’ information activities could contribute to social practices. A practice theoretical approach also provided an understanding of activities connected to learning and socialising into social communities in working life.

In higher education, the interaction between academic education and working life is often discussed (Hoffmann and Berg, 2014). Interaction between education and working life might be designed in different ways, not just in a formal way. Agevall and Olofsson (2015) argue that higher education is based on scientific research but the dialogue with professionals are crucial to maintain professional relevance. This study shows how informal interaction could contribute to the approach into social communities, to be compared with social stories carrying information (Lloyd, 2010; Olsson, 2013). Establishing an interaction between academic education and working life is still a great challenge for higher education.

The human body constitutes a crucial tool as an information source in the workplace practice (Lloyd, 2010). Each workplace and profession has its own set of formal rules and regulations, but there are also several norms and invisible routines at the workplace. Norms and routines are mediated by embodied information, and the physical dimension of information practices appears as crucial (Cox, Griffin and Hartel, 2017). Therefore, information might be mediated in various ways at the workplace, and not only by formal textual sources (Lloyd and Olsson, 2018). The human body then works as a helper to negotiate meaning, and develop an understanding of working life. In this way, there is a close relation between embodied information, and knowing how to perform work tasks (Olsson, 2016).

This study contributes to the knowledge about the transition between higher education and working life from the students’ perspective. The results show information practices’ significance for learning, participation and socialisation, and illustrates how students pass different dimensions on their way towards working life. This study forms a basis for the implementation of professional training in higher education, and could possibly function as a tool for organising professional training. The implementation of professional training means that the structure of academic educations needs to be elaborated.

Some suggestions for future research might be to study further how the transition to working life continues in workplace practices, as well as how workplace information practices develops. Concerning identity creation, it is interesting to explore how a student identity transforms into a professional identity, and how the identity creation proceed in working life. Moreover, the transition to working life and how it is addressed in academic educations needs more discussions in research.

Acknowledgements

The researcher wants to thank the students who participated in this study, the editor group for CoLIS11 conference, as well as the anonymous reviewers who contributed to this paper with their wise and insightful comments.

About the author

Sara Ahlryd is a Senior Lecturer in Library and Information Science at the Department of Cultural Sciences at Linnaeus University in Sweden. She holds a PhD in Library and Information Science from 2019 from the University of Borås, and her research interest concerns information practices among different groups of people. She can be contacted at sara.ahlryd@lnu.se.

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