Sharing Higher Education Data - SHED project

Project Identifier: SHED LTIG project University of Nottingham
Version: 1
Contact: Kirstie Coolin, CIePD, University of Nottingham
Date: 30th June 2012

JISC Final Report

Project Information
Project Identifier To be completed by JISC
Project Title Sharing Higher Education Data (SHED)
Project Hashtag #shedproject
Start Date 1st June 2011 End Date 30th June 2012 (extension
agreed with Programme
Manager)
Lead Institution University of Nottingham
Project Director Dr. Wyn Morgan
Project Manager Kirstie Coolin
Contact email Kirstie.Coolin@nottingham.ac.uk
Partner Institutions Derby College
Project Web URL http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed
Programme Name Phase 3 Learning and Teaching Innovation Grant
Programme Manager Ruth Drysdale

Document Information
Author(s) Primary author - Kirstie Coolin
Contributions from Mike Leam, Mark Hodgkinson and Richard Bell
Project Role(s) Project Manager
Date 30th June 2012 Filename SHED Final Report – 1.0
Nottingham.doc
URL http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/
Access This report is for general dissemination

Document History
Version Date Comments
0.1 20/6/12 Draft for comments
0.2 22/6/12 Incorporate comments from Derby College
0.3 29/6/12 Incorporate comments from Mike Leam
1.0 30/6/12 Final as submitted

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Document title: JISC Final Report Template
Last updated : Feb 2011 - v11.0

Version: 1

Table of Contents

............................................................................................................................................ 1
1 HEADLINES ............................................................................................................................................... 3
2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................ 3
3 PROJECT SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................. 4
4 MAIN BODY OF REPORT ........................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 PROJECT OUTPUTS AND OUTCOMES ................................................................................................................ 5
4.2 HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT ACHIEVING YOUR OUTPUTS / OUTCOMES?...................................................................... 6
4.3 WHAT DID YOU LEARN? .............................................................................................................................. 10
4.4 IMMEDIATE IMPACT ................................................................................................................................... 14
4.5 FUTURE IMPACT ........................................................................................................................................ 15
5 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 16
6 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 17
7 IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE ............................................................................................................ 18
8 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................................... 19
9 APPENDICES (OPTIONAL) ....................................................................................................................... 20

Last updated : Feb 2011 – v11.0
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1 Headlines

SHED explored the practicalities of a ‘student-employer’ matching service which would
enhance employability learning and serve practical requirements, such as, employers
accessing university resources, students finding opportunities in the workplace and
institutions learning more about the marketplace.

The project consisted of:-
 Focus groups with small businesses, students and academics

 Requirements analysis and the ‘to-be’ vision

 Pilot and demonstrator tools

Key questions and points considered within the report are outlined below:-

 How can students and employers be motivated to use new tools for employability?

 Where do student, employer and institutional requirements meet, and what would this
look like in terms of processes and tools?

 Can we use existing institutional learning technology to promote student-led
employability learning?

 How do Further Education requirements differ from Higher Education?

 How can institutions open their doors for employers in new ways to present
opportunities for students to interact directly?

 Can employer engagement be streamlined?

 Can business analysis techniques be introduced into learning contexts?

2 Acknowledgements

The SHED project was funded under the JISC Learning and Teaching Innovation Grant
Phase 6 programme and ran from May 2011 for one year. It was led by the University of
Nottingham’s CIePD in partnership with Derby College. In particular we would like to thank
the following for their input into the project:

From the University of Nottingham
 Staff from the CIePD, Research and Learning Resources, Information Services
 Professor Tom Cross, Associate Professor and Deputy Head of Department, Faculty
of Engineering
 Steve Upcraft, Business Engagement and Innovation Services and Ingenuity
 Andy Beggan, Head of Learning Technologies Section
 Wyn Morgan, Director of Teaching and Learning
 Caroline Williams, Director of Research and Learning Resources
 Focus group students from the Faculty of Engineering

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From Derby College
 Mark Hodgkinson, HE/International Manager
 Richard Bell, Professional Construction Lecturer and Employer Engagement
 Steve Ford, Learning Technologist
 Students undertaking the Foundation Degree in Professional Construction

Businesses
 Jonathan English, Skeleton Productions
 Darren Gent Progenitor Solutions
 Chris Penfold, Design Cognition

Other
 Leo Lyons, EAT-PDP Project, University of Kent

3 Project Summary

3.1 The SHED project was initially scoped building upon findings from previous JISC-funded
projects. In particular, those which emerged from the CIePD SAMSON project (funded
through JISC’s Workforce Development and Lifelong Learning programme), outcomes from
the Lifelong Learning Networks in the East Midlands and conversations with local employers.
It was also devised against the context of the HE White Paper ‘Students at the heart of the
System’ which concluded that:

“The relationship between universities and colleges, students and employers
is crucial to ensuring that students experience the higher education they want
while studying and leave their course equipped to embark on a rewarding
career”(BIS, 2011, p45).

3.2 Set also against the background of rising fees, emphasis on student employability and a
desire for increased engagement with employers, the project aimed to prototype new
methods of student-employer interaction and develop an architecture that incorporated the
individual requirements of student, employer and institution whilst providing a mutually
satisfactory ‘meeting point’ or ‘introductory service’ which intersected these differing
requirements. Initially, these were summarised as:-

 Developing professionalism; the student need to integrate professional learning,
specifically awareness of the marketplace and sector-specific employment
opportunities, into their learning
 Finding opportunities to enhance employability; improve the accessibility of
students to SMEs and vice versa to support e.g. finding placements or
employment
 Employer (SME) engagement; providing an online space which SMEs would see
value in using
 Building intelligence; better understanding for institutions and students of the
skills needs of the local labour market

3.3 The aim was to demonstrate a sustainable and low-cost model that would be
transferable to other institutions or whole regions which would simplify student, employer
and institutional relationship building.

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Figure 1: diagram depicting anticipated benefits

4 Main Body of Report

4.1 Project Outputs and Outcomes

Output / Outcome Type Brief Description and URLs (where applicable)
(e.g. report, publication, http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/documents.shtml
software, knowledge
built)
Architecture model Mind map diagram based on user requirements analyses
Blog http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eortfolio/shed/
Pilots Within report
Pilots and associated Employer questionnaire and Student workshop activity used for requirements gathering a
materials discussion
Balsamic mock ups Wireframe mock-up used for discussion with employers
Detailed requirements All requirements gathered from interviews and focus groups. Some are out of scope, but
analysis considered in the recommendations for future development
Dissemination Flyer Information flyer aimed at stakeholders with an interest in the project
Briefing paper for students A targeted paper produced early on in the project to gain interest from students
Briefing paper for A targeted paper produced early on in the project to gain interest from SMEs
employers
Derby College pilot paper ‘Harmonising Student Learning and Employers Needs’ – a paper written by Richard Bell
College setting forward options for providing; employer engagement, employability skills
career development for employed and non-employed Higher Education Students within
Professional Construction at Derby College.

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4.2 How did you go about achieving your outputs / outcomes?

4.2.1 Aims and Objectives
SHED sought to investigate how innovative technology and use of institutional and student-
generated information could help students to integrate professional learning into their
University/College experience and support them to take more responsibility for their own
learning, through incentivising pro-active behaviours in skill development and employer
engagement. The project bid envisaged a technical architecture to facilitate this, illustrated
and described below:

Figure 2: initial vision of how such an architecture would work

 Student and employer submit profile information.
 The student builds up information about themselves and their skills, interests and
goals within their ePortfolio
 The employer submits a profile using a gateway page. This would include information
about their particular interests in working with students and the institution.
 The employer searches for specific skills which would return an anonymous list of
student matches where they could request further information
 The student receives notification and decides whether to open up their contact details
to the employer
 Other sources of institutional information could be added into the employer search,
such as curriculum or research data (potentially this could surface relevant
participating students through back-end use of curriculum and student IDs)
 Anonymous trends would be gathered via user-generated content and search
tracking
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4.2.2 Methodology
The project sought to assess the feasibility and user-appetite for the architecture through a
series of interviews and focus groups and investigation into the availability and readiness of
other institutional data and systems. For end users, the most important (if unstated) question
is “what is in it for me?” Why would a student or employer use a new system or website if
there were no obvious and direct benefits for them? Therefore, this was the focus for the
requirements analyses. The list below describes how users were engaged:-

 Briefing papers were developed for SMEs1 and students2.
 The project was promoted at the Ingenuity Breakfast event on 12th July 20113.
 An early draft of information to capture from employers and workflow was developed
(Appendix C).
 A wireframe ‘straw man’4 was developed to promote discussion.
 Questionnaires were created for students and SMEs (Appendices A and B).
 Focus groups were held with students5 from the University of Nottingham and Derby
College.
 Requirements gathering interviews with three SMEs6 were held.
 A seminar, ‘Technology for Employability’ was held at the University of Nottingham
on 25th May 2012, mainly attended by academics and the Careers and Employability
Service and including a presentation from Jeanne Booth of the Good Work Guide
social enterprise on ‘Engaging Employers’.

From these activities, a detailed mind map diagram7 and Requirements Catalogue8 were
produced to support the prototype development. These outputs, plus the wider discussions
generated extended beyond the scope of SHED, however, they have been captured and will
be discussed below in section 7.

4.2.3 Pilots
The intention was to run a pilot alongside the prototype development focussing on the
professional learning of students. The University and Derby College had the Mahara
ePortfolio system already installed so an early decision was made by the project group to
assess the suitability of Mahara for storing searchable employability data and allowing
flexible access and search. For the immediate purposes of the project, using the Resumé
sections (see Appendix D) seemed a reasonable starting point. As a tool currently installed
and also (during the course of the project) being implemented more widely across the
University it would provide an existing vehicle for hosting employability information and a
space in which to promote professional learning amongst students. Furthermore, as an open
source tool there is the potential to directly search its databases and add in functionality
enabling users to release data directly.

Derby College ran their first College Mahara pilot with 3 students undertaking the
Professional Construction Foundation Degree. It was important that the pilot fit with their
existing priorities where impact would be made in the short term. A detailed project

1
SME briefing paper - http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/Employer%20Briefing%20Paper%20-%20SHED%20-
%20draft%201%20KC.pdf
2
Student briefing paper - http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/Student%20Briefing%20Paper%20-%20SHED%20-
%20draft%201%20KC.pdf
3
http://www.ingenuitygateway.com/News/News/Page-2
4
Wireframe ‘straw man’ http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/balsamic-shed-talking-point.pdf
5
Summary blog post available at http://uilaplep01.nottingham.ac.uk/mahara/view/artefact.php?artefact=14270&view=1336
6
Summary blog post available at http://uilaplep01.nottingham.ac.uk/mahara/view/artefact.php?artefact=14269&view=1336
7
Mind Map diagram http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/SHED%20mind%20map.jpeg
8
Requirements Analysis http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/SHED%20Requirements%20Catalogue%20v1.pdf
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summary9 was written by Richard Bell (Professional Construction Foundation Degree) prior
to the pilot who identified a gap in embedded employability learning for students undertaking
part-time HE courses.

“Within Professional Construction, employer engagement and employability skills
have been refined and developed within a specific frame work for full-time level 3
learners, and has proved to be a great success with employers and students alike
providing students with internships, industry mentors and specific enrichment
activities. This in turn has highlighted the lack of these activities and concepts within
the HE portfolio/offering, and it is against this background that the professional
construction team have sought to develop a framework and process that meets the
needs of HE students in this respect.” (Harmonising Student Learning and
Employers/Industry needs, Richard Bell)

These courses contain a mixture of employed and non-employed students so the aim of this
pilot was to develop processes around matching non-employed students with employers and
to develop student learning to meet the needs of industry as well as career planning, career
development and promotion for employed students within their existing organisations. Buy-in
from one company in particular was sought early on as co-operation from their line
managers and HR departments was crucial to gain acceptance of the pilot for the CPD
context. The company are also keen to ensure that promising employees are not ‘missed’
through ensuring their evidence is retained over time. This helps the company, employee
and college to match up their experiences at work with course requirements from the college
and to see the progression of their employees and evidence to support their investment in
training.

A detailed summary of student activity and recommendations arising for the pilot is
documented on the SHED blog10.

4.2.4 Demonstrator
Following the requirements gathering, a demonstrator was produced. This sought to
illustrate requirements from the different stakeholders and demonstrate the workflow and
interaction between students and employers, with an emphasis on employer requirements.

The design of the demonstrator reflects the comprehensive and detailed requirements11
gathered from local SMEs. Requirements were rigorously prioritised using the standard
MoSCoW method to identify the higher priority requirements for implementation. The
demonstrator was developed as an ASP.NET web application using Visual Studio and was
written in C#. It was implemented using an N-tier architectural design, comprising an
ASP.NET web-application running on a web-server, a MySQL database and a CSS-
managed presentation layer.

‘Proof-of-concept’ functionality demonstrates how an Employer would use the system as
shown in the screenshots included in Appendix G. Employers register on the system and in
doing so, record their company details as well as registering their preferences as to the
types of engagement with the University that they are interested in. This data can be
subsequently amended as and when required. The core use case illustrated by the
demonstrator is that the Employer searches for a student who meets their (various)
requirements. This has been designed as a ‘hybrid’ search approach and as such supports a

9
Derby College pilot summary https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OdUcIEsLKDlFPjBXo7OQKFT-t-g3Nc_AW0rvuj-
t5Pg/edit?pli=1#heading=h.2dtsn27luc4g
10
Derby College SHED pilot blog - http://uilaplep01.nottingham.ac.uk/mahara/view/artefact.php?artefact=14395&view=1336
11
Requirements Catalogue -
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/SHED%20Requirements%20Catalogue%20v1.pdf
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combination of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ searching. This allows the Employer to either
request to search across all data sources simultaneously (bottom up) or to first select a
specific category within which they wish to search (top-down). This is similar in principle to
the search mechanisms implemented on the BBC and Amazon web-sites and is arguably
emerging as a standard for good practice on commercial web-sites.

Specifically, the following use cases are supported by the demonstrator in the form of
category searches:-

 Employer searches across all data sources
 Employer searches for a Student for a Placement
 Employer searches for a Student for a Project
 Employer searches for a Student for Research Work
 Employer searches for a Student on this particular course
 Employer searches for a Student with these Goals

These category searches relate to, and rely on, corresponding data being entered into
Mahara by students wishing to market themselves to Employers. The illustrative
implementation shown by the demonstrator could be significantly enhanced and improved by
the development of a Mahara Employability plug-in (see section 7) which would enable the
information searched for by Employers to be captured in a more structured and granular
way.

Note that in order to meet the requirement (identified during requirements elicitation
workshops) that students retain control of their own data, search results are presented to the
employer in an anonymised format, as illustrated in the screenshots in the Appendix G. The
Employer then submits a request for permission to view the student’s portfolio which must be
accepted by the student before the Employer can view any further information about the
student. This reflects the ‘circle of trust’ principles put forward by the EU FP7 TAS3 project.

4.2.5 How the project changed
SHED was a consultative project. Requirements were gathered as described in paragraph
4.2.2 and subsequent findings impacted on the direction of the project. Staff changes meant
also that the technical work was started later than envisioned, so there was a weighting on
defining methods and processes to inform the technical work and recommendations for
further development.

As a part of the Learning and Teaching Innovation programme, the project sought to identify
and trial innovation in:-
1. Incorporating professional learning into student activity
2. Student engagement with employers
3. Integrated workflow around permissions and policies.

4.2.6 Initially, it was envisioned that findings from the TAS312 EU project on auditing data
flow and assigning user-specified policies to the data would be used. The TAS3 technology
developed for this was in the event rather complex and developmental, requiring significant
skills in Unix and C for implementation which were not available for the project, and which
also would have been surplus to SHED requirements. However, core TAS3 concepts of
personal data and ownership have influenced the development of the project and its
recommendations.
12
http://tas3.eu/
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4.2.7 In the event, the demonstrator sought to implement permissions and data release by
allowing users (students specifically) to retain control over their personal data through the
ePortfolio and workflow (as identified in Appendix C) operating via use of database table
flags to enable interaction and iterative release of data between student and employer. An
anonymous search criterion is harvestable for storage in a database for future querying and
business intelligence. If this approach were implemented for a large number of users, then a
solution would have to consider the storage and analysis of a large and growing dataset.

4.2.8 Navigating the data
SHED highlighted the different types of institutional data and issues around their release and
access.

 Student-generated data
 Curriculum information
 Student record data
 Other institutional data of interest to employers

There is a challenge is to find the pathways through the masses of institutional data and
actually to determine what could be useful and how it could be presented. There is slow and
ongoing work to be done in the sector more widely to develop information streams available
via web services and to review data protection requirements. As with all projects undertaken
with JISC, interoperability and standardisation of data/processes is key. Nottingham is
undertaking an XCRI-CAP project with JISC’s Course Data programme13, although results
services from this have not been available within the SHED timeframe. A separate
Curriculum Mapping project is also running – however, the timings of all of these activities
have not intersected in a useful way within the project timeframe.

4.2.9 The original idea for SHED was an innovative one. The project examined the ‘as-is’
and designed the ‘to-be’ processes and functions to enable direct contact between the
student and employer, bypassing potential administrative hold-ups. The solution draws
lessons from the business world, such as recruitment practices and online matching
services, and examines how these might be suitably applied to HE. Applying iterative
interaction between student and employer, whether for seeking a placement or receiving
feedback on project work, strengthens the relationship and provides a ‘virtuous circle’,
further developing student learning about their professionalism and reinforcing the students
employability in the eyes of the employer.

For Derby College, SHED saw the first use of Mahara within the College and in particular,
enabled the College to innovate in their management of student’s professional learning,
using it as a platform for peer development, career reflection and learning from employer
input. Students gather information that is related to employer requirements and from that
learn how their knowledge appears for an employer. This is not only learning for them, but
for their peers and the College in understanding what sort of information is of interest to their
employer contacts and how students should be advised to fine tune their employability
information to improve their career prospects.

4.3 What did you learn?

4.3.1 As discussed in section 4.2.2, the project team engaged with students, employers and
academics throughout the project to inform development and to evaluate our assumptions.
13
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/coursedata.aspx
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These engagement activities proved extremely useful and informative not only for SHED, but
to inform other projects and activities including the concurrent CIePD JISC-funded
ESCAPES14 and Ingenuity KnowledgeHub15 projects, the University’s own fledgling Mahara
implementation and new practice in promoting student employability for Derby College.

Below are summaries of the key messages extracted from interviews and focus groups.

4.3.2 Employers

“Many businesses are keen to access universities’ specialist knowledge and are
unaware of the R&D capacity available within the student body. For non-engaged
companies, particularly SMEs, navigating through the maze of diverse education
institutions and courses to find the right skill or contact can be problematic.” (SHED
project proposal 2011)
Discussions with employers centred on a set of questions (Appendix A) but in actuality
developed into broad and rich discussions about how and why they interact with the
University. 3 SMEs were interviewed in depth, and the employer view was sought at Derby
College on engaging with their employee’s learning.
SME engagement with Universities is more inconsistent than that of large blue chip
companies. At Nottingham, we are fortunate to have a strong and growing community of
SMEs through the Ingenuity network16 and its regular programme of business-focussed
events. This provides an accessible way for SMEs to engage, network and find contacts.
Once initial contact with the University has been made, they are put in touch with the areas
they express interest in. This is a huge job to perform manually - so a system which could
surface relevant information from different departments would be very much desired,
particularly as University information is notoriously hard to find due to its distribution across
different academic schools and departments.
Knowledge transfer in a broad sense was identified as a top area of interest which, from the
SME viewpoint, could largely be labelled as; expertise, events and research.
Students and knowledge transfer
As well as an interest in University research, the employers were interested in student
placements, internships, projects and employment. Small businesses are often on the cusp
of growth and innovation, and a good student placement or project can be invaluable at this
time. However, in taking on a placement, the business has to be sure that the benefits for
them (as well as the student) are clear.
In summary, the SMEs interviewed viewed the following as desirable:-
 A single ‘front door’ to the University - and a 'hook' for engagement
 Bite size pieces of information, easily accessible via the web, mobile app or email
digest
 University events available in one place and filterable
 Ability to find students for discrete pieces of work (paid or otherwise)
 Access to research and innovation headline information (filtered by interest)
 More university engagement with social media for easier personal networking and
identifying key contacts
14
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/escapes
15
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/knowledgehub
16
http://www.ingenuitygateway.com/
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 An online community where students, academics and employers can share ideas
and make connections

4.3.3 Students
“..students will expect a clear return on their investment, including enhanced
employability at graduation. Institutions need to seek out creative and cost-effective
methods to maximise their students’ employability and enhance meaningful
engagement with employers.” (SHED project proposal 2011)

“We come to University and assume that employability is getting the degree but are
starting to learn that it’s the degree plus other stuff” (student participant in workshop)

In order to identify the motivating factors for students to create and share information about
themselves, workshops were held with Nottingham and Derby students. The former were
invited to answer questions (Appendix B) and to discuss their own views on their
employability as well as the project aims with the team, whereas the latter group were
interviewed more informally with their lecturer. The University student discussion is
summarised below and the Derby student discussion is summarised in section 4.3.4 within a
wider discussion in a Further Education context.
The Nottingham students were a self-selecting and motivated group, all sharing a concern
with finding good employment beyond their studies. They were aware of what constitutes
employability, describing these skills as being interpersonal, resourcefulness, ‘knowing who
to ask’ and managing projects. Work experience and placements are viewed as vital in
helping them to realise their long term career goals.
Some interesting points and assumptions raised by the students were:-
Course, Skills and Interests
 Coursework and team projects are more useful forms of assessment than exams in
developing transferable skills.
 Module choice is influenced by the reputation of the lecturer, general interest and is
generally not considered of interest to the employer.
 For some, there is a worry about module choice being too specific and closing down
options. For others, specialising early represents a clear idea of future career choice.
 Currently, information about employer demand can be found through the careers
centres, employer talks and websites.
 The importance of extra-curricular activities to gain new skills (student societies etc.)
is recognised, however, for engineering students with full timetables, time is an issue.

Accessing businesses

 The smaller the company, the more specific the skills required.
 Summer placements are sought after - these are student-sourced and not a part of
the course.
 There is less awareness of engineering SMEs when applying for placements.
 It is easy to find the household names, but opportunities are competitive. Access to
smaller companies is key.
 The first job on graduating is seen as a kick-start to a career.

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 The engineering job website Gradcracker17 was cited as a good place to find
employers, as is engineering magazines, careers fairs and Google.
 Personal networking with employers is a good way to find opportunities as is word of
mouth from other students or family.
 There is an interest in current employer demand, research and growth areas.

The students were asked what ideally they would like:-

 Clearly presented information via the web (such as Grad cracker).
 A university provided, comprehensive and easily accessible list of companies, tagged
and searchable by sector, wage bracket, job description and company information
(including social responsibility, employee benefits and information about former
placements) with the ability to store 'favourite' companies.
 Somewhere to browse available placements which the University has secured.
 Up to date links to the company application procedures.
 Information about company project areas.
 Company presentations do not clash with lectures, e.g. breakfast meetings for
networking opportunities would be preferable.
 Careers fairs with smaller companies represented.
 Employment opportunities advertised with a salary specified - not just labelled
'competitive'.
 Feedback from employers, and support with interpretation, if unsuccessful.

4.3.4 An FE perspective

SHED presented Derby College with an opportunity to respond to its more immediate needs
in trialling new approaches to promote career development and professional understanding
within the level 4 HE in FE programme. This is discussed fully in ‘E-portfolios – Harmonising
Student Learning and Employers/Industry Needs’18 (Richard Bell 2012).

A focus group (report available in the project blog19) with the students and lecturer from the
Foundation Degree in Professional Construction revealed a pragmatic interpretation of the
use and purpose of the ePortfolio and their motivation for recording professional
development, namely, finding a job and career progression. The group understand the value
in learning how better promote, market and differentiate themselves to potential employers
through sharing employability data with employers.

The pilot has raised issues for Derby College, one of which is company IPR (Intellectual
Property Rights). Whilst on the course, students are made aware of what it is appropriate to
upload and to share – this is a part of their professional learning. Introducing an agreed code
of conduct before using the system is one way to alleviate these issues.

17
http://www.gradcracker.com/
18

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/docs/Harmonizing%20Student%20Learning%20and%20Employers%20Needs%20
-%20Derby%20College.pdf
19
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/
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Continuing engagement with employers is time consuming for college and employers, the
latter not always wanting a constant update on learner and work experience progress. Any
way this can be made easier is desirable, hence the commitment from the HE Manager to
grow and embed the work into other HE in FE programmes.

However, as with other new e-learning activities, continued success can depend on the
commitment of individuals. This is recognised by the HE Manager who will continue to
promote the work (see section 5, conclusions) within the College.

4.3.5 Other learning points
Academic staff at the University (engaged primarily through the Technology for Employability
event on 25th May 2012) emphasised the diversity of students, from those very strategic and
motivated students to those less engaged with their own professional development. Students
at Nottingham have many opportunities to undertake activities to support their employability,
often embedded into their course (collaborative project work for instance), some accessing
placements and internships, student union and societies and the Nottingham Advantage
Award20 to name a few. All Graduates need to be able to articulate their employability skills
and present themselves to employers, and in addition, recognise that the majority of
employers will be SMEs. Furthermore, a presentation at this event from Jeanne Booth on
‘engaging employers’ stated that the top 100 large corporates provide around 30,000
vacancies annually whereas there are approximately 350,000 graduates (Wilson Review21
paragraph 6.4).

The project brought together a diverse steering team, with representation from business
engagement, learning technology, curriculum, technical and management, and for one
meeting, an international perspective from the University’s Malaysia Campus colleagues via
video link. There were benefits to having a diverse range of perspectives and individual
priorities which helped to define the strategic aims and direction of the project; however, this
can sometimes lead to ‘scope creep’. SHED uncovered many interesting, highly relevant
learning, outlined further in section 6’s recommendations for further work.

Although the project was to trial and test innovation, for which a year-long timeframe is
appropriate, in order to take aspects of the innovation and try to embed them can be difficult
to achieve in this timeframe. With embedding comes stakeholder commitment which
removes the high-risk elements of undertaking new practice.

4.4 Immediate Impact

4.4.1 SHED has uncovered new ideas and approaches to student-employer relationships
within the University. The most significant and immediate impact for the University was that
the evidence arising from employer discussions and the overarching vision behind SHED
enabled a new piece of innovative work to be scoped and evidenced to build more fully on
the SME motivation for accessing and engaging with University resources. The result was
the JISC BCE Access to Resources project, Ingenuity KnowledgeHub22. The project joins
Business Engagement Innovation Services with Community Partnerships, the University of
Derby, Social Enterprise the Good Work Guide and SME In A Fishbowl and is building a new
online community for small businesses whilst utilising semantic technology for surfacing
University information (see Appendix H). The long term view is that student employability
information would form a part of the University resource that employers are interested in.

20
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/careers/students/advantageaward/
21
http://www.wilsonreview.co.uk/review/graduate-recruitment/
22
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/knowledgehub
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4.4.2 Dissemination
Strategic University dissemination occurred through the project Board, containing the
Director of Research and Learning Resources, the Director of Teaching and Learning and
the Director of the Careers and Employability Service.

Project dissemination materials were produced and made available at a range of events and
conferences, including; ALT-C 2011, EPIC 2011, Technology for Employability (project
event), Assessment in a Digital Age (University event), AGCAS 2011, JISC events and ad
hoc meetings with colleagues from other institutions. Further dissemination will occur at the
Greenwich Employer Engagement in a Digital Age, EPIC 2012 and ALT-C 2012
conferences.

4.4.3 Participants in the project
The Deputy Faculty Head of Engineering at Nottingham has championed the project
throughout and furthermore will be supporting any spin-off activities with a particular
emphasis on teaching and learning. Learning from SHED has cross-fertilised with the
Nottingham’s ePortfolio Implementation project the CIePD’s JISC-funded ESCAPES project,
particularly in relation to student placement learning, evidencing professional skills and
student motivation to use these tools. The project team remain in contact with the SMEs
engaged with during the project which has seeded a new University/employer relationship.
The demonstrator also provides a catalyst and talking point for the departments involved and
to introduce new ideas and ways of working.

4.4.4 Derby College have started to embed the benefits of their pilot within the Foundation
Degree programme, although the current uncertainties for FE may put this at risk. However,
SHED has provided the College as a whole with their first opportunity to use and assess
Mahara. Students on the pilot have developed an understanding of what material they
should be collecting and how to record and present themselves. This forms part of a
‘professional mind-set’ being developed through participation in the pilot. The company has
responded positively to the concepts of being able to view shared student data with interest
emerging primarily from one or two of the employer mentors. They see benefits in being
able to keep an overview of their employee activity whilst they undertake rotational
placement within the company (technical training occurs in at least 3 areas of the company)
and to be able to view their evidence.

4.4.5 The students are populating their ePortfolios (see Appendix E) with enthusiasm and
regular meetings have been arranged by their lecturer over the summer recess.
Professionalism via reflective and self-directed learning continues to be promoted, a
valuable skill which the CIOB Professional Body is keen to promote. The employer mentor
remains positive and is planning to brief other workplace mentors following an evaluation
with his existing trainees. Informal conversations with a construction employer HR
representative have revealed an interest in ‘career development’ ePortfolios. From a
practical curriculum assessment point, the lecturer is using more typed feedback which is
reinforced with one-to-one meetings. This has meant greater time being spent on
assessments/assignments that may be used within the student’s e-portfolios.

4.5 Future Impact

4.5.1 The SHED project represents the skeleton framework for student-employer matching
and interaction. Its constituent parts require further robust and embedded construction
through iterative and targeted change. The Ingenuity KnowledgeHub project presents an
opportunity to do this for Nottingham, and the Mahara pilot for Derby. At some stage, the
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parts need to meet and this is where meaningful interaction will take place. The team are
considering how to develop further work as outlined in section 7 to strengthen the framework
– referred to by a member of the steering team as ‘son of SHED’. The framework and
concepts are designed to be flexible and adaptable for development beyond the project.

4.5.2 Future impact of SHED will be realised through Nottingham’s Ingenuity KnowledgeHub
and ePortfolio implementation projects (described in section 4.4) and Derby’s continuing
work with level 4 HE students and their employers. A wider group of College staff see the
benefit of the level 4 students sharing elements of their information with level 3 students,
demonstrating to them techniques and exemplars for employability early on in their learning.
Overall, the value is seen in being able to understand what employers want to see and what
they are interested in. Students understanding how to ‘sell themselves’ in the employment
market and to present another channel for them to differentiate themselves from other
candidates.

4.5.3 Support for job-seeking
The intention within Derby College is to carry on the basic concepts trialled with other full
and part-time HE in FE courses to support students in finding jobs – although, this may be
subject to the uncertain FE funding situation. Where the employer mentor defines what they
want to see, this may determine how students who are not currently in employment structure
and present their information, giving a greater understanding of what employers want to see
more generally. Employer interaction with the employee’s ePortfolio will enable all students
to fine tune their shared information thus providing a valuable insight into employer
requirements, helping inform the whole cohort, not just those in work.

4.5.4 However, would employers be interested in viewing a student’s ePortfoio showcase
page? For the Derby students, this provides another channel for students to use to promote
and market themselves to potential employers. Having the supporting information,
incorporating personal and professional achievements, differentiates the candidate to
employers (see Appendix E). Participants recognise the value in being able to quickly pull
together customised ‘views’ for different applications based on existing personal content.
Their showcase can be used to supplement/enhance the paper application where existing
processes restrict the application format. Once a link is provided within an email, it is also
easier to be passed on within the company or through personal networks. Building in
tracking as to who has accessed the shared information and how many times is desirable,
and can be done through some bespoke reporting either via Mahara or through the SHED
architecture and could potentially be as simple as a read receipt or hit counter, or providing
stats back to the user via Google Analytics. This is an important part of assessing how
effective the channel is.

5 Conclusions

5.1 Employability for students and employers is a practical concern. Course and career
learning as well as the practicalities of finding placements, internships and work do not exist
in isolation. Students need to know what employers are looking for and how to access them
as well as being able to analyse, recognise the value of, assess and showcase their
employability and subject-related skills to employers. This typically might integrate with more
traditional Personal Development Planning (PDP) activities, but essentially needs to form an
embedded and valued part of student learning. The HEA state:

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“Employability can be enhanced through personal development planning, but
success will depend upon the extent to which students see a ‘pay-off’ for the effort
that they put in.” 23(Embedding employability into the curriculum, HEA)

For students, the ‘pay off’ may constitute short term interaction with employers for seeking
work or work-experience which also provides real-world learning about the sectors they are
interested in.

5.2 For employers, involvement with Institutional systems needs to present them with
immediate and tangible benefits; for instance, finding a project or placement student faster, a
confidential way to source short-term talent or the ability to focus on applicants from an
appropriate area. Any system or interface needs to be easy to deal with and actually useful.

5.3 Introducing new systems or processes, communicating with users and building up
numbers is time-consuming. Where systems exist and are already being used then building
upon these is a sensible option, for instance, the current ePortfolio or a well-used business
network.

5.4 Institutional tools enable students to develop professional habits of reflection and self-
awareness in a secure environment. Students use social networking tools. Professional
networking tools such as LinkedIn offering showcasing and CV functions are important also
in presenting employers and learning about the marketplace, thus arguably form part of
employability learning as well as learning about how best to use these tools for career
progression.

6 Recommendations

6.1 General recommendations and recommendations for the wider community

 Meaningful employability and professional learning practices ought to be embedded
into day to day student use of learning technologies and tools
 Consider how a continuation of the above practices could be offered to Alumni (see
Kent’s EAT-PDP24 project) in a cost effective way to maintain engagement and offer
a useful service.
 Students would benefit from a form of access to the university employer contacts.
 Make it easier for students to develop their own relationships with employers.
 Review PDP practices alongside practical employability concerns for students.
 Promote institutional ePortfolio use for direct student benefit (e.g. a marketing tool for
students to match themselves to employers).
 Cement the understanding of employability skills and what they mean for the
institution, track and present marketplace intelligence to inform institutional
employability practice.
 Continued effort on employer engagement.
 ‘Build it and they will come’ does not generally work. Remove barriers to systems and
processes, for instance, for employers, consider using LinkedIn login criteria for
access to systems.

23

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/id460_embedding_employability_into_t
he_curriculum_338.pdf
24
http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/eatpdp/2012/04/17/developing-the-student-catalogue/
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 Develop a clear understanding of what useful institutional information is held which is
of interest to employers.
 Use more communication and networking tools to support career learning.
 Work towards standardising institutional datasets to aid discovery.

6.2 Recommendations for JISC

 Further funding work to develop and embed employability tools (section 7).
 Join BCE and eLearning programme outcomes.
 Develop a future eLearning theme around developing employability.
 While new approaches have been identified, a longer project would be beneficial to
support further change and embedding.
 Further work to promote institutional open data and put in place the institutional
infrastructure.
 Promote benefits of why investment in the above is important, specifically aimed at
non-technical audiences (XCRI-CAP being a good example).
 FEIs in particular are operating in an increasingly uncertain world. It is important JISC
recognise this and offer more contextual support for responding to immediate needs.
 Both partners would welcome dissemination through JISC publication or the On Air
radio programme. Case studies helps to promote esteem within the institution and
help to embed new practice.

7 Implications for the future

7.1 The SHED project has enabled the two institutions to investigate and trial parts of a
student-employer matching service. The issues arising are useful for project partners as well
as the wider HE and FE community. Documentation, in particular the requirements
catalogue25 and mind map provide materials to build upon. These will be accessible from the
CIePD website indefinitely.

7.2 Where next?
The team unearthed other possibilities arising from the SHED project work which largely
emerged from requirements gathering. These are suggested developments which could
promote the employability of students in a low cost and student-focussed way:-

7.3 Employability tools
There is the potential to develop a range of tools which could be plugged into an
existing/used eLearning system, such as an ePortfolio through use of widgets, plugins or
other module technology. These further ideas turn the SHED architecture around, placing
students in the position of ‘actor’ rather than ‘resource’. Possible tools may include:-
a) Access to University-engaged employers (CRM headline information/business from
the Ingenuity KnowledgeHub community)
b) A place to view employer opportunities (e.g. unfinished projects, placement offers
etc.)
c) Tagging and storing ‘favourite’ employers
d) An enhanced and structured employability profile
e) Tool to find and collaborate with fellow-students to pool resources for responding to
employer project needs for placements/internships or work.

25
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed/documents.shtml
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f) Social media connections – e.g. drawing information from ePortfolio status updates
into Facebook, rather than vice versa (which seems to be the norm at present)
g) Development and release of richer evidence for job seeking (see Note)

For further information on requirements gathered to inform the above, refer to Appendix F.

Note: The team consulted with Leo Lyons of the University of Kent EAT-PDP 26project which
is developing a ‘Student Catalogue’. On completion of the project a Mahara plug-in will be
available that enagles Google Search Appliance searching of alumni ‘pages’ built specifically
to expose to potential employers.

7.4 Continued work on institutional web services and data standardisation
To underpin the flow and access to information both internally and externally, institutions
must continue to build on initiatives such as XCRI-CAP and Open Data to provide the data
structures necessary for realising fit for purpose services in the long term. For instance,
development of a web service and open data directory would enable data to be re-used and
shared either internally or externally according to as yet unpredicted user requirements.

 Centralisation of approach (particularly when supplying services)
 Unified approach to data and information - use of RSS, data standards and web
services plus common tagging to enable aggregating and search across different
data sets

7.5 Potential for Collaboration
A future impact envisaged at the time of writing the bid was a long-term regional service
allowing employers to connect with students and resource from different institutions
depending on their interest. Employers are interested in resources and knowledge of a
particular type regardless of the institution. Regional Development Agencies would possibly
have provided a central point for such a service, but in their absence, there would either be
reliance on individual institutions to collaborate or for students to opt-in to share data outside
of the institution. In theory, this could present a valuable resource for students to market their
knowledge and specialisms to interested employers.

8 References
Direct references are presented inline. The following present either foundations of evidence
to underpin the project or work referenced or developed during the project.

 EAT PDP University of Kent
 Ingenuity KnowledgeHub
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/knowledgehub/
 EU FP7 Tas3
http://tas3.eu
 University of Greenwich GWizards
http://www.cms.gre.ac.uk/enterprise/gwizards/
 SAMSON and ESCAPES projects
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/
 JISC LLLWFD projects
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/elearning/workforcedev.aspx
 JISC FSD programme/Infonet
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/flexible-service-delivery/programme

26
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 JISC BCE Programme
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/bce.aspx
 Grant, S. (2009) Electronic Portfolios: Personal information, personal development
and personal values. Chandos. ISBN: 9781843344018
 http://www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk/internships
 http://www.milkround.com/
 http://www.grb.uk.com/
 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/bce/stream4.aspx
 http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/infokits/collaborative-tools/context-tools

9 Appendices (optional)

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Appendix A – Interview questions for employers

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Appendix B – Student focus group activity worksheet

SHED Workshop Activity

Name______________________________________
Year______________________________________
Course_____________________________________

Please answer the following questions on your own and then discuss
with your neighbours. We will revisit the Activity following the
presentation.

A: Your course, skills and interests

1. How is employability a concern for you?

2. Do you know what career you want?

3. What influences your module choices?

4. How might you find out about employer demand for particular skills
(including ‘transferable’ skills)?

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B: Accessing businesses

5. What might your reasons for wanting to interact with an employer be? E.g.
placements, networking, internships, employment, other

6. How would you go about finding and contacting employers?

7. How do you think the University could/should help you to access employers?

8. What information about you and your course do you think employers might
be interested in?

C: In an ideal world…
9. If there were a system which allowed you and an employer to find out about
each other in a secure way, what would it look like?

10.What sort of information would you want from employers?

11.What might the issues about accessing this information be?

Please revisit your answers after you have heard the presentation and
note any further thoughts/changes

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Appendix C - Process for employer search and workflow

Action Enhancement or process
Student populates their profile, and resume New button added to Mahara ‘make
information (including goals, achievements searchable for Employer Portal (beta)’
and interests)
They will be directed to e.g. fill in ‘interested <new db table save userid/artefactid/date>
in’ e.g. placement, research project, general
opportunities etc. <new table access log
userid/artefactid/employerid/datestamp>
Student clicks button to make their data New record within shed access
available anonymously
Employer registers on portal and fills in Create user credentials.
profile.
Record
Can edit profile at any time.  id (auto)
 ?Vat number? Check
 name*
 location* (from google map to record
lat/long ideally? Investigate tying in with
google places?)
 A bit about the company*
 sector* (from SIC list?) (future potential
to access other sources of data)
 Interest keywords* – separate by
comma for building keyword/tag cloud
through usage)
 Interested in* (offering
placement/student for internship/providing
employment/research?? / other - specify)

Market Research questions
 Have you contact with the University
before? Detail?
 Are there areas you would like to pursue
(drop down list from BEIS/other)
Employer logs in. Query available data, return anonymous
Sees search results based on their information.
registration details (interest keywords,
interested in)
Employer refines search Interest keywords
Interested in
(note, does not change registration
information)

Update access log, save new data in ‘event
log’
Employer expresses interest in a student “ we have n matches on the search term X”
Click to view”

Pull through available artefacts. Button for
employer ‘do you want to contact this
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student? If so, an email will be sent to the
student who will be able then to view your
profile and initiate contact’

If yes:
Student receives email confirming that there Student clicks link – accesses employer
had been interest in your profile. Email profile.
contains a link to the employer profile
Button ‘share your profile with this employer’
(protected URL?)

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Appendix D – Mahara Resumé section

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Appendix E – Derby College pilots (screenshots)

Below is a screenshot from a Derby College pilot participant’s ePortfolio. He has shared this
with his employers and it includes a mixture of personal achievements, scanned news
clippings, qualifications, technical certificates and training reviews.

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Appendix F – Requirements for Employability tools

_________________________________________________________________________________

(1) Employer Search Functionality (Plug-in will allow Students will record information to be
searched on)

F1.01 - Employer searches for a student to match their requirements
Employer searches for a student with specific skills and competencies to match their requirements

F2.06 - Student records Employability Evidence
Students record their skills, competencies, employment experience and accomplishments to their
personal portfolio enable them to demonstrate evidence of employability

_________________________________________________________________________________

F1.01.06 - Employer searches for a student with particular goals
Employer searches for a student with goals and aspirations that match what the Employer is offering
(goals, type of work/duration of work/geographical area/working hours etc)

F2.05 - Student records employment goals
Students record their aspirations e.g. their goals, geographical areas/sectors/roles/working hours
they’re interested in working in to enable to Employers to search and locate them according to their
preferences
_________________________________________________________________________________

(2) Student Search Functionality (Plug-in will provide interface for student to perform search)

F1.04.01 - Employer records skills and competencies required
Employer records the high-level skills and competencies required for their organisation (as opposed to
for a specific vacancy). The employer would effectively define an high-level job description at the
organisation level which the students could then search against and compare with their profile

F2.02.02 - Student searches for Employer Competencies
Student searches for qualities and competencies required within a specific organization

_________________________________________________________________________________

F1.04.03 - Employer records their company details
Employer records their company name, location and optionally their address and post code,
telephone number, email address, web page, vacancies URL, Company Number, VAT number and
Sector (SIC Code)

F1.04.04 - Employer records their company profile information
Employer can (optionally) record information about their company, its culture, size and their interests
that is relevant to the University and it’s students e.g. a synopsis and keywords

F1.04.05 - Employer records what types of opportunities they offer
Employer records whether they are interested in offering Placements, Internships, Permanent jobs,
Research opportunities

F1.04.07 - Employer records what areas of the curriculum map to their business
Employer records what areas of the curriculum map to their business and are therefore of interest to
them in terms of engagement, student recruitment etc

F1.04.02 - Employer records a list of unfinished projects

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Employer records a list of outstanding projects that they need to complete so that the university can
potentially engage with them and provide resources/consultancy to complete them

F2.02.01 - Student searches for prospective Employer
Student searches for an employer who is looking for a student with their skills/competencies and
matches their interests and personal requirements. Search could include Sector, Keywords relating to
skills/competencies/interests, Region/Geographical area, Salary Offered. Progenitor Solutions
suggested using Amazon-style suggestions to try and help fill hard-to-fill vacancies

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Appendix G – Demonstrator screenshots

G1 - Design of home page interface for demonstrator purposes

G2 – Capture employer information 1

G3 – Capture employer interests (to aid search and matching)

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G4 – Employer search

G5 – Anonymised search results

G6 – Submit request to student – introductory email sent (Note: in principle, this alert could be
received as a text message or Mahara activity alert).

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Appendix H – Prototype for Ingenuity KnowledgeHub employer interface

This is a screenshot developed by Zabisco for the JISC-funded CIePD project, Ingenuity
KnowledgeHub. While not a part of the SHED project, it illustrates the evolution of ideas and
embedding of employer requirements into further activity. The two elements being developed for
Ingenuity KnowledgeHub are the ‘Fishbowl’ and ‘Semantic Search’ (developed by the University of
Derby’s DISYS). These represent a combination of a useful employer community tool and a
presentation of useful University resources. These elements sit within the University of Nottingham’s
Ingenuity Network website, a successful SME engagement tool. In the long term, student profiles
could form an area for search by employers.

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