The role of UK higher education (HE), further education (FE) and skills sectors in developing student employability is clear. Technology can be an enabler to the development and communication of employability skills, but are organisations and employers making best use of it?
This presentation aims to share and discuss the emerging themes and ideas being generated through our student employability project, which explores how technology can best support students to develop and communicate the skills that are needed for the workplace.
The presentation informs participants of what has been learnt so far and engage them in discussions. We will:
Share emergent themes including issues and opportunities from the study
Share, discuss and build on ideas for what organisations, programme teams and we can do to enhance student employability and the use of technology.
Presenters:
Lisa Gray, senior co-design manager, Jisc
Peter Chatterton, independent consultant, higher education
Geoff Rebbeck, independent consultant, further education and skills
Who will find this useful?
The presentation will be of interest to anyone across HE, FE and skills with an interest in how students develop and communicate employability skills, primarily:
Senior managers with responsibility for employer responsiveness and employer engagement
Academic/teaching staff with an interest in employability
Technology-enhanced learning and academic enhancement roles
Employability leads
Staff with responsibility for personal development planning (PDP)
Careers staff.
Diploma in Nursing Admission Test Question Solution 2023.pdf
Technology for Employability
1. Lisa Gray, Peter Chatterton and Geoff Rebbeck
29/04/2015
Technology for employability webinar
2. Technology for employability
Geoff Rebbeck
Independent consultant
Blog: http://employabilityproject.jiscinvolve.org
Twitter: #jiscemployability
Lisa Gray
Jisc
Technology for employability
This webinar will share emerging themes,
issues and opportunities arising from a Jisc
study exploring how technology can best
support students to develop and
communicate the skills needed for the
workplace.
It will also provide opportunities for
participants to engage with and discuss
emerging ideas for what institutions,
programme teams and Jisc can do to
enhance student employability and use of
technology.
Peter Chatterton
Independent consultant
3. Overview
»Background and context
»Examples of practice
»Five emerging themes – current practices
»Three thematic ideas for institutions to enhance practices
»Options for Jisc to consider to support the sector
»Questions, comments and contributions
Technology for employability
4. Why is this important?
»Employability
› Increasing importance in policy
and strategy
– evidence of an ‘employability
gap’
› Means to economic
independence and active
citizenship.
› Qualifications not an end to
themselves
»Technology
› Evidence that technology can be
an enabler….
– But it’s not clear how institutions
are using technology most
effectively to support learners
› Digital savvy graduates are
essential for shaping tomorrows
entrepreneurial activities
– But digital literacies aren’t well
articulated in relation to
employability skills
Technology for employability
5. Jisc “Technology for Employability” study
»December 2014 - study funded
»February - open invitation for
examples of practice
»April 29th – webinar to share
emerging themes and findings
»May – study completes
› Case studies
› Analysis of the technology and
employability landscape
› Issues, challenges, gaps
› Recommendations for institutions
and Jisc
› Good practice guidance
»June – next steps identified
Technology for employability
6. Effective practice examples
Table
6
Case studies - HE
Institution Subject
University of Greenwich Greenwich Connect: a joined up approach to employability in a digital world
University of Northampton Student employability development through social innovation and enterprise
Glasgow Caledonian
University
Problem-solving real business issues using wikis
Birmingham City University A range of creative approaches to developing student employability
Keele University ILM accredited e-portfolio-based employability award
University of Edinburgh Student-led e-portfolio-based assessments for evidencing graduate attributes
University of Birmingham Online employability skills pathway of the Personal Skills Award
University of London Employability skills MOOC
Staffordshire University Staffordshire Graduate Employability project
Bath Spa University International virtual internship programme
Oregon State University
collaboration
Global student collaborative venture to compete in international student racing
Technology for employability
7. Effective practice examples
Table
Case studies – FE and skills
Institution Subject
The Mindset Joint venture between Reed employment and 13 colleges – in campus branches
S&BAutos Supporting motor vehicle apprenticeships through Moodle and virtual reality
Job Centre Plus Using technology to support those out of work
Welsh Baccalaureate Digital literacies embedded into the qualification
MyWorksearch An online employability service supporting learners on an ongoing journey
South Devon College Using an online employability course
SouthWest College, NI Using technology to support partnership projects between students and industry
Portland College Project using video, accessed by QR codes to support learners with disabilities
ReadingCollege A college-wide move away from theVLE to learner-centred approaches
City of Glasgow College An e-portfolio for stonemasons to best record their experiences in the workplace
Technology for employability
11. Technology for employability
Five emerging themes – current practices
Google Doc: http://bit.ly/1blC97E
Either:
Add comments/questions/contributions to the text-chat
or
Add comments/contributions to the Google Doc
12. Technology for employability
THEME 1
Institutions are on various points
of the continuum towards student
employability “maturity”
» Different visions of “maturity” and variation in
approaches to developing employability skills,
capabilities and attributes
» Authentic experiences can develop skills, but
depend on:
» the degree of “authenticity”
» the degree to which students learn/reflect
on them
» the degree to which students articulate
them
» Many creative uses of technology, but
embedding remains elusive to many institutions
» Embedding employability/ attributes into
curricula may be “ideal”, but there are challenges
Five emerging themes – current practices
13. Technology for employability
Programme teams are using
technology to support student
employability in five key ways
providing significant benefits to
students, employers and
institutions
» Technology-enhanced authentic and
simulated learning experiences
» Digital communications and engagement
with employers including development of
digital identity
» Technology-enhanced lifelong learning and
employability
» Technology-enhanced employability skills
development
» Employer-focused digital literacy
development
THEME 2
http://bit.ly/1GaYdKx
Five emerging themes – current practices
14. Technology for employability
Technology is under exploited for
employability
» Variation in practices and understanding of
potential of technologies- particularly with
e-portfolios and social media.
» Institutions could do a lot more to unleash
student creativity in using digital
networks/media to engage with employers,
alumni and other stakeholders
» Digital literacies are not well articulated in
relation to employability skills
» Employers and HE/FE generally have low
aspirations in relation to “digital
entrepreneurialism”
» Growing band of knowledge in terms of
what technology infrastructure is required
for "connected curricula".
THEME 3
Five emerging themes – current practices
15. Technology for employability
Technology is under exploited for employability
THEME 3
Programme teams are using technology to support student
employability in five key ways providing significant benefits to
students, employers and institutions
THEME 2
THEME 1
Institutions are on various points of the continuum
towards student employability “maturity”
Google Doc: http://bit.ly/1blC97E
Questions, comments and contributions on current practices?
16. Technology for employability
Insufficient engagement and
partnership working with
employers
» Core employability skills, capabilities and
attributes are continually evolving
» Unclear the degree to which employers (large and
small) are involved in defining and developing
employability skills
» Not much evidence of institutions evaluating
impact of employability policies/initiatives with
employers
» Not always easy to identify “truly” authentic
learning experiences with employers for ALL
students.
» HE and FE need to find ways of improved working
with a broader range of employers e.g. SMEs.
» Need to raise aspirations for “digital
entrepreneurialism” with employers.
THEME 4
Five emerging themes – current practices
17. Technology for employability
Variability in resources to support
institutions in using technology
for employability
» Lack of awareness of e-portfolio resources
and their value to institutions.
» Insufficient emphasis in sector resources on
“making the case” for using technology.
» Guidance on digital literacies could be better
contextualized and articulated in relation to
employability skills.
» Minimal resources relating to digital
entrepreneurialism.
» Insufficient guidance on effective use of social
media to support employability.
» Potential for greater adoption of multimedia
communications approaches.
» Resources on their own are insufficient –
institutions need to be supported in using
them effectively.
THEME 5
Five emerging themes – current practices
18. Technology for employability
Google Doc: http://bit.ly/1blC97E
Questions, comments and contributions on current practices?
THEME 4
THEME 5
Insufficient engagement and partnership
working with employers
Variability in resources to support institutions
in using technology for employability
19. Technology for employability
"Maturity" is probably best
developed through "connected
curricula" - embedding
employability in curriculum and
assessment combined with
authentic experiential learning
and employer engagement and
underpinned by technology.
» Some excellent examples of "connected
curricula" where employability embedded into
curricula and assessment
» "Connected curricula" inextricably linked to
assessment for learning approaches and
authentic assessment
» Curricula and assessment must incorporate
student articulation of their experiential
learning and employability skills
» "Connected curricula" map well to the QAA
"Flexible Curricula" framework **
» "Connected curricula" requires a learner-
centred connected technology infrastructure
IDEA 1
** http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/toolkits/flexible-curriculum
Three thematic ideas for institutions to enhance practices
20. Technology for employability
“Lifelong employability in a digital
world” needs to be a core student
capability – with students
encouraged to take ownership
early on
» HE and FE need to prepare students for taking
ownership of identifying and developing their
employability skills and capabilities - using
technology.
» “Lifelong employability” is a key employability
capability in its own right.
» Lifelong employability aligns with lifelong
learning, self-review, self-management and
learning directions concepts.
» Self-directed personal and professional learning
(planning, reflection, managing, recording,
review) can be effectively supported by e-
portfolios.
» (Digital) feedback and engagement with a variety
of stakeholders including employers to help
develop learner self-regulatory skills can be
facilitated by technology.
IDEA 2
Three thematic ideas for institutions to enhance practices
21. Technology for employability
Institutions can better prepare for
supporting student employability
through technology in five key
ways
» Embedding and aligning technology for
employability into polices, plans and
resources
» Developing staff digital literacies for
employability – for themselves and their
students.
» Technology tools, resources, infrastructure
and support for employability and student-
centred flexible curricula
» Improving communication and
collaborations to drive change in technology
for employability
» Quality assuring and continuous
improvement through employability data
monitoring, analytics and review
IDEA 3
Three thematic ideas for institutions to enhance practices
22. Technology for employability
IDEA 3
IDEA 2
IDEA 1
Google Doc: http://bit.ly/1blC97E
Questions, comments and contributions on the
three thematic ideas for institutions to enhance practices
"Maturity" is probably best developed through
"connected curricula" - embedding employability in
curriculum and assessment combined with authentic
experiential learning and employer engagement and
underpinned by technology.
“Lifelong employability in a digital world” needs to be a
core student capability – with students encouraged to take
ownership early on
Institutions can better prepare for supporting student
employability through technology in five key ways
23. Technology for employability
Jisc can potentially support
institutions in six key ways
» Benchmarking and effective practice
toolkits.
» Easily accessible, usable and navigable
resources.
» Facilitating an institution-led
communications and engagement plan.
» Online spaces to support creative
collaborations between institutions,
students, alumni, employers and
professional & sector bodies.
» Support services to institutions
» Staff-student-employer partnerships
OPTIONS
Options for Jisc to consider to support the sector
24. Also on the horizon….
»Higher Education Academy
› Embedding employability
strategic enhancement
programme
› 37 Higher Education institutions
› Using the HEA employability
framework -
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/
node/6797
› Completing end of July 2015
Technology for employability
»Joint AGCAS / CRA seminar
› ‘Presenting yourself for the 21st
Century’
› Birmingham City University,
Monday 8th June
› Register at:
http://tinyurl.com/k9jxncr
25. Related Jisc activity
» e-Portfolios – guidance on what they, how you can
use them and successful implementation (updated
guide currently in development)
› www.jisc.ac.uk/eportfolio
» Students as Agents of Change
› www.jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/change-agents-
network
» Digital Literacies
› www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/developing-digital-
literacies
» Assessment and employability
› http://bit.ly/jisc-assess
» Curriculum Design
› http://bit.ly/jisccdd
» Lifelong Learning and Workforce Development
› http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/5993/
Where to find out more
Technology for employability
26. Find out more
»Lisa Gray lisa.gray@jisc.ac.uk
»Peter Chatterton
peter.chatterton@daedalus-e-
world.com
»Geoff Rebbeck grebbeck@me.com
»Googledocs: http://bit.ly/1blC97E and
http://bit.ly/1GaYdKx
»Project page:
jisc.ac.uk/rd/projects/developing-
student-employability
»Join the conversation on the blog:
employabilityproject.jiscinvolve.org/
and on twitter #jiscemployability
Technology for employability
Notas del editor
Good morning everyone and welcome to this webinar – on technology for employability.
I’m Lisa Gray, I work as a Senior Co-Design Manager with Jisc, and I’ll be talking here today with my colleagues Geoff Rebbeck and Peter Chatterton who are leading on a study to explore how tech can best support students to develop and communicate the skills needed for their working lives.
Just a note of warning before we start – the aim of this webinar is to discuss a range of emerging themes and issues, a way of thinking about the ways in which technology can be used to support employability skill development, as well as recommendations for how to move us forward in time to help to shape the final report of the study – so we will be covering a lot of ground in the hour we have. But – we have two googledocs prepared with a summary of all of the themes we’ll discuss and would welcome your thoughts and comments not only during this hour but after the session. So please return to that if we’re moving on too fast here.
Just to also note we have a blog for the project, and if you are tweeting a hashtag too.
In this session I’ll start with a short overview of the background and context for the work.
Peter and Geoff will then share a few examples of practice from their research that will be written up as case studies just to give a flavour of the sort of practice out there.
We’ll then spend most of the time discussing some key themes, and initial thoughts on the ideas being put forward by the team for how to move us forwards.
We’ll pause for questions at intervals during the session.
I wont spend too much time on this as I’m sure this audience is already aware of the key importance of employability for all educational sectors. We have seen an increasing focus on employability in policy and strategy, and evidence of a gap in the skills that students are starting with on day one of employment and the skills that employers are expecting from their new employees.
Qualifications are increasingly seen, particularly in in FE and skills, as a stepping stone to employment from which economic independence and active citizenship flow. The qualification is no longer the end point.
Technology
We have evidence that technology can be an enabler to developing and communicating employability skills, and clear evidence of benefits of use from quality enhancements to efficiencies in time and cost. But it isn’t clear on how universities are using the tech to most effectively support learners, and the impact hasn’t yet been clearly articulated.
Digitally savvy graduates (with more than just basic IT skills) are essential for shaping tomorrow’s entrepreneurial activities.
But employability skills articulated by employer, professional, sector and regulatory bodies do not typically stress the importance of digital literacies to support employability skills, such as communication, project management, collaboration.
So, in December last year we funded a study to explore the technology for employability landscape across higher education, further education and skills. We went out in February to look for examples of effective practice across all sectors.
We were looking for examples of where technology was being used to support students with the development or communication of skills, and set the boundary there – so we are not looking at the use of technology to find employment. If you are interested in this aspect we have another piece of work at Jisc exploring that further SEE http://prospect2alumnus.jiscinvolve.org
Today is about enabling wider engagement with the findings of the study before it reports, and the study is due to complete in May, with a number of case studies, as well as an analysis of the landscape, with challenges and issues highlighted, and recommendations made for how we can move forward.
Just to give you a flavour of the breadth of case studies we’ll be writing up, these are examples of those in train, covering a range of use from e-portfolio-based evidencing of skills and graduate attributes, to an employability skills MOOC.
And for FE and skills sectors – from a new course being developed with digital literacies at the heart, to a virtual reality paint spraying workshop where cost savings are already being identified.
InnoTech:
InnoTech is venture by South West College, Northern Ireland. Financed by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) to provide partnerships between industry and college students to nurture and grow innovation. They supply R&D support to companies in NI and wider. Industry approach Innotech with a particular problem/challenge and develop the project for them.
They then partners businesses with students at all levels – college students, pg researchers, graduate interns) with businesses around a particular problem. And encourage the return of the knowledge through the curriculum. And promote culture of innovation and adventure in schools to promote STEM subjects through projects supervised by the college STEM centre and the Idea creative technology studio. Projects vary between 12 and 36 months.
Partnerships are facilitated using technology tools (CAD and animation modelling tools) and communications tools. Student also work directly with companies on technology projects in the area of mechanical engineering, IT, electronics and renewable energy systems . Won international green sustainability awards. And AOC Beacon Award 2013.
S&B Automotive Academy
The S&B Automotive Academy is an independent provider based on the motor vehicle industry in Bristol. They support apprentices who are placed in client organizations around the UK, Germany and Bermuda, dealing with supplies, bodywork, repairs etc.
The apprentices are supported through the Moodle VLE and industry portfolio (Institute of Motor Vehicle Industry) along with mobile devices, even when on work-placement. Come into the company for their classes, with over 1500 online learning modules on the VLE. Apprentices make use of video capture in garages to demonstrate competence, and students encouraged to talk over the video capture to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. A training needs analysis assesses their gaps, and courses fill gaps only.
They also go into schools to talk about the apprenticeship scheme, and have the apprentices present over a live video feed from their current workplace, doing a Q&A session.
Focus on developing a mixture of attitude, knowledge and commitment.
Now working with virtual reality, building a professional virtual reality paint spray workshop that allows apprentices to acquire paint spraying skills at vast cost savings (at least £13,000 in teacher time and consumables so far).
Keele University
Keele’s strategic approach to student employability is focused on supporting students to take responsibility for their own development via a new flexible degree structure that includes co-curricula activities offering options such as part-time work, entrepreneurial schemes or volunteering. A development strand runs through all curricula with a focus on personal and professional development, helping students to focus students on making sense of, and taking responsibility for their learning and futures.
They have developed a ‘Keele University Skills Portfolio’, an e-portfolio based collection of students reflections on their experiences (curricular or co-curricular), evidencing the Keele Graduate Attributes, which leads to an accredited certificate from the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM), the UKs largest awarding body for leadership and management qualifications. Also recognised on the students HEAR.
Completed portfolios are submitted to the personal tutor who signs it off pending the result of their main award. See: http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2013/jan/22/student-development-university-curriculum-design
Greenwich Connect: a joined up approach to employability in a digital world
Greenwich Connect is the Universities approach to learning innovation in a digital world which joins-up strategies and practices for teaching, learning, employability and digital literacies. It works with projects that support the creation and growth of networks and connections between learners, graduates, faculty, peers, research and community.
One example of a project within Greenwich Connect is a virtual law clinic – a specialist web-based case advice system developed by students. Any member of the public can submit a query using the secure web form, and is assessed for suitability by an academic and law professional. The query is then assigned to a bank of volunteer law students / and academics and profs that are working pro-bono. Tools are used to facilitate asynchronous and synchronous working to find a solution. Once draft advice has been approved it is shared back through the website. Every study writes a reflective blog of her experiences of working on the case. All information and communication is retained to grow the knowledgebase.
Before we move onto more questions – I wanted to just highlight that this isn’t just an area for Jisc alone, we have been working in collaboration with other agencies including the Higher Education Academy and Centre for Recording Achievement, and we’ll be bringing a group together in May to discuss the findings before we report
. I wanted to highlight a couple of key initiatives that might be of interest.
The HEA is currently running an embedding employability strategic enhancement programme and are working with 37 HE institutions using their employability framework. This work is due to complete at the end of July and findings will be shared after that date.
The Centre for Recroding Achievement and AGCAS are also running an event in June focusing on ‘Presenting yourself for the 21st Century’, you can register from the link in the slide.
Jisc has been working to enhance employability through technology for many years, and if you’re interested in finding out more here are some suggestions of where to find out more.
Just to note, the e-portfolio links have been archived and new pages are currently in development– get in touch with me to find out more and I can share the new links when they are live.
Recent implementation toolkit and accompanying video case studies.
Students as agents of change – evidenced these opportunities as being key for the devt of employability skills.
Dig lit programme – range of learning points around digit lits and employability
Guidance on redesigning assessments to ensure they are ‘work-integrated’, and discussion of the importance of developing learners self-regulation.
Curriculum design explored how to better design courses with employers views at the fore and flexible provision provided for.
Our LLL programme explored how to ensure learners can access education at all stages of life, including whilst in the workplace.
And finally just a reminder of how to get int ouch with any further comments. Follow the blog too to hear about new developments – and please do continue to add to the googledocs with any further thoughts.