CSVM Enhancing business experience and skills development by platform of remote internships Focus on

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CSVM Enhancing business experience and
skills development by platform of remote
internships Focus on pedagogical models and
practices

• Dr. Kees-Jan van Dorp
• European Association of Distance Teaching
  Universities

E-learning in Europe from projects to
practice Seminar on behalf of the European
Commission 23-24 April 2007 Copenhagen
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Objectives

• Facilitate distance education students to enter
  into online working, stimulate their
  employability, and provide distance educational
  systems with increased business connectivity
• Sensibilise distance HE to the contribution of
  e-internships to vocational training and the
  value of associated skills and competencies
• Contribute to the Lisbon strategy and the
  Copenhagen declaration in the sense of realising
  (be it a small part of) the emergence of a
  European labour market and a modernisation of the
  European education and training system

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Context

• Distance Higher Education
• Off-campus study
• Courses specifically designed, developed for
  distance learning
• Pedagogically-rich learning materials for
  independent self-study
• State-of-the-art technology and platforms for
  highest accessibility
• Innovative support structures for group
  interaction and tutorial support
• Prospects, target groups
• Distinct from traditional university enrolment
• Broad coverage of individual market segments
• Entering the paradigm of the lifelong learner
• Concept of Person, Place, Time (PPT)

career migration studying part-time earning
with learning professional training restudy
opportunities international options
mid-career retraining in-company
courses services for disabled personal enrichment
cultural broadening
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Context
Personal properties physical physiological
home situation social obligations
Current work-situation earning
learning full-time schedule
Drawbacks of embedding assignment moulded to the
situation academic quality internship choice
Internship base/stationing geography mobility
financial constraints

Inherent properties of distance HE Distance HE
and feasibility of traditional internships An
alternative look on internships is required A
new challenge remote internships
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Context
comparison

• Traditional education
• Dominant on-campus didactic model
  (professor/student)
• Traditional project-working environment, a
  block-based stamp
• Not open to other learner groups (other than
  traditional student cohorts)
• No provisions for off-campus learning or target
  groups (distance-didactics)
• Distance education
• - Serving individual segments at a distance
  (mass-individualisation)
• - Leveraging state-of-the-art platforms and
  social technologies
• - Big challenge of embedding (remote) assignments
  
• - Development of a high-quality (top-talent)
  intern scouting service

Principle reliance on physical internships
Lacking the capacity for physical placements
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Approach taken

• Technical, pedagogical, organisational and
  economic
• barriers
• Traditional internships (models and practices in
  partner countries)
• Virtual internships outside Europe best
  practices
• Virtual internships and teleworking inside Europe
  and CEE countries
• Virtual internship collaboration models
• Academic information exchange
• Requirements analysis for the European
  matchmaking
• portal
• Quick scan (contextual and stakeholder analysis)
• Functional data requirements (what must the
  product do, data needed)
• Usability requirements (acceptable performance
  and user satisfaction)
• Generation of requirements document and
  post-pilot adaptation

virtual intern supply and demand
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Approach taken

• Theoretic indicators to select actual workplace
  or
• internship offers
• Analysis of the collaboration models
• Establishment of main variables and relations
• Expected theoretic impact (impact employability)
• Selection of three pilots
• Test-beds remote internships
• General framework for evaluation
• Empirical view on variables and
  operationalisation
• Scientific quality criteria
• Organising three pilots (OUNL, NHRDEC, EITF)
• Data gathering and representation

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Pedagogical challenges

• Remote internships are not mandatory
• Action make remote internships matter
• They are typically short and reinforce narrow
  disciplinary views
• Action rotate interns among business functions
• Acquisition of work-based competence depends on
  sharing tacit knowledge
• Action improve the interaction between intern
  and company workers
• Confirmation of reasonable opportunities for
  gaining experience
• Action verification of the students training
  activities

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Pedagogical challenges

• Lack of academic guidance and motivation of the
  intern
• Action Systematic scheduling of its activities
  and educators coaching
• Employers lack of verifcation of intern
  activities
• Action Improve employer involvement
• Bad or no communication between interns employer
  and interns educator
• Action Pre-implement a communication plan
• No quality assurance or quality feedback loop
• Action Intern records experience for employer
  and educators review

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Pedagogical models
1. Dutch pilot Model accent Process-oriented
2. Estonian pilot Model accent Output-oriented
3. Hungarian pilot Model accent Mixed
Question Will these models serve the objective
of employability differently?
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Pedagogical models
Table 1. Pedagogical models and different accents
Emphasis on trial and error?
Situational combinations?
Emphasis on employer satisfaction?
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Practice

• Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)

Clients
customers
customers


Requests
Products

External knowledge sources


knowledge
student teams

Student (teams)

Knowledge base

base
international




interdisciplinary

input
input
input



Coaching
New'
'Old'
Transfer










Institution offering VEC
academic institutions


Virtual Environmental Consultancy VEC
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Practice

• Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)

Table 1. Selection of assignments
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Practice

• Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)

Communication environment Website, virtual
office, presentation room, conference meeting
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Practice

• Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)

Project plan
Client needs
Activities
Personal dev. plan
Project review
Results
Personal reflection
Learning goals
Individual learning cycle and common work cycle
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Practice

• Case example, conclusions

• Strengths
• Successful competence-based learning platform
• Levers rich information and communication means
• Addresses individual needs and preferences for
  competency development
• Provides a stimulus to employability by
  portfolio enrichment opportunities
• Addresses lifelong learning by serving those
  which fall outside the traditional cohorts
• Allows for flexible working at a distance,
  part-time, next to other obligations
• Weaknesses
• Company-related job offers are low in this model
  (post-internship)
• Potential student problems in new European
  countries (teleworking and IT penetration)

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What remains?

• Advance to a more in-depth pilot of Model 1
• Compare with results of Models 2 and 3
• Effects of Model choice on employability
• Enable different pedagogical matching
• Remote-internship matchmaking platform

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Remote internship matchmaking platform
Interim portal www.eadtu.nl/internhips

• Matchmaking
• Different models
• Different pedagogies

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Consortium
10 Partners from 7 different European
countries No Organisation P1
(Coordinator) European Association of Distance
Teaching Universities P2 (Belgium) ESIB The
National Unions of Students in Europe P3
(Estonia) Estonian Information Technology
Foundation P4 (Spain) Universidad Nacional de
Educacion a Distancia P5 (Hungary) e-Collegium
Foundation P6 (Hungary) University of
Miskolc P7 (Italy) UniNettuno P8
(Netherlands) Open University of the
Netherlands P9 (Netherlands) Universiteit
Maastricht P10(Poland) Maria Curie Sklodowska
University

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Thank you kees-jan.vandorp_at_eadtu.nl www.eadtu.nl