Title: CSVM Enhancing business experience and skills development by platform of remote internships Focus on
1 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
2Objectives
- 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
3Context
- 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
4Context
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
5Context
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
6Approach 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
7Approach 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
8Pedagogical 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 -
-
9Pedagogical 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 -
-
10Pedagogical 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?
11Pedagogical models
Table 1. Pedagogical models and different accents
Emphasis on trial and error?
Situational combinations?
Emphasis on employer satisfaction?
12Practice
- 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
13Practice
- Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)
Table 1. Selection of assignments
14Practice
- Case example, model 1 (Dutch pilot)
Communication environment Website, virtual
office, presentation room, conference meeting
15Practice
- 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
16Practice
- 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)
17What 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
18Remote internship matchmaking platform
Interim portal www.eadtu.nl/internhips
- Matchmaking
- Different models
- Different pedagogies
19Consortium
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
20Thank you kees-jan.vandorp_at_eadtu.nl www.eadtu.nl