Higher Education and the Workplace Supporting employer engagement in engineering and physical scienc

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Higher Education and the WorkplaceSupporting
employer engagement in engineering and physical
science

• Work-based learning opportunities in Higher
  Education through Learning through Work (LtW)
• David Young
• Professor of Work-based Learning, University of
  Derby
• Judy Saxton
• Learning through Work Manager, Ufi/Learndirect

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Higher Education and the WorkplaceSupporting
employer engagement in engineering and physical
science

• Characteristics of work-based learning in HE
• The LtW approach
• A brief overview of the new LtW site
• Some consideration of bite-sized HE
  opportunities
• Discussion focused on participants'
  identification of opportunities within their own
  sectoral/disciplinary areas
• Key questions about the approach.

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Higher Education and the Workplace

• Characteristics
• learning opportunities are not contrived for
  study purposes but arise from normal work
• learning tasks and work tasks are
  complementary
• meets the needs of learners, contributes to the
  longer-term development of the organisation and
  is formally accredited as a university award
• a radical approach to the notion of higher
  education ...
• Boud D Solomon N (2nd ed. 2003)
  Work-based Learning A New Higher
  Education? Buckingham, SRHE/Open
  University Press

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Seven elements of a work-based curriculum(after
Boud 2003)

• Work-based learning, while often undertaken in
  work, is not identical to work.
• Address the diverse range of skills and knowledge
  possessed by learners coming to work-based
  learning at the beginning of the process.
• Locate the outcomes of work-based learning in a
  framework of awards based on known and identified
  levels and standards of achievement.
• Promote the ideas of negotiation and development
  within a programme of activities.
• Develop a means of supporting learners at work or
  in any other location remote from a campus.
• Encourage critical reflection throughout the
  programme.
• Document learning in a form which can be assessed
  in terms of the awards frameworks already
  identified.

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Principles

• The most important thing about work-based
  learning in higher education is that it must be
  clearly recognisable as higher education.
• Credit and awards gained for work-based learning
  must represent the same levels of rigour and
  intellectual challenge as those in more
  traditional areas.
• In the UK, this means, like all other programmes,
  by being clearly and demonstrably located within
  the QAA Framework for Higher Education
  Qualifications (FHEQ).

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The next most important thing is flexibility
flexibility is the key

• It is important though, at the beginning, to
  stress that this flexibility does not amount to
  licence.
• Rather it should offer freedom, within the
  parameters of the award being sought
  (certificate, diploma, first degree, etc.), for
  learners and their companies to shape and make a
  qualification of personal and professional
  relevance, based on a curriculum of work and
  accessed in a way which is personally and
  professionally appropriate.
• Mapping the work-based curriculum against the
  FHEQs Level Descriptors essentially the output
  statements for HE awards at various levels is
  particularly useful in reconciling flexibility
  with clearly identified higher education
  standards.

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Learning through Work

• Flexible, Work-based Routes to University
  Qualifications
• Exemplifies the shift from teaching and
  instruction to learning
• Not a supply-side model - the learner and /or the
  company is at the heart of the process
• NEGOTIATION within a quality-assured framework is
  the key.

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Learning Through Work

• is a negotiated programme based on a broadly
  constructivist perspective of valid knowledge
• is aligned with QAA qualification descriptors
• combines learner-managed tasks and
  learner-managed processes
• where socially situated individuals relate the
  familiar circumstances of their work contexts to
  the requirements of academic award
• can be categorised as blended learning
  (Konrad, 2003)

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Learning through Work at Derby

• Is academically driven
• Works across all Faculties
• Is located in a cross-University School of
  Flexible Partnership Learning
• Utilises a distributed funding model
• Has a central team of academics and
  administrators
• with academic co-ordinators and tutors in
  Faculties
• Operates within robust QA procedures a
  Regulatory Framework and interesting External
  Examination arrangements.
• Commended in Derbys 2005 QAA Institutional Audit
• Times Higher Award 2006 Most Imaginative Use of
  Distance Learning

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LTW Level IndicatorsDerived from QAA Level
Descriptors

• Complexity and responsibility
• This concerns the level of complexity you are
  dealing with and what you are personally taking
  responsibility for
• Scope
• This is about whether you are for instance
  working within a closely-defined situation or
  considering wider implications and impact.
• Thinking and understanding
• This refers to the level of thinking and
  understanding you are using in analysing
  information, pulling information together and
  making decisions about what you are doing.
• Investigation and evaluation
• This concerns how you are investigating
  information and evaluating situations.
• Innovation and originality
• This is about the level of originality and
  innovation you are bringing to your work.

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LtW why the re-development?

• LtW was originally built (in 2001) as a pilot
  activity and has almost reached capacity
• It is built on technology that is becoming
  out-dated and we have little control of the site.
• The design is fairly linear, the resources all
  accessed from the learning contract.
• The look and feel is tired.
• Using LtW over the last five years has given us a
  good feel for what precisely is needed.

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The re-developed system

• a versatile, robust and scalable web-based set of
  resources for institutions to use to support the
  development and delivery of WBL.
• on-line content to be accessible (and buy-able)
  separately from the learning contract to enable
  HEIs to respond to just in time business.
• customizable to enable partners (HEIs and others)
  to brand and adapt parts
• some new features will be built in to make the
  site easier more flexible in its use
• re-launch January 2008

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The new LtW system summary

• Learning Area
• Customised by HEI and programme
• Support resources (help expert advice)
• Dialogue
• FAQs
• On-line content (learning resources)
• Learning plan (incorporated in my programme
  for fully-flexible learners)

• Front end public facing site
• ? Individuals
• ? fully flexible
• ? module based
• ? Employers
• HEIs
• Customisable shop window for each HEI

Application Customised by HEI and type of
learner Offer of place allows access to
learning area
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• An LtW route to CIH corporate membership?

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Learning through Work at Derby

• Started small
• First applicant 9 May 2001
• Since May 2001, we have had
• More than 3000 applications from learners
• 500 different organisations (micro - v. large)
• 1000 learning contracts in various stages of
  development / completed
• 921 learners in 2006-2007
• Target of 1100 in 2007-2008

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LTW is a CONTAINER for learning it can be filled
in many ways.