Psst….. Pass it On

1. Psst….. Pass it On Maggie Ferguson - Senior Lecturer UCLAN Mike Lowe –Senior Lecture MMU

2. Background • Flying Start – School of Sport, Tourism and the Outdoors (UCLAN) • S.T.A.R.S. - Depart of Exercise and Sport Science (MMU) • “Employers want graduate recruits who are educated and can demonstrate a wide range of attributes, not least the traditional high-level academic abilities of analysis, reflection, critique and synthesis” (Harvey 2003 p6)

3. Employability can be defined as…. 'A set of achievements- skills, understandings and personal attributes- that make graduates more likely to gain employment and be successful in their chosen occupations, which benefits themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy.' (Yorke, 2004, P7)

4. Employability and PDP In implementing and supporting students in PDP activities, HEI’s should highlight and include activities to emphasise the longer term benefits in relation to ‘life-skills’ for self-career management and maintenance of employability in the modern commercial world. (Edwards, 2001p7)

5. Employability as a Process Harvey et. al. 2002 in Harvey 2003 p4

6. What do we (lecturers) provide students with? Apart from subject content what do students receive from lecturers? Advice and Guidance Information Time Personal Traits Experience

7. Project Objectives • The objectives are to: • embed employability from level 4 → Level 6 • incorporate Level 6 students as a ‘shared learning’ resource to enhance employability • provide context and currency to subject content for Level 4 students • develop and enhance higher order meta-cognitive skills within Level 6 students • inform curriculum development and delivery • embrace the cyclical processes associated with PDP/CPD • enhance the theory → practice → theory learning spiral

8. Learning places On-the-Job learning opportunities at work Accidental learning at work Unconscious Learning Conscious Learning Structured learning experiences Off-the-Job

9. Learning Spiral Stage 1 Have an experience Stage 2 Review the experience Stage 4 Plan the next steps Adapted from Kolb (1984) Stage 3 Conclude from the experience

10. Reflecting on Practice • The ability of students to express and apply what they have learnt from their reflections can be enhanced by PDP and subsequently, through CPD activities • (Moon 2004) • experiential learning and reflective practice….. centres on the construction of domain specific knowledge, through the context of professional practice - personal professional experiences • (Irwin et al., 2004) • We all reflect on our practice to some extent, but how often do we employ those reflections to learn from our actions. • (Rolfe et al. 2001 p.x1 in Ghaye, 2005) • experience is not quite the same thing as learning from experience • (Moon 2004 p105) • Metacognition – self-awareness, and the capacity to reflect on, in and for action, self-regulation (reflection on the process of learning) • (Yorke and knight 2004)

11. Academic Continuum • Level 4 - Introductory • PDP • Reflection • Theory in Practice • Academic Skills • Employability Skills • Level 6 - Enhanced • PDP - CPD • Reflection • Practice informing Theory • Metacognitive Skills • Employability Skills

12. Timescale October 2008 Recruitment of Level 6 students December 2008 Finalise Learning & Teaching topics March 2009 Completed Learning and Teaching Seminars May 2009 Student Evaluation June 2009 Project Evaluation

13. References • Edwards, G. (2001) Connecting PDP to Employers needs and the world of work ltsn generic centre • Ghaye, T. (2005) Developing the reflective healthcare team, Blackwell • Harvey, L. (2003) Transitions from higher education to work, esect, ltsn generic centre • Irwin, G. Hanton, S., Kirwin D. (2004) reflective practice and the origins of elite coaching knowledge, Reflective Practice, 5:3 • Kolb D (1984) Experiential Learning on the Science of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, USA: Prentice Hall • Moon, J (2004) A Handbook of Reflective and Experiential Learning, Routledge Falmer, Abingdon • Yorke, M. and Knight, P. T. (2004) Employability: judging and communicating achievements, York ltsn • Yorke, M. and Knight, P. T. (2004) Embedding Employability into the Curriculum, York ltsn • Yorke, M (2004) Employability in higher education: what it is – what it is not, Learning and Employability Guides (York, LTSN-ESECT), 1.