‘Whose Job Is It Anyway?’

1. ‘Whose Job Is It Anyway?’ The University of Liverpool Learning and Teaching Conference 2006

2. The context for this workshop • New Academic strategy = Learning and teaching strategy + Research Strategy • Consultation paper on employability • Departments will have to report back on 4 themes from Dec 06 through APR (in addition to existing requirements) • WP • E-Learning • PDP • Employability There will be stated criteria for these 4 themes • Who has responsibility for the employability of our graduates – the graduates? Teaching staff? Central support services?

3. Career focus Effective learners Intellectual capacity coupled with ability to transfer and use skills Personal effectiveness - self awareness, ability to communicate, negotiate, network, work in team, make decisions, cope with uncertainty Understanding of business environment Careers Perspective – What do employers expect? • Myths & Realities

4. Format of the workshop • 3 inputs – approx 15 mins each including immediate questions • Presentation 1 on the use of an interactive website and Peer mentoring programme to support language students (Pollie Bromilow) • Presentation 2 on developments of group-based teaching modules in Computer Science (Peter McBurney) • Presentation 3 on how students can gain credit for the development of their skills/support for staff (Linda Evans and Alice Bennett) • General/open discussion

5. New Initiatives to Promote European Work Placements in the School of Modern Languages Dr Pollie Bromilow School of Modern Languages

6. Working on the Year Abroad • Year Abroad: ‘compulsory third year of degree in Modern Languages’ • One of three pathways offered to students. Other two are: • British Council Teaching Assistantships (ie. teaching English in a school) • Socrates-Erasmus Studentships (ie. studying at University)

7. Why are work placements important for Modern Languages? • Enables students to use the target language very intensively • Gives students an important opportunity to broaden their skills beyond studying or teaching • Adds ‘vocational’ element to degree • Helps us keep pace with our major competitors; plays significant role in student recruitment

8. What difficulties face students who want to do a work placement abroad? I • Finding a job! At a distance… • Defining areas of interest • Sourcing vacancies • Making applications • Understanding employers’ requirements.

9. What difficulties face students who want to do a work placement abroad? II • Finding accommodation • Financing placement • Adapting to foreign-language business environment (adds a layer of complexity to all of the above!)

10. How can these problems be overcome? • By PREPARING students for the work placement experience • By SHARING INFORMATION amongst staff and students about vacancies, jobhunting, applications, interviews etc. • By STRENGTHENING LINKS WITH EMPLOYERS to increase students’ chances of getting individual posts

11. Developing a ‘joined-up’ approach with the Careers Service • Award-winning website created by Diane Appleton in 2000 www.liverpoolyearabroad.org.uk • Close liaison throughout conception of projects • Diane posts to e-mail list; secured funding from Deloitte to start peer-mentoring scheme; hosts seminars on employability; presents at Year Abroad Preparation Days

12. Working-Abroad@liverpool.ac.uk • E-mail list started in 2004 to distribute vacancies and other information to Year Abroad ‘stragglers’ • Started as ‘Working-in-France’ in November 2004 with just four members • Potential benefit to a wider constitutency of students soon realised

13. Working-Abroad@liverpool.ac.uk • Now has approximately 240 student members including students from across the SML, School of English, Management School, Edge Hill College and beyond… • List members include Careers Advisors, academic staff, administrative staff and UoL applicants.

14. How does the list work? • Distributing vacancies from employers who ‘cold call’ the School of Modern Languages (usually by e-mail) • Forwarding vacancies received by the Careers Service • Maintaining a list of contacts in different countries (over 100 in France, growing number in Spain and Germany) • Posting news of students’ successes through messages entitled ‘Congratulations to…’

15. What benefits are derived from the list? • Students have been successful in getting vacation work, work placements, graduate jobs. • Time-effective way of distributing information, reporting on students’ successes. • Enhances employer liaison work as list can be used as a focus for activity. • List can also be advertised to University applicants as a cost-effective way of maintaining contact

16. Peer-Mentoring Scheme • Introduced in September 2005; thanks to sponsorship from Deloitte. • Pairs up (via e-mail) students who have experience of working abroad with those who are looking for work in similar sector • Peer-mentors contribute to seminars • Aims to help students share information, whilst freeing up staff time

17. Working-Abroad Seminars • Series of six seminars run in semester 1 on a variety of placement-related topics: • ‘What jobs do Liverpool students do?’; • ‘Job-hunting Strategies’; • ‘Our Resources at Liverpool’; • ‘Placement and Graduate Opportunities at Deloitte’ • ‘What to do when things do wrong’ • ‘Hitting the target with employers!’

18. Socrates-Leonardo Scheme • SML has been allocated 25 grants this year from the EU-funded student work mobility project • Each grant worth about €110 per week PLUS travel and insurance. • Year Abroad students given priority, although vacation work also eligible. • So far, XX applications received.

19. PLUS… • One-to-one consultations with placement co-ordinators in the SML • Extensive support from Careers Service • generic skills seminars • ‘quick query’ interviews • Careers Guidance interviews • e-mail support

20. Conclusions: What has been achieved? • 240 students have ‘signed up’ for e-mail list • 90 bulletins sent out in 2005 • 38 bulletins sent so far in 2006 • Students employed at gofluent, ID-AL, the AA, jobs-in-the-alps, ETS, Le Fleuray Hotel, Eurogroup, Haven Europe, ARC UK, Zaenker& Kollegan. • Students interviewed at Oxbow, Megalos, Language Safaris, Marcel Advertising, Hays Personnel, Aderly, Bellavista, ID-AL…

21. Other benefits • encouraging students to work abroad during holidays. Eg. the AA, Language Camp in Siberia, Siblu • Encouraging students to think realistically about their options • Maintaining students’ motivation during job hunt! • Peer-pressure (through reports of other students’ successes)

22. What does the future hold? • Possible collaboration with Higher Skills Development Programme and LUSTI to expand preparation seminars • Possible use of VITAL to upload, store and exchange information • Incorporation of new initiatives into www.liverpoolyearabroad.org.uk

23. Taking it to the next level: What difficulties do these initiatives face? • Problems of implementing initiatives evenly across language areas (work was started in French, but is being ‘rolled out’ across the School) • Difficulty in obtaining sponsorship • Resources! Large increase in numbers from 2004-2005 to 2005-2006

24. Thanks for listening…and over to you! • Feedback? • Comments? • Questions? • What applications do you see for similar innovations in your subject area(s)?

25. Team-work in Computer Science Presentation to University of Liverpool Learning & Teaching Conference 2006 Peter McBurney Agent ART Group Department of Computer Science University of Liverpool www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~peter

26. Software Developmentis almost always a team effort • Windows XP • 40 million source lines of code (SLOC) • LINUX: RedHat GNU/Linux 7.1 • 30 million SLOC • 8,000 person-years of effort • Cost (if developed conventionally) > US $1 bn. • Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 • 213 million SLOC (predicted). Source: Wikipedia: “Source Lines of Code” (consulted 18.01.06)

27. Consequently, in computer science: • Team-working skills are required by: • Employers, and • The British Computer Society • For accreditation of our degrees. • Research in CS includes the design and study of methods for software engineering • Varying degrees of formality • Formal use of schematics and diagrams • Research also devoted to team-working tools • Computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW) s/w • Open-source s/w development • Email, bulletin-boards, blogs, wikis, folksonomies, etc.

28. But: Our education system (& modern western culture) favours: • Individual effort over team effort • Thinking over doing • Output over process • Formality over informality • Language over non-verbal communication • Text over image • The permanent over the ephemeral. • At least, until recently.

29. COMP 208/214/215/216: Group Software Project • Module aims: To give experience of working as part of a team to develop a substantial piece of software. • The task: To develop a database application in any domain • Students have all done a module on database theory and practice • Teams choose their own domain (eg, sporting events, CD store) • Successful completion requires a mix of skills (technical, managerial, & academic), their effective combination, to firm deadlines. • Work is undertaken in teams of 4 or 5 students. • Work follows a standard s/w development process.

30. The software development process used • Definition of system requirements and specification • 4 weeks • Creation of system design • 4 weeks • Implementation of the system • ie, writing program code • 2 weeks • Preparation of final project reports • 2 weeks.

31. Assessment • Minutes of weekly meetings (10%) • Requirements Walkthrough (15%) • Design Walkthrough (20%) • Demonstration of working system (20%) • Team portfolio (35%) • Written documentation of system and project • Individual reports & peer assessments • Used to assess self-learning and to moderate team marks for each individual.

32. “Teaching” team work • Learning through doing • Lectures on (eg) running meetings, making presentations, etc • Sessions on group working conducted by Dr Trish Lunt and Dr Wendy England • Team-work exercises • Reflection on individual personality type • Reflection on team combination of types • Required individual statement of learnings • Required individual assessment of each other’s performance.

33. Experiences • Individual reactions vary • Some students love this, some detest it • Team experiences vary • Some teams are self-created, some imposed • Some teams work well together, some do not • Each year, 1 or 2 teams usually divorce • Cultural & language issues sometimes a problem • Language skills vary • Technical competencies vary (different skills are required) • Some cultures do not rate non-technical skills highly • Some students show a marked increase in • Self-confidence • Ability to make presentations • Ability to work with others.

34. Thankyou!Any immediate questions/comments?

35. The Skills Award designed to support students in the development and articulation of personal and professional skills Linda Evans and Alice Bennett Centre for Lifelong Learning

36. General Information • Helps produce effective students / employable graduates • Developed from national standards for key skills • Students produce a portfolio of evidence to show their development • Start as 1st or 2nd year student and complete before graduation

37. Sponsors • BT • Fullard learning • Irwin Mitchell • Tachograph Analysis • Worldwide Learning

38. Skills audit (LUSID) Agree skill levels Action planning and evidence gathering Reflection and evaluation Contexts: Academic Work-based Personal / professional interest What’s Involved for Students?

39. Skills and Levels QCA level • Management of Learning 4 • Creative Problem Solving 4 • Effective Communication 4 • Teamworking 4 • Information and Communication 2,3,4 Technology • Working with Number 2,3,4

40. Problem Solving 1 problem Teamworking Examples + theory ICT – use of: PowerPoint Word Excel /Access/ SPSS / Minitab (some choice here) For level 4 – IT system Communication written oral (presentations) visual Number 1 example (level depends on complexity) Management of Learning evidence from other skills reflection on personal development How Much Evidence?

41. Web site: www.hsdp.ac.uk Workshops: LUSTI Careers Service On-line: LUSID Learning Bites Excel PowerPoint One-to-one / small groups Excel PowerPoint Access File Management Resources

42. On-going Advice and Assessment • Regular meetings with Skills Adviser • Regular assessment of evidence • Final assessment • Internal moderation • External moderation – York University

43. Developments • Formal University Award • Recorded on Student Transcript • Certification • Accountable through Academic Practice Sub-Committee • Available on VITAL • Seeking to expand / integrate with PDP • Programme revised for 2006/07

44. Links • Complies with Learning and Teaching Strategy • Supports policy on Enhancing Student Employability • Supports Personal Development Planning • Voluntary work / mentoring / work-based experience • Exemptions for ECDL / Key Skills work

45. Some Statistics • 122 students on programme 2005/06 • Departments / Schools • Engineering ■ SES • Maths ■Psychology • Law ■Management • Most other departments represented • 46 successes to date

46. Success Hannah Charnock (former Guild President) receiving her Award from Dr Anne Merry, Director of Lifelong Learning

47. Students’ Comments • “The programme has helped me to reflect on skills that I possess and has been invaluable when going for job interviews.” • “It highlighted my strengths and weaknesses so I could be confident in my strengths and work towards my weaknesses.” • “I already knew what I wanted to do in the future, but the programme helped show me which skills I had and which skills I needed to improve” • “By highlighting my strengths, I can stand out from my peers.”

48. Students’ Comments • “I think it shows I have necessary skills and helps to give examples of particular skills that companies are looking for.” • “It allowed me to work on the areas that I needed to improve.” • “It helped me to give examples of particular skills that I wanted to show I had.”

49. How Can Tutors Help? • Promote The Skills Award to students / staff • e-mail information to students in faculty • Invitation to lectures / seminars • Support participating students: • Written assessment of presentations • Witness testimony of group work • Witness testimony of participation in discussions linda.evans@liv.ac.ukalice.bennett@liv.ac.uk

50. LearnHigher Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning • Largest collaborative CETL • 16 institutions • 20 learning areas • Understanding Organizations • Peer-reviewed resources available electronically for all • Researching commercial awareness