What is it about?
Work based learning continues to develop and be an important part of educational provision. Ensuring that it is designed to be effective for the learner and other stakeholders is critical. This paper explores the effectiveness of the design of educational systems for work based learning (WBL) from the learner's perspective. This includes consideration of the use of technology.
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Why is it important?
Work based learners have different motivations for their education compared to other more conventional higher education programmes. In this digital age, technology can be a key enabling factor and students expect its adoption to support the learning process. However, academic institutions and staff are still not fully exploiting the possibilities of new media technologies through adapting their approaches to learning.
Perspectives
Traditionally work based learning and its design have focused on two stakeholder contexts, namely the learner and the academic environment. Consideration of the other two important stakeholder contexts: the workplace and the external environment could significantly enrich the student experience and overall effectiveness of the design and delivery of work based learning. This study aims to address this deficit by considering all four stakeholders contexts in one model in order to evaluate the effectiveness of design of educational systems for work based learning. This paper focuses on the first of these, the learner experience, including its relation with the other key stakeholder contexts.
Professor Rebecca Strachan
Northumbria University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Design of educational systems for work based learning (WBL): the learner experience, Higher Education Skills and Work-based Learning, February 2013, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/20423891311294984.
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Resources
New Pedagogical Models Facilitated by Technology
This paper discusses the outcome of research conducted to assess the effectiveness of Work-Based Learning (WBL) from the perspective of stakeholders. WBL has increasingly become an area of interest for the higher education (HE) sector. It can support the personal and professional development of students who are already in work. The focus of the learning and development tends to be on the student’s workplace activities Previous research has mainly considered only two stakeholder contexts namely the learner and the academic institution. The significance of the study stems from extending the stakeholder contexts to include the employer and the professional body. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of delivery of WBL from the perspective of a range of stakeholders including students, programme leaders (PLs), tutors, university support services, employers and representatives of professional bodies. Case study research methodology was adapted with mixed method research techniques for data capture and analysis using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study examined five (5) WBL programmes at Northumbria University in the UK. The three most influential factors in the effectiveness of WBL were found to be: quality, access and support. The contribution to new knowledge in WBL research is through a “Four-Pillar model” which has been developed to reflect the stakeholder contexts. Consideration of this model helps ensure WBL programmes cater for the current demands from the labour market. The findings of this study include factors which facilitate and/or obstruct the effective implementation of WBL programmes whilst identifying feasible strategies to overcome those challenges and share them with all stakeholders of WBL. Recommendations are made on resolving the identified issues and to extend and improve the effectiveness of WBL. Finally this paper looks at how these results could apply to encourage WBL uptake in a third world developing country like Sri Lanka where you are starting from a zero base. Sri Lanka is yet to embark on WBL formerly although online distance learning is more of a reality.
Active Student Engagement: The Heart of Effective Learning
Part of the Professional Learning and Development in Schools and Higher Education book series (PROD, volume 11), this chapter’s focal argument is that the format, duration and delivery of a course are most effective when the underlying philosophy is to engage students actively in their learning. This philosophy should be at the heart of the course’s design, development and delivery. The authors draw on their experiences of higher education in both the United Kingdom and Sri Lanka and across full-time, part-time, distance learning and work-based learning to illustrate that a variety of formats and delivery approaches are possible, but the crucial element is to ensure that students are active not passive learners. This theory aligns with a learner-centred, constructivist approach and lends itself to more authentic learning. Using examples from a number of different disciplines, the authors discuss the variation that can occur in course delivery and format whilst still encouraging and supporting an active learning approach. The final section of the chapter will focus on how this approach may require staff to adopt new methods of learning, teaching and assessment and their professional development plays a crucial role, including adapting to new technologies to provide an active learning student experience.
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