ePortfolios for Employability: Promoting Career Learning through Business Engagement - presentation at ALT-C 2012, Wedneday 12th September @ 9am - Paper 40

1. ePortfolios for Employability:
Promoting Career Learning through
Business Engagement
Kirstie Coolin
Centre for International ePortfolio Development, (CIePD)
Research and Learning Resources
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio
@ciepd
Monday, September 10, 2012 ALT-C 2012 1

2. 3 JISC funded projects 2011 - 2013
ESCAPES 2011-2012
Relationship Management ‘blueprinting the Placement Experience
Improving placement processes for better student experience
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/escapes
SHED 2011-2012
Learning and Teaching Innovation
‘student/employer matching’ - Unlocking institutional data for knowledge
exchange
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/shed
Ingenuity KnowledgeHub 2012-2013
Business and Community Engagement
Improving access to HE resources for SMEs, social enterprise and microbusiness
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio/knowledgehub

3. Lets start with a video…
9/10/2012 Event Name and Venue 3
The Academy of Irving, Texas

4. Challenge space
“The relationship between universities and
Relationship
colleges, students and employers is crucial to
ensuring that students experience the higher
education they want while studying and leave
their course equipped to embark on a rewarding
career”(HE White Paper, Students at the Heart of
the System, BIS, 2011, p45).
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5. The University of
Nottingham‟s student
newspaper „The
Gongster‟:-
“the Graduate
Employment Survey
revealed 13% and 3% of
Nottingham University
graduates were
unemployed three and six
months, respectively,
after graduating.”
year 1 9 4 9
9/10/2012 Event Name and Venue 5
http://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscripts/2012/08/22/what-are-your-chances-of-

6. Supporting students
• Access to placements, internships, work
experience
• Part of a course, not part of a course?
• Formal and informal recognition of skills?
• Access to employers? Milk round? SMEs,
microbusinesses, social enterprises, 3rd sector?
“More than half of graduates are interested in jobs
that will 'make a difference', despite increasing
difficulty in finding work” Article in the Guardian
22nd August 2012
9/10/2012 Event Name and Venue 6
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/aug/22/graduates-principles-tough-jobs-market?newsfeed=true

7. What do employers want?
What do students want?
How can these be reconciled with mutual
benefit to improve employability learning
for students?
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8. “We come to University and
“(ePortfolios) a tool for
assume that employability marketing to differentiate
is getting the degree but ourselves to employers”
are starting to learn that it‟s (Construction students at Derby
College)
the degree plus other stuff”
(student participant in
“Students would be
SHED project workshop)
motivated to use their e-
Portfolio if they could
have it when they leave
to help them find a job”
(Student, Nottingham)
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9. Students Employers
Central place to find placements A „front door‟ to the University
Up to date links to the company application
procedures. Up to date links to the company Access to research and innovation headlines,
application procedures. University events
Access to employer lists, tagged and Knowledge transfer and research partnerships
searchable by sector and organisational
information Filtered based on interest
Previous placements information More university engagement with social media
for easier personal networking and identifying
Information about company project opportunities key contacts
Careers fairs with wider range of employers Find student skills for projects
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10. 9/10/2012 Event Name and Venue 10
Happisburgh 2012 Kirstie Coolin

11. How can learners be motivated?
Course and career learning as well as the practicalities of
finding placements, internships and work do not exist in
isolation.
“Employability can be enhanced through personal
development planning, but success will depend
upon the extent to which students see a „pay-off‟
for the effort that they put in.” (Embedding
employability into the curriculum, HEA)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/employability/id460_embedding_em
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ployability_into_the_curriculum_338.pdf

12. Using ePortfolio processes to support:-
• Personal Development Planning (PDP) alongside
practical employability concerns for students.
• „marketing‟ for students to match their skills to
employer interest
• Communication and networking for career
learning.
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13. Institutional
Resource
Employers
Institution employer network
Courses
Administration
Research
d
i Business engagement:
Events
s •
Employer
profile More reasons to engage
Professional Learning: • Easier to find University
Equipment •
c Details, sector,
About employment market
• Employment sectors
o projects
resources
• Access to students for work
• v
Expertise What employers are interested in
• How to organise and present their
e
r Careers and work
experience
• Wider range of employers
Placements
skills rd
• Finding placement or work
y Employer searches student profiles
(e.g. 3 sector, social
CRM enterprise, SME)
opportunities
• Learning to network (and integrate
other social tools) AUDIT
Learning + teaching
student profile Student searches employer profiles
ePortfolio
Student
Evidence,
Personal
skills,
showcase
Student opts-in, ‘releasing’ contact information and showcase Kirstie Coolin, CIePD, University of Nottingham September 2012

14. Some final questions...
• How can students and employers be motivated to
use new tools for employability?
• Where do student, employer and institutional
requirements meet, and what would this look like in
terms of processes and tools?
• How can existing institutional learning technology be
used to promote student-led employability learning?
• How can institutions open their doors for employers
in new ways to present opportunities for students to
interact directly?
• Can employer engagement be widened and
streamlined?
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15. Thank you
Kirstie.Coolin @ nottingham.ac.uk
@kirstie_c
University of Nottingham
www.nottingham.ac.uk/eportfolio
Designed by Gideon Coolin