The document summarizes a presentation about a project called "Student4WebES" that aimed to teach employability skills to students through web conferencing. The project found that few students understood web conferencing. It trained students to set up and participate in webinars, had students conduct webinars with local employers, and produced guides. Students gained skills like communication and teamwork. Now the presenters want to create a structured online course on setting up webinars to embed these skills for wider use. They are seeking feedback and interest in piloting the course.

1. Web conferencing to boost employability in the 21st C: ‘Student4WebES’
(Afternoon session at the Technology, Innovation and Success - A conference for ACL and
WBL providers – 28/3/14)
Slide 1
Web conferencing to boost
employability in the 21st C
‘Student4WebES’
Ellen Lessner
e-Learning Coordinator
Emma Procter-Legg
Project Manager
Web conferencing to boost employability in the 21st C: ‘Student4WebES’
Ellen Lessner
e-Learning Coordinator
Emma Procter-Legg
Project Manager
‘Students for Webinar Employability Skills was a Jisc funded project which ran at Abingdon
and Witney College with L3 (equivalent to A levels) students from October 2012-April 2013.
But first, can we check that you are happy with the definition of web conferencing? (Next
slide)

2. Slide 2
The role of web conferencing to boost
employability
• Quick activity:
What experience do you have of webinars
[video conferencing] ?
• 1 None or very few
• 2 I have participated in a number of
webinars
• 3 I have presented in a webinar
[Circle the number and hold up your paper]
Why are we checking that you are happy with the term, Web conferencing/webinar? Our
initial assessment of 256 L3 students showed that only 4% of them could define what a
webinar was!
[Activity: What experience do you
have of webinars [video
conferencing] ?
1 None or very few
2 I have participated in a
number of webinars
3 I have presented in a
webinar

3. Circle the number and hold up
your paper
Thank you.
A brief definition might be that it is an online session which can be used for meetings or
teaching and done through a platform which generally has the ability, along with video and
audio, to display information on a whiteboard, allow ‘chat’, application and websharing and
audience response for 3-300 people depending on the platform. Recording the session is a
key feature of a good webinar platform.
(next slide)

4. Slide 3
What were our aims?
Student4WebES
What were our aims for this project?
The rationale for the orginal project was to recognise that today’s students will need some
different skills to be fit for work in the 21st C.
The aim of the project is to develop employability skills for L3 students in relation to using
video conferencing and webinars.
• Students were trained to use a webinar platform (Blackboard Collaborate and Cisco
WebEx) and how to set up to run a webinar.
• We ran and recorded 8 short 10 minute webinars with local employers around the
theme of ‘What does an employer want from an employee?”
• In addition, we produced:
• A student created poster of the ‘top tips’ around running a webinar
• A student created ‘top tips’ from the employers on key skills for getting an
interview and job
• A student led conference, supported by the JISC RSC SE, on the theme of
employability skills using video conferencing and webinars.
(Next slide)

5. Slide 4
Student webinar skills = employability
Student webinar skills equals employability
Sometimes simple ideas work well. We hope that we can demonstrate what a professionally
valuable skill running a webinar is in the 21st century – from interviews skills through to
work meetings and in all levels of education. (Exam boards are now using webinars instead
of asking staff to travel long distances for a day’s training).
There were a range of ‘soft’ employment skills gained/reinforced through working on the
project- Reliability, time management, team work and working with a range of employers.
(Next slide)

6. Slide 5
Evolution of our recognition of
employability skills for the 21st century
Evolution of our recognition of employability skills for the 21st century
We want to comment briefly on this because it is important to remember that education
and training is about teaching people what they will find useful and not assuming that they
will learn it by themselves or with their ‘mates’. If a skill is important, it needs to be
recognised and taught. I’m sure everyone here can reflect on their own education and
where it might have been improved if someone taught them how to write an essay and how
to take an exam instead of assuming that these skills could be picked up.
As a normal FE college with 5 sites and we offer a broad range of courses – SLDD, BTEC,
Community Education, A level and Foundation degrees. This is the digital age, and we have
a responsibility to make sure that our students have digital employability skills for the 21st
century. Research (I can give details if anyone is interested later) shows that many students
use technology well but they are very dependent on their tutors and institutions to be
shown how to use it appropriately in educational and work settings. We put in place an
online Digital induction for all new students 4 years ago, covering all the college IT systems,
and ‘obvious’ things like backing up your work; we wanted to make our systems and
processes explicit to new students. We learned not to assume that young students knew
more than we did about technology and how it would be used in the college. What are the
important digital employability skills was the next question and the result was the webinar
project.

7. Slide 6
Employers involved in the project:
Just for your information, here is a list of the employers who participated in a webinar with
the students:
Abingdon and Witney College (HR)
Active Nation (Leisure)
Morgan Cole (Solicitors)
National Union of Students
Puma Hotels (Spa Manager)
STFC (Science)
Waitrose (Retail)
Wenn Townsend (Accountancy)

8. Slide 7
What did we learn from
the initial project?
This was a small, short project but we learned that having the webinar skills:
• Made a difference to the student and employer participants
• Was a skill that was desirable and would make a job application stand out
• That a structured course would help deliver the skills
• Teachers need training in webinar skills to deliver it and to design good online materials.
• Most of the skills needed are generic (not linked to a single platform) and the soft skills
(i.e. communication and working together) were just as important as the ‘technical skills’

9. Slide 8
What did the students think?
What did the students think?
(next slide)

10. Slide 9
Over to you, Mamps
Mamps Makuku was a student on the project. He is going to join us via Skype and will
briefly tell you:
Who he is
What he is studying?
Why did he joined the project?
What did he get out of it?
Do you think that students like yourself should be taught how to run a webinar as part of
your course?
Any other points from a student’s view?

11. Slide 10
What are we
doing now?
What are we doing now?
(Next slide)

12. Slide 11
Embedding what we learned
• Highlight the key employability skills identified
in webinars by the employers who took part in
our first project & create easy to use video
clips.
• Produce a well structured and resourced
blended learning course to teach students the
skills of setting up and running a webinar as a
21st century digital employability skill.
Embedding what we learned
• Highlight the key employability skills identified in webinars by the employers who took
part in our first project & create easy to use video clips.
• Produce a well structured and resourced blended learning course to teach students the
skills of setting up and running a webinar as a 21st century digital employability skill.
• On Moodle
• Free to download
• Certificated
• Assessed
• Validated – hopefully
• Pilots in September 2014
Course on Moodle 2.4 or above, downloadable and available to be used locally.
Blended course suitable for L3 – 16-19 or adults with F2F delivery plus online independent
learning element
Assessed, certificated possibly validated for funding
Question:
How many of you can make use of a Moodle course?
Link to blog post with survey to find out, ‘How many of you have access to Moodle?’

13. Slide 12
How you can help
• Follow our progress (blog and website) and
complete the poll located on the blog
• Help us evaluate the webinar skills training
course that we create (L3)
• Consider piloting the course
How you can help:
Follow our progress (blog and website) and take the poll located on the blog. The link is on
the last slide
• Help us evaluate the webinar skills training course that we create (L3)
• Consider piloting the course

14. Slide 13
ellen.lessner@ abingdon-witney.ac.uk
Do you have any questions, or comments to share?

15. Slide 14
For more information:
Blog: http://students4webes.blogspot.co.uk/
Google Site: https://sites.google.com/site/students4webes/
Project Leader: Ellen.Lessner@Abingdon-witney.ac.uk
For more information:
Blog: http://students4webes.blogspot.co.uk/
Google Site: https://sites.google.com/site/students4webes/
Project Leader: Ellen.Lessner@Abingdon-witney.ac.uk