MacKinnon, Lachlan, Bacon, Liz and Major, Elaine (2011) Improving student employability using active portfolio - the GWizards approach. In: ALT-C 2011 18th International Conference (Association for Learning Technology), 6-8 September, 2011, University of Leeds, UK.

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Abstract

A major issue in current Higher Education practice is the development of employability skills within the graduate community. Reports from Sector Skills Councils, such as e-skills UK [1], highlight employer concern at the ability of new graduates to make an effective contribution in the workplace with any immediacy. Various projects have been developed looking at academic-employer engagement, internship schemes, and various placement models, all of which have had some beneficial effect. The University of Greenwich School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (CMS) has developed a new vehicle for this activity, called GWizards, which seeks to re-engage the university with the local community. In particular, this involves working directly with all types of organisation to identify project activities of mutual benefit. This mutual benefit is determined by opportunities for students to gain experience in the workplace, organisations to gain practical technical help for little or no cost, and academic staff to gain project experience and publishing opportunities. To facilitate this process, CMS has developed credit bearing modules on its programmes that link to these employability opportunities, so students have the chance to follow directly relevant project work within their academic studies to earn academic credits for practical work, and also to be engaged in the management and control of these activities both internally and externally to the university within a student-run company structure. This company will operate within GWizards in a standard enterprise structure, run by a student executive board responsible for hiring and firing student employees and all enterprise operational activities, and will take on internal and external contracts on a professional basis. The information related to these activities will be reported and recorded in an active portfolio [2], maintained electronically by the student, who will also take the responsibility to collect evidence of their activities, in terms of customer report and feedback, prototype or service development reports, and academic supervisor feedback. This active portfolio provides the fundamental information for a technically detailed CV, describing the students’ knowledge and experience in terms of employability skills, while also providing the academic evidence necessary for the application of credits towards degree study.

Item Type:	Conference or Conference Paper (Paper)
Additional Information:	[1] Abstract No: 0239 SP: Supporting Teachers [2] Association for Learning Technology-Registered charity number: 1063519 [3] Abstracts edited by Edited by: Laurence Habib, Amanda Jefferies, Mark Johnson, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young [4] Copyright of the editorial and the individual papers remains vested with individual authors and/or their institutions, but all are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 UK: England & Wales license, see: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk/
Uncontrolled Keywords:	academia, Industry engagement, active portfolio, employability, learner experience, social enterprise
Subjects:	T Technology > T Technology (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Greenwich Research into Innovative Pedagogies (GRIP)
Related URLs:	Publisher Organisation Organisation Organisation
Last Modified:	18 Apr 2018 10:16
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/6823

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