Reflections of meeting on 21.01.10

OK - well had the first meeting to discuss the module today and it was very informative and useful. Lots of discussion, issues raised - emphasis on learning outcomes and aligning the provision of the module with existing module but ensuring that there is little risk of "double-counting" activities that count toward Leeds Met Plus, exemptions etc

Some important debate about the emphasis on soft skills - teamworking, communication, self-reflective practice etc and technical skills - more closely linked to academic knowledge and competencies. The biggest challenge that I face is framing workable learning outcomes that are framed so that they lend themselves to activities where students really develop employability skills. In my view key employability skills are personal and professional - students must engage in activities that recognise the value of both and in which they are required to evidence their development in both.

It is going to be crucial to get employers etc involved at an early stage and come up with some genuine scaleable, student centred "projects" for students to engage in. Coupled with this is the need for the correct technology to be used in order to support and evidence the development of these skills - Importantly, the technology will act as a communication device - where information is pulled from and pushed to students e.g. push out activities do complete and reflect on via the mobile device and use the device to access the social learning spaces, communicate with employers/mentors other students within the teams etc

I think at this stage there are important issues about particpation, equity and then of course support - I think that it is better to create equity in providing units that students can use in different ways but have the same opportunities- the reason I like PDAs as apposed to laptops is that some of the learning activities will require students to create assets/artefacts outside the virtual workplace and I would like to see to what extent learning outside the workplace and classroom is deemed relevant to key skills and reflections of learning experiences in the workplace - one of the skills I would like to develop is citizenship and one week I would like students to organise a charity event which they have to publicise and promote and evidence the day, reflections of attendees, actionplans associated with the event etc - a PDA allows students to do all of this on the day, pull everything together and upload everything into PebblePad as the day progresses - the purpose of this event will be to develop citizenship skills, team working, organisation skills, reflective practice etc

OK - well to summarise the emphasis would be on biographical learning but to evidence development of personal and professional skills using an e-portfolio.

So - now I have to think of some learning outcomes and where the module is going to sit.