Online delivery of Core Skills to enhance employability:: Online delivery of Core Skills to enhance employability: HN conference 20th April 2007 Marriott Hotel Glasgow Jewel andamp; Esk Valley College and SQA in partnership


Aim of the project: Aim of the project Enhancing Core Skills provision at HN level through online delivery, support and assessment of Personal Development Planning Unit: a partnership project between Jewel andamp; Esk Valley College and SQA


Four components of the partnership: Four components of the partnership


SQA Core Skills’ team role in the project: SQA Core Skills’ team role in the project Developed and piloted contextualised resources to support Core Skills within HN programmes Constructed and tested an online quality assurance model Explored how an online model would allow personal learning from a range of sources to be recognised and would support the delivery of Core Skills


SQA CAA team role in the project: SQA CAA team role in the project CAA ongoing aim is to pilot models of online assessment CAA also provide guidance and training through the Understanding Standards website and the SQA Academy. SQA Academy uses Moodle a VLE built on the social constructivist model. It is open source, free and accessible 24/7 CAA assisted JEVC to develop a similar model


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JEVC: Who are the Core Skills team?: JEVC: Who are the Core Skills team? A dedicated team covering all 5 Core Skills’ areas. The fact that Learning Support is part of the same faculty has been significant. To realise the idea of delivering Core Skills online considerable technical support was required.


JEVC: What the Core Skills team did: JEVC: What the Core Skills team did Identified the problem: HN students often lack the necessary Core Skills for their chosen area Attended the launch of the Personal Development Planning unit and opened a dialogue with SQA With colleagues in other faculties drew up a matrix to show how Core Skills (could be) integrated


JEVC: What the Core Skills team did next: JEVC: What the Core Skills team did next Set up 4 pilots, one in each faculty: Social Care, Multi Media, Electrical Engineering, Working with Communities Ring fenced time to develop the learning materials and to support vocational staff Made time and resources to set up the website using the SQA Academy, Moodle model. Invited the Principal to make a short video to reflect his personal commitment to Core Skills


Impact on students: Impact on students There was a good level of attendance in all four pilot groups. Students were very positive about the Moodle learning approach. The student feedback was particularly positive about the individual interviews and the focus on their priorities for learning. The students enjoyed the workshop format of Core Skills delivery. Other learning needs have been identified which include Study Skills and Maths. Overall, the students have not been as ready to work independently and take responsibility for their own learning as we'd hoped. Students have varying degrees of expertise on computers and not surprisingly this has been significant


5 things we have learned so far: 5 things we have learned so far You need to let go if you are offering PDP - students follow their own interests Moodle works. Students can create their own PDP independently and individualised choices can be followed The virtual ‘cupboard’ can house more attractive resources. Eg video and audio clips which can be used 24/7 Core Skills workshops using Moodle allowed students to work at what they wanted to work at Contextualised resources can be developed for each framework


What we intend to do next: What we intend to do next Keep it and use it again! Disseminate to other colleges Build on it for ILPs and employability Develop clusters of learning resources Consider the same approach for NQ and progression


How to access the site: How to access the site Go to www.sqaacademy.org.uk Login to the website (choose a login from the 6 below) Username: JEVC1 Password: 123456 Username: JEVC2 Password: 123456 Username: JEVC3 Password: 123456 Username: JEVC4 Password: 123456 Username: JEVC5 Password: 123456 Username: JEVC6 Password: 123456 Thank you for taking part


Contact information: Contact information SQA CAA Alan Paton (alan.paton@sqa.org.uk) Brendan Tierney (brendan.tierney@sqa.org.uk) SQA Core Skills Margaret Tierney (margaret.tierney@sqa.org.uk) JEVC Diane Lauder (dlauder@jevc.ac.uk) Lennie Lawson (llawson@jevc.ac.uk) Ruth Hendery (rhendery@jevc.ac.uk)