Employability skills gained through team projects
Dr Janice Whatley
17th October 2013
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This presentation describes a Live Project module, aimed at providing undergraduate students with experience of managing a project, and developing their employability skills.
Outline of presentation• Introduction• Why this module• All about the module• What we found• Conclusions• Discussion points
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
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Employability skills
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
IT skills
Working in a team
Innovative
Manage own learning
Communication
Working with others
Presenting
Problem solving“effective performance, within a team
environment, including leadership, team building, influencing and project management skills”
Project management
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What employers want
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
A survey in 2007 found that 64% of employers regarded employability skills more highly than the discipline knowledge of a student’s undergraduate degree programme (Prospects, 2010).
A Gallop survey covering the European Union confirms: 98% of employers questioned said team working
skills are important in recruiting 97% asked for an ability to adapt to different
situations knowledge of foreign languages sought by 67% of
employees
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All about the Live Projects module
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
A real life project, provided by an external client Clients range from local charities to national
organisations Clients present a business problem, which the team
have to try to address Providing the opportunity for experiences to develop
skills Learning as participation and learning as acquisition 6 months from October to April
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About 300 students took the new MDP2 module in 2010 to 2011.
We had over 40 different projects, so roughly eight students in each team.
Team members were allocated randomly, membership was adjusted to provide balanced teams with members from all programmes of study.
A team of 5 tutors supported the student teams, through meetings with the teams on a fortnightly basis. Tutors had expertise in marketing, hospitality, data analysis, finance and IT.
There was a weekly lecture, covering topics such as project management, working in teams, conducting research, presenting data and report writing, as well as guest speakers who gave their perspective on project working in organisations.
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Assessment
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Combination of reports on outcomes for the client, individual reflection on learning, presentation at an Expo at the end of the project.
Part of the graded outputs from the project comprised milestones to be achieved throughout the project, including a client contract, project plan and interim and final reports.
Grading: Group project 50%, included assessments from the client
and from the team tutor. Expo presentation 10%. Individual contribution, 40%, including peer assessment and
tutor observation of individual contribution as well as assessment of an individual reflective report and the weekly learning log.
Examples of projects
Salford City College – Public Perception Project
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Examples of projects
PROJECT: RESEARCH INTO FUNDRAISING AND PROMOTION
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
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Interplay between Product and Process
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Report for client
Artefacts
Managing the project
Collaboration
Learning
Learning
Discipline related skills
Employability skills
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What we found
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Feedback from students and clients What did you find most useful about this module? What did you find least useful about this module? Are there any changes you would recommend
making to this module?
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Skills recognised by students
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
1. Team working skills2. Project and time management3. Working with students from other
programmes of study4. IT skills5. Communication skills6. Leadership
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Some of the students’ comments
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
“learn how to do websites”, “working in a team of people I have never met
before”, “learning to work as a team”, “social learning, people with different abilities
working in a group”, “learn how to develop a project from scratch”, “striving towards deadlines”, “improve problem solving skills”, “how goal planning can help you in future”.
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Tools to support their project work
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Lots of supporting information on Blackboard Tutor support
MS Project Group pages on Blackboard Excel spreadsheet MS Messenger FaceBook Mobile phone
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Clients’ comments
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
“The team have worked hard to complete the project on time and come up with some interesting and relevant proposals.”
“Good, we have met regularly & Z as team leader has led the team & kept all members in touch although I think he may have experienced some difficulties in getting co-operation from all the team. He mentions this in the interim report too and has probably found this frustrating although all credit to him in ensuring the project is delivered well & is on track.”
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“it might be useful to organise the work in the future around a project management framework, where the client receives regular updates on project implementation including the in-house support and issues arising from this.”
“On the whole, I have found the team to be professional & committed. I was heartened to read the comment & sentiment on page 8 of the interim report – that “we find that this is a very worthy goal and look forward to making that dream become reality” – fantastic!” from a charitable organisation.
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Some of the issues of Live Projects
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Success in this module relies on the good will and willingness to help from our project clients
Tutors need to support the process as facilitators, by providing scaffolding for students to build up their own knowledge
Individual student motivation and commitment was variable, and this affected performance in the team
Not all teams worked in the same ways, so it was difficult for tutors to monitor progress
It is whether and how teams overcome these issues that determine the success of a project
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
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Conclusions Live Projects are a marvellous way to provide
students with opportunity to develop a range of employability skills
Students also reflected on their performance and learning
Local community projects helped the university in its mission to engage locally
Undergraduate team projects are very complex
Motivational and commitment issues often arise
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Thank you for listening to me
Now it is your turn to tell me what you think as potential employers
Email: [email protected]:
jansinterests.wordpress.com
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Discussion points
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
Are Live Projects co-operative or collaborative learning?
Does the desire for self motivated learning and learning from mistakes conflict with the university’s need to assess students?
Each project had different degrees of difficulty, so how can we ensure equal learning opportunities?
Should the projects be more structured?
Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXL2lAuaIug
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjgqqzgw6PY
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