Building Bridges into the University

The Roehampton University experience of using Destinations

Gill Harvey,Eddie Tunnah

A Useful Analogy

• Forward momentum• Getting over obstacles• Takes lots of scaffolding• Sometimes a bit wobbly• Takes you somewhere

new

• Overall a thing of beauty and utility

Forward momentum

• A bright shiny new toy to play with

• A new hammer to crack the old chestnuts

• Strategically helpful• The rubric we sought for

website development• A raised profile - made us

flavour of the month with staff and students

I hear they’ve got Destinations in the careers service

Are we nearly there yet?

Getting Over University Obstacles

• Curtailed academic year and inflexible academic infrastructure

• Small - but beautifully formed team

• Ambiguous attitude to employability at institutional level

• The busy “generation why?” student

• The changing student population

Scaffolding Existing Work

• One to One guidance • ROAD• Structured CMS

delivery & ad hoc requests

• Offer to schools

Can be a bit wobbly

• Too big a job to revise teaching materials in the life of the project.

• No narrative so not replacing like with like

• Out of kilter with our academic year so worked harder to get the feedback

Arriving somewhere new

• Revitalised own teaching materials

• Closer working partnerships with particular academics

• Revamped the website• Contributed case studies• Felt back in touch with

the student voice

A thing of beauty and utility

• This is some of the comment from staff and students using Destinations….

• Well designed, economical and fit for purpose.

• “It gave a real edge to the theory” - Philip Shoulder, History & Journalism

• “The video clips were very informative and it was good to see real people give their views” – Jacinta Fox, Media & Cultural Studies

• “Yes I feel it is an interesting addition to my course”- Helen Ward, Media & Culture

• “Yes, I would recommend it. It has helped me and I think it would help others too.” - Priya Kerai - Journalism and Creative Writing.

• “This year I felt Destinations provided some quality quick fixes to the personality focused and applications focused areas of the Career Preparation Module. I have also encouraged students to use Destinations independently by suggesting they reference it as part of the research for their assignments.” - Carol Prior Senior Lecturer, School of Arts

• “This is the first time I have thought about integrating careers material into the teaching I do on the MBA. Although initially I thought the resource might be a bit basic for postgraduate students I think the international students in particular have found it very useful. “ – Christine Evans, Lecturer Business Studies HR pathway

Roehampton Demo

• Embedded in our website• Planning to develop more deep links into

Destinations content• Cost efficient way of developing website• Work in progress

Destinations’ Scenarios

• To support a guidance interview

Destinations ® : Internal & External Collaboration

The Irish JourneyMary Sweeney

University of Limerick

Overview• Context – Profile of UL

• UL Project Details

• Customising Destinations®

• Collaboration: Internal & External

• Outcomes & Reflections

• ???

March 2009

UL’s Living Bridge

Profile of UL

• Young, dynamic, different• Diverse range of programmes

– 10,000 undergraduates; 2,000 postgraduates

• Role in social & economic development– Strong employer links – Cooperative Education programme– Focus on graduate employment

• Integrated Cooperative Education & Careers Division– Careers Staff = 5 people

• Irish higher education– No PDP requirement– Network of HE Careers Services - GCI

The Beginning• Once upon a time in 2001…..• Experience with Reading CMS• Reading Conference 2007• Appeal of Destinations ®• Options

– Commit and compete– Wait and buy– Pass it by

• ‘Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there’

UL Project Plan

• Customise website for Irish students– Identify Irish links and resources

• Pilot Destinations® with career module– Business, Public Admin, Language, Music, HPSS

• Develop as resource for work placements• Promote through careers website• Provide student feedback• Disseminate outcomes to GCI colleagues

Project Strategy

• Minimalist approach to text changes– Amend, correct, or add value

• Units requiring significant amendments– Careers & Employers– Postgraduate Courses & Directions– Work Experience– Enterprise– Links and resources throughout

• Video Clips: Editing and transcripts• Seamless integration

The Greening of Destinations®• Linked to website• Added, deleted, amended text

– 750 files out of 2006 files– 110 new links created

• Created new video clips– 7 employers, 38 video clips– 16 students, 40 video clips

• Amended teaching resources• Customised graphics• Designed posters & flyers• Shared outcome with GCI

Collaboration

• Internal – Cross functional project team– 3 Careers Advisors, Coop Ed Manager, Placement

Officer, IT Coordinator, 2 Academics, Teaching & Learning, UL Web Editor, Student, Multimedia expert,

– Monthly meetings, shared workload

• External– Employers & students– Partner institution– Irish Careers Services (GCI)– Reading Pilot Partners

Outcomes• Collaboration as catalyst for change

– high energy level in project team– Sharing of expertise and perspectives– Fostered sense of joint responsibility and ownership– Supported professional development of members– Prompted involvement in VLE– Influenced integration of CMS into academic courses– Demonstrated expertise & role of Careers Service– Contributed to wider HE careers community

• Assessment of Destinations ®– Great careers resource, developed by experts– Flexible, versatile, accessible, relevant– Excellent teaching resources– Low cost – high benefit: win-win solution

• ‘Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out’

Destinations Posters

March 2009