teaching work ready skills online

latrobe.edu.au/students/careers CRICOS Provider 00115M

Title of presentationName of presenterTitle of presenter School / Faculty / Divisionxx Month 201x

Teaching Work Ready Skills OnlineJason Brown & Geoffrey GuilfoyleCareer Development Centre7 December 2012

@onejasonbrown#ctlc2012

Overview of HUM2WRS

3CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTRE | La Trobe University

Background

• Invited by HUSS to develop 2 careers subjects (HUM2WRS & HUM3TRC) for the Work Ready BA

• Specifications:

• HUM2WRS to be taught online

• Reflect on development of employability skills

• Incorporate the use of ePortfolios


Developing the subject

BASED ON CAREER DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS

• Self-Awareness; Opportunity Awareness; Decision Making; Transition Learning (DOTS) (Watts, 1977)

• Australian Blueprint for Career Development (ABCD) (MCEEDYA, 2006)

AIM TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO:

• Reflect on development of employability skills

• Understand how employers recruit & select staff

• Participate in career planning activities


The Design

SELF-PACED ONLINE SUBJECT

• All about the student, so makes sense to be self-paced

• Generic content – evidence-based information; frameworks & theories

TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES

• All linked to assessment tasks

• Analysis of employability skills; LinkedIn profile; building new networks; informational interview; collecting labour market information

ASSESSMENT TASKS

• Authentic tasks – job application; job interview; career portfolio


The Design

LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• 8 topics (to break the link from traditional week structure)

• LMS as a resource space – all activities, readings, videos, podcasts, webinars, & assessment tasks accessible from the LMS

• All content set up and accessible from 1 week prior to start of semester

INDUCTION WORKSHOP

• 2 hour workshop held at Bundoora and repeated as webinar

• Introduced students to staff, structure of subject, expectations, etc


The Design

SUPPORTING STUDENTS

• Assessment tasks scheduled to keep students on track

• Webinars (using Blackboard Collaborate) used to answer questions, explore concepts in more detail, communicate requirements of assessments

• Discussion boards & weekly announcements

• Opportunities for feedback through formative assessment


The Students

Campus Enrolment

Albury-Wodonga 10

Bendigo 35

Melbourne 55

Mildura 3

Shepparton 7

Faculty Students

FBEL 44

HUSS 27

FHS 21

FSTE 18

Reflections & Feedback


Observations & Reflections

• While most students completed the readings and tasks in line with ‘traditional’ semester timelines, some students did the work in ‘chunks’

• For some students, significant challenge - no single set textbook

• Students using different methods to query, check expectations – Q & A forums, webinars, emails to lecturers

• Importance of providing structured interaction using various channels – in future, provision of more regular webinars, more regular short quizzes. Balance between structure and flexibility.

• Need to tighten Assessment tasks – written application task contained too many variables – difficult to manage online


Observations & Reflections

• Many students had difficulty learning new approaches to topics they regarded as ‘familiar’ and ‘known’

• These difficulties weren’t as apparent when they were completing the module on careers theory

• Suggests that within an online subject, topics involving some ‘reframing’ require particular emphasis on providing ways of querying, discussing and clarifying


Student feedback - What was the best aspect of completing an online subject?

“The efficiency of it. I thoroughly enjoy and benefit from online subjects much more than face to face. It allows for students to work through at their own pace, and not be held back by other students”

“Flexibility and also the exposure to the online/technology enhanced world of learning. The exposure to and use of tools such as webinars, LinkedIn, PebblePad – great tools which as a learner has allowed for the support, which I sometimes feel that I don’t get in traditional face to face classes”


Student feedback - What was the best aspect of completing an online subject?

“It is easy to fit the work around other classes and no travel is involved”

“Accessibility to resources and lecturers has been fantastic. The format of week structures provides structure to the self paced learning”

“The ability to work at my own pace and catch up on tutorial recordings when I couldn’t attend”


Student Feedback - What was the worst aspect of completing an online subject?

• Technical issues and difficulties – webinars, uploading video files, using Pebblepad

• Maintaining motivation towards the end

• General communication, support & feedback mechanisms


Student Feedback on HUM2WRS 2012

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Score

Career Decision Self-Efficacy as a measure of effectiveness


Pilot Study

By completing HUM2WRS, students should be more confident in performing a range of career planning activities, such as:

• Networking

• Preparing job applications

• Finding authoritative labour market information

• Making career decisions


Pilot Study

Career Decision Self-Efficacy (Taylor & Betz, 1983)

• “Measures an individual’s degree of belief that he/she can successfully complete tasks necessary to making career decisions”

• Based on Bandura’s self-efficacy theory


Pilot Study: The Measure

Career Decision Self-Efficacy – Short form scale (CDSE-SF) (Betz & Klein, 1996; Betz, Hammond, & Multon, 2005)

• 25 items – 5 subscales identified through factorial analysis

• Scale has excellent psychometric properties – internal reliability coefficient alphas range from .93 - .97 for the total score across many studies

• Some studies have failed to replicate the 5 factors (e.g., Creed, Patton & Watson, 2002), so it is recommended to use the total score only

• Total score 3.5> indicates a willingness to approach the behaviour

• Total score <3.0 indicates inadequate confidence to approach the behaviour


Pilot Study: Method

• Students invited via email, LMS message and announcement in webinar

• Questionnaire completed using an online survey instrument

• Responses: Likert scale 1-5 (no confidence at all – complete confidence)

• 13 students completed survey at start of semester (T1)

• 13 students completed second administration of questionnaire at end of semester (T2)

• 12/13 students appear to be the same based on demographic profile

• Response rate 11.8%


Pilot Study: Results

Analyses of the data show a significant increase in the total score between T1 & T2

Total score (sum of 25 items / 25)

• T1: 3.13

• T2: 3.87

Comparison of means (ANOVA): Total score vs time (T1:T2)

• F(1,22)= 10.021, p<0.01


CDSE: Mean responses @ T1 & T2

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20 Q21 Q22 Q23 Q24 Q251

2

3

4

5

T1 T2


CDSE: Difference in mean scores T2-T1

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 Q19 Q20 Q21 Q22 Q23 Q24 Q250

0.5

1

1.5


Pilot Study - Discussion

• Results indicate that the students are more confident in approaching a range of career decision behaviours

Cautions:

• Low response rate

• No control group used in the study

• No guarantee that the same students completed the questionnaire at T1 & T2


Next steps

• CDMSE-SF can be used as a career assessment tool for individuals

• Incorporate into learning activities in 2013 -> increase sample size

• Look at sampling comparison groups – those participating in short term career programs and a control group


Summary

• Overall, positive feedback from students

• Pilot study demonstrates increases in confidence of students to approach career decision making behaviours

• Some changes will be made to provide more scaffolding, but keep self-paced structure of the subject

• Changes to assessment tasks to increase efficiency in marking and providing feedback

Thank you

latrobe.edu.au/students/careers CRICOS Provider 00115M

Questions?

teaching work ready skills online

Career

completing

total score

observations

student feedback

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webinars

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