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Using Work Based , the Accreditation of Prior and Technology Enhanced Learning to Develop the Professional Knowledge and Practice of those Facilitating Higher Education Level Learning Pauline Armsby and Helen Pokorny Westminster Exchange University of Westminster. Overview.
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Using Work Based, the Accreditation of Prior and Technology EnhancedLearning to Develop the Professional Knowledge and Practice of those Facilitating Higher Education Level Learning Pauline Armsby and Helen Pokorny Westminster Exchange University of Westminster
Overview • The context • The programme • The use of APL- admissions • The use of WBL – learning for and in practice • The use of TEL – mode of delivery • Discussion
The context • Introducing something flexible into a conventional post-1992 university environment. • University of Westminster in LONDON • Financial imperative to internationalise • ‘Economonies of scale’ • Increasing professional development capacity in teaching and supporting learning. • Developing and extending technological skills of course team and participants.
Our candidates • Can we be all things to all people? • Part-time lecturer living in Falmouth • University lecturer with large module responsibilities and a clinical practice/laboratory teaching? • Fractional teachers with caring responsibilities • Campus-based staff with desire for face to face session based professional development. • External students in London, UK and overseas. • Cohort-based modules and more individualised doctoral learning.
Doctorate in Professional Studies (Negotiated Education Related Title)
Double Counting and re-use of credit • The UK Credit Forum Report 2012 shows that 35% of institutions now permit credit achieved in one honours degree to contribute to a second award in a cognate subject. They suggest that re-use of credit is one area that institutions indicated that they would value some guidance and suggest that: ‘It may be helpful to identify families of qualifications then strictly limit the re-use of credit to within such families…it is suggested that once credit has contributed to a certificated qualification, it should not be used again in a different family.’ (p2, section B4,D2 and fig 24). • The 2012 survey showed great variance in allowances for the recognition of prior learning (p22).
Admissions and APL • University structures meant for admissions we had a split programme - MA and Dprof • PG Cert/Diploma/MA APL process • Fees • Timing of Boards • Level 7 candidates and DProf applicants in limbo on CPD applications • DProf applicants claiming: • 180 credits certificated • 180 credits experiential • A mixture • Certificated with currency
Learning outcomes • Learning from practice and experience will not necessarily reflect the sorts of theoretical knowledge often identified in syllabi. • Knowledge and skills derived from dealing with problems and practice outside the institution seldom fit neatly into the boundaries set by individual subjects and modules. NB The 2012 UK Credit Forum Report shows: • a levelling off of institutions surveyed that permit students to negotiate learning outcomes at around 40% with no change since 2003. • an increase to around 60% in the percentage of institutions surveyed which require students to satisfy all of the designated learning outcomes to be awarded credit since 2003. • a decrease in the number of institutions surveyed which require students to satisfy most of the designated learning outcomes to be awarded credit to around 30%. (Figure 21, page 30).
A negotiated DProf programme • Negotiated in the PPRDP module through a three way learning agreement with: organisation (a university) individual university
Student centred work based learning • How does your experience, including MA modules/APL connect with your doctoral study ? • Reflection on practice and to develop learning • How does this fit with your professional identity? • How does this connect with your intended work based project- planned in this module? • How does your context influence your project? • Wider; local; positionality; • You: developing your project; your self, in your work place
Knowledge and Intellectual Abilities Knowledge Evaluation, analysis and synthesis Creativity Personal Effectiveness Reflexivity Planning and management of learning Awareness of operational context Research Governance and Organisation Professional conduct Research and development capability Use of resources Engagement, Influence and Impact Working with others Communication Responsibility and leadership Criteria for ‘D’ level
Technology Enhanced Learning • Designed as flexible according to student need- entirely on-line and/or optional attendance at workshops. • An international/ home/in-service market ? • A doctoral community (cohort) or individual activity? With APL and several level 7 modules individuals have different paces through the programme • A social and collaborative experience or an individually negotiated and encountered one?
What is on-line pedagogy? • Designing the experience • 4 hours logged onto VLE with an expectation to do what? • What content, what tools, what interventions? • Balance of content delivery versus self managed learning given the student-centred work based nature of the programme • Questioning the reason to do ‘learning exercises’ • Are engagement issues different to face to face delivery? • What is the role of the tutor in facilitating learning during the module? • Balance of peer and tutor support and facilitating this • How accessible are resources such as e-books? • Advantage of pacing study, aiding timely completion
A Work Based Doctorate with APL, Delivered On-line: Questions for Discussion • Is it appropriate to have APL in a doctorate, or is prior knowledge just what you know when you start? • Is work based learning effective in teaching theory • What are the facets of successful on-line pedagogy? • What solutions do you have to these and other issues you have come across in developing flexible courses in your own context? i.e. What works?
References • Armsby, P. and Pokorny, H. (2011) Linking London Lifelong Learning Network – ‘Embedding APEL in postgraduate professional development project report. • http://www.bbk.ac.uk/linkinglondon/development-projects/project-51-78 • Lester, S. (2011) Creating professional knowledge in and for the workplace: evidence from a practitioner doctorate. Studies in Higher Education
Contact Details Helen Pokorny MA Course Leader Westminster Exchange Marylebone Road Tel: 0203 506 6022 Email:h.pokorny@westminster.ac.uk Pauline Armsby DProf Course Leader Westminster Exchange Marylebone Road Tel: 0203 506 6023 Email: p.armsby@westminster.ac.uk