yes but what does it all mean
TRANSCRIPT
Becka ColleyCareers AdviserNational Teaching Fellow
“Yes, but what difference does it
make?”
Waaaaaaaaaaay back in the mists of time.
Before Twitter.
When Facebook had less than 1 million users in the UK.
When MySpace was popular
I was…
Working at a different
University
Supporting learners making the transition
from work based learning to HE studies
Seconded to write business case for new cross
University skills support unit (approved and
launched in Oct 2006)
Gleaning ideas to help students manage the
transition into University more effectively.
“I don’t know why I’m here.”
“I don’t feel confident about University level studies. I couldn’t even enroll online. I feel stupid”
“What do I need to know in order to be successful at University?”
SaPRA v1Used across University from 2006-2012MidwiferyPharmacyCombined StudiesPsychology
Academic Reading
Academic Writing
Expectations about University
Individual Skills
Communication Skills
Confidence with IT
Awareness of Ecoversity
Library Skills
Initially successfu
l
Difficulties getting
academic buy in
SaPRA eventually ceased
“I have excellent communication skills and I am a strong team player.”
“My clinical training has provided me with a diverse set of relevant skills for this post.”
“One of my strengths is being able to adapt and differentiate teaching to suit the pupils learning styles so they can achieve the lesson objective.”
Unable to evidence what
they can do.
Unaware of what they are
capable of.
Implied evidence, not
explicit.
Superficial statements.
Superficial. Boring.
Generic.
Padding and waffle
No evidence at all.
Lack of relevant, real
examples.
“I have great customer service
skills :D”
“I have developed effective customer service skills
through my role of Student Adviser where I… ”
aPRA
Rank levels of confidence in different skill areas
Produce high quality, effective evidence
Create action plan, identify review dates
Complete SaPRA
Generate evidence
Create action plan
Review with Personal
Tutor
Re-do SaPRA
Generate additional evidence
Update action plans
Build portfolio of
evidence
Become more
reflective & self aware
Student needs to take ownership
Constantly reviewed
Iterative process
TEEE Model Anderton & Murrin-Bailey
Personal Skills* Identifying my Skills* Individual Skills* Self Awareness Skills
Employability Skills
* Communication* Team Working
Digital Skills* Builds on outputs from recent JISC1 report
Well, that’s just wonderful.
But what difference does it make?
• Understand & Identify
BasicYear 1 / Level 4
• Develop & Transfer
IntermediateYear 2 / Level 5
• Apply & Communicate
AdvancedYear 3 / Level 6
“I think SaPRA has allowed me to identify areas of myself which can be improved, and has allowed me to understand how I can improve these areas which is beneficial for me.”
“It enabled me to highlight my strengths and weaknesses and then produce an action plan to overcome these weaknesses.”
“SaPRA enabled students to not only audit their current experience and skills, it also helped them to reflect on priorities for development and set targets for what they needed to do in order to enhance their employability skills.”
“The SaPRA tool is very easy to use and very effective at bringing together a process of self-managed learning.”
“The business school has begun to embed SaPRA across all degree programmes to enable students to understand what they didn’t know about themselves”
2015/16
PE PGCE
PE and School Sports
Sports Nutrition and Exercise
Professional Education
Business School
2016/17
Social sciences
Performing Arts
Biology
Biggest difference is the bespoke element
Personal Skills* Identifying my
Skills* Individual Skills* Self Awareness
Skills
Employability Skills
* Communication* Team Working
Digital Skills Additional Skills* Numerical
* Working under pressure
* Problem solving* Leadership
* Subject specific
Business School implementation
Agreement of Edge Hill graduate
attributes
Support for personal tutoring
system
Replacement for the HEAR?
http://ehu.ac.uk/pra