Leveraging on learning technologies to facilitate partnerships in education and business

The world over, employers expect knowledgeable workers with 21st century skills that can grow the working economy into the next decade and help businesses work through the current difficult economic climate. However, the unpleasant but yet factual reality remains that today's student population lack the skill sets that are needed to participate and compete in the global marketplace. Academic institutions for their part have understood this reality and are focused on bridging the gap. Consequently, over the past few years institutions have invested heavily in learning technologies like virtual learning environments (VLE) to enhance the student experience. The approach is even more justified when one considers and understands the frame of mind of the student community. Today's students automatically expect their learning experience to be complemented or even driven by the effective use of technology.

However, as Demetra Katsifli, Director of Academic Innovation EMEA at Blackboard points out, people in education could be missing a key element when it comes to using this technology to facilitate partnerships and encourage life-long learning.

Numerous institutions are deploying e-learning as a fully supported business-critical system to underpin their core educational development and delivery. The goals among institutions may vary somewhat, but there are common purposes for using e-learning, such as:

• Blended learning, fully integrated with or supplementary to traditional methods
• Full on-line delivery (distance learning)
• Supporting students on work placements
• Parental involvement in the learning process
• Research and other project collaborations (both internal and external to the institution)

Institutions have to adapt and focus their educational objectives around how learners are using technology elsewhere, in their social and professional lives. Today, learners of every age, background and location have experience with online environments. Evolving technologies like social networking, collaborative online learning and smart devices promise to improve and enhance education in ways we are just beginning to see. But with these advances come new challenges. Learners engage with a variety of systems every day so educators are competing for their online time.

How can the VLE help foster close partnerships between education and employers / businesses that will help to create a future employee base fit for purpose?

A research project commissioned by UK's Department for Children, Schools and Families in 2008 illustrates that the involvement of businesses in education has had a positive impact on students and academic outcomes. The study also highlighted the following findings:

• Improved communication and exchange of ideas between teachers and the business community about the curriculum and teaching was a crucial factor to the positive impacts.
• For mentoring to be effective it should be part of a "whole-school" approach and should be aimed to raise attainment.
• Inviting prospective employers as visiting speakers and having them working with schools on actual work assignments rather than extra curricular activities contributed immensely to student outcomes

Positive impacts on students' outcomes included lower drop-out rates, improved attendance, increased academic course taking, higher rates of enrolment and continuity in post-secondary education, sustained higher levels of employment, and higher hourly wage rates.

The Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating Centre, UK published a summary of the review in January 2008 reporting on the impact that employer engagement has in course development. There is evidence of benefits to students from work-based learning in gaining new and improved existing skills such as personal (e.g. increased confidence), problem solving and communicative skills; adapting existing knowledge and skills to the needs of new situations in the workplace; managing their own learning; and applying theory in practice. In addition, there were benefits to employers because the students' / employees' skills had improved.

Despite benefits to both students and employers, the review found that there were issues and indeed barriers around organizing work placements and effectively informing all involved about the aims and objectives of the placements, and that some employers found such placements challenging due to lack of time and work pressures - consequently opting out of the scheme. Employers could also find the academic language and terminology a barrier to effective collaboration.

All of these issues can be addressed though the appropriate use of a VLE. A VLE that is serving as a proper business solution will offer the capabilities / tools to enable activities to be carried out in an online collaborative environment that involves employers, students, academic and administrative staff from the educational institution. Such online collaboration can be used to a large extent to replace / enhance any face-to-face meetings and the academic terminology that initially can create a barrier to communicating can be adapted within the online environment to suit all the stakeholders. A VLE can also help disseminate work placement aims and objectives online to the target audience.

A sophisticated VLE will even have the ability to operate not just within the boundaries of a classroom grouping but also beyond to serve various different groups / mixes of students and staff across all aspects of running an educational organization, with the involvement of members from selected external organizations.

A further benefit concerns enabling effective management for both student and employer. Students can manage their work placement outputs and achievements in a portfolio or journal tool that allows their supervisor in the workplace as well as their academic tutor to provide feedback directly into the portfolio - thereby providing a single place online for the review and feedback to be managed. Employers can work online asynchronously to fit in with their work schedule, thereby making the partnership viable and successful. The online mode of collaboration and communication will include all aspects of the partnership, from initial discussions to mentoring students and to providing input into steering groups.

Implementing a Learning Management Platform like Blackboard will enable individual schools to share educational resources and best practices, enhancing the teaching and learning that takes place in and out of the classroom. The school will also benefit from Blackboard's engaging applications and content, which are useful and relevant to students, staff and parents.

And not just academic institutions, learning management platforms also assist enterprises. Organizations adopt Blackboard solutions for their training programs to deliver courses in both traditional classrooms and non-conventional virtual learning environments. Other forms of partnerships that should be considered involve schools working with further and higher education institutions.

At the higher education level, in addition to the regular course-work, a range of subject knowledge enhancement courses can be offered to graduates who need to develop a greater depth of subject understanding prior to training for qualified teacher status. The subjects could include modern such subjects as foreign languages, ICT, design and technology, physics, chemistry and mathematics. The students can experience face-to-face contact time and also use a VLE for online learning activities.

Given that technology is central to the way that learners of all ages interact and to the way that organizations operate their business, the investment in educational technology and its exploitation in improving all aspects of learning and collaboration will continue to grow in the foreseeable future. There will be no turning back on the progress that has been made to-date in these areas. Therefore it makes good business sense for schools, colleges, universities and businesses to maximize the return on their investment in educational technology for all the partnerships they need to run as well as for learning and teaching.

It therefore makes good business sense for institutions and businesses to maximize their return on investment in educational technology for all the partnerships they run as well as for learning and teaching.

To know more, call +971-4-3572002 | email info@edutech.com | www.edutech.com | www.blackboard.com.