21st Century Professional DevelopmentBridging the gap between

higher education and working life

Tampere University of Applied Sciences Digital_Alpaca

Hanna Teräs Marko Teräs

AACE e-Learn 2010 – Orlando, Florida

Emergence of knowledge societyParadigm shift

• Work• Organizations• Communication • Management• Careers

• Learning?

What is different?

21st century skills

• Subject matter independent skills needed in knowledge society working environment

• Learning and innovation skills

• Digital literacy skills

• Career and life skills

Trilling & Fadel (2009)

Image: Seier+Seier

Image: bekibartlett

The issue of time

&%#!@ Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube,

blog, wiki, whatwasthatagain...

Image: megabn

WHO CAN HELP?

1. Inside universities: teachers who are skilled in using new technology and have personal interest towards it (good, but not enough!)

2. Expertise from outside the university: young entrepreneurs and digital natives

?

Writing the project report

Preparing andgiving a

presentation

Independentgroup formation

SWOT analysis

Topic selection:Project management

/webconferencingsoftware

Authenticproject plan

Independentteam work,

free-choice tools

Online teachingand mentoring

Project meetingand consultation

Image: DustyReaganImage: Matt Hamm

Image: Pink Moose

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Image: Pink MooseImage: Brittney Bush

+Image: DustyReagan

Image: Matt Hamm

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An integration of 21st century professional development skills and social media to a study

unit on professional development

"Understanding social media and its efficient use is something that should be taught to BBA students,

but we don't know how."

Why?

The changes have been more rapid outside than inside schools (Downes 2005)

Why?

Starting point:

Teachers’ workshop – Dec 2009

How: Presentation + Workshop with coaching methods

Outcome: "We need to teach this, but don't know how."

Conclusion: Study module made by the entrepreneur. University coaches included in the iteration process through shared Google Docs.

Starting point:

Teachers’ workshop –

Dec 2009

The study module – 2010

~100 BBA students divided into 6 groups, each of them having their own coach from

the University

The Study Module – 2010

How: 3 presentations + 3 sessions in small groups

The Study Module – 2010

Topics:

1. Basics in Social Media & 21st century skills, Self-development

2. Personal branding & Networking

3. Social media in employment & How companies use social media (from marketing to inner communications)

The Study Module – 2010

The Study Module – 2010

2 assignment examples

from the group sessions

“Gather your group's travel program to a single Google Doc together with the group.

You can determine what's in it, who creates it, shares it to others and how you share the responsibilities.

Only thing important is that you manage yourself in the trip.”

1. A Field Trip to another country

• In most cases, the students were amazing and fast with the assignment.

• Students helped each other in the group.

• Some coaches knew what to do and let go of telling or directing the students too much. Some coaches acted like teachers.

• Some coaches less familiar with Google Docs were positively surprised how well it worked and wanted themselves to learn it better in the future.

Outcomes

“Imagine the job of your dreams. Start planning your strategy how to get it, through building your personal branding base, e.g. showing what your interests are and what you are good at.

Possibilities: blogging, searching and networking with people through social media, participating in professional online networks and creating for example LinkedIn profile as your organic CV.”

2. Personal branding

• For some students (and coaches) the assignment seemed a bit vague.

• A coach: "For me this kind of openness feels a bit uneasy. People can see, if you are searching for a job and see everything that you are doing."

• Some people don't want to create online profiles and leave anything personal in the Internet.

Outcomes

Overall conclusions of the study module

?

? ?

?

• The guest trainer was someone from the "real world" and knew the topic well from many angles.

• Possibility for the students to get mentoring during the module through email & social media – could’ve used it more.

• The coaches learned with the students.

• From every group there was someone who had used the technology a bit more than others – group help.

Advantages

• Two groups got valuable information from the guest trainer which they implemented in their projects for actual companies.

• Some of the students got valuable information for self-development. New contacts through the guest trainer which started new projects.

These happened with students who were proactive and had inner motivation

Real-life advantages

• The usual teaching method in the department is based on regular teaching and classes. Coaching methods and open ended assignments were sometimes hard to grasp.

• "Don't make me think" attitude.

• "Are we becoming the tech support?"

• Dialogue with the trainer and coaches – more collaborative iteration could’ve occurred.

Challenges

Challenges

"This method is pedagogically right, but the students need control and someone to tell

them clearly what to do."

CONCLUSIONS

The change is deeper than simply a set of new tools: teaching technologies is not enough.

Students don’t learn to use social media for professional purposes on their own.

Expertise from outside the university can be integrated in university teaching in a meaningful way.

Staff in-work coaching and integrating technology in existing activities -> more sustainable outcomes than traditional staff training and workshops

CONCLUSIONS

hanna.teras(at)tamk.fitwitter.com/hannateraswww.hannateras.com

marko(at)digitalalpaca.comtwitter.com/markoteraswww.markoteras.com

Thank you!