An embedded approach to PDP and graduateness: challenges and change at The Open University

Dr. Ann Pegg

a.e.pegg@open.ac.uk May 2011

The Open University - • OU has 190,272 Undergraduate level students

(2009/10)• The Open University in Ireland has 55 staff in the Belfast

National Centre, 6 in the Dublin Enquiry and Advice Centre and 348 part-time tutors supporting over 4,255 students in Northern Ireland and 3,385 in the ROI.

• Over 70% of OU students are in full-time or part-time employment

Qualifications awarded 2009/10• Foundation degrees 399 • First degrees 10,133 • Higher degrees 2,728

• AGE• 25-34 UG 29% PG 31%• 35-44 UG 28% PG 36%

The Open Degree and Named Degrees

• Over 40% students graduate with an Open Degree• a personal qualification shaped around interests and

career needs • Can focus on one main subject, but with the freedom to

mix in a few modules from other areas • uses successfully completed credit from previous

university-level studies elsewhere (for example, from a foundation degree or incomplete studies)

The Undergraduate Levels Framework• To facilitate quality across the whole curriculum from

2005• To ensure progression and choice are balanced with the

equity of assessment and achievement across all faculties

• Through a process of discussion and committee approval at the highest level for all the university

• Now managed through a ‘gate’ process and realised through learning outcomes

Employability and the undergraduate levels framework• ‘A set of achievements and personal attributes that

support individuals in developing their careers, raising their aspirations and enabling students to further their contribution to society.’

• The University recognizes and values the capacity of OU students for autonomous and self-directed learning, important employability skills in themselves.

CBI /UUK skills

CBI/UUK Employability Skills

Open University Undergraduate Levels Framework: Learning Outcomes

Self ManagementPersonal and Career DevelopmentLearning how to Learn

Business and Customer Awareness

Practical and Professional skills

Teamworking Assessed in some courses and awards through

professional practice, in others through communication skills .

Problem solving Knowledge and Understanding

Communication and Literacy

Key skill – Communication ; Information Literacy

Application of Numeracy Key skill - Numerical Skills

Application of information technology

Key skill - IT skills and Information Literacy

Exchange ideas • Is there a quality framework across your institution that

embeds an approach to employability skills development?

• If so, how well does it work?

Personal Development Planning• Within Undergraduate Levels framework as Personal

Career Development and Learning how to Learn• For a variety of modules – both generic and to meet the

needs of specific occupational requirements, eg. Nursing Degrees, Engineering Degrees

• An opportunity to develop the Open University pedagogy that is grounded in learner experience and draws on lifewide and lifelong learning

• The issue: variety, engagement and assessment

Exchange ideas • How is PDP developed for students across your

institution – if there consistency of approach? • Is PDP assessed ?

Defining Graduateness• Building on the enhancement theme work in Scotland –

Graduates for the 21st Century• Running an on-line forum ‘Talking Point’ for Associate

Lecturers and staff• Surveys, interviews and focus groups with students

across the UK• An event at Walton Hall for Faculty, Regional/Nations

staff and QAA staff involved in the Undergraduate Levels Framework

Defining Graduateness • Many universities are linking employability and learning

outcomes to their definitions of graduateness• For many OU students graduateness is not only about

employability or employment but personal fulfilment and a demonstrable love of learning

• Focus groups in 2009 showed that students had a nuanced approach to what it might mean to be a graduate and to what they understood as employability

• ‘Get the job you really want’ ‘help your children value learning’ ‘speak the language of employers’

The challenges• What does Graduateness mean for OU students when it

is an idea dislocated from place and developmental life stage?

• Engagement with PDP - for work, for learning, for self• Integrating the tangible and assessed aspects of

learning with the process of learning for distance learners

• Robust statement of achievement for all graduates, national and international

• Student ownership of Graduateness – does one size fit all?

The changes• Ensuring that embedded skills are recognised and

articulated by students – developing PDP to facilitate this

• Moving innovative practice in PDP and team working into common practice in curriculum development

• A higher profile for employability within the OU • Strengthening the connection between learning and

lifewide expereinces• Recognition of the role of the image of the OU

Any Questions?