The University of the Future: Preparing for Curriculum Refresh Debra Easter – Student Employability Service Manager Becci Hubbard – Senior Careers Consultant

NTU – what does the future hold?

Nottingham Trent University 27,000 Students 9 Schools 500+ Courses 1,400 Placements each year 25% WP* 79.2% graduate outcomes * UK undergraduates c.21,300

Curriculum Refresh: Employability Actions All students will develop relevant professional attributes gained through meaningful work placement or experience embedded into the design, learning, and assessment of every course. Early in the course, students are engaged in learning core employability skills (e.g. CV, interview, selection, search, networking) and in career planning activity. The course includes a number of opportunities for all students to translate theory into practice in a range of relevant work-like contexts or simulations (e.g. employer-led projects, activities with employer involvement, work that is held to professional standards). Later in the course, there is a synoptic assessment, allowing students to combine learning in relation to their employability from a range of activities and experiences, and which requires a significant element of reflection in relation to their future employability aspirations. This synoptic assessment is integrated into an appropriate module. The first three actions of Curriculum Refresh relate to employability. Early in the course all courses are required to include employability skills and career planning – this could include setting goals for their time at university, developing skills through team challenges and learning and exploring the different pathways available to them with their degree. The course also requires ALL students to develop PROFESSIONAL ATTRIBUTES through MEANINGFUL work experience. Whether through a placement or a employer led consultation project, whichever work experience model you decide on should give all students the ability to translate theory into practice. Finally the course should include a synoptic assessment. This assessed piece of work should combine learning from a range of activities and experiences throughout the course in relation to their employability aspirations. This will require a significant element of reflection. There are many ways these actions can be interpreted and implemented. The Employability Team are here to support you in finding the most appropriate method for your subject displine. How would you approach / have you approached this? What are the challenges / opportunities?

Opportunities Team profile one of the highest in NTU Influencing/negotiating academic module content Academic staff team working towards a shared agenda Reaching previously unengaged students Early interventions with NTU students

Challenges Influencing central academic standards team Central vs School support Communication with academic staff Anticipating demands on the team workload Academic approval process Bureaucracy and ‘paperwork’ Introduction of new tools eg. Pebblepad Moving beyond CVs Short term vs long term planning

Academic engagement: our progress so far… Action group at high strategic level ‘Advice for course leaders’ guidance Defining key terms Module outline Learning outcomes Road map – good practice outline Work experience guidelines Online ‘learning room’ for staff Teaching materials provided Contribution to staff training and conferences

Staff Employability Resource Room In order to support academic teams in integrating employability within the curriculum we have created a new ‘Staff Employability Resource Room’, containing guidance, examples of good practice and a wide range of teaching materials for you to use on your course. All staff have access to this room via NOW. You can find this under the ‘staff development’ section of your NOW homepage.

Employability Online You also have access to Employability Online: our Employability portal for student. Here you will find resources, videos and links to the key employability platforms. Signpost students here – or use content in lectures, seminars or online learning.

Professional Attributes

Work Experience

Learning Outcomes

What could good practice look like? For each of the NTU ‘Curriculum Refresh’ actions: What do you think would constitute ‘good practice’? What should be included within the curriculum to help achieve this? How have you achieved this at your university?

Careers Professionals of the Future Image you are managing a team of Careers Consultants faced with this challenge. Where are the gaps in expertise / knowledge / experience? How would you adapt the role to meet this new demand? What training would you put in place (share any useful training from your team/organisation!)

Careers Professionals of the Future… CPLD course Delivery audit to establish gaps Restructured caseloads and workloads Increased culture of peer observation, collaborative planning New planning processes Improved online provision (Abintegro) New central extra-curricular programme New coordinator roles

CPLD course for Careers Consultants Context: changing nature of HE What does 'good' learning and teaching look like? Features, basics of learning theory, active learning. Understanding academic processes Curriculum design, CLOs / MLOs/ SLOs, constructive alignment, assessment processes. Sharing Learning and Teaching Practices What are you trying to achieve with your students? Student engagement and inclusion, large group teaching, exploring a range of teaching activities. Handling challenging behavior. Introduce some teaching observation and reflective practices resources Teaching Observation within Employability Teams Reflection and way forward Review experiences of teaching observation Identifying individual development opportunities Overview of HEA professional standards and accreditation process

Moving forward Our next steps: Our advice to you: Increase staff training Consultation with academics Respond to student feedback Our advice to you: Don’t be afraid to be the expert Create easily accessible guidelines – start with the basics Collaborate with your quality/assurance teams, and CPLD Reconsider resource available, map out workloads

Useful resources: HEA: Defining and developing your approach to employability Stage 1: ‘Creating and defining a shared point of reference’ 1. Ensure you are aware of your institution’s strategy and support for employability • This will influence and inform how you integrate employability, what you prioritise, who you work with, resources and support available and actions to be taken. 2. Involve all stakeholders • Having identified stakeholders, involve all of them in your reflections especially the students. 3. No single model • Recognise that the intention is not to prescribe a model but to model a flexible and collaborative approach to the integration of employability. 4. Ownership: employability is a university-wide responsibility • This requires a combined effort, working in partnership with other institutional services and departments, e.g. all schools of study, careers centre, enterprise and business departments, placement support, students’ union, student support services, library and information services, etc. • This should also involve working with external partners, e.g. alumni, employers, professional bodies, etc., as appropriate.

AGCAS Careers Education Benchmark Statements (2005 – needs updating!!) Useful resources: AGCAS Careers Education Benchmark Statements (2005 – needs updating!!)

NUS: Personal Development Useful resources NUS: Personal Development Benchmarking Tool

Interested in collaborating? We’re interested in putting together a ‘Curriculum Design’ best practice group – are you interested in joining us? Becci.Hubbard@ntu.ac.uk Debra.Easter@ntu.ac.uk