The Career Ready portfolio: From rhetoric to reality Terry Young, Senior Educational Designer

Context Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash Employability a strategic driver Institutional plan Better Employability outcomes for La Trobe students Build confidence Career Ready Advantage program implemented In many institutions, improving employability for graduates is a common strategic driver. No one can guarantee future employability but we aim to have a students who are confident and self aware of their personal skills and abilities. In 2016, La Trobe University began a comprehensive Career Development program called in Career Ready Advantage Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

You are already familiar with similar models Great aspirational qualities for our students and ourselves

Career Ready Advantage Award Requirements Silver Award Gold Award Platinum Award Learn activities 4 8 12 Do activities 2 6 Career Management activities 3 9 Career Ready Portfolio  Students apply for one of three levels of the Award. Learn activities are curated online courses from Lynda.com, TED talks, podcasts and other open-access sources. Do activities are learning experiences that develop skills and may include activities in the curriculum, or those completed outside formal study, such as volunteering and paid employment. Career Management activities are earned through attendance at career development events and workshops, career consultations, and through completion of careers and employability learning in the curriculum. Career Ready Portfolios demonstrate students’ development of skills and attributes through provision of reflections on learning and evidence of activities. Portfolios can be assessed within the curriculum. Students apply for one of three awards based on their experiences in the following specific areas. Learn activities – online courses Do Activities – Learning in curriculum and outside curriculum Career Management activities – workshops/events/consultations Submit a Career Ready Portfolio – reflection and evidence

The Challenge Curriculum Learning Co-curricular experiences These domains are are often perceived as separate experiences by students and staff. Career Ready Program addresses and facilitates learning outside the curriculum but had limited integration with discipline specific subjects. How do we embed employability into curriculum? Needed a unified approach, a single framework across the learning journey for a student This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

Employability Initiative The Challenge Employability Initiative Curriculum Learning Portfolio Co-curricular experiences How can any subject engage with Career Ready and the personal learning journey of students? How can teaching staff engage in a simple way How can students journey be directed through one system The answer is portfolio

Portfolio Thinking Model Collect Learning/Skills/Knowledge Experiences Curate Select key experiences Reflect on your personal experience /learning Connect Personal attributes Professional Standards Present Potential Employer Professional Identity The implementation was based on a Collect/Select/Reflect/Present portfolio model. Students would progressively collect evidence of learning and experience across their course, and from this collection they would select key examples of evidence to demonstrate their skills and abilities. Personal reflections about these experiences would consolidate their confidence about their abilities. Their personal statement about identity would be presented in a professional portfolio for future employers to review.

Implementation Collect Select/Reflect Present CR Activities Curriculum CR Workshops Midpoint Subject Present CR Portfolio Capstone Portfolio What does this look like as an implementation model?

Collection of evidence Career Ready activities Self directed learning/ Volunteering/ Part time Employment/ Career development Key skills for employability developed across many subjects in a course Describe CR Activities Volunteering/ Part time work/ Career development/ Overseas exchange Describe Curriculum activities Discipline specific/ Research/ Groupwork/ Business planning/ Project management/ Presentations/ Communication Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

Select and Reflect Workshops Workshops on Personal/ Graduate and Professional Identity. Midpoint Subjects reviewing discipline specific identity, reflect on learning progress Discuss workshops

Present – Career Ready Portfolio Create a digital portfolio to represent your professional identity, philosophy and evidence your experience and skills Discuss a CR Portfolio Generic Custom discipline specific

Implementation Collect Select/Reflect Present CR Activities Curriculum CR Workshops Midpoint Subject Present CR Portfolio Capstone Portfolio Personal Evidence Library Career Ready Award Application There are many activities being experienced and delivered but what we need is a common framework to support the development journey. Guess what that should be? PebblePad. But it needs to be more than just a repository. We need a Personal Evidence Library to hold our assets together and a reward framework, the Career Ready Advantage Award These are used progressively over the student journey from year one to final year

Two mechanisms Personal Evidence Library A simple method to collect and reflect A ongoing collection of evidence of learning and reflection From curriculum From co-curricular activities Career Ready Advantage Application Apply for Graduate Position LinkedIn profile Selection criteria Interview video Apply for Awards What functions do they offer? Personal repository Reward and recognition framework

Career Ready Evidence Library So what is the Evidence library and how does it work?

Collect - Employability evidence in the Curriculum A simple approach to encourage collecting evidence from any subject. No need to know PebblePad No need to design an activity within PebblePad Simple for all staff and students But of course we would encourage staff to use the full benefits of designing an activity using PebblePad but it is not a mandatory

Collect Reflections and evidence from Curriculum

Collect from Career Ready Activities

Career Ready Portfolio Evidence Library

Career Ready Advantage Application

Recognition of activities

Preparation for job applications

Two mechanisms Personal Evidence Library A simple method to collect and reflect from many subjects A collection of evidence of learning and reflection Address Professional Standards Use to support your professional identity development activities Career Ready Advantage Application Apply for Graduate Position LinkedIn profile Selection criteria Interview video Apply for Awards

Career Ready Award Application Implementation Collect CR Activities Curriculum Select/Reflect CR Workshops Midpoint Subject Present CR Portfolio Capstone Portfolio Evidence Library We encourage and facilitate the development of a LinkedIn Profile from Year 1 supported by CRA Career Ready Award Application LinkedIn

What is the result for a student? #Confidence About Me Selection Criteria Resume Interview Preparation Portfolio Confidence Preparedness LinkedIn

Does it work? Early days Feedback from Careers Team Adoption Feedback from academic staff The outcomes of this implementation are currently not yet recorded, as this program is a course wide program and we are only at the beginning of the 3-4 year implementation process. At this stage we can report on the current adoption and feedback from our stakeholders.   The Careers team are pleased that student activities from curriculum are being easily incorporated into the career development program. Integrating these activities in a systematic way has been a challenge in the past. The CRA activities are now referenced and promoted within previously closed LMS subjects. Adoption into courses has commenced in various courses in Education, Health Sciences and Science. Discussions and implementation plans are under design and negotiation in many other disciplines. The general feedback has been very positive. It has been considered a useful common framework that spans many subjects, work experience programs and skill development activities; and can be referenced for other career development programs and graduate readiness activities. The feedback received so far indicates that the model is viable in many different courses, hence scalable. The ability for the model to be customised to discipline specific professional standards/skills is considered to be highly valuable and is attractive to discipline leads who wish to embed these industry requirements into their courses. Just like this picture, we have planted the seeds and we have a seedling. It needs to be nurtured. It has the potential to grow into something amazing.

Reflections What/So What/Now What Sound in theory and practical design Invest in building confidence with key stakeholders Design discipline specific models Encourage ownership Be patient A single common framework that all stakeholders can use. The option to customize the activities and portfolio for any discipline. Flexible/customisable Reportable/tracking Simple connection to any subject – collection/reflection Or design a more comprehensive activity Default framework available Available for all students

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