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The Professional Pathway project team organised a conference on New Patterns of Learning in Higher Education at the end of June (see http://www.ics.ltsn.ac.uk/events/he/ for details).
The conference was organised with the sponsorship of the ICS LTSN, ASET, UVAC, CIHE and HEFCE and served as a platform for a variety of contributions on the subject of work-based learning and e-learning from a wide range of national and international higher education institutions. It also provided an excellent opportunity for disseminating results and findings from our own work on the Professional Pathway, an innovative mode of combining study and work placement for IT undergraduates at City University (see http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/Pathway).
Papers presented at the conference suggest that there is an increased awareness of the potential of work placements as a part of students' experience of higher education. Treatments of this subject ranged from subject-specific vocational placements in biomedical science, computing and law; developing employability in areas as diverse as music and creative arts as well as across the undergraduate curriculum; and the use of work-based learning to enhance graduate skills.
Other areas of interest included the assessment and accreditation of work-related learning and the issues arising from institution-wide implementation of work-based learning approaches and the move from work-based components in courses of study to fully integrated programmes of formal study and work-based learning. A number of papers also dealt with attempts to implement Graduate Apprenticeships as part of courses of undergraduate study. Consideration was also given to the role of reflection in this area as a tool for developing lifelong learning skills and the potential for the use of e-learning approaches and technology for supporting learners in the workplace.
Electronic versions of papers will soon be available along with a paper-based formal proceedings. These will be made available from the ICS-LTSN and UVAC electronic archives and the Professional Pathway website. Watch this space for further details!
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