Part-time students in the workforce A guide to practice in course provision John W Davies, Brian Counter, Mark Davison, Steve Luke, Peter Mills, Jon Ordidge and Alfred Gand Project funded by the National HE STEM Programme via the Midlands and East Anglia spoke Part-time students in the workforce A guide to practice in course provision John W Davies, Brian Counter, Mark Davison, Steve Luke, Peter Mills, Jon Ordidge and Alfred Gand Project funded by the National HE STEM Programme via the Midlands and East Anglia spoke July 2012 Copyright Notice 'Part-time students in the workforce - a guide to practice in course provision' is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Published by University of Birmingham STEM Education Centre on behalf of the National HE STEM Programme University of Birmingham Edgbaston Birmingham, B15 2TT www.hestem.ac.uk i Part-time students in the workforce – a guide to practice in course provision Contents Short abstract 1 The authors 1 Acknowledgements 1 Summary of content 2 1. Introduction 4 2. Part-time provision 5 2.1 Range of part-time provision in HE STEM 5 2.2 Part-time students 5 2.3 Employer perspectives 6 2.4 Value of part-time students 7 3. Part-time delivery arrangements 9 3.1 Entry, transition and induction 9 3.2 Part-time v. full-time course structure 11 3.3 Integration or separation 11 3.4 Timetable format 13 3.5 Group work and project work 13 4. Support for part-time students 17 4.1 General support 17 4.2 Online resources 18 4.3 Using distance learning 18 5. Using opportunities 20 5.1 Contributions by part-time students 20 5.2 Opportunities for part-time students 21 ii Part-time students in the workforce – a guide to practice in course provision 6. Flexible approaches 23 6.1 Flexible response 23 6.2 Tailored courses 23 6.3 Work-based learning 25 7. Student view 26 8. Challenges and increasing participation 29 8.1 Challenges and barriers 29 8.2 Increasing participation 30 9. Key points 32 References 33 iii Part-time students in the workforce – a guide to practice in course provision Short abstract A collaboration between five universities (Coventry, Aston, Derby, Nottingham Trent and Wolverhampton) involved in providing HE STEM courses for part-time students in the workforce has produced this guidance on part-time provision aimed at those wishing to enhance existing provision or create new courses. The guidance has been based on the experience of the collaborators, on examples of effective practice within the collaborating universities and at other institutions in the Midlands and East Anglia region, on discussions with selected employers, and on the views of students expressed via an online questionnaire. The guidance includes approaches to key issues including range of provision, characteristics of part-time students, employer perspectives, delivery arrangements, support for part-time students, part-time students as a resource, flexible learning, tailored and work- based provision, the student view, challenges and barriers, and approaches to increasing participation. The authors John Davies is Professor of Civil Engineering, Jon Ordidge is Senior Lecturer, and Alfred Gand is a member of the teaching staff, within the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building at Coventry University Brian Counter is Assistant Subject Manager (Engineering and Built Environment) and head of civil engineering programmes at the University of Derby Mark Davison is civil engineering subject area leader at Nottingham Trent University Steve Luke is programme director for the foundation degrees in power engineering at Aston University Peter Mills is head of civil engineering at the University of Wolverhampton Acknowledgements This project was supported by the National HE STEM Programme via the Midlands and East Anglia spoke, and this support - both financial and in terms of networking opportunities and advice - is gratefully acknowledged. Additional material has been very kindly provided by the following. Examples 1 and 2: Chris Smith, Coventry University Example 4: Mike Peters, Aston University 1 Part-time students in the workforce – a guide to practice in course provision strengthen links with employers, and they can be Summary of content used as a resource, for example as mentors. 1. Introduction 3. Part-time delivery arrangements Part-time study offers excellent opportunities for students 3.1 Entry, transition and induction and departments, and is an attractive alternative to Part-time students typically enter degree courses full-time study with its associated debt. The aim of in years 2 or 3. Accreditation of prior experiential this document is to share ideas for enhancing existing learning may be appropriate and bridging studies provision, and provide guidance to those considering may be necessary. Induction arrangements must new part-time provision. Material has been collected be suited to their needs. Induction events must be from the collaborators’ own institutions (Coventry, Aston, comprehensive in their coverage but may need to be Derby, Nottingham Trent and Wolverhampton), from compact to fit with part-timers’ attendance patterns. other institutions, from employers, students and the literature. The focus is on on-campus delivery and most of the examples are from engineering, but the guidance 3.2 Part-time v. full-time course structure is intended to have applicability to all STEM subjects. Whereas full-time students take 120 credits in each year, part-time students take fewer: typically 60 or 80 2. Part-time provision (sometimes 90). This determines the total length of their course. An example course structure is presented. 2.1 Range of part-time provision in HE STEM 3.3 Integration or separation Undergraduate qualifications that are available in part- When part-time students are taught together with time format range from Certificate to MEng; delivery full-time students, their value to the cohort as a can be on-campus or off-campus; part-time students whole can be realised; there may also be efficiency can be taught together with full-time students or gains. When part-time students are taught separately, separately, and there are benefits in both approaches; delivery and assessment can be suited to their part-time provision is typically timetabled as day-release, learning styles, and the timetable can suit part-time evenings, one- or two-week blocks, or weekends; it students with no disadvantage to full-timers. can be tailored for employers, or work-based; all these modes can contain elements of distance learning. 3.4 Timetable format 2.2 Part-time students Characteristics of alternative delivery formats are considered: day-release, blocks (one-week, There is no ‘typical part-time student’. Characteristics two-week), evenings, and weekends. and needs of part-time students in the workforce are related particularly to: previous education, age, employment experience, and time pressures. 3.5 Group work and project work Where part-time and full-time students take group 2.3 Employer perspectives projects together there may be educational benefits in forming mixed groups. However many departments We have held interviews with ten employers. In general, have turned away from this practice. There are some employers are supportive of their staff studying part- interesting educational issues involved, and we time, as a form of motivation and staff development. summarise these. Benefits of mixed groups come They are particularly supportive of technicians taking from the interaction between part-time and full-time qualifications like HNCs in engineering, then possibly students. One disadvantage is seen as the risk of progressing to degrees if they show sufficient aptitude lower student satisfaction (among part-timers). In some and commitment. Some employers would like more circumstances separate project briefs can allow part- input to curriculum design. Most of the employers time students to carry out projects that are work-based. fully fund the fees of their employees’ part-time study but generally require them to make up time during the week. The likely impact of higher fees is that employers 4. Support for part-time students will be more selective about who is supported. 4.1 General support 2.4 Value of part-time students Support for part-time students should match their They bring industry knowledge and experience, they needs; this includes easing time pressures through demonstrate the value of professional attributes effective timetabling, providing flexibility, and giving and working practices to full-time students, they advice to those who have been away from study. 2 Part-time students in the workforce – a guide to practice in course provision Designated year tutors for part-time students, and 6.3 Work-based learning good contacts with employers, are helpful. We focus on the Engineering Gateways initiative of the Engineering Council which allows working 4.2 Online resources engineers to gain the qualification that they Part-time students attach importance to the support might be lacking to become professionally they receive when they are off campus and much of qualified through work-based learning. this takes the form of electronic communication with staff and use of online learning resources. We give 7. Student view an example of web-based maths support provided at Aston to compensate for the difficulties part-time A questionnaire survey of part-time students at students face in attending on-campus maths support. the collaborating universities has been carried out. We present the findings under the subheadings: 4.3 Using distance learning contact/support, programme, timetable, other students, coursework, relevance, opportunity, In their use of online resources part-time students challenges, and promotion of courses. rely on elements of distance learning to support their studies. We also briefly consider OU-style distance learning. This approach to part-time study may make 8. Challenges and increasing participation the balancing of time commitments easier to manage compared with on campus attendance, but the 8.1 Challenges and barriers effects on motivation are thought to be negative.