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Developing Student Employability
Through The Creation Of Online
Professional Identities
Using Learning Technologies to Develop
Employability Skills Workshop
Thomas Lancaster
Thursday, 11 July 2013

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Employability In Context

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Why I’m Interested
In Employability
Thomas Lancaster
Senior Lecturer in Computing at Birmingham
City University
Programme Leader BSc Computer Science
Teach Professional/Employability Skills
HEA TDG Funded Research “Improving
Industrial Sandwich Year Placements For
Computing Students”
Developed and Delivered HEA Employability
and Online Professional Identity Workshops
Social Media Advocate

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Not Just Computing!
Online Professionalism is equally valid for all academic
subjects
Students should be expected to be fully computer
literate in order to gain professional employment
An Online Professional Identity is one of the clearest methods
through which a student can demonstrate their computer
literacy

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The Difference Maker?

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How Do Students
Become Employed?
Traditionally, they showcase their skills and
perform well during an employment selection
process

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Like This?
http://www-05.ibm.com/employment/uk/graduate-programmes/apply/index.shtml

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The Problem
The student has done little to set themselves
apart from their competition
The “so what…” factor

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We Can Help Our
Students Show More
Work Experience
Assignments Simulating
Industry
Industrial Sandwich Year
Placements
Participation In Student
Competitions
Portfolio Of Work
Interest In Their Subject
Outside The Classroom
Evidence Of Entrepreneurship
Project or Dissertation
Tailored Towards
Employment

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Applications Are
Dead
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203750404577173031991814896.html

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Social Media
Provides Jobs
1 in 6 American job seekers found their most recent job
through social media
40% attributed this to LinkedIn
78% to Facebook
42% to Twitter
“I wasn't scouted. I involved myself in a brand's
Facebook page and a company which works
with that brand took an interest in me and
offered me a job.”
Zachary Chastain
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/16/social-recruiting

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Online Identity Is Important

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Employers Know About
Online Identities
http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic

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Students Need To
Showcase Their Brand
http://www.ashleyksmith.com

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Some More
http://www.adamtsmith.co.uk
http://www.alaurentiu.com
http://ayeshaprofessionalpresence.webnode.com

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The Technical Side
This looks difficult
But, setting up an online professional identity is
well within the technical ability of most students
No web design experience needed

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Third Party Services
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rizhwan
http://portfolio.bcu.ac.uk/user/view.php?id=59163

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To Include
Minimally
Professional Email Address
Google Account
LinkedIn
Facebook
Twitter
Ideally
Own Website

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Control What Other People
See

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Direct Control
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog

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A Few Others…
http://www.youtube.com/user/DrThomasLancaster
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/ctn/our-staff/thomas-lancaster

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How I Get Students Involved

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I Teach And Assess This
Professional Practice UG2 (over 2012-2013 year)
Level 5 (Year 2) module taken as part of BSc Computer
Science and BSc Business Information Technology
Approximately 120 students
Including Direct Entry students
15 credits
Taught over 20 weeks (19 teaching weeks)
Module covers employability and project/research skills

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Employability Content
Week Topic Week Topic
1 Online Professional
Representation
5 Personal Development
Planning
2 The Placement Selection
Process
6 Assessment Centre
Simulation
3 CV Writing And Application
Forms
7 Time Management And
Planning
4 Aptitude Tests 8 Interview Techniques

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Assessment
Create a Professional Online Presence (using your own
website or one other delivery platform of your choice)
This should support placement and job applications
(encourage real life use)
This should show creativity (and answer the “so what?”
question)
The Professional Online Presence should include:
Appropriate information to present you in a positive light
CV
2 year Personal Development Plan

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Does It Work?

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Some Findings
Students generally seem appreciative of the
practical approach to employability incorporated
into the module
Many seem shocked that employers and
academics know about social media (their secret
home)
Highest take up is with using LinkedIn, which few
students had a profile on before teaching

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Some Challenges
Difficult to encourage involvement from
international students
Some students remove their Online Professional
Identities after assessment, or do not wish to
engage with employability
Need to encourage teaching staff to “lead by
example”
Getting students to actively market themselves
requires an approach across more than one module

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To Find Out More

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Slides And Resources
HEA Computing Workshops
“Enhancing The Employability Of Computing Students Through An Online
Professional Presence” (slides and teaching resources)
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/employability-workshop
“Professional Presences for Academics”
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/9-May-Birmingham-STEM
Other External Sessions
HEA STEM Conferences 2012 (Workshop) and 2013 (Paper and Talk)
British Computer Society – Cheltenham and Gloucester Branch (Talk)

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Contact Details
Thomas Lancaster:
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk
thomas.lancaster@bcu.ac.uk
Or Tweet Me:
@DrLancaster
Slides Available At:
http://slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster