Adam Jones (School of Sport and Service Management) Jayson Short (Senior Career Development Adviser) Craig Wakefield (Information Services)

1. Studentfolio, employability and social media
skills, is there a case to be made?
Adam Jones
School of Sport and Service Management
Jayson Short
Senior Career Development Adviser
Craig Wakefield
Information Services

2. Background to the project
• University of Brighton Learning and Teaching Strategy
2012-15
Sector leading digital offer – e/blended learning in
the curriculum, student and staff skills developed
All students supported in skill development and able
to access and work with digital offer
Mobile learning is used effectively and efficiently.
Increasing use of e Assessment for formative and
summative assessment
• Provide employability skills to students
• Make the process of assessment easier and
Replace the lever arch file

3. Preparation and Delivery
• Compulsory L 5 second semester placement – 20
credits of which is the reflective folio
• Linked placement preparation sessions into
developing student folio presence
• Students to create an online profile
• Refresher session as part of mid placement workshop
• Engaged and recruited a final year student as project
assistant to develop resources and possible template.
• T and L Resource commitment
• Set up and training 25 hours
• Virtual – a handful of emails’

4. Preparation Placement Hand in
Oct Jan May June
Placement
Preparation
Sessions
6 x 1 hr sessions
(JS)
Pre
Placement
Check
1 hr session
(CW)
Refresher
Session
1 hr
session
(CW/JS)
Module Timeline

5. Employability Agenda and Social Media
• The Government, Universities, students, prospective
students and especially parents are putting greater emphasis
on the employability prospects of graduates.
• There is an expectation by employers that graduates will, in
addition to the usual skills and attributes associated with
employability be au-fait with the use of online social media
(Benson et al 2014).
• Today’s younger generation are ‘native speakers’ of the
digital language of computers video games and the internet
(Prensky, 2004). They may be au fait with the digital world
however ‘considerable variation exists even among fully
wired college students’ (Hargittai 2010: 108)
• “Digital Fluency” whilst a subjective term, employers tended
to refer to Digital Fluency in the context of being able to
interpret information, discover meaning, design content,
construct knowledge, and communicate ideas in a digitally
connected world (2016 Career Design Employer Survey)

6. Consider your own Digital Fluency
• being able to interpret information, discover meaning,
design content, construct knowledge, and communicate
ideas in a digitally connected world
(2016 Career Design Employer Survey)

8. Consider your own Digital Professional
Identity…..

9. Ref: University of West
of Scotland

10. Research methodology
• There is a need for research into an area that has the potential to
impact on professional social networking, recruitment and
employability skills generally (Kearns 2001).
• Case study approach
• Context-dependent information (Baxter and Jack, 2008; Flyvbjerg,
2006), with experiential knowledge (Stake, 2000) and helps to
understand the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ of phenomena, rather than
merely the ‘what’ (see Tsang, 2014) and ‘a good case study will
therefore want to use as many sources as possible’ (Yin 2003:85)
 Pre placement - survey results (24) focus group (6), questions
raised by students
 During and post placement - submissions (n30) interviews with
students (n5), employers (3) and academics (n3)
 Reflection during the process

11. • Submissions 87% complete and correct (n30)
• Submitted to folio but not Tii (1)
• Submitted to Tii but not folio (1)
• Submitted but did not include access to their
evidence (2)
• Pieces of evidence ranged 36 to 180
• Most used template – with personalization
• 21 different types of evidence included
Use of student folio

12. Academics Perspective
The External examiner
“The move to the online repository of evidence and the blog type
approach is a good move though and I'm sure this will be a big help
going forward”
“I really liked the one page summary to help explain what the placement
was about. Some scope here for films, audio , images etc to be used to
help promote the good work on the unit”
The tutor
“The bonus was no folders fell apart or information put in the wrong
order. It was easier to view the supporting information especially with the
hyperlinks but the (physical) portfolio was easier to flick through”
“It would be great to be trained in annotating the folio on line and not
having turnitin used for the critical reflections as this just added to
confusion so one folio submission would be great”

13. Student feedback
Organised into 3 key themes:
• Thoughts of (professional) social media importance
• Using Studentfolio
• Role of Studentfolio

14. 1. Thoughts of Social Media importance
Student perspective
• Prolific users of Social Media
• Less engaged in ‘professional use’ – e.g. LinkedIn
• Mixed feelings about the role of professional online
identity.
• Students as ‘consumers’ of social media, no
translation into professionalism (Beetham, &
White,2014)

15. “Online sources are now the main hub for employability,
therefore (this) has allowed me to begin key process for
my employment in the future”
Student, Pre Placement Survey
“Fail to see the point of the whole online profile in terms
of how it will make me more employable”
Student, Pre Placement Survey

16. 1. Thoughts of Social Media importance
Employer perspective
• Employers reinforced the importance of tools such as
LinkedIn when ‘researching’ applicants and
networking.

17. “With all the students that we have had in the past, we
have looked at their LinkedIn profiles or their Facebook
profiles just to get a bit more information about them”
Employer, post placement interview
“LinkedIn is something that I would look at. I would look
at their previous employers and I would also look at ...
their profile and see if there are any things that stick out
to me, that makes me think they would be an asset to our
company.”
Employer, post placement interview

18. 2. Using Studentfolio
Student perspective
• Once they got to grips with it, the tool was simple to
use
• Support was great but could have been introduced
earlier
• Timing/relevance of sessions could be improved
• Online help was beneficial
• Felt that with most new systems, there was a learning
curve but ‘they would get there’

19. “I thought that it would be nicer to have hard copies. I
like it more ... it is simpler and (its) actually easier. And it
would be better for everybody to deliver as a hard copy”
Student, Pre Placement Survey
“But the thing is this, it is a nice tool and it is the future –
it is what we do. The future is this.”
Student, Pre Placement Survey

20. 3. Role of Studentfolio
Student perspective
• Some felt Studentfolio isn’t needed – LinkedIn and a
CV would suffice.
• Some felt it was very beneficial

21. “I think this folio is really important to
graduates. And especially if they …. create
a solid one, then I think if the employer has
the time then they can look through it and
hopefully it will have good evidence
Student, Post Placement Interview
“ePortfolio is a good way of presenting my
skills and interests to employers and others
as it is a simple and effective tool that
enables people to express themselves.”
Student, Pre Placement Survey
“It is something extra to offer to an
application. But, I don't think it includes
anything a CV doesn't already have.”
Student, Pre Placement Survey
“Useful, yet not completely necessary.”
Student, Pre Placement Survey

22. 3. Role of Studentfolio
Employer perspective
• Deciding factor at the sharp end of recruitment
• Needed to be specific
• Ideal for graduates with limited employment history

23. “I would say it is useful. For me personally it would have
to be very specific because with all due respect I haven’t
necessarily got time to read through a whole CV. And
then come and look at a profile, alongside looking at a
LinkedIn profile. So it would ... it would have to have
specific things that would stand out to me, for me to
perhaps use this”
Employer, post placement interview
“….at a later stage, when choosing between candidates,
to be able to see what their skills were and what they
have produced in the past.”
Employer, post placement interview

24. Employability Framework
Employability Skills Framework, University of Brighton

25. Business
Studentfolio
LinkedIn
Studentfolio
LinkedIn
CV
CV
Importance of online professional tools
Creative?

26. Reflection and next steps
• Developments for next year
• Co-creation
• Monitor usage in L6
• Recommendations
• Introduce early into degree and build into the CPA
• Peer assisted support sessions/SLTA pilot
• Part of assessment
• Clarity of what folio is delivering – skills,
awareness, folio of evidence (technical) or
opportunity to showcase (creative)
• Clarity of what is expected

27. In your course(s), is digital professional identity
& employability addressed?
What role do we play in developing these skills?
Takeaway Questions

28. Baxter, P. and Jack, S. (2008). Qualitative case study methodology: Study design and implementation for novice researchers. The
Qualitative Report, 13(4), 544-559
Benson, V., Morgan, S. and Filippaios, F., (2014) Social career management: Social media and employability skills gap. Computers in
Human Behavior, 30, pp.519-525.
Beetham, H., & White, D. (2014). Students' expectations and experiences of the digital environment. Bristol, UK.
Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). Five misunderstandings about case study research. Qualitative Inquiry, 12(2), 219-245.
Hargittai E (2010) Digital na (t) ives? Variation in internet skills and uses among members of the ‘net generation’. Sociological Inquiry
80(1): 92–113.
Kearns, P., (2001) Generic Skills for the New Economy. Review of Research. National Centre for Vocational Education Research,
Leabrook, Australia.
Prensky M (2004) The emerging online life of the digital native. Available at: http://www.marcprensky. com/writing/Prensky-
The_Emerging_Online_Life_of_the_Digital_Native-03.pdf(accessed 10 November 2014).
Tsang, E. W.K. (2014). Generalizing from research findings: The merits of case studies. International Journal of Management Reviews,
16, 369-383.
University of Brighton (2013) Learning and Teaching Strategy 2012-15 setting the agenda for 2020. Available
at http://about.brighton.ac.uk/clt/index.php/download_file/view/243/107/. accessed 28th June 2016
References