Ben Robertson

This paper shares our work on developing a module that connects Work-Integrated Learning and Career Development Learning for the Arts and Humanities. Driving forward Leeds Beckett’s vision, mission and strategy, this innovative multidisciplinary collaborative project is woven from the needs of our students, the challenges faced by our business partners in the northern economy, and the insights of our community of academics. As we strive to improve graduate outcomes, the university is engaging with the perceived limitations of non-vocational degree courses, whilst recognising and promoting the opportunities open to Arts and Humanities students. Through collaboration with local employers we are demonstrating a shared understanding of graduates from these disciplines as creative, flexible and digitally confident people who will help shape current and future roles in business and industry. Having successfully competed for funding from the University’s Centre for Learning and Teaching, a team of students, academics, local and regional business partners, colleagues in employability services and experts in digital pedagogy have come together to design this online work placement module focused on the needs of Arts and Humanities students. A key aspect of the project is to explore how lessons can then be applied more widely across cognate disciplines. The module both articulates the work place experience into the disciplinary nuances of Arts and Humanities students, and disrupts these students’ frequently traditional expectations of what courses in these disciplines can contribute to the workplace. On completion of the module, students in their final year will have extended their understanding of potential career pathways founded upon earlier experiences of Career Development Learning, and will additionally recognise the advantages that accrue from their agility and strength when jobs and working lives are evolving rapidly in the era of the fourth industrial revolution. In actively shaping this project, our students introduced and then explored with us the concept of a ‘career cartography’ to help them navigate a future where linear career paths will no longer be the norm. This module will enable them to articulate their stories in the context of Working Integrated Learning, and also nurture the mind-set that they can shape the future with confidence that potential employers will recognise the contribution they can make. Students on this module will embark upon a twenty-day work placement, supported by reflective exercises, and building expertise and confidence through a range of assessments designed by the course team and employer partners. Conceptualised and designed by digital specialists, the module is purposefully created to be delivered and experienced online – reflecting the increasingly distributed nature of work communications and embracing digital environments as an integral aspect of how employees and the self-employed progress their careers. Importantly, the module is credit-bearing and, like any other module on their course, is a constitutive element of the student’s degree. Through the interaction of workplace learning, academic development, and sound digital pedagogy, this innovative online module will empower students in the Arts and Humanities to shape their working lives. Authors: Ward, Lisa J; Robertson, Ben; Cooper, Andrew R; Connor, Rachel A; Hewson, Edmund; Grund, Sarah; De Balsi, Amy; Storer, Adam; McDermott, Kat; Finch, Sally; Barton, Richard; Abdela, Rahma and Nicholls, Charlotte.