Bridging the Gap Between Working Life and Education
Aalto, Esa; Jaakkola, Anjuli; Tallgren, Taru; Uusitalo, Tero (2019)
International Academy of Technology, Education and Development
2019
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202001142111
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe202001142111
Tiivistelmä
Working life is changing faster than ever, and the expectations of working life are not often being met by the present higher education system. Working life in the future is expected to emphasize skills such as; learning capability, problem solving, leadership, social influencing and emotional intelligence. Currently higher educational institutions are looking for ways to provide their students with the needed competences to meet the demands of modern, rapidly changing working life.
This paper examines the ways that the Learning by Developing (LbD) strategy-based Peer to Peer (P2P) project learning model generates working life skills and whether it can be used to bridge the gap the working life and education. LbD is the pedagogical strategy of Laurea University of Applied Sciences (LUAS) and P2P is the project learning model used in the bachelor studies of business administration. The P2P projects are based on collaborative work between three parties: Lecturers working as project instructors, a P2P student team and a working life partner. The P2P model enables students to complete their degree in curriculum compatible research and development projects for real working life partners.
The discussion in this article is based on a study that was carried out to learn more about three themes around the working life skills generated by the P2P project learning model: soft skills (transferrable skills), hard skills (concrete skills) and additional benefits such as ready networks or work experience. The study was implemented with semi-structured focused interviews of nine P2P graduates working in different phases of their early careers. The interviews were analyzed, and the findings were then categorized into the three earlier mentioned themes. The purpose of the study was to examine whether the P2P project learning model generates the competences that are expected to have an increasing demand in the future working life. The results can be utilized in developing educational models and as material for further studies. The study offers insight to the effectiveness of the P2P project learning model for producing future working life skills.
This paper examines the ways that the Learning by Developing (LbD) strategy-based Peer to Peer (P2P) project learning model generates working life skills and whether it can be used to bridge the gap the working life and education. LbD is the pedagogical strategy of Laurea University of Applied Sciences (LUAS) and P2P is the project learning model used in the bachelor studies of business administration. The P2P projects are based on collaborative work between three parties: Lecturers working as project instructors, a P2P student team and a working life partner. The P2P model enables students to complete their degree in curriculum compatible research and development projects for real working life partners.
The discussion in this article is based on a study that was carried out to learn more about three themes around the working life skills generated by the P2P project learning model: soft skills (transferrable skills), hard skills (concrete skills) and additional benefits such as ready networks or work experience. The study was implemented with semi-structured focused interviews of nine P2P graduates working in different phases of their early careers. The interviews were analyzed, and the findings were then categorized into the three earlier mentioned themes. The purpose of the study was to examine whether the P2P project learning model generates the competences that are expected to have an increasing demand in the future working life. The results can be utilized in developing educational models and as material for further studies. The study offers insight to the effectiveness of the P2P project learning model for producing future working life skills.