Constructing Online Work-Based Learning Placements

'This is a timely addition to the discourse on employability, written in an engaging and accessible way. The book provides an important resource to practitioners, academics, and pracademics alike to enhance the success of their WBL offer. It offers a clear link between theory and practice, culminating in a workbook that provides a thoughtful and considered level of practical support, submersing the reader into genuine action to develop online WBL placements.'
—Stuart Norton, Senior Adviser in Learning and Teaching for Advance HE, UK'Work Based Learning (WBL) and the development of employability skills have been growing, sometimes quietly, as an academic topic for decades. This book shines a spotlight on WBL as a key part of the curriculum, highlighting the body of knowledge that underpins and endorses what is often an undervalued subject area and focuseing on an outstanding example of (to paraphrase Plato) ‘need being the creator’. COVID-19 was the experiment that no one wanted. The higher education sector and, in particular, WBL were hit significantly, with the cancellation of work placements across all disciplines. This was a major blow to the students who relied on these experiences to embed their theoretical knowledge in practice and to gain the essential employability skills that employers want. In such a challenging time, creative approaches were needed to ensure that the students gained essential skills, and PEEP was born. If you want to gain a deeper understanding of WBL and its evolution and importance in higher education; to reinforce or endorse an argument for the development of WBL; or to develop online learning placements using a toolkit, then look no further. This book has it all.'
—Francesca Walker-Martin, Reader in Work Based Learning at the University of Central Lancashire, UK, and Chair of ASET, the Work Based Learning and Placement Learning Association'If you want to know about approaches to design pedagogies, assessment, and implementation to support online work-based learning placements, this book is for you. I recommend this book because it is timely and significant in the post-COVID context. Professor Lisa Taylor has comprehensively discussed models, strategies, and pedagogical and assessment activities to support relevant stakeholders to better engage with online work-based learning placements and enhance students’ employability.'
—Thanh Pham, Senior Lecturer in Graduate Employability, Globalisation, and Intercultural Education in the School of Education, Culture, and Society at Monash University, Australia'High quality work-based learning placements are essential to ensure optimal preparation of students for their ‘life-wide and life-long employability journeys’. This robustly evidenced resource offers the pedagogical and organisational principles to be considered in the design and delivery of work-based learning placement opportunities. It offers a vital underpinning to the transformation of learning and online learning opportunities seen in recent years and is transferable across all sectors. This resource has broad value to work-based educators and academics innovating and pushing the boundaries of work-based learning opportunities across the globe, and its sound pedagogical underpinning to virtual learning opportunities will ensure sustained efficacy, value, and uptake. I congratulate and thank the authors for their invaluable and courageous leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic, driving online work-based learning opportunities with sound pedagogical foundations, academic support, and evaluation to sustain the transformation to modern work-based learning.'
—Beverley Harden, MBE, National AHP Lead, Deputy Chief AHP (England), and Multi-Professional Advanced & Consultant Practice Lead at Health Education England, and Visiting Professor at the University of Winchester, UK'The global higher education sector has had to find innovative and, in most cases, technology-enabled ways of teaching and ensuring that students continue to gain real-world work experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic Higher education institutes are increasingly under pressure to provide high-quality work-based learning opportunities for students through innovative means to support development of their GPS (global professional skills) and improve their long-term employment outcomes through assessment by employers regardless of their location. This book is a potential game-changer for institutions looking to develop high-quality online work placements for students, providing a practical and rigorous end-to-end framework covering access, quality, scale, technology, curriculum, paedology, and assessment. It will support faculty, students, and employers in delivering a sustainable, innovative, and high-quality online learning experience that is outcomes-focused and enhances student employability—an increasingly critical aspect of higher education.'
—Cameron Mirza,Chief of Party for USAID Pre-Service Teacher Education in Jordan and Board Member for the Global Impact Initiative