Work-based Learning Webinars

Now a warm welcome to everyone that's on this call.

There will be plenty of opportunity for question and answers, so once I've finished the PowerPoint slides, please do ask as many questions, and me and Fiona can answer them.

Then we'll pass over to Sophie, who's an existing student, and again, there'll be plenty of time for questions to Sophie.

And then again at the end, any more questions.

So I've got a few slides to go through.

I won't spend too much time on them, but don't panic if there's any questions you forget about, you can just email Learning at Work, or telephone us and those details will be on the last slide.

So, as Fiona said there are degrees are work-based,and they're effectively a partnership between the employer, the University and the student.

So as a student you will enrol with us, you'll be supported in the University by a tutor and a Learning Manager, but also you can allocate a workplace mentor in your workplace who can support you as well.

And the reason you need the workplace mentor is because you will complete work-based projects and these are live real projects that are going on in work that you will lead on and therefore that's why you need the support of your workplace.

So as Fiona mentioned, you can see there we've got quite a lot of different course titles, both at undergraduate, which is degree level, level six and also at Master's, which is level seven.

So we first of all got up the top left there a certificate in higher education, level four.

So that's equivalent to a HNC, that's 120 credits.

So that's really a qualification for someone as their first step into HE, but they don't want to go for the first degree.

You can do that certificate and then if you wish to carry on you can then study the remaining 240 credits to get your degree.

You can see at undergraduate level we've got different course titles, Business, Engineering, They're are two most popular titles, but again, you can see we've got other titles like Computing and Science, Maritime Studies as well.

So as Fiona mentioned, there's pretty much a course title that will fit with most people's workplace or industry background.

But again, if any of those titles don't fit, then you can do professional studies at both undergraduate or Master's.

So moving on to the Masters, you can see again that we've got the similar course titles, but we've just got a few extra there, so we do, do Occupational Health and Safety courses that are accredited by IOSH or IEMA.

So you can see at the bottom right there there's a couple of full Masters 180 credits, but at the top right there you can see we've got a PG Cert, which is 60 credits for Occupational Health and Safety.

So if any of you have got a Health and Safety background, you're a Health and Safety Manager, for example, those are very good qualifications to get, which means you're then accredited to IOSH or IEMA.

So what are the benefits of Learning at Work?

So Learning at Work is slightly different in that our courses are for people in work, that's full time, part time, voluntary or internships, and so there's no need to come to the Portsmouth campus.

You can if you want to, but most of our students work and study wherever they live around the world.

We've got students from all around the UK, the EU, but also Internationally.

So the benefits there as it states, you can gain a university qualification without taking a career break, which means there's no financial hit to you.

You can still be working, earning a salary and study around your work.

Opportunity to achieve professional recognition, which we'll come on to, so some of the professional bodies.

You can also tailor your learning so you can select different modules and work-based projects to fit in with your studies.

You can set your own timetable and certain elements, but obviously there are set deadlines for other assignments.

As Fiona mentioned at the start, we can recognise any previous qualifications you've got, both UK and International qualifications.

So if you studied, for example in New Zealand or Nigeria, then we can recognise those qualifications and we would assess them and we would try to allocate you credits.

So that's a very effective way for you to study less credits, which is also cheaper for you as well.

And as I mentioned at the start, you get assigned a tutor and that tutor is someone with an industry background and you get a tutor assigned to you that has a similar industry background, whether it's Nuclear Engineering or Business or Leadership or Maritime or Health and Safety.

And you also get a Learning Manager assigned to you, and that would be someone like myself or Fiona, one of the academics that will oversee your whole study programme.

So that's just a nice picture of one of our ex-students there in the Military.

So as we involve people from the private sector, Military, the public sector, pretty much it doesn't matter where you work, but we do have quite a number of people from a Military background and that lady studied on the Health and Safety course with us.

And you can see the quote she's put there.

Also there's benefits to your employer as well.

So as well is you gaining a qualification and new knowledge and skills.

There's a benefit to your employer.

If you enrol with a Learning at Work course because one, you'll pass up best practise that you would learn on to other employees, you would complete those work based projects, as I mentioned before, which are valuable to the workplace.

Obviously better qualified staff, and there's no need for you to come to the University for day release so you can fit your studies around, work even the evening or weekends, or you can ask for work time off during the day if you wish to.

And obviously the benefits to the employers, you're going to be more motivated.

So some nice benefits for the employer.

Again, a nice little quote there from one of our ex students.

So you can see that, you know, the benefits both to the individual and the employer are quite, quite good.

So it's nice to see those quotes.

Now, just a little bit more detail on how your studies will work.

So effectively.

You can see at the top there, you'll bring in maybe some kind of recognised prior learning.

You don't have to, but a lot of our students do.

So they can be UK qualifications, but also they can be qualifications from around the world as well.

So if we do allocate you credits, that means you've got less credits to study.

You can also build a portfolio of experience.

So if this means where you don't have a previous qualification, you can actually build a portfolio based on your experience and we can allocate credits for that.

Then you'll study sometimes a mandatory learning management module which will prepare your study.

So research methods that will help you to prepare for HE.

Then you can select some optional distance learning modules.

Some students can come on campus, but pretty much all our students would do that distance learning.

And then you add some work based projects as well.

And effectively the combination of all those elements then allow you to get the Bachelor's degree, which is 360 credits or a Master's degree at 180 credits.

So effectively every learner will have a unique learning programme with us because they all come in with different recognised prior learning, and they will all select different optional distance learning modules and they will all select different work-based projects.

So you can see it's quite a nice, unique programme.

So again, we've talked about recognised prior learning so effectively, it allows you to qualify quicker because you're allocated credits.

So we will consider both qualifications and professional experience, as I've mentioned.

We recognise standard qualifications from a wide range of awarding bodies, so Pearson, ILM qualify, ABE, so lots of UK awarding bodies.

So we can also take into account the local qualifications.

So those are International qualifications, so we can assess those as well.

As I've mentioned before, you can do a portfolio of evidence through the experience you've gained through, say, working 10-15 years in work at a high level, management level, but you've not got a formal qualification.

We can assess that and allocate credits for that.

And also, depending on what rank you are in the Armed Forces, we can also sometimes allocate new credits because we can understand the training that you've gone through with the Armed Forces.

So you can see lots of different ways to get credits, which is is really quite valuable.

I mentioned before the professional recognition, so this is a list of some professional bodies that we partner with.

So if I just choose one example, the IET, you could then apply to the IET and either get technician or Chartered Engineer status, for example.

So if that's something that you want to do we can direct you to these professional bodies and make sure then that you are communicating with them and that your study programme is recognised and allows you, for example, to go for Chartered Engineer status, which can be very valuable to you as an individual, but also your career and your salary in the longer term.

So again, a nice picture there of one of our ex-students, really picking up on the work-based projects.

So what's really good about the work-based projects is you as the learner can select a project and we will work with you to agree with it and agree that it is a level six or level seven project.

But it could be, for example, implementing a new bit of software into your business.

Or it could be looking at leadership and management theories, practice in your workplace, could be looking at a new maintenance plan in a workshop.

It really doesn't matter what the project is, it's just a project that you would lead and drive on in the workplace.

So one, you benefit from that because you understand how to lead and manage your project from start to end and write a report.

But also your employer will benefit from that project because it's a real project that you're going to implement.

So how will we support you throughout this whole process?

So if you do decide to enrol with us, as I mentioned at the start, you can select a workplace partner in your employment.

So that could be your Line Manager or someone else.

You'll get a dedicated University tutor to support you, and that tutor is a subject specialist.

You'll get a Learning Manager like myself and Fiona, who you can get support from.

Then if you choose any of those distance learning modules then you'll get a Module Coordinator who delivers that module and assesses it, so that person will support you as well.

And also you'll get an introductory learning management module which helps you to devise your learning contracts, your projects, your research, and how to write a report so that most students will go through that as well.

So you can see lots of different ways that you'll be supported, and the final way you'll be supported is we have a fantastic administration team who would answer your phone calls and emails if you've got any queries.

So what are the entry requirements?

Well the great thing about Learning at Work is we have no standard entry requirements.

We assess everyone on their previous knowledge and experience and you know what kind of job you are, have you come from the Military background.

So that's quite unique.

So it means that there's far more flexibility for you to be able to enrol on the course.

So if you are thinking about applying for us, we enrol in January and September each year.

So our next enrolment would be January 23.

So if you're thinking about that, you'll need to get the application in quite quickly.

But if you miss that, we enrol then again in September 23.

So we do recommend you email us first, talk to us, we can get an idea of your background and then give you better guidance on which course is best for you.

So you can apply online.

So the Learning at Work website has got all those different course titles I showed you in a previous slide.

But as I said, we strongly recommend you email us first because we can get all those details off you and maybe, for example, assess your previous qualifications and then give you a better idea on the way forward.

And there's our contact details at the bottom there.

So you can see our email is learningatwork@port.ac.uk.

You've got the telephone number there and you can just search for 'work-based degrees' on our website.

But email us any time and we will respond to that.

So there you go.

So there's all the slides from me.

So if anyone's got any questions then please do ask or put them into the chat.