Pre-Conference Workshop Descriptions

Pre-Conference Workshop Descriptions

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Morning Workshops

9-11am: “Enhancing Students’ Employability: The Challenges and Opportunities” (ENGLISH)

One of the major outcomes of the university education is to enhance students’ employability when we no longer see universities as ivory towers. However, we are challenged with the great mission when we define the elusive concept of employability as an extremely long list of generic competencies. Worse still, we do not have sufficient researches to prescribe the most effective measures to actualize the tall agenda. WIL is one of the few commonly agreed platforms that contributes to enhance students’ employability. However employability is still something elusive to measure and WIL requires substantial investment of resources to operate. The workshop will engage participants to explore together how we can snatch the opportunities of the general consensus towards the potential benefits WIL; how we can maximize students’ learning and how we can help students to articulate the learning outcomes so that the claimed outcome of improved employability can be evidence-based.

9-11am: “How to Start/Enhance the Implementation of Work Integrated Learning for your Students” (ENGLISH)

If your University has not yet started any WIL, it may seem risky to make a start especially when the economy is not too promising. However, the threat of losing out in the graduates’ job markets may promise an opportunity for stakeholders to agree on the need to launch WIL in order to boost students’ employability. How should you start the planning and preparation to make a good head start that will work? The workshop will offer sharing of experience gathered from different approaches and mode of operation. Both the background of the economy, nature of profession/discipline, factors considered in the beginning and the lesson learned will be discussed. Participants will explore together for a comprehensive framework of consideration to start the implementation of WIL. The agenda will be relevant to those who have already had WIL in place and would like to explore for ways of improvement.

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Afternoon Workshops (就业指导工作坊)

1-3pm: “Enhancing Students’ Employability: The Challenges and Opportunities” (MANDARIN)

提升学生就业力：机遇和挑战

现今的高校已不再是象牙塔。高等教育其中一个重要的任务，就是增强同学的「就业力」。这当然比光重视「就业率」人性化。但甚么是就业力呢？社会、用人单位各持份者都会开出一条长长的清单，涵盖一系列的通才技能。如何能在大学课程中让所有同学达标，本身是一大挑战；更有什者是目前未有充份的研究结论，指向一个有效的教学方案。合作教育是少数大家都同意能为就业力增值的平台，可是就业力是较难量化的，而合作教育的推行，需要投放相当的资源，本工作坊旨在探讨如何抓紧合作教育的机遇，尽量去强化学生的学习经验，以及帮助学生去量化所学，引证合作教育在增强就业力的贡献。

1-3pm: “How to Start/Enhance the Implementation of Work Integrated Learning for your Students” (MANDARIN)

如何开展/强化在学实习的推行

目前经济前景仍未明朗，在此时此刻开展「合作教育」，似乎风险太大。但亦因为大气候不景，亦会是推行「合作教育」的契机。当持份者都要设法确保毕业生能够在就业市场占先，大家有共识试行合作教育的可能性亦会大增。高校应如何策划及准备，以致能成功推行合作教育呢？本工作坊将分享不同模式的经验：经济大气候，学科/行业的特性，推行时的考虑及总结。与会者一同构思一个全面的框架去考量应否及如何推展合作教育。在如何推展的步骤中，亦包括如何不断优化的机制，故这工作坊亦适合已实行合作教育的高校同工参与，分享经验，并思考如何继续进步。

1-4pm: “Work Integrated Learning – How to Engage Faculty and Access Outcomes” (ENGLISH)

Presenters

Dr. James R. Stellar

Provost

QueensCollege, CUNY

Professor Richard Porter

Professor & Chair of the Mathematics Department

Northeastern University

The success of Work Integrated Learning programs requires collaboration and support among multiple groups---faculty, staff, work-place partners, and students. In this workshop, we will examine strategies for engaging faculty, building collaborations across boundaries within and out of the college/university, and assessing student outcomes as well as the role that assessment itself can play in building and sustaining collaborations. Through a combination of presentations and group discussions, participants will leave with a variety of strategies and steps to apply to their own work in WIL programs.