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4.7.5. Course teaching methods

The universities’ virtual learning environment (VLE) (Blackboard) is used to deliver
e-learning. During the development phase, part of the funding was used to employ an
e-developer to customise this to meet the needs of students on the new programme. All
students are enrolled on a range of modules linked into the VLE and expected to use this to:
• access course materials;
• follow up references and library links (e.g. to electronic journals);
• participate in discussion forums (thus ensuring a richer experience for all learners,
including those undertaking the distance learning option).
Distance learners participate through online discussions and telephone contact with their
personal tutor at the university and their workplace practice tutor.
E-learning is also supported by personal development planning (PDP), with the aim of
encouraging more personal reflection and consideration of employability skills. Learners on
the postgraduate qualification in career guidance and development use a
password-protected e-portfolio, where they document reflections from their experiences, thus
encouraging their development as reflective practitioners. There is also a dedicated module
on reflective guidance practice.
The initial review of training provision had identified a need to increase student
understanding and experience of the workplace. This has been addressed in the
postgraduate programme through:
• identification of 60 staff members from across Careers Scotland willing to act as practice
tutors to support the practice-based element of the course by mentoring students;
• periods of work experience in different work settings.
The practice tutors act as ‘the expert in the field’ and can support the learners by offering
a workplace perspective. In the first pilot year of the course, all practice tutors are staff of
Careers Scotland. Contact by e-mail, phone or in person enables students to discuss details
of assignments and the practice tutor to point the student in the right direction, but in a way
that encourages self-reliance rather than dependency. In certain circumstances, and in
consultation with the student, practice tutors may become involved with assessment at the
workplace, but it is recognised that this changes the dynamics of the relationship with the
learner. It is also hoped that the involvement of Careers Scotland staff in this way will
facilitate the development of a professional discourse and more reflective practice within the
company itself, as staff come into contact with new ideas and existing approaches are
challenged.
Full-time students undertake six weeks of work-experience placements in career guidance
settings during the first year of study. At the University of the West of Scotland the
placements are not assessed as such, but tutors receive feedback from the workplace
contact on the contribution made by the student, and the student prepares a commentary;
these form the basis for a post-placement discussion between tutor and student. Work
placements also provide a setting in which to practise some of the key skills in one-to-one
and group work skills with clients.

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