Work-based Learning, Web Media Production and the Social Media sector: A case Study
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Summary of publication: Riley, T. (2017) ‘Work-based learning for the creative industries: a case study of the development of BA (Hons) web design and social media’, Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Emerald Publishing, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2017 pp.79-91
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Work-based Learning, Web Media Production and the Social Media sector: A case Study
- 1. Work-based learning, web media production and the social media sector: A case study Dr. Tim Riley Department of Media and Performing Arts Middlesex University
- 2. Summary of publication: January 2017 ‘Work-based learning for the creative industries: a case study of the development of BA (Hons) web design and social media’, Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, Emerald Publishing, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2017 pp.79-91 Presentation is adapted from: HE Academy – Arts and Humanities teaching and learning conference Brighton Waterfront hotel on the 4th March 2016
- 3. Offers a range of degree level courses that encourage the innovative use of digital technologies in design and communications.
- 4. Current site since 2010: Greenwich Peninsula Ravensbourne today
- 5. Context Higher education is in a “state of flux” The regulation of higher education: discussion paper no.77, LSE (Black, J. et al. 2015:1)
- 6. The Project • Exploring Higher Apprenticeships in HE • HEFCE funded Catalyst Fund: “to drive innovation in the HE sector” (HEFCE, 2014a). • Developed by Southampton Solent University in association with Creative Skillset. • Developing and promoting: “seven new Higher Apprenticeship degree programmes during a twelve- month pilot phase” (HEFCE, 2014b). • To established and explore the role of universities in higher apprenticeship development (Anderson et al., 2012).
- 7. 1. Student funding and loan repayments • Coalition 2010 reforms increased tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000. • Only 5% of students will pay back their debt in full by the age of 40 (Crawford and Jin, 2014:1). • Almost three-quarters of graduates will not pay back their loans in full (ibid.). • Average debt of around £30,000 to be written off (ibid.). • Publicly owned student debt in England will rise to £1 trillion by late 2040s (Bolton, 2015:16).
- 8. 2. UK Skills gap • OECD (2015) indicate that the skills gap in the UK is wider than other developed countries. • The British Chamber of Commerce (2014) found that 54% of businesses consider that graduates are unprepared for the workplace. • A House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills states: “a shortage of medium- and high-level digital skills in the UK” (2015:44). • Creative industries accounted for 1.7 million jobs in 2013. • That’s 5.6 per cent of UK jobs – now worth £76.9 billion per year to
- 9. Government proposals and initiatives 1. Higher or Degree Apprenticeships • 2015 Conservative manifesto: create 3m new apprenticeships over the next Parliament. • Expansion of higher and degree apprenticeships. • 2015 autumn statement Osborne announced the introduction of an employer levy (from May 2017) to help fund apprenticeships and raise £3 billion by 2019-20 (HM Treasury, 2015:15)*. * Apprenticeship Levy: will affect employers in all sectors. The levy will only be paid on annual pay bills in excess of £3 million. Less than 2% of UK employers will pay it.
- 10. Government proposals and initiatives 2. Trailblazers • Designed to encourage potential employers fund and develop apprenticeships programmes in partnership with further and higher education institutions.
- 11. Government proposals and initiatives 2. Trailblazers
- 12. The Project Requirements of the HEFCE funding stipulated that: • Provide work-based learning provision • Should be offered as a two-year fast-track. Intention to: • Help reduce the increased financial burden placed on students arising from the rise in HE tuition fees.
- 13. Course development and structure • WBL model was adapted from an existing 3 year, BA (Hons.) Web Media Production • Course title: Web Design and Social Media • Reflect the exponential growth of social media- orientated jobs and companies within the industry
- 14. Course development and structure Dual trajectory: WBL provision and two-year fast- track. • Extend course to four terms. • Students are employed September to September. • “Bootcamps”: intense period of university learning. • Academically front loaded. • Intensive, work-based, blended delivery.
- 16. Timetable
- 17. Course development and structure WBL units • WBL 1 – partnership employer research project (level 4). • WBL 2 – defined, specific task within a team (level 5). • WBL 3 – an individual task set by employer (level 6). • WBL 4 – self-directed project within company (level 6).
- 18. Course development and structure Value of WBL • Undertaking a personal project in the workplace with technical, practical and intellectual support of the university. • Build a portfolio of real-world industry produced work. • Gain valuable experience and knowledge of working in their chosen industry. • Create a significant self-directed industry project/s that will aid in their quest for employment.
- 19. Student recruitment • Initial recruitment target at 16 students. • The application process through UCAS ‘subject to validation’. • By February 2015 applications had risen to 30. • “No Brainer” response: • Two years. • Qualification. • “Earn while you learn”.
- 20. Engaging with partnership employers Institutionally challenging due to: • Timescale of project. • The growth of the web industry, while rapid, is still embryonic. • Many employers, particularly in social media, remain micro businesses.
- 21. Engaging with partnership employers Small and micro companies were highly responsive to the concept of WBL and degree apprenticeships. • Limited to one student. • Many employers involved. • New employers every year (constant recruitment). • Demanded a high level of administration and communication between students and employers.
- 22. Funding • Conducted outside the Trailblazer programme. • Trailblazers: lengthy process of development. • Micro businesses found the programme resource and time intensive and unaffordable. • Outlay of the learning provider fee and the apprentice’s salary prohibitive. • Trailblazer initiative is more suited to larger employers with greater resources.
- 23. Outcome • The course not followed through to validation. • Difficulty of combining WBL model within a two-year fast track. • Developing enough employer partnerships in time. • Strategy for continued employer recruitment. • Further development as a three-year WBL course is in progress.
- 24. Conclusions • Concerns over the ‘cannibalisation’ of traditional courses. • Integration of WBL model within course structure. • Constant recruitment of employers. • Address loss of employer provision. • Diversity of employer discipline's within sector. • Funding model for small and micro businesses.
- 25. Thank you Dr. Tim Riley www.timrileydigital.com @timfrantic
- 26. References Anderson, A., Bravenboer, D. & Hemsworth, D. (2012), The role of universities in higher apprenticeship development. Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, Media and Technology, 2:3, pp. 240-255. Black, J. et al. (2015) The regulation of higher education, Discussion paper no.77, Centre for analysis and risk, London School of Economics p.1 Bolton, P. (2015), Briefing Paper: Student Loan Statistics. House of Commons Library. British Chamber of Commerce (2014), Young people need more support to make transition from education to work [Online]. Available: http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/press-office/press-releases/young-people-need-more-support-to-make-transition-from-education-to-work,-says-bcc.html Accessed 17th August 2015. Crawford, C. & Jin, W. (2014), Payback Time? Student Debt and Loan Repayments: What Will the 2012 Reforms Mean for Graduates? London: The Institute for Fiscal Studies. Department for Culture Media & Sport (2015), Creative Industries now worth £8.8 million an hour to UK economy [Online]. Gov.uk. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/creative-industries-now-worth-88-million-an-hour-to-uk-economy Accessed 22nd October 2015. HEFCE (2014a), Catalyst Fund [Online]. Available: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/catalyst/ Accessed 17th August 2015. HEFCE (2014b), Southampton Solent University [Online]. Available: http://www.hefce.ac.uk/funding/catalyst/projects/southamptonsolent/ Accessed 17th August 2015. HM Treasury (2015), Spending review and autumn statement 2015 [Online]. Available: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdf Accessed 27th November 2015. House of Lords Select Committee on Digital Skills (2015), Make or Break: The UK’s Digital Future – Report of Session 2014–15. Authority of the House of Lords. OECD (2015), OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability [Online]. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Available: http://www.oecd.org/edu/oecd-skills-outlook-2015-9789264234178-en.htm Accessed 17th August 2015.
Editor's Notes
- HE Academy – Arts and Humanities teaching and learning conference Brighton Waterfront hotel on the 3 and 4 March 2016
- Industry focuses courses: The Ravensbourne Agency 97% of graduates in work or further study 6 months after graduation (Which? University) http://university.which.co.uk/ravensbourne-r06
- So why this project? Higher education is in a “state of flux”. There are many changes that our proposed for the higher education sector and one is the development of more apprenticeships and work-based learning courses. Black, J. et al. (2015) The regulation of higher education, Discussion paper no.77, Centre for analysis and risk, London School of Economics p.1
- The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funded the project through its Catalyst Fund, a fund that commits up to £45 million annually “to drive innovation in the HE sector, enhance excellence and efficiency in HE, and support innovative solutions” (HEFCE, 2014a). The project, Exploring Higher Apprenticeships in HE, was developed by Southampton Solent University in association with Creative Skillset with the objective of developing and promoting “seven new Higher Apprenticeship (HA) degree programmes during a twelve-month pilot phase with an additional three months for research and evaluation” (HEFCE, 2014b). Additionally the project established to explore the role of universities in higher apprenticeship development (Anderson et al., 2012).
- Coalition government in 2010 reforms were introduced to English undergraduate finances, which included the increasing of university tuition fees from £3,000 to a maximum of £9,000 per year (in reality this has meant a tripling due to most universities opting for the maximum fee level). The Institute for Fiscal Studies forecast that only 5% of students will pay back their debt in full by the age of 40 ‘almost three-quarters of graduates will not earn enough to pay back their loans in full, being left with an average debt of around £30,000 to be written off’ (Crawford and Jin, 2014:1). Publicly owned student debt in England as: around £100 billion in 2016-17, £500 billion in the mid 2030s and £1 trillion in the late 2040s. These figures assume that fees increase in line with inflation from 2016 (Bolton, 2015:16).
- UVAC Conference 2015
- Requirements of the funding stipulated that, in addition to WBL provision, the course should be offered as a two-year fast-track. This was required to help reduce the increased financial burden placed on students, which arose from the substantial rise in HE tuition fees sanctioned by the UK coalition government in 2010
- WBL model was adapted from an existing 3 year, traditionally structured, BA (Hons.) Web Media Production Course title: Web Design and Social Media Reflect the exponential growth of social media-orientated jobs and companies within the industry Conducted outside the Trailblazer programme.
- Due to the dual trajectory of the course, condensing three years of study into two and incorporation of a work-based learning element, a number of changes were needed to the structure of a traditional undergraduate degree. Consequently, each year of the course was extended to four terms, with the fourth term running over the summer period when students on three-year traditional courses would be on summer break. The programme was designed to be academically front-loaded and timetabling was paced to reflect the work-based learning element (see Fig. 1). By creating four terms per calendar year ensured that students progressed effectively in accelerated mode. This is in keeping with the full-time working status of WBL apprentices.
- The timetable of the two-year, four-term course and maps the university units to boot camps and shows the work-based learning units in the workplace.
- Due to the dual trajectory of the course, condensing three years of study into two and incorporation of a work-based learning element, a number of changes were need to the structure of a traditional undergraduate degree. Consequently, each year of the course was extended to four terms, with the fourth term running over the summer period when students on three-year traditional courses would be on summer break. The programme was designed to be academically front-loaded and timetabling was paced to reflect the work-based learning element (see Fig. 1). By creating four terms per calendar year ensured that students progressed effectively in accelerated mode. This is in keeping with the full-time working status of WBL apprentices.
- Offering a practical and intellectual vehicle through which the student can creatively explore, in depth, complex practical and intellectual ideas. Undertaking a personal project or projects in the workplace alongside the technical, practical and intellectual support of the university. Building a portfolio of real-world industry produced work. Gain valuable experience and knowledge of working in their chosen industry. Create a significant self-directed industry project that will aid the continuation of employment with the partnership employer or aid in their quest for employment during and after graduation.
- Engaging and recruiting employers was institutionally challenging. Much of this may have been due to the new orientation and understanding of the needs of the course and the fast turnaround necessary to recruit partnership employers.
- Having predominantly micro businesses as the main partnership employers for the course created several accumulative and administrative challenges. Firstly, the size of the businesses dictated that many employers were capable of only employing one student. Therefore, it was necessary to create partnerships with at least fifteen employers to meet the student target in the period leading up to commencement of the course, a difficult task in the time frame. As the course progresses this was a process that would need to be repeated every year as it could not be expected that each partnership employer would be able take an new apprentice until the end of the two year course. Consequently, added administrative resources would be necessary to oversee the communication and organisation of students with multiple employers plus the continuous procurement of new partnership employers.
- One area of concern for a bourgeoning digital creative sector dominated by micro businesses is the Trailblazer funding model, which requires the employer to pay both the educational tuition fee and a wage to the student/apprentice. This can be an expensive outlay for a fledgling business even after taking into account the two-thirds claimed back from the government. While larger companies with financial means and resources to develop the Trailblazer frameworks and standards can absorb this investment, micro businesses found joining the programme resource intensive and unaffordable due to the outlay of the learning provider fee and the apprentice’s salary. Additionally, micro enterprises have to focus intensely on their core business and are reluctant to spent time and resources developing and getting the course curriculum validated before they see a return and this is a disincentive to get involved. Alongside this several micro businesses were opposed to entering into the comparatively lengthy Trailblazers application process due to uncertainty regarding the outcome of the forthcoming general election of 2015. Therefore, within this context and at this early stage of development, the Trailblazer initiative is more suited to larger employers.