HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENTS EXPERIENCING WORKING LIFE RELATED LEARNING Laurea University of Applied Sciences with 8000 students and 500 of staff is located in the larger Helsinki metropolitan area. During the past few years at Laurea the focus has been shifted from teaching to learning and the students are being placed in the core. The pedagogical framework for learning in all 16 degree programmes is called Learning by Developing (LbD) which is based on authenticity, partnership, experiential learning, research and creativity. Students' learning is related to development projects that are genuinely rooted in the world of work and the students are involved in these projects from the beginning of their studies. Learning by Developing –operational model can also be considered as a process innovation of Laurea staff. The main goal for this model is to produce new knowledge for all partners of the collaborative learning process i.e. students, teachers and working life partners – in some cases also the customers. (Pedagogical Strategy 2007.) The LbD-model is currently undergoing a phase of strong development and it has also been evaluated by an international evaluation team (see more in Vyakarnam et al 2008). At Laurea development projects are authentic, working life -based, processual and applied by nature. They are applied in a sense that during the project new, community-based knowledge is produced and problems and challenges solved. Therefore the sole purpose of the development project is not to apply strictly scientific knowledge as such to a practical situation. In the best cases new models, new working life culture, new methods and new knowledge is produced in the process. In the LbD-model the regional competence and knowledge, networks and diverse partnerships are integrated comprehensively to the learning process and studies of our students so that the students really have the possibility to become development-oriented experts of their field. This all means a lot of learning for teachers as well. Collaborative learning in working life environments is a challenging task because it changes completely the traditional teaching culture and the roles of teachers and students. The purpose of this qualitative research paper is to analyse the written feedback of first year students (Laurea Leppävaara campus, fields of business management, hospitality management, security management, business information technology - a total of 1204 respondents) concerning their experiences of Learning by Developing model as to how the model has enhanced their learning. Theoretical framework: Learning by Developing, collaborative learning process, self-directed learning, critical thinking, teamwork, generic competences

Methodology: qualitative research, concept of knowledge is relational and pragmatic Research data: qualitative first-year student feedback of 1204 respondents, collected from September 2006 to February 2007. Analysis method: interpretative content analysis (Denzin & Lincoln 1994)

The open texts chosen for my article on student feedback have been selected especially from the perspective of how the students describe their learning in the LbD operational model, as well as how this operational model has, in their view, promoted their learning. With respect to learning, the material particularly led me as a researcher to the sense of community, teamwork, self-directedness, reflection and general working life readiness which I will further reflect and elaborate in my paper.