Learning through professional environments: The ComCity project

Author(s):

Amalia Susana Creus(presenting / submitting)Ferran Lalueza(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2013

Network:

16. ICT in Education and Training

Format:

Paper

Session Information

16 SES 10 A, Virtual Classrooms

Paper Session

Time:

2013-09-12

15:30-17:00

Room:

DCONF - Conference Hall

Chair:

Karl Steffens

Contribution

It has been shown from a number of approaches that digitalization processes are causing radical changes in the ways of learning (Siemmens, 2004; Seely Brown & Alder, R., 2008; Cobo & Moravec, 2011). Neither is it new that within the framework of our network societies, the abundance and disorder of information live alongside the proliferation of personal devices, spaces and strategies for the production and dissemination of knowledge that goes beyond the walls of educational institutions. This scenario poses a number of challenges to higher education. An important one is the need to enquire about the meaning of vocational training at a historic time in which the useful life of knowledge is exponentially reduced.

All of this has significant implications on professional practice. In effect, even though not so long ago the working life of an average person could be mapped out in a straight line – a career constructed throughout a lifetime – career paths today are generally much less stable. Richard Sennett explained this phenomenon very well in such books as The Corrosion of Character (1998) and The Craftsman (2008), in which he showed us how globalization and the flexibilization of employment relations is giving rise to ever more fragmentary professional processes and identities.

Seeking to provide a response to the challenges posed by this scenario, skills-oriented approaches are gaining increasingly more ground in university education (Kouwenhoven, 2009). These approaches aim to enhance the development of specific professional knowledge, but also the development of cross-disciplinary social skills, such as personal communication, the ability to work as part of a team or the capacity to understand and adapt to change and new work methodologies.

From this perspective, professional practicums take on special relevance as a fundamental learning stage of a degree course. On that framework, the ComCity project seeks to provide a response to the specific challenges posed by the curricular offer of professional practices in a distance education setting, by promoting the creation of a set of 2.0 environments designed for virtual professional practices (e-practices) in the field of communication.

In this paper, we describe and analyse the initial developments of the project, from the conceptual design stage to the start-up of the pilot trial of UOCom communication agency, which is the first ComCity environment to be put in place.

Method

At ComCity collaborative work is the cornerstone of the learning methodologies. Following this perspective, students and teachers work as a team, developing real communication projects for organizations in the tertiary sector. The framework of the pilot trail was the Final Degree Project (FDP) of the bachelor's degree in Communication. It structured in three phases: Phase I: A training period for the team of teachers, with a dual aim: 1) allow them to know how the environment worked and to explore the different tools included in it. 2) To develop online collaborative work strategies applicable both to the design of work activities and dynamics (by the teachers) and during the course of the practices, by the students. Phase 2: Students accessing the UOCom virtual environment and the development of the agency's activities. Phase 3: Assessment phase (now in progress). It foresees the application of two main data gathering instruments: 1) the staging of a discussion group with tutors, developers and lecturers in charge of the project; 2) a qualitative assessment questionnaire aimed at the students. A total of seven students took part in the pilot trial, working under the coordination of 3 tutors. Also, two tertiary sector organizations joined the pilot trial.

Expected Outcomes

The proposed methodology involved a network organization where students and teachers constitute a team, sharing the responsibility for carrying out the tasks entrusted to the agency. Another important feature of the project can be seen in working in collaboration with a real “client” (a tertiary sector organization) not linked to the university. This leads to greater motivation both for the teaching staff and, in particular, for students. But it also requires a dizzying leap from the prefabricated security of the academic setting to the responsibility of taking part in a project where any subsequent success or failure will have an effect beyond the classroom itself. Therefore, an initial improvement proposal resulting from this first phase of the pilot trial is the design of strategies that promote better adaptation to teamwork, shaking off deep-seated habits based on individual work and assessment. In that respect, it should be pointed out that this network work structure generates significant challenges with regard to the construction of instruments that allow the assessment of the acquisition of skills at an individual level. It is expected that after completion of the pilot trial, we will be able to present some results in this direction.

References

Creus, A.; Lalueza, F. (2012) ComCity: La ciutat on s’aprèn a comunicar i es comunica per aprender. Projecte finançat APINAPLICA/12/Període 01. Cobo, C.: Moravec, J. (2011) Aprendizaje invisible. Hacia una nueva ecología de la educación. Barcelona: UBe. Gros, B. (Coord.) (2009) El modelo educativo de la UOC. Evolución y perspectivas. Barcelona: Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. Kouwenhoven, W. (2009). Competence-based Curriculum Development in Higher Education: a Globalised Concept?, Technology Education and Development, Aleksandar Lazinica and Carlos Calafate (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-007-0, InTech, DOI: 10.5772/7297. Available from: http://www.intechopen.com/books/technology-education-and-development/competence-based-curriculum-development-in-higher-education-a-globalised-concept- Ornellas, A.; Sánchez, J.A.; Alonso, K. and Moltó, O. (2009). Two decades of ICT Policy in Education. Changing discourses. Changing practices? In: Mendez, A.; Solano, A.; Mesa, J. and Mesa, J.A. (comp.) Research, reflections and innovations in integrating ICT in education Vol. 1, (pp. 154-157). Badajoz: Formatex. Seely Brown, J.& Alder, R. (2008) Minds of fire. Open Education, The Long Tail and Learning 2.0. In: http://open.umich.edu/oertoolkit/references/ mindsonfire.pdf Sennett, R. (2008) The Craftsman. USA: Yale University Press. Sennett, R. (1998) The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism. New York: W. Norton & Company. Siemens, G. (2004) Connectivism: a learning theory for the digital age. In: en:http://www.ingedewaard.net/papers/connectivism/2005_siemens_ALearningTheoryForTheDigitalAge.pdf

Author Information

Amalia Susana Creus (presenting / submitting)

Open University of Catalonia

Barcelona

Ferran Lalueza (presenting)

Open University of Catalonia, Spain

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.