Destinations® fellowships
The Destinations® Partner Pilot Fellowships scheme is enabling CCMS to work with a selection of other HEIs to explore how Destinations® transfers to different contexts.
Following a competitive selection process in 2007, six institutions were funded to work with CCMS on this project. These institutions represent different types of HEIs and are drawn from across England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The institutions will be investigating such issues as:
- installing Destinations®
- modifying Destinations® to fit local needs
- deploying Destinations® with different VLEs
- student satisfaction
- using Destinations® as a teaching and learning resource in curriculum-based careers education
Each pilot HEI is funded to undertake a range of core activities, including a detailed evaluation of Destinations®. Pilots have access to a shared online space (a Google Group) to exchange ideas and information. Most Fellowships will be undertaken in the academic year 2007-08, though a few will continue into 2008-09.
Some of the intended outcomes from these projects will be:
- quantitative feedback from students about Destinations®
- rich descriptive data about how Destinations® works in teaching and learning
- greater understanding of how to use Destinations® effectively
- improved information for future users of Destinations®
- strengthened links between different HEIs using Destinations®
The Partner Pilot Fellowships are part of CCMS's commitment to disseminate CETL outcomes, and to help develop resources and approaches to careers education through collaboration across the sector.
For further information on the work of the Partner Pilot Fellowships, contact David Stanbury d.r.stanbury@reading.ac.uk.
Destinations® pilot
Roehampton University, led by Dr. Eddie Tunnah
This Fellowship set out to use Destinations® to complement and upgrade existing career management skills materials. It was piloted with a group of second year Cultural Studies students on a work preparation module; international students on an MBA course, and international students taking part in a focus/market research group. It has also been used at careers events, integrated into the University's careers website and used in careers interviews. The University took part in writing five Advice Pages on behalf of CCMS, a resource to help students navigate Destinations® more effectively in order to solve common career issues.
Roehampton Uni Presentation at Reading 2009
Destinations® pilot
University of Birmingham, led by Sophie Miller
This Fellowship aimed to introduce Destinations® to the University of Birmingham to support its employability strategy and to enhance opportunities for online career development learning. The project set out to pilot Destinations® as: an independent career learning tool accessed outside the academic curriculum; as a careers education curriculum resource embedded through targeted academic disciplines; as part of a PDP process with a group of international students. Other objectives included a comparison exercise with the University's current on-line tool PDP, 'Progress', to identify how the two resources might complement each other and to contribute to improving the employability of international students.
Birmingham & Bradford Conference presentation at Reading 2009
Destinations® pilot
University of Ulster, led by Dr. Sharon Milner
This Fellowship aimed to use Destinations® to support a range of career learning delivery strategies used with six undergraduate programmes and a group of second year postgraduate students. Destinations® was used to impact on a number of developments by: increasing the range of career development opportunities for students; encouraging academic engagement in the career development/employability agenda; supporting career modules, PDP and work preparation activities; providing staff training and development opportunities; enhancing students' employability skills and strengthening partnership agreements between the Career Development Centre and Faculties. To this end Destinations® was used to provide an online career development learning resource through the development of UlstergradNAV across the University and subsequently has been used to underpin deliver of careers modules for over 30 programmes.
Ulster Uni presentation at Reading conference 2009
Destinations® pilot
University of Bradford, led by Hermione Berry
This Fellowship aimed to link Destinations® to the delivery of well-established accredited careers modules to second and third year students across a range of academic disciplines. The main foci were for Destinations® to: support teaching and learning; be used in guidance interventions and workshops; be accessible to students through the Career Development Service's website, careers information room and the University's Blackboard site. Additional objectives included a pilot trial of Destinations® with international and MBA students as well as consideration of other ways to embed Destinations® in curriculum-based delivery. Videos made by Bradford are available from CCMS upon request.
Birmingham & Bradford Conference presentation at Reading 2009
Destinations® Pilot
University of Limerick, led by Mary Sweeney
This Fellowship aimed to use Destinations® to develop a customised career learning resource for Irish students, in particular to support career development modules and tutorials with a pilot group of Business Studies and Humanities students. Other objectives included: using the resource with other University students through central workshops and website delivery; enhancement of placement preparation and reflection through tailored materials added to Destinations®; assessing the potential of Destinations® to meet the needs of other student groups including international, mature and postgraduate students; to disseminate the project's outcomes to the Irish higher education community through sharing an Irish version of Destinations®.
Limerick - GCI Presentation June 08
Limerick - GCI Training Prog Aug 08
Limerick - conference in Reading - March 09
Destinations® pilot
Cornwall College, led by Kathleen Pope
This Fellowship aimed to pilot Destinations® in a college of further and higher education, primarily focusing on first year Foundation degree students. Destinations® was used as a resource to help deliver Career Management Skills to FD students through the 20 credit Professional Development Modules (PDMs) embedded in most FD courses. It aimed to improve the content and consistency of careers education to this group, which previously had caused concern. Up to four sessions were delivered through the PDMs covering: skills and employability, employment, CVs/applications and interviewing techniques.
Cornwall College - getting academic staff involved
Cornwall College - using Destinations with limited resources