Virtual Placements to Develop Employability Skills for Civil and Environmental Engineering Students

Autor/in	Paul, Parneet
Titel	Virtual Placements to Develop Employability Skills for Civil and Environmental Engineering Students
Quelle	In: Education Sciences, 5 (2015) 2, S.47-64 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2227-7102
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Engineering; Job Skills; Employment Qualifications; Simulated Environment; Educational Technology; Technology Uses in Education; Computer Simulation; Experiential Learning; Foreign Countries; Questionnaires; Skill Development; Construction Industry; Internship Programs; Likert Scales; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Maschinenbau; Produktive Fertigkeit; Employment qualification; Vocational qualification; Vocational qualifications; Berufliche Qualifikation; Künstliche Umwelt; Unterrichtsmedien; Technology enhanced learning; Technology aided learning; Technologieunterstütztes Lernen; Computergrafik; Computersimulation; Experiental learning; Erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen; Ausland; Fragebogen; Kompetenzentwicklung; Qualifikationsentwicklung; Baugewerbe; Berufspraktische Ausbildung; Likert-Skala; Großbritannien
Abstract	This project work addresses the crucial need to encourage undergraduate civil and environmental engineering students to gain employment skills and training right from the start of their studies so that their overall employability increases; their confidence level in networking with industry and within the workplace increases; and so that they are successfully able to obtain employment after finishing their studies. This initiative is a stepping-stone employability exercise which focuses specifically on first year students to help them engage with industry right from the start of their course. It is proposed that they would gain some realistic work experience both individually and as part of group within a virtual work environment using an action learning approach. The virtual environment used was based on "SecondLife," a popular virtual reality programme. A pilot scheme was set up and run at Brunel University during the summer of 2014 using eight self-selecting first year students. The scheme's outputs were extensively monitored and evaluated to assess its impact on the development of employability skills. This approach may prove a cost effective way of letting students gain an insight into the workplace whilst improving these skills. It may also prove a way for employers to select from a large range of students the best to actually undertake their real work-based internships. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	MDPI AG. Klybeckstrasse 64, 4057 Basel, Switzerland. Tel: e-mail: indexing@mdpi.com; Web site: http://www.mdpi.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01