Archives for January 2020

As we welcome the new decade, it’s often a time to start thinking about the upcoming trends within learning and development. Training has advanced significantly over the last 10 years, and we have seen a huge shift in digital and cloud-based technology being used every day in all aspects of learning.

What we expect to see more of over the next year…

Self-directed learning

With working hours rising in recent years, people generally have less time to fit in learning and development outside of work. According to the European statistics agency, Eurostat, full-time workers in the UK work an average of 42.5 hours a week; making it near impossible for workers to fit in traditional methods of training. 2020 will be just the start of us seeing more self-led learning; a learning technique that is becoming increasingly popular. This method of training allows people to fit learning into their busy schedule, offering bite sized training sessions that can be self-paced for the learner.

The Quals Direct ePortfolio is perfect for self-directed learning. With excellent features to help learners take control of their own progression, the cloud-based ePortfolio has open and visible communication enabling assessors to mentor and identify key points of need in order to plan the next stages of training. Assessors can also track the learners progress and performance with bespoke reporting and data exportation throughout the ePortfolio, allowing them to inform the learner where they need work, thus ensuring they take ownership of their learning.

Focus on AI coaching

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has been around for a while now and in the coming years, we will see education shift the focus on incorporating more AI in terms of how learning practices are carried out.

AI has been proven to vastly improve a learner’s performance which is a priority for any learning organisation, and we have already seen that Microsoft released an AI coach late last year that integrates with PowerPoint. This feature enables both assessors and learners to give better presentations as the AI coach listens to the presentation as a rehearsal, providing feedback on pacing, word-use and also guidance if you stutter.

Along with helping students academically, AI also helps learner’s wellness. For example, students can benefit from chatbots offering them 24-hour access for academic and non-academic support. AI also aids with multiculturalism as international students have improved services that let them communicate in their preferred language.

More integration and flow

Over the next few years, we expect to see more employers/assessors taking onboard the importance of integrating learning. No longer are we restricted to formal training periods or sessions, and we are beginning to recognise the need for continuous development and training.

Having learning tools that integrate, makes the training process much simpler for all those involved including the employer, assessor and learner. However, as digital technology develops, it has expanded so much that there is simply so many tools and platforms to choose from, we are often asked ‘which one do we use?’ and ‘why should we choose Quals Direct ePortfolio over the others?’ This challenge is something we are faced with a lot and with all of the different technology on the market today, it can be a difficult one for the user.

Why Quals Direct?

• Quick and easy to set up
• Designed to work on any web enabled device
• No set up costs, recurring charges, hosting fees or annual licence charges
• User processes are designed to work with different assessment and assurances methods
• Assessment templates can be built to aid efficiency and standardisation
• And many more…

In 2020, we expect there to be a trend to consolidate tools, that provide a complete, integrated, and simplified digital working experience – similar to the seamless experiences that we can provide to our users.

To find out more about the benefits of using the Quals Direct ePortfolio solution, please get in touch.

Degree apprenticeships were first launched as part of the Higher Education scheme in 2015 and have become increasingly popular in the last couple of years. Known to be the ‘bespoke degree’ option compared to traditional degrees– degree apprenticeships enable Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to build their own curriculum that states exactly what they intend the students to learn based upon the employer/job requirements.

Whilst traditional degrees have a good employment rate after completion and have more course options, with more and more people going to universities nowadays than ever before, it is becoming increasingly competitive to guarantee a job after graduating. Due to this, degree apprenticeships have become very popular with students, universities and employers for their almost guaranteed employment at the end of the course.

When it comes to delivering degrees and degree apprenticeships, they are very different.

With degree apprenticeships, the apprentice benefits from being in a real-life situation from the start. Giving them the opportunity to start earning straight away as they spend 80% of their time training in the workplace, shadowing colleagues and completing practical activities. This allows their employer to successfully mould them into the type of worker they need and unsurprisingly there is a higher percentage of employment after completion due to many staying with the same employer.

In comparison, traditional degrees involve students spending a proportion of their time at university, either in lectures or tutor sessions and the other part spent studying in their own time. This is not measured in the same way as degree apprenticeships, and traditional degree students have much more flexibility and control in how they learn. Mainly due to the fact that students fund the course themselves, commonly by sourcing a loan through the Student Loans Company. Whereas, degree apprenticeships are funded by either the employer paying the apprenticeship levy or through the employer getting co-investment funding from the government.

The assessment process for a traditional degree usually involves assessments throughout, whereas a degree apprenticeship is assessed only at the end, during an End Point Assessment (EPA). Audit trails are therefore crucial for both HE courses, however more thorough tracking is needed for degree apprenticeships as the learner is based off site so much. It is also important for the HEI, assessors and employers to measure progress of the learner throughout the degree apprenticeship as they have a much more structured set of standards to follow compared to traditional degrees, including a requirement of 20% off-the-job training.

Tracking a learners progress and recording off-the-job training is crucial to understand if the apprentice is ready for their EPA. You can find out more about being ready for End Point Assessments here.

To do this, an e-Portfolio is needed which is where our cloud-based apprenticeship software comes in. The Quals Direct e-Portfolio solution enables HEIs and employers to monitor progressions, track off-the-job training, set activities and have full visibility of a learners development; making it easy to offer support if needed.

For more information about how the Quals Direct e-Portfolio can be used to successfully deliver degree apprenticeships, get in touch.