Subscribers of this blog will have followed the adventures of our placement student, the fabulous Rachel Glover, who has been working with us since June on the student employability aspects of the Digitally Ready project.
Rachel has now started her final year studying Politics & International Relations, but will continue to work with us throughout the Autumn term for one day a week to complete her research into ‘Digital literacies for student employability’, focusing on the University’s extra- and in-curricular placement schemes.Rachel has been speaking to staff, students and external employers about the expectations and experiences of work placements. If you haven’t seen them already, Rachel has posted updates and video clips here on the project blog to document her progress, and to reflect on her placement experience: https://blogs.reading.ac.uk/digitallyready/author/dc008644/.
With Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell at the Faculty of Life Science Teaching & Learning Showcase
Rachel has been travelling up and down the country to represent the project at ALT-C in Manchester last month, and gave a talk at the RAISE Conference in Southampton the same week. Closer to home, she has spoken at the Teaching & Learning Showcase event on ‘Assessing work placements’ and will be giving further presentations to colleagues here at Reading this month and next.
She was also invited to speak at the Faculty of Life Science Teaching & Learning Showcase, in front of an audience including Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell who had taken time out of his busy day welcoming our new Freshers to hear about her ‘Experiences with Digital Literacies’. Here’s a clip from her presentation:
Rachel has helped us develop a number of case studies from her research, which provide a rich narrative of the opportunities for digital literacies learning embedded in WRPL activities, as well as offering the students involved a digital showcase for their contributions – something Rachel has found during her research many students really value from their placement.
These case studies, along with her comprehensive interim report, which outlines her findings and identifies the key factors which enable positive digital experiences for students on work placement, are available from the new Resources section of this website under ‘Digital Literacies & WRPL’.