'Educating for the Real World'

This wiki hosts the products of a symposium that was organised by the  

Surrey Centre for Excellence in Professional Training and Education, at the

University of Surrey, Guildford, on September 29th 2010

SYMPOSIUM INTRODUCTION

Professor Norman Jackson

PROGRAMME & ABSTRACTS

A flavour of the event in 4 mins

Participants' views on educating for the real world (video)

DR DEBORAH PEACH KEYNOTE SPEECH

'Developing a curriculum for the real world: a whole institution approach'

Director Work Integrated Learning, Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering

Queensland University of Technology

EXHIBITION 

5min podcasts and videos of principles & practices 

for the design and delivery of real world education 

GALLERY

Snapshots from the day

SUMMARY OF PROPOSITIONS & CHALLENGES

DESIGN PRINCIPLES DERIVED FROM 5X5 PRESENTATIONS 

Although Higher Education is very much part of the real world of our students and staff, we are using ‘real world’ to denote the world that lies outside formal education: a world that is dominated by experiences involving, work, play, entertainment, social interaction, family and friend relationships, and much informal learning. Many Universities and colleges are recognizing that a more complete and relevant higher education seeks to combine and integrate academic and real world experiences of learning. Many universities are also paying attention to students’ development gained through informal learning in the many aspects of their lives that they choose to engage in outside their programme of study. This combination of perspectives might be defined as education for and in the real world but how do we design a curriculum that encourages, integrates, values and recognises this form of education? The symposium provided an opportunity for educational professionals to share thinking, practices, policies and research on how we design and create opportunity for combining and integrating academic and real world learning and experiences.

Programme 

10.00  Registration and coffee 

10.30  Introduction Professor Norman Jackson 

Keynote ‘Developing a Curriculum for the Real World: a whole institution approach

Dr Deborah Peach, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Lunch & networking  

13.0    Real World Curriculum PracticeShare Pitches

          5x5 pitches (5 slides x 5mins presentation) on a real world education theme. 

15.0    Evaluating learning and capability for the real world -  plenary discussion

          What do we value? What forms of evidence? How do we evaluate? What forms of recognition?

Developing capability through lifewide education

Norman Jackson 

The paper argues that to prepare students for the complexities of the world (their real world) we need to pay attention to the

development of students’ capability for dealing with real world situations. We talk a lot about student-centred learning but if we respected

the learner as the designer of their own life experience, which includes higher education as part of that experience, we would have more

chance of embracing, supporting and recognising their capability to deal with real world situations.

Ken Robinson talks about the need for a revolution in learning in schools but perhaps its even more important in higher education