{"id":796,"date":"2021-04-22T16:39:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-22T15:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=796"},"modified":"2021-05-12T14:19:33","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T13:19:33","slug":"building-aspirations-embedding-employability-into-learning-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/learning-design\/?p=796","title":{"rendered":"Building aspirations: embedding employability into learning design"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many students choose to study with the OU to build new job-related skills or take a step up in their career. But plenty more benefit from the employability focus of our modules even if they\u2019re not studying for career reasons. That’s because we see employability as more than just about building skills \u2013 we see it a set of capabilities and achievements that support students in developing their careers, raising their aspirations and enhancing their contribution to society.<\/p>\n

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This is an inspiring goal and one that, to make a meaningful impact, needs to be considered throughout the learning design process. It\u2019s also the reason that the OU has an employability framework \u2013 a supporting structure that contains employability-related behaviours, values and attributes that students should have the opportunity to develop during their studies \u2013 and now also has a simple guide on how to use the framework<\/a>\u00a0(open in a new tab). In this post, we’ll take a look at the guide and how you can use it.<\/p>\n

The Employability Framework<\/h6>\n

The framework captures skills such as communication and collaboration, plus digital and information literacy and attributes such as self-awareness and global citizenship. It encompasses all levels of study and maps out how students\u2019 awareness and skills can build from level 1 to postgrad level. So far, so simple.<\/p>\n

The challenge comes with embedding the framework into learning materials from the start so that employability isn\u2019t an afterthought but an essential. The new guide aims to overcome this by providing an at-a-glance guide to the framework plus practical guidance on building employability into learning materials from the start via learning design.<\/p>\n

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Open University Employability framework<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
A practical res<\/span>ource<\/span><\/h6>\n

The guide includes prompts for module authors thinking about employability for the first time; for example:<\/p>\n