Facilitating the transition to higher education with a digital pathway

Digitalization is an important enabler for cooperation in teaching between educational levels. Higher education providers, secondary schools and vocational schools now have the means to develop shared learning offerings that harness the power of e-learning. These ventures aim to provide students with flexible learning opportunities that cross borders in the educational system. A key objective is to create a simple path for students transitioning to higher education, reducing the overall time spent in studies before students enter the work market. Study modules in higher education are being brought as a part of secondary and vocational degrees with a digital framework. In the future, higher education institutes need to produce e-learning modules that can be integrated as a part of secondary and vocational degrees. The idea is to lower thresholds in transition to HE. This takes place as students become familiarized with studies in HE at an earlier age, and also acquire some of the skills needed in HE well before entering that stage. These cross-system opportunities are an important part of generating attraction among students finishing their studies and contemplating further education opportunities. Laurea University of Applied Sciences in Finland has been developing a digital pathway for secondary and vocational school students, who are transitioning to higher education. Experiences with the pathway have been positive. In 2016, we started a joint project with the City of Espoo where the framework was brought to the students of the City’s upper secondary schools. Simultaneously, we wanted to investigate the utilization of e-learning tools in learning, student guidance, and other parts that specifically meet the needs of upper secondary schools’ students. The project has provided an opportunity to share experiences and design a descriptive model of teaching co-operation between upper secondary schools and a university of applied sciences. The project also aims to improve the digital competences in teaching staff and the assessment of learning and guidance methods. E-learning provides substantial advantages towards more effective teaching. It also assists in creating flexible learning opportunities for students and can bring the HE learning smorgasbord to upper secondary students, without the limitations of time and place. One aim of the Ministry of Education’s agenda has been to reduce the overall time spent in education. We hope to provide one way to meet the goal. In our framework, a secondary or vocational school student has access to a range of higher education studies. She then takes a sufficient amount of this selection as a part of her degree. When the student later enters a higher education institution, these prior studies are recognized as a part of her HE degree. As a result, we are building a working pathway towards higher education that eases the transition and reduces the total length of the student’s education. Although both secondary and vocational degrees provide eligibility for higher education in Finland, this is no longer sufficient. The demands of the society require new innovations of the educational system to meet national goals in competitiveness. Moreover, our pilot project shows implications that a student’s ability to continue her studies in HE is improved if her previous secondary or vocational degree has encompassed some HE studies

Educational Institutes and Large-scale Outplacement Processes : Combining Education with Social Responsibility and Outreach

Outplacement activities are a form of professional care toward dismissed employees. The purpose of outplacement is to offer support for re-employment and making a forced leave easier. Outplacement services often contain recruitment training for writing applications and self-presentation, career counselling, job placement or job search services, and psychological and legal counselling. In outplacement, activities that are common in seeking employment are paid by the downsizing organisation, and not the individual. The activities are often tailored to the organisation’s specific needs, location, and industry. Outplacement serves to ease the individual’s transition towards new employment, and also, to control the negative impact on an organisation’s reputation. In Finland, nearly 12,000 employees were made redundant in 2015. Roughly 114,000 employees were under co-determination negotiations potentially leading to termination. Employees’ rights against termination of employment can be seen as weaker in the Nordic countries in comparison to Europe in general. To support large-scale redundancies, the Republic of Finland has received support from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund. In April 2016, Nokia announced plans for massive reductions in its Finnish workforce, aiming to downsize by 1,300 employees in Finland. Shortly after this, Microsoft announced its plans to terminate its mobile phone design and production operations in Finland, resulting in 1,350 layoffs. Both of these incidents have a direct impact to the larger Helsinki metropolitan area, particularly the City of Espoo. The City of Espoo took an active role once the reductions were announced and organised a network meeting for different organisations, who might be able to help the transition and re-employment of the affected employees. The City of Espoo is seeking for new approaches in outplacement. One that seems to have a lot of potential is education, as it can help the individual in identifying current capabilities, but also, in training for a new profession. Laurea University of Applied Sciences partnered with the vocational education provider Omnia to design a joint education program, targeted towards these recently terminated employees in the ICT sector. The program, “Laurea MBA – from digital competences to entrepreneurship”, offers new career choices as well as an entrepreneurial path. For Laurea and Omnia, participating in the outplacement process offers a unique opportunity. First, it ties in with their core tasks of educating individuals and improving their competences. Secondly, it offers a way to achieve social responsibility in an important economic area. Thirdly, the opportunity is also a way to leverage societal impact and outreach, a task which is becoming increasingly important in education. Traditionally, universities have played a less pronounced role in outplacement processes. However, it appears there are substantial benefits for all parties, and the issue should be investigated more thoroughly, particularly as the importance of self-employment has risen dramatically in the society. Education can be an important means to ensure psychological well-being in the stressful posttermination situation

Co-creating and co-developing education in a changing operational environmentNT

Finland is currently undergoing social and health care reform and the law preparation is under way currently. This means that in the near future Finland will be going through a huge health, social services and regional government reform. This reform will also change operational environment in both secondary vocational education and higher education. At present, Finland’s health care system is publicly funded by the local communities. The reform aims to change this funding to the bigger counties. The objective of the health, social services and regional government reform is to produce more efficient services and increase equality in healthcare. The reason for such a reform is the hard economic situation that Finland will face in the future. With ageing population, there will be a need for more individualized and equal services with less taxes to spend. The reform challenges everyone on the fields of healthcare and social services to think new ways to produce services. In Laurea University of Applied Sciences the main challenge is to discuss deeply about the contents and the way of implementation of the degree programs and adapt them to suit for the new requirements of the changing operational environment. Strong integration of different lines of businesses and sectors is the reform’s main theme. This requires new ways of thinking from the educators. With three workshop sessions and different methods of co-creation and service design, Laurea was able to create four focus points and a vision of the future. The vision which was created in the workshops will be a guideline for all decision making. Focus points are more pragmatic and guides the everyday life in the classrooms. Notable aspect of this project is that two of the three workshops were facilitated by Laurea’s Master degree students. Main goal in the first workshop was to discover and fine the goal where Laurea is aiming to be when the reform is being made. Laurea aims to co-create health and social services for Uusimaa region with a human-centered approach. These health and social services will be diverse, human-centered, fluent, collaborative, preventative, transparent, equal, efficient and enhancing. Between first and second workshop session the project group discussed on their meeting about: 1) how contents of education and 2) knowledge of the personnel should be improved to be able to respond to the demands caused by the reform. In the second workshop concentrated to Laurea’s vision and the bigger picture. This workshop produced new vision for Laurea’s health and social services branch but also four new focus points. This vision will be launched in August 2017. After the launch, it will be implemented through various workshops. The third workshop continued the work with more practical approach. In the beginning of the workshop the new vision was refined and after that the group created an action matrix for upcoming tasks. This matrix showed some light to actual tasks which must be done to meet the aim. After the third workshop work continues according to the action matrix. The project group stays responsible for this project and its implementation and results

Building bridges between vocational education, upper secondary and higher education : a Common Digital Learning Environment (CDLE)

Finland, the country famed for its education, is seeing a decreasing trend in higher education. The number of students who proceed to higher education has developed a downward trend during the last few years. Also, the length of studies in higher education is longer than in other European countries. The Ministry of the Education and Culture has challenged universities of applied sciences to develop innovative ways to shorten the overall study time. At the same time many students starting their higher educational studies are older than in other European countries. The aim of this study is to describe a development project between Laurea University of Applied Sciences and several vocational education institutes and vocational colleges in Finland's metropolitan area. We have co-created a common digital learning environment which is conceived as an ecosystem - a learning environment consisting of learning tools and components that adhere to common learning goals. In the system, vocational students have the option of taking some studies from Laurea. This gives them a head start in their future university level studies and also helps to bridge the transition. The developed digital learning environment or ecosystem is more focused on learning rather than administration. The purpose of the CDLE has been to shorten overall study time and to give vocational students an option to try higher education studies as a part of their vocational educational studies or studies at college. CDLE- model has shown that it is possible to integrate higher educational studies within vocational studies. This article discusses ways of integrating studies between educational levels via a digital learning ecosystem. In this article, we will present a concrete model of the previously mentioned CDLE. This model is ecological, economical, reachable and student centred. The findings of the project are promising. So far we have opened CDLE for almost all degree programs. In the future we aim to make these digital studies used also for master's level programs. We conclude that there are different ways to shorten study times, intensify studies between levels of degrees and to give a chance to try higher educational studies using digital learning opportunities, such as the common digital learning environment CDLE

Facilitating the transition from vet to higher education through the "study path"

The need to reduce the length of studies is a current topic in both secondary vocational education and higher education in Finland. One opportunity for streamlining and speeding up the transition to university studies are “study paths”. Outlined by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture in the operational and financial plan for 2016 – 2019, study paths aim to shorten the overall duration of studies and thereby accelerate the transition from higher education to working life. Prolonged studies in higher education have been a target for renovation since 2003. However, study paths between vocational qualifications and higher education, particularly polytechnic studies, have only recently been enacted. This is possible in the Finnish educational system, where successful completion of secondary vocational studies affords eligibility for higher education. While transition between these two levels is already operational, Finland wants to strengthen and streamline it further with student career guidance. The objective is to form smooth study paths and thus shorten the duration of studies. Laurea University of Applied Sciences has launched a study path pilot project in the fall of 2014 with two vocational schools, where the aim is to build a “speedway” from vocational education and training to higher education. This takes place through integrating higher education and vocational studies. Studies offered by the polytechnic are made available to the VET students. Should a student want to apply for further education, these studies are eligible for the HE degree as well. Study paths also allow VET students getting to know higher education. From a regional perspective, they also strengthen the presence and impact of Laurea University of Applied Sciences and its co-educational market position, so as to offer higher education opportunities in a greater region, meet the emerging needs of higher education and network with educational institutions in the region. Interest in the study path has been great and the aim is to open study paths for each of Laurea's education programs. It is essential that the study path education offered takes place through non-binding studies. During the pilot project, two VETs, Porvoo Point College and Porvoo Vocational College, Amisto, have been the trailblazers for cooperation in health care studies. In 2016, Laurea’s path studies are expanding to beauty care, correctional sector, business economics, the security industry, as well as data processing. The vision is that around 100 students will enter Laurea through this path every year. In the pilot stage, Laurea has chosen only certain study programs. In the cross-professional future, flexible an adaptable training is important for building a foundation for society-changing expertise. Thus, it would be natural that the students could choose a study path in accordance with their own needs and interests, which would not only deepen their skills, but also expand their professional skills over educational sectors. This, however, requires guidance to assist the VET student with the opportunities and choices along the path of study opportunities. In the future, course offerings will need to expand in the supporting study skills so that more VET students can be offered the skills needed in HE

Building bridges between university of applied sciences and the job market - artificial intelligence boosting higher education

Finland, the country famed for its education, aims to strengthen the transmission of knowledge and research based on open science to the world of work through lifelong learning, thereby contributing to the development of Finland ́s economy and society. A substantial number of people are in need of further education and willing to upgrade their skills. According to survey made by STTK (2018), up to 87% of the working population is willing to take part in retraining. As many as 56% of the working population state a need for further training so as to maintain or develop their skills in the near future. About 36% of the workforce is considering a change in career and have a new profession.The Ministry of the Education and Culture has recently renewed the funding model for Finnish universities and higher education institutions. In the funding model, the share of continuing education is rising as from 1 January 2021 up to 9% (currently 5%) for universities of applied sciences and up to 5% for universities (currently 2%). Continuous learning will include the credits for preparatory training for immigrants in open higher education, specialization courses, separate studies and polytechnics.This paper aims to describe a development project between five Universities of Applied Sciences and the world of work as a response to the new situation. We have co-created a common artificial intelligence powered digital environment which is conceived as an ecosystem - a matching tool consisting of our study offering (courses, modules etc.) and the need for skills and labor in the world of work. In the system, people who would like to upgrade their own skills and knowledge have an option of taking studies from the five Finnish universities of applied sciences: Haaga-H elia, HAMK, Laurea, Metropolia, and XAMK. The “artificial intelligence in continuing education” (AICE) ecosystem gives these people a head start in their studies and efficiently helps to fill the skills gaps through lifelong learning. The AICE ecosystem focuses more on learning rather than administration. The purpose of AICE has been to improve the match of the skills needed in the world of work and our training offering quickly and easily. The AICE model has shown that it is possible to integrate artificial intelligence to continuing education successfully. This paper discusses ways of utilizing artificial intelligence to identify the skills needed in the world of work and meeting those needs in higher education institutions, using a digital learning ecosystem. In this paper, we will present a concrete model of AICE. This model is fast, ecological, economical, reachable, and student-centered. The initial findings of the project are promising, but there we are facing challenges in getting artificial intelligence and study offerings linguistically compatible (descriptions and contents of studies).In the future, we aim to make the AICE available for all those who need to upgrade their skills or retrain.We conclude that there are different ways to employ continuous learning, intensify studies between levels of different degrees, and to highlight the learning opportunities using artificial intelligence, such as the common digital matching ecosystem AICE

Recommendation Systems and AI Solutions Guiding Open (Lige-Long) Learning - a Development Project in Five Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland

As a result of the corona pandemic, lives both at workplaces and universities have changed. Working “from anywhere” and studying online have come to stay. The pandemic has also caused significant changes in the demand and supply of labor, there are industries where job losses are a problem, and there are industries where there is a labor shortage or there is a need to acquire new skills quickly, some people are even looking for a new profession. Before the pandemic, in Finland, about 36% of the workforce was considering a change in career and a new profession. The corona pandemic added a special boost to these needs. One reason could be the lack of digital skills. According to recently published study, half of the working population is lacking in digital skills and has difficulties with digital tools. This causes stress and burnout. The so-called “digital leap” and remote work have increased the need for learning new digital skills. As a result, there is an exceptionally high need for boosting skills, digital and others, in Finland. This is the need universities of applied sciences have recognized and responded to by collaborating with businesses and labor authorities to increase the amount and variety of continuous learning offering. This paper aims to describe a development project, where recommender systems and AI together are used to guide in the selection of open studies. We have co-created a joint artificial intelligence powered digital environment which is conceived as an ecosystem - a matching tool consisting of our study offering and the need for skills and labor in the world of work. In the system, people who would like to upgrade their own skills and knowledge have an option of taking studies matching their needs from our universities of applied sciences. During the last few decades, with the rise of Amazon, Netflix and many other web services, recommender systems have become omni-present. From e-commerce (suggesting to buyers products that could interest them) to online advertisement (suggesting to users the right contents, matching their preferences), systems are unavoidable in our daily online journeys. For a higher education institution (HEI) to use of these systems in marketing their learning offering, they should pause to think whether they serve customers, students, or both. This paper discusses ways of using recommender systems in guiding people looking for upskilling and reskilling offering, and of using artificial intelligence to identify the skills needed in the world of work and meeting those needs in higher education institutions. This all, in effect, constitute the first building blocks of a digital learning ecosystem. In this paper, we will present some ideas and practical experience. By using a combination of these systems and AI, our “webstore” is fast, economical, reachable, and student or customer centered. The initial findings of the project are promising but tuning the systems and study offerings to work optimally together still requires work and tackling technical challenges. Even if we try to optimize the possibilities of recommender systems and artificial intelligence, it does not eliminate the need for personal support and guidance of students. We conclude that in the future, higher education will also be seen as a market-based activity and that future learners will behave as normal consumers when looking for educational opportunities, and thus, expect similar functionalities