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Breaking the mould of placements

12 Mar 2021 | Dr Lisa Taylor In the sixth in our series of blogs from contributors to the employability case study compendium, Dr Lisa Taylor talks about her work in transforming in-course work placements for the socially-distanced Covid-19 world.

Following the Covid-19 restrictions that meant face-to-face placements were impossible, Dean of Employability at the University of East Anglia, Dr Lisa Taylor developed a new technique to deliver the learning that would normally be acquired on work placements remotely. Her Peer Enhanced E-Placement (PEEP) allowed students to access learning that would otherwise have been impossible.

Lisa said: “There have been reports of up to a 40% placement reduction as a result of the global pandemic. Placements are traditionally face-to-face for students, but just as the rest of our academic life, we’ve had to look at alternatives that can be provided online.

“We did this with our placements within the School of Health Sciences. Our students have statutory requirements to complete a certain amount of hours in placement learning, so we needed to look at an online alternative.

“I developed, what we called, the Peer Enhanced E-placement (PEEP) which mixed the pedagogy underpinning the online learning environment, but also built alongside it, the peer group evidence and supporting pedagogy to support that learning journey for the students.”

Listen to Lisa explaining the PEEP programme below:

To find out more about UEA's PEEP programme and its impact, download the 'Employability: breaking the mould' case study compendium, which brings together practices from across the sector to embedding employability in student learning.

Book your place on our Employability Symposium 2021: 3Es for Wicked Problems, 09:30-16:30, Thursday 22 April 2021.

Find out more about Advance HE's work to support institutions prepare graduates for life beyond higher education through effectively embedding employability both in the curriculum and within extra-curricular provision.

We feel it is important for voices to be heard to stimulate debate and share good practice. Blogs on our website are the views of the author and don’t necessarily represent those of Advance HE.

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