Career Pathways Transition Planning Tool for Students with Disabilities

The Use of Pebblepad within the Career Pathways Project

Kieran Lewis, Senior Occupational Therapist, Career Pathways Project / Unilink Occupational Therapy Service.Disability Service, Trinity College Dublin

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Career Pathways

• Career Pathways is an approach to enabling students with disabilities to manage the transition from college to employment.

• 2 year externally funded project which is a partnership between Disability and Careers Advisory Service within TCD, and services within HEIs in Dublin area.

https://www.tcd.ie/disability/career/Pathways/

Career Pathways Transition to Employment Project for Students with Disabilities

1. Clearly delineated individual process comprising three stages, with access to individually tailored resources.

2. Online system where students can track and log their work related experiences and engagement with resources available.

3. Peer workshops and events, involving graduates with disabilities to act as mentors to current students.

4. Connection to employers through employment events.

5. Training events for staff within and outside of TCD.

Career Pathways Transition to Employment Project for Students with Disabilities

• Focus upon developing life skills and work related skills through experiences within college journey, through engagement and reflection.

• Access to individual meetings, group approaches, and employer engagement to support this.

• Opportunity to explore ways to manage disability in the workplace and transfer skills developed in college.

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Context

– Blackboard VLE system in place within the College.

– No ePortfolio System in place.

– Increasing focus upon graduate attributes and employability within design of college curricula and structures.

– Almost 1400 students registered with the Disability Service with TCD.

– Research within TCD and externally to show these students still experience barriers in transition to workplace.

Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Rationale for Using an ePortfolio System within the Career Pathways Project

• To provide a central location for students to gather work-related experiences and to log relevant meetings with college staff.

• To provide students with resources and formats to structure their reflection upon work-related experiences.

• To further provide students with resources related to disability in the workplace, reasonable accommodation and the development of personal self-management workplace strategies.

• For students to have an outcome from their engagement in the Career Pathways process.

• Accessibility a key aspect of choosing a system.

Building Employability Skills based upon Experiences in College

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Jan 2016Pebblepad V5

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Outcomes of the ePortfolio

Work Portfolio

• Personal

• Professional

• Academic

• Gathering experiences and reflections

Worker Needs Summary

• Reflection on RA

• Career Pathways Profile

• AT Assessment

• LENS Report

• Placement Planning

My Personal Workbook

• Meeting Forms

• Disclosure

• Work Self-Management Prog.

• Fatigue Management Prog.

• Career Specific approaches

• Application to the workplace

Outcomes

• 30+ separate resources adapted / developed for the ePortfolio System, including worker profile and work self-management programme, as well as career-focused resources.

Outcomes

• 74 students have been set up on the ePortfolio system thus far.

• Student owned and his / her resource for life.

• Schools / Services within TCD and externally now connecting.

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Integration Issues

• Not integrated with the college VLE.

• Another system for students to engage with.

• Although has given good resources for students to use and good formats for meetings, still engagement outside of meetings has been low.

• We used the non-flash version of V3, to ensure was accessible, so V5 switch in January is very promising.

Trinity College Dublin, The University of Dublin

Learning from Use so Far

• Need to have our resources on college platform rather than stand alone.

• Integration of resources onto platforms used by courses being led by professional courses such as Pharmacy, Nursing etc.

• Use of ePortfolio increasingly for CPD requirements in professional bodies. NB skillset for students to develop.

• Use as basis for individual and group engagements with students rather than another thing to be completed independently.

• Ensuring accessibility of system for all students, universal design principles.

Questions