Digitalization has evolved from a buzzword to a core element of all organizations’ daily operations. Universities of applied sciences will no longer simply adopt tools, but rather will exploit them for better teaching and administration.
This article describes how Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK), in collaboration with Workseed Ltd, took a significant leap towards digital reform in work training and on-the-job-learning (OJL).
On work training in universities of applied sciences
In Finnish universities of applied sciences, work training and on-the-job-learning (OJL) constitute a major component of formal studies. They offer students an opportunity to learn practical skills and apply theoretical knowledge they have previously accumulated. Through internships, students will:
- gain important skills in their domain of speciality
- develop their professional soft skills
- gain valuable work experience
This benefits not only the student, but also the training organization that gains exposure as a potential employer.
Internship periods vary from 5 to 20 months, depending on the industry. Internships can be temporary, split into smaller work contracts, or completed in more than one workplace. Students can look for internships on their own or using internship portals provided by the academic institution.
Background to the reform at JAMK
Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK in short) recognized the need to reform their work training process in 2021. The reform was based on the following fundamental areas of development:
- The need to reform processing and archiving internship contracts
The university of applied sciences spend considerable time and effort administering contracts between the institution, workplaces, and students. Contracts would be printed on paper, signed by hand, delivered to the workplace, and then scanned manually for archiving. Teachers spent a significant proportion of their time with these manual processes, often being forced to spend less time with their students.
- Prevalence of human error in processing contracts
There was a relatively high risk of misplacing or losing contracts due to the manual archiving process. Administration was worried that in some cases it would not be possible to locate legally necessary documents at the right time.
- Inconsistent quality of support to students and technical limitations to tutoring
The tutoring and support provided by teachers to students and training supervisors was perceived to be inconsistent and insufficient. A teacher would coordinate dozens of students at the same time, usually using a mix of email, internship reports, and remote meetings. Scheduling meetings and receiving reports was perceived as cumbersome and increased teachers’ workload.
Required solution: An automatic, fully digital tool to approve and archive contracts to eliminate manual work.
JAMK decided to reform the process in order to increase efficiency of administrative work and to create flexible ways to work.
The reform process
JAMK and Workseed Ltd initiated a collaborative project in autumn 2021 to design a fully digital project for administering work training. The Workseed platform was deemed a suitable tool as it is designed specifically to support on-the-job-learning. Among other perks, the platform allows training supervisors direct access to legal documents and training assignments.
A pilot phase of the project lasted for six months. During this period, JAMK perceived the following positive impacts of administrative work:
- Increased flexibility: The platform was seen to adapt well to the special needs of different departments. For instance within the context of health and social studies, the most common practice is to use framework contracts that do not require separate contracts for individual students. Other study areas may require individual internship contracts to be approved by multiple parties (school, student, workplace). In these cases, JAMK was able to streamline the process to take place entirely through the Workseed platform.
- Streamlined communication. Signing and archiving contracts takes place faster due to automatic notifications.
- Easy archive management. JAMK now archives legally required documents and contracts automatically. No separate archive or database is necessary. The platform automatically conserves all documents during studies and five years after graduation.
- Increased quality of tutoring. Workseed gives teachers the necessary tools to tutor and support their students better and more regularly. The platform keeps documents, assignments, and feedback tools in the same place. Teachers can follow up their students easily, give feedback, identify need for support, and message flexibly.
- Ease of identifying problems. Extensive visual dashboards and reporting tools allow JAMK teachers to identify situations where students are struggling or falling behind schedule faster than before. Interventions and individual support are easy to offer.
These experiences clearly demonstrate the benefits of digital administration and the opportunities to streamline on-the-job-learning.
Next steps in data-driven decision-making at JAMK
A pillar in JAMK development strategy is to increase regional impact. Workseed learning platform provides an excellent tool to measure regional impact and efficacy of collaboration with private sector actors. Workseed accumulates data not only to assess students and pedagogical materials, but also on how relationships with companies are being forged.
JAMK can easily identify which companies and municipalities belong to their network and assess how different study areas are represented. The university of applied sciences can exploit this data to assess their impact by area and industries, and make more impactful strategic decisions.
Systematic accumulation of data on internship processes allows JAMK also to develop the quality of study programs. The data allows measuring the quality of workplaces and providing institutional support and training to the right partners.
The fact is that private sector partnerships are a crucial factor for all institutions of higher education. Every company willing to offer work training placements is invaluable in the long term.
Conclusions
The highly successful collaboration between Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences and Workseed ltd demonstrates the efficiency gains a digital process can provide for administering internships. Digitalization not only streamlines information management and eliminates human error, but also allows teachers to spend more time supporting their students.
In case you work with students at a university of applied sciences or a vocational school and want to take your work to the next step, you have come to the right place.
If you are comparing potential software alternatives, we recommend our popular blog post on the 10 most important aspects to consider when acquiring a learning management system.
In case you want to know more about Workseed and its potential use cases in your organization, feel free to get in touch with our experts and take a step towards a more efficient process for managing on-the-job-learning.
