Editorial

Editorial

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning, Volume 3, Issue 1.

Welcome to the first issue of the third volume of Higher Education Skills and Work Based Learning, the official journal of the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC). I am really excited to be taking over the role of Editor from Professor Paul Gibbs and would like to take this opportunity to thank Paul for his efforts for the journal so far, I look forward to continuing to work with him in his new role as an active member of the Editorial Board.

When Paul introduced the inaugural issue of HESWBL he included amongst the journal's aims to both “interest” and “inform”; from the feedback I have heard the journal has certainly been achieving this. I will strive to continue this as well as inspiring, supporting and developing our readers and hopefully progressing and promoting the journal's profile to broaden its reach and increase its citations. To this end the journal has recently been selected for inclusion by Scopus, the largest abstract and citation base of peer-reviewed literature. This selection was based upon the journal's growing international reputation for publishing academic and practitioner-focussed papers which offer a broad coverage of activities and innovation across the higher level skills landscape, with particular emphasis upon the interface between higher education and the workplace.

My involvement with the journal, beginning with its inception in 2010, has been as a contributor, a reviewer, a member of the Editorial Board and more recently as Deputy and Guest Editor. Since the special issue which I guest edited (Vol. 2 No. 3, “The future of higher apprenticeships in the UK”) the interest in higher apprenticeships has intensified further, fueled by the government's stated intention to make apprenticeships the gold standard option and the higher education sector's on going need to evolve and adapt in line with changes in twenty-first century society. This is further enforced up by the government-backed reviews and consultations around higher apprenticeship (www.bis.gov.uk/Consultations/richard-review-consultation and www.uvac.ac.uk/consultation-on-criteria-for-higher-apprenticeships-at-degree-levels/).

Our next issue will be 3.2 – a special issue bringing together some of the best papers from last year's Universities Association for Lifelong Learning (UALL) conference, Higher Education for the Social Good? The Place of Lifelong Learning. April 11 and 12 will see this year's UALL work-based learning network conference, Exploring WBL Through Theory and Practice at Birkbeck College, University of London. Please refer to the UALL web site, www.uall.ac.uk/ for further details.

The content of the current issue is diverse yet connected, with several papers focussing on the technological opportunities now available, and especially useful, to work-based learners. Long and Meglich's paper “Preparing students to collaborate in the virtual work world” discusses the crucial place that virtual collaboration can play in building student's skills via applied learning. Preparing students for the future workplace has been increasingly prioritized in HE in recent years. This interesting paper provides a real-world example of one way to approach that.

Similarly, Bryant, Akinleye and Durrant's paper, “Educating the early career arts professional using a hybrid model of work based learning” discusses the uses of web 2.0 platforms, and their place in the experiential gaining of knowledge, by practitioners, and Mardini, in her paper, “Creating and evaluating an online and work-based instructional model” illustrates the uses of new technologies and new models for work-based learners through a pilot of an innovative online degree.

Liyanage et al. in their paper “Design of educational systems for work based learning (WBL): the learner experience” continue this focus on the use of technology to support learning by examining virtual learning environments (VLEs), from the learner's perspective. The author's explain why they feel that digital applications have much to offer work-based learners, yet are, so far, not fully explored.

Eastman's paper, “The use of English literature in the context of work-based learning – a pedagogic case study” rather than technology, shows how an established academic discipline, the study of English literature, has a lot to offer to work-based learners, in terms of refining and honing reflective, exploratory and analytical skills.

And finally Wall and Meakin's contribution, “Co-delivered work based learning: contested ownership and responsibility” fittingly closes this issue by reminding us of the tensions and challenges, especially around ownership and responsibilities, that are introduced when work-based learning is co-delivered. However, the paper also reminds us of the opportunities these collaborations bring and offers some possible resolutions. As I said earlier the papers are diverse, yet connected and all offer some substantial food for thought, I hope you agree.

I want to include our readers in the future development of the journal so please feel free to contact me at r.helyer@tees.ac.uk with any ideas or comments and please do continue to submit your fascinating work. Details of how to submit via the online portal are included inside of the back cover.

However, I am also happy to view abstracts of papers initially via my e-mail address if this would help. We are always keen to recruit suitable reviewers for the journal, if you would like to get involved please send me some details of your profile and areas of expertise.

Very Best Wishes

Ruth Helyer