News
EPICA participates in the OEB 2020 Conference Edul@b
This year the OEB Conference took place from the 30th of November to the 4th of December with a focus on “Shaping the future of learning”. Marcelo Maina, Lourdes Guàrdia, Federica Mancini and Derek Clougher, members of the Edul@ab team at Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, presented ‘EPICA: Showcase Students Employability Skills using an ePortfolio’ on the 4th of December in the new virtual format adopted for this year’s conference.
The presentation focused on the EPICA project and provided a detailed overview of the theoretical background on which the project itself is based. The focus on the conceptual framework sparked debate and encouraged open conversation between all those in attendance. Following this an outline of the three phases of the project (organisational, academic and professional) was provided. This was extremely useful as it detailed the importance of all the stakeholders involved which included local coordinators, professors, employers, and of course, students. By providing a detailed overview of the process, it helped listeners to understand how the project was carried out and also how each phase was uniquely important in achieving the overall objectives of the research project. To clarify how these phases were conducted information was also provided regarding the support materials that were administered to all participants in their respective phases. Once all of this information had been discussed, the strengths of the study were presented which attempted to highlight the usefulness of an ePortfolio as a reflective, professional and transitional tool to showcase graduate skills to prospective employers while promoting innovative pedagogical methods and strategic collaboration among stakeholders.
The presentation at the OEB 2020 Conference was well received by fellow participants, and researchers were keen to understand the solutions proposed based on the EPICA designed ePortfolio. For more information on the EPICA project and its findings you can check out the project website here. To read more on the conference you can have a look at the programme of this year’s conference.
