Abstract:

Apprenticeships have been in UK industries for centuries, used as a way of introducing trainees to the skills required for professional trade. Today, engineering sector is one of the largest providers of apprenticeships alongside health & social care, business administration, management, hospitality & catering and customer service. Traditionally apprentices are populated by the more economically disadvantaged in society; fields characterized by manual labour, salaries below the national average and generally a lesser requirement for academic educational qualifications. However in 2015 more importance has been given to the higher degree level apprenticeships by the government for refining the nation skills and delivering strong returns for the economy. In this scenario, Universities are pushed to ensure that they offer more rigorous and receptive curriculum and delivery methods that are tailored to the needs of more employers. Compared to traditional full time students, apprentices do not have many contact hours spent at the University with the tutors. The key problem that Universities are facing in UK is challenge of providing interactive and effective education to the apprentices while they are at workplace. In this regard, we have conducted a study around a combination of technology enhanced learning tools to provide interactive learning features both live and offline, at any time that the student wishes to undertake study. In this paper, two main tools have been assessed in depth that mainly includes Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, as the Virtual Classroom to replace tutorials, and H5P/lesson, as an interactive video to replace content.

Keywords:

Degree apprenticeships, workplace learning and e-learning.