Book Club

As I am currently undergoing a distance module I don't attend any lectures and so I have been doing my best to read up as much as I can on the subject myself. 

I started out with the basics reading up on work based learning which is ultimately the main focus on the module, so I thought before I make a start on my own work based project it would benefit me to have a better understanding of the point of the module. 

I find work based learning especially beneficial as I am a part time student working full time so being able to incorporate my job into my university modules not only helps me out with my time management as some of the work is what I would be doing that day at work anyway but also allows me to reem the benefits of further learning into my work but increasing my standard of work, which will also benefit the company. 

The 2 books I read on work based learning are:

• Helyer, R. (2010) The work-based learning student handbook 
• Alan Durrant, Garth Rhodes, David Young (2009) Getting started with university-level work based learning

The work-based learning student handbook was the first book I read and I did find this book very helpful. It included alot of helpful tips such as various cycles and journal articles to read which I feel I can use in my report. The main points I picked up from this book were:

• ·         Honey & Mumford’s Learning Cycle
• ·    CPD Cycle – Megginson & Whitaker
• ·    Boud & Solomon 2001
• ·    Houghton 2004 – Aligning Learning Outcomes
• ·    Baguley 1999 Project Cycle
• ·    PESTEL Analysis
• ·    Force Field Analysis

     
     I hope to read into these areas further and incorporate them into my coursework.

     Getting started with university-level work based learning I didn't find as useful. Perhaps if I had read this one first but I found I didn't take many notes other than:

• Accreditation of prior experimental learning
• Analyse the significance of events in terms of underlying learning. 

     However after reading further into these I didn't feel they were much use to my coursework but I am glad I read the book as it was while researching these terms that I discovered skills audits which I found extremely helpful.