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SHEEN Sharing Benchmarking and Requirements Report. Final Public Draft (17 June 2009)By Sarah Currier, SHEEN Sharing Project Consultant1© Higher Education Academy 2009
SHEEN Sharing Benchmarking and Requirements Report 
By Sarah Currier, Project Consultant0. Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... 30.1 Who are the Employability Co-
ordinators’ Network?
............................................................. 30.2 What are the requirements of the ECN? ................................................................................. 40.3 Benchmarking the ECN............................................................................................................ 41. Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 52. Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 52.1 Development Group Kick-off Meeting .................................................................................... 52.2 ECN Introductory and Requirements Gathering Meetings ...................................................... 52.3 ECN Survey .............................................................................................................................. 62.4 SHEEN Steering Group and HEA Input ..................................................................................... 72.5 Meeting with Work-Based Voluntary Sector Project............................................................... 72.6 Project Review ........................................................................................................................ 73. Benchmarking the ECN re Resource Sharing and Web 2.0 ............................................................ 73.1 Who belongs to the ECN? ....................................................................................................... 83.1.1 Gender ............................................................................................................................. 83.1.2 Professional background of co-ordinators ....................................................................... 83.1.3 Where employability co-ordinators are based ................................................................. 83.1.4 Time available for employability work ............................................................................. 93.2 How does the ECN communicate and share resources currently? .......................................... 93.2.1 General communication: frequency and method ............................................................ 93.2.2 Finding and sharing resources within and outwith the ECN ........................................... 103.2.2.1 Discovering resources ............................................................................................. 103.2.2.2 Saving resources ...................................................................................................... 113.2.2.3 Sharing resources .................................................................................................... 113.3 ECN confidence in resource sharing ...................................................................................... 123.3.1 Confidence in accessing resources efficiently and effectively ........................................ 123.3.2 Confidence in disseminating resources efficiently and effectively to the rest of the ECN................................................................................................................................................ 133.3.3 Confidence in finding resources a year from now .......................................................... 153.3.4 Confidence in disseminating resources to stakeholders outwith the ECN ..................... 15
 
SHEEN Sharing Benchmarking and Requirements Report. Final Public Draft (17 June 2009)By Sarah Currier, SHEEN Sharing Project Consultant2© Higher Education Academy 20093.4 Importance to the ECN of possible project aims ................................................................... 163.5 Benchmarking ECN experience with specific Web tools ....................................................... 193.5.1 Educational Web applications: VLEs, repositories, e-portfolios ..................................... 193.5.2 Web 2.0 tools and applications ...................................................................................... 19Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... 21Appendix 1: SHEEN Sharing Development Group Kick-off Meeting: Notes ................................. 21Appendix 2: SHEEN Sharing Introductory Meeting with ECN Edinburgh Group: Notes .............. 22Appendix 3: SHEEN Sharing Introductory Meeting with ECN Central Group: Notes ................... 23Appendix 4: SHEEN Sharing Introductory Meeting with ECN Northern Group: Notes ................ 24Appendix 5: SHEEN Sharing Introductory Meeting with ECN West of Scotland Group: Notes .... 25Appendix 6: HEA Requirements: Eddie Gulc and Alastair Robertson .......................................... 26Appendix 7: Work-Related Learning in the Voluntary Sector: Meeting with Fiona Boyle(Employability Co-ordinator, Queen Margaret College): Notes .................................................. 26Appendix 8: Survey Results ......................................................................................................... 29Table A: Current communications within ECN ........................................................................ 29Table B1: Finding and sharing resources within and outwith ECN .......................................... 29Table B2: Finding and sharing resources within and outwith ECN .......................................... 30Table C: ECN confidence in finding and disseminating resources ........................................... 31Table D: ECN importance of project outcomes ....................................................................... 31Table E: ECN experience with Web tools ................................................................................ 32Appendix 9: Survey Form ................................................................................................................ 33
 
SHEEN Sharing Benchmarking and Requirements Report. Final Public Draft (17 June 2009)By Sarah Currier, SHEEN Sharing Project Consultant3© Higher Education Academy 2009
0. Executive Summary
0.1 Who are the Employability Co-
ordinators’ Network?
 
Etienne Wenger, one of the key educators on communities of practice, notes that:
“
Communities of practice are formed by people who engage in a process of collective learning in ashared domain of human endeavor: a tribe learning to survive, a band of artists seeking new forms of expression, a group of engineers working on similar problems, a clique of pupils defining their identityin the school, a network of surgeons exploring novel techniques, a gathering of first-time managers
helping each other cope.”
1
 
Looked at as a community of practice, the ECN is:
 
National (across Scotland), and geographically distributed, with some members,particularly in the north of Scotland, less able to attend centrally based meetings;
 
Mostly female (76% female / 24% male);
 
A mix of part-time and full-time (59% full-time / 41% part-time);
 
A mix of professional backgrounds;
 
A mix of institutional situations, in terms of:
o
 
the type of department they are based in (59% educational/staff development /41% careers service), some being co-located in different departments;
o
 
the emphasis required by their institution on employability work (includingworking at a policy level; working on curriculum and course development; andworking directly with academics and students).
o
 
university type, from red brick to the ancients, including the Open Universityand the federated UHI Millennium Institute.
 
Temporary: funding for their work will not continue beyond the next couple of years.Some implications:
 
There is significant time pressure on many ECN members;
 
There are a range of professional and institutional cultures, priorities andcommunication styles coming to bear on their ability to participate;
 
There are institutional cultures with different approaches to and support for use of technology (for instance, one institution blocks use of certain Web 2.0 tools on campus;
another doesn’t allow use of Flash);
 
 
There is a sense that the work accomplished must somehow not be lost after the end of 
the ECN’s funded tenure in this role.
 So, although this is a small group of professionals, it cannot be assumed that they have access to thesame resources, have the same work priorities and pressures, or have similar jobs.However, despite their differences, it is clear that the ECN has worked from the beginning as acommunity of practice, engaging in a process of collective learning about their tasks as universityemployees whose remit is to promote employability for the benefit of students in higher educationand their potential employers. Given the affordances Web 2.0 can offer to a distributed community
1
 http://www.ewenger.com/theory/ 
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