Learn about finding jobs from digital storytelling (2008-2010)

The project L@jost aims to contribute to the transition of students of social sciences into the labour market by connecting students of higher semesters with students who have recently graduated and have already entered the job market successfully. L@jost will create and establish a European web 2.0 alumni community that facilitates learning from newly graduated students through digital storytelling about their personal experience of finding a job. The digital stories and personal ePortfolios that are going to be created aim to support future graduates. The students can learn, in an accessible and modern way, how they can approach both the European and the local labour market more effectively.

By conducting a transnational comparative analysis of the students’ experiences described in the digital stories on one hand, and employers’ needs and expectations on the other, success factors for job finding have been identified. The University of Duisburg-Essen carried out the transnational analyses. Within the employers analysis the following expected competencies could be identified: academic skills, personality, social competencies, practical experiences, and working capability. Furthermore, the personal profile of the graduates and empathy towards the employer could be identified as relevant aspects for entering the labour market. Within the graduates study the following competencies could be identified: study-integrated strategies (experiences through internships and building-up of networks), working capability, application competencies and specific attitudes.

The title L@jost stands for the aim of the project itself: to ‘learn about finding jobs from digital storytelling’. It is a multilateral project supported by the European Union and it involves seven partners in six different European countries:

• Romanian Institute for Adult Education in Timisoara, Romania (Coordinator)
• University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany
• Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg -Institute for Innovation in Learning (FIM-NewLearning) in Erlangen, Germany
• European Institute for eLearning in Champlost, France
• Danish School of Education - University of Aarhus in Copenhagen, Denmark
• University of Florence - Education and Cultural, Training Processes and Sciences Department in Florence, Italy and
• Association DOCUMENTA, European Institute for Training and Developing Studies in Santander, Spain

Project Management in Duisburg-Essen: Dr. Regina Egetenmeyer, Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Nuissl von Rein
Research Fellow/Assistance: Valentina Iorio, M.A., Sandra Rüffin
Time: December 2008 until November 2010
Financing: Programm for Lifelong Learning, Key Activity 3/European Union
URL: www.uni-due.de/eb-wb/lajost.shtml

Book Publication

Malita, Laura / Egetenmeyer, Regina (eds.)
Students' ePortfolio for Entering into the Labour Market

Year of Publication: 2011

Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Wien, 2011. VIII, 152 pp., 5 fig., 8 tables, 7 graphs
ISBN 978-3-631-61490-7

Book synopsis

In the last few years, ePortfolios and ePortfolio 2.0 have become buzzwords in the education and learning community used for different purposes and meanings. The book gives an innovative way of dealing with the problem of student unemployment by explaining the main aspects of using ePortfolios as a method for employability, career development, reflection, assessment, consultancy, presentation and communication. This publication results from the research work undertaken by the partner institutions involved in the Project Learn about finding jobs from digital storytelling which had the main purpose of enhancing graduates' employability.

Contents

Contents: Gema Diaz Dominguez: L@jost - a theoretical approach: types and purposes - Laura Malita: The ePortfolio process - Laura Malita: ePortfolio technological tools - Laura Malita: ePortfolio connections with social networking, digital storytelling, digital identity and life time personal web space - Regina Egetenmeyer/Valentina Iorio/Sandra Rüffin: Job searching in the educational field: students' strategies and employers' expectations. A Transnational Analysis - Serge Ravet: ePortfolios for 21st century skills and competencies - Catalin Martin: How to create an ePortfolio about your career which can facilitate your access to the labour market: a perspective from a newly graduate - Laura Malita: Instead of conclusions.