A student-centric working-life competence development a journey from classroom teaching towards ‘onlife’ learning: pedagogical best Practices

Abstract

In recent years the digital transformation and pandemic emergency demanded the digitalisation of
contemporary higher education (HEIs) in Europe. The situation needs transformational vision,
legislative and operational support from the HEI stakeholders, government, and relevant bodies.
However, the most critical element is a working-life, and the industry demands a new set of skills and
competencies from HEIs graduates. The ECOLHE European innovation project presented
the Onlife Manifesto for being human in the hyperconnected world. More broadly, it helps start a
reflection on how a hyperconnected world calls for rethinking the many existing practices in HEIs. On
the one hand, the hyperconnected world demands a new way of future competencies. And on the other
hand, many research studies confirm that a clear gap between HEIs competence development and
market demands resulted in a significant shortfall of the workforce and working-life-ready graduates.
The most interesting thing in these studies shows the lack of suitable working-life candidates causing
this shortfall rather than the organisation’s willingness to hire. In Finland, the education ministry has
manifested future-proofing of the education system to meet the demand of modern businesses and a
hyperconnected world under the Vision 2030 development. In Vision 2030, one of the key development
areas identified was a modern curriculum design and development that meets the rapidly changing
demands of working life and society. Laurea University of Applied Sciences has positioned its education
offering to fill the gap demand gap and towards Vision 2030. Laurea adopted online education and an
innovative pedagogical model that strengthens students’ futureproof competence development and
workforce capacity building. A student-centric working-life competence development, a journey from
classroom teaching towards 'Onlife' learning presents the pedagogical best practices. The paper
focuses on the adaptation of continued curricula development, adopting modern online pedagogical
and education approaches, and increasing industry cooperation and work-life practices. The paper
addresses two-fold challenges, including meeting the demands of working-life professionals and futureproofing
education offerings.