Involving business and industry in curriculum work

It is beneficial to involve business and industry in the process of developing a curriculum. Representatives of business and industry can be involved in development work, for example with workshops, Webropol surveys, interviews and why not even email surveys.

Before setting up a workshop, the working group responsible for the development of the curriculum learns about futures studies and accounts for any needs that emerge in the planning of the workshop. There is no sense in workshopping something that someone has already published on. The total duration of the workshop day should be suitable for the line of industry. A couple of hours may be too short of a time to get development teams working as hoped. In optimal conditions, two hours is enough time to organise two short workshop sessions. On the other hand, it is more difficult to get participants to attend an all-day event. Each degree programme should be in continuous contact with the representatives of business and industry so that the atmosphere of workshops is appropriately relaxed from the start. Cooperation is always more fruitful between people who know each other.

The duration of a workshop and subsequent wind-down could be about 1–1.5 hours. A workshop shorter than an hour could work if the group is small and know each other beforehand. In addition, the assignment would need to be very short and clear. Longer workshops need to include scheduled breaks. Each workshop should focus on the relevant matter at hand and keep assignments simple enough to also achieve clear results. The most common type of assignment is mapping out professional competence needs in business and industry. The question of competence needs can concern a sector as a whole or even very specific cases. The most important part of a workshop is the wind-down; you should reserve at least 30 minutes and also film the discussion. There may be important things that come up that the participants might not have thought to write down because it is something they do every day.

The opinions of the representatives of business and industry on certain key issues of the curriculum can be investigated in workshops, but this type of question is particularly suited for Webropol and other surveys or interviews. Interviews can offer new perspectives on things. There are automated systems for transcribing interviews, for example in Teams. Mapping competence needs with a Webropol survey or interview can be challenging.

Another challenge with interviews is staying objective. It may be difficult for a teacher to remain impartial and not lead on the interviewee. The interviewer may have ingrained views of what is possible to achieve with students. Even this problem can be overcome when bearing in mind that today’s business and industry are in constant change. We cannot take any old competence needs for granted.

It is surely reasonable to offer the representatives of business and industry appropriate compensation for taking time to improve the education provided by Jamk. Especially if an event goes on until the afternoon.

Hannu Haapamaa 23.5.2023