Update of the April 2014 ECHO Teaching Tip
In collaboration with Centrum WeST, UAntwerp
Lifelong learning has been on the rise in Flanders for several years now. As many as 10.7% of adults followed a training course in 2022 (Department of Work and Social Economy, Lifelong Learning Dashboard) and the offer of lifelong learning opportunities has expanded greatly. There are pathways for working students, postgraduate programmes, and even micro-credentials, often aimed at people who combine work and study. For example, the University of Antwerp currently offers 34 pathways for working students (bachelors, masters and bridging programmes), 21 postgraduate programmes and over 100 micro-credentials. The number of working students at UAntwerp is increasing year after year, with 1117 registered working students in 2023-2024.
Combining a job (full-time or part-time) with higher education studies requires extra motivation and a lot of perseverance and discipline. A principle often followed by working students is 'Don't waste my time'; they prefer clear communication in advance so that they can maintain an efficient schedule. In this Teaching Tip we offer several specific guidelines to support them.
Create room for differentiation
Offer working students the choice between face-to-face learning and distance learning (e.g. by making recorded lectures available). Surveys among working students show time and again that they find these recordings very useful (see also this ECHO Teaching Tip from 2023).
Provide a flexible didactic framework via the electronic learning environment, consisting of:
- a clearly structured overview of all compulsory and optional study material;
- recordings of the day lectures, to be used as web lectures by working students (see above);
- digital self-assessment assignments and tests;
- an online forum to promote interaction among students.
Build a blended learning pathway
Provide online study materials tailored to working students, such as an open learning package. Provide a written explanation of expected self-study and supplement the self-study with a limited number of contact moments scheduled after 4 p.m.
See also: ECHO Teaching Tips – Online & Blended Education section
Connect your teaching to actual professional practice
During your lectures, create room for input from working students with different professional backgrounds. This motivates them and can also be very inspiring for the other students. Use interactive teaching methods that invite reflection on actual professional practice.
If you have students working in groups on an assignment, it is often advisable to put working students together, for both practical reasons (they are more likely to have the same preference in terms of location, method and time of getting together) and substantive reasons (they can exchange professional experiences). See also this ECHO Tip from 2018.
Communicate clearly and sufficiently far in advance
Announce college timetables and exam dates as early as possible and avoid last-minute changes. Ensure timely, clear communication about expected assignments, preferably (also) communicating separately with the group of working students.
Provide facilities
Reflect on and clearly communicate about the flexibility that is possible for working students in your programme component. Examples of facilities include: access to lecture or video recordings, the possibility of following an alternative blended learning path with a limited number of contact moments in the evening, performing assignments instead of attending tutorials, free group choice for exercises or practicals, performing an individual assignment in lieu of a group task.
Want to know more?
ECHO Teaching Tips
- Dividing students for group work (2014)
- Meaningful lesson recordings (2023)
- ECHO Teaching Tips, category Blended and online learning
Centrum voor Werken en Studeren, UAntwerp
For UAntwerp staff only
To apply for education and examination arrangements, students can register in SisA as working students if they meet a number of criteria.
Besides providing services to working students, Centrum WeST (Centre for Work and Studying) supports study programmes that want to start offering working student pathways. When setting up a new blended learning pathway, the current opportunities for working students are identified and possibly further aligned with the requirements of the Higher Education Database (DHO), to ensure that the study programme is eligible for the funding bonus for working student pathways.