The Linkage between Active Learning Method and Industrial Work Experience among Vocational Technology Undergraduate Students in Rivers State of Nigeria

Abstract

In an ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment, educational institutions are continually looking at methods to improve their teaching and attract students to their courses. Students likewise are becoming more selective when choosing an institution in which to study and are more focused on the longer-term employability offered by various courses. This paper looks at this changing environment from both the industry and education perspectives, and examines one exercise, an information feedback method, which is attempting to link education closer to the world of work, by providing students with the rele­vant transferable skills. The empirical research conducted among the students on completion of their industrial work experience gave very positive results, with students feeling that their interpersonal skills had been greatly enhanced and that creative teaching methods such as these provided them with a competitive advantage when enter­ing the job market. In addition to satisfying students' requirements, the research results also show that exercises of this type more fully meet the needs of the concept of deep learning', where students are given a more participatory part in their educational process. We conclude that future educational curricula should include an increasing number of activity based method by providing a better balance between the theoretical and practical elements of education and industry

Keywords: Quality Feedback, Activity method, Acquisitive skills, Creative teaching