Welcome back to our blogpost!

Today we’re going to be talking about the basics of apprenticeships and what to expect when starting the course.

We’re going to cover:

• Monthly Sessions
• Assignments and Aptem
• Portfolio management
• And EPA

Monthly Sessions are the main block of your course. You will be invited to join a zoom session which is roughly 2hrs long. In this session you will discuss and work through tasks with your tutor and other apprentices in the same course. This enables you to work alongside others in a similar situation and develop and discuss ideas. Each session will be recorded and later uploaded online so you can look back over material you might have missed.

You are also entitled to request further support or extra sessions if you feel like you are behind in the learning!

Assignments and Aptem –

Aptem is your learner portal. This is where all your tasks and progress will be logged. You tutor will have access to your dashboard, set you work and mark all the projects you have uploaded. There are also resources and further reading available on your Aptem portal if you wish to use them.

There is a chat function on the dashboard which allows you to speak with your tutor about the course and discuss any queries surrounding your apprenticeship.

The Aptem system is designed to track and log all your progress and give you timely responses to deadlines and inform you when you may be behind. It takes some getting used to, but it’s a brilliant tool!

Portfolio Management –

Your portfolio is a giant part of your course! This is where all your material and projects will be stored. Any kind of resource you have used in a marketing campaign such as videos, images, gifs and photoshop files will be kept in your portfolio and used later to evidence your progression and your work.

Please remember to keep it clean and concise, for your own benefit! Ensure that all your work is saved and categorised efficiently and in clean and easy to use files. You need to be able to successfully and quickly navigate your portfolio to find evidence of work which meets your apprenticeship standards. If you have a messy portfolio, you will not be able to find correct evidence and could lose serious marks!

EPA –

The end point assessment is the final hurdle of your apprenticeship. This is what you’ve trained for! you will be tasked with certain projects designed to hit each of your apprenticeship standards and will be marked by an independent assessment organisation. Now don’t panic! They aren’t there to watch you trip up or mess up, they want you to pass.

 During the End Point Assessment, they may ask you questions pertaining to your projects and give you the opportunity to explain why you are doing it in a certain way. This gives you a chance to back yourself up and improve your marks! If you can clearly describe your actions, you may improve your mark.