More than subject-specific skills for students

More than subject-specific skills for students Lorna Uden FCET Staffordshire University The Octagon, Becaonside, Stafford, ST 18 0AD. UK. Tel :+44 1785 353276 Fax: +44 1785 353497 Email: l.uden@staffs.ac.uk ABSTRACT The ability to transfer and apply knowledge and skills learned at university into the workplace is becoming more and more important. It is “graduate attributes” that has been perceived to be the variable that determined a graduate’s success in the workplace, rather than their specific degree. Many universities are now deliberately emphasizing this to their students. Work placement offers students the opportunity to apply the generic skills learned in the classroom to an actual work situation. During work placement, students can be provided with the right environment to employ both their discipline-specific knowledge and their generic skills and personal attributes in a context closer to that which they will encounter after graduation. Work or industrial placement offers many benefits to different stakeholders: higher education, employers and students. Despite these, it is often difficult to ascertain what are the skills that employers want from students, especially in computing or engineering courses. There are many criticisms levelled at Higher Education that we are not providing the necessary skills to equip students for their future employment. This paper considers the implications of work placement from the perspective of a visiting tutor and the employer. It aims to examine whether competences acquired by students at universities in their academic work are those which employers most look for in selecting graduate recruits. Although subject specific skills are important, there are also generic skills that employers demand. The paper describes how these skills have been acquired by students at Staffordshire University through problem based learning and how these skills can be taught to employees in companies so as to provide them with the necessary skills to promote competitiveness. 1. INTRODUCTION We are living in a rapidly changing society. To remain competitive, business needs to respond to dynamic market Gary Moran Systems Development Manager Redstone Managed Solutions, Griffin Hse, 18-19 Ludgate Hill, Birmingham B3 1DW. Phone: 08707 201 319 Fax: 0845 2010 271 Email: gary.moran@redstone.co.uk demands. The skills learned today will be obsolete in a few years. Gone is the job for life with its planned career structure and company training scheme. We are now living in a world of customers and clients, adding value, lifelong learning, self development and an overwhelming need to be innovative. Although domain specific skill is still important, graduates today need more than subject specific skills. They require skills such as negotiating, action planning and networking, added to qualities of self-awareness and confidence. The routes into employment for graduates are also changing. There is no longer a large recruiter taking on 300 graduates through the national “milk round”. This is becoming scarce. Although the milk round for graduate training schemes still exists, it will not absorb the vast numbers of new graduates. Instead graduates today will find themselves facing the challenge of a small business, or in positions previously filled by school-leavers. Even in larger companies, decentralization often means that small company conditions exist. Traditional graduate jobs will not absorb the growing numbers of graduates. The greatest potential is likely to be in smaller businesses "Down-sizing" and "de-layering" enable organizations to be leaner and more efficient, with responsibility passed further down the organization, providing satisfying jobs for many more employees. They have also resulted in huge numbers of redundancies, overwork for the remaining employees and destructive effects on morale. The changes which are taking place in the world of graduate employment will have far-reaching effects on the careers which graduates pursue. In this day and age, employers expect graduates to not only have knowledge of their area of study or expertise, but to have the inherent and learned ability to adapt to the new working environment they will be joining, bringing exceptional communication skills, the ability to lead and be led, and the proven ability to function efficiently and effectively. This means that transferable skills are paramount for students. Transferable skills can be defined as those skills or abilities that can be applied equally from 51 one job to another. These skills are also known as key skills, generic skills or core skills. Today`s work environment strongly endorses the transferable skills in a graduate seeking employment. This paper examines the skills required of student by employers from the perspectives of an academic and an industrial practitioner. The academic draws on her research and the teaching of generic skills to students using problem based learning. The other comes from the practical experience of working in industry. 2. SKILLS EMPLOYERS ARE LOOKING FOR In the fast-paced work environment, employers are looking for graduates who can fit into their organizations; can add value and learning quickly. More and more organizations and employers are looking to employ graduates, who not only are experts in their career field, but also are competent in other realms of the business world including communication, networking, team building, and career management. Graduate attributes have become an important focus in most universities especially in the western societies. The need for students to develop these capabilities has arisen partly from the demand from employers for ‘more employable’ job candidates. Computing and IT graduates need to analyse business information requirements, design and specify systems that are aligned with organisational goals. These are generic skills that employers require. Some of the transferable skills, which employers look for are: • Time management • Handling complaints • Training or teaching others • Delegating responsibility • Assessing and evaluating own and others` work • Dealing with crises • Coordinating activities • Attending to visual detail • Multi-tasking • Presenting written and oral material • Motivating others • Planning and arranging activities • Identifying and managing ethical issues The expectations of the graduates are also changing. More and more graduates are beginning to realize that there is no job for life in our modern world. Their main focus is to maintain employability and the expectation of multiple careers. Each job is seen as a stepping stone, and the top graduates are well aware that the best way to achieve career progression is often to change companies. In the future most graduates’ focus will be on maintaining employability, and continuing training and development is seen as the best way to stay marketable. At the Lisbon meeting in March 2000, the European Council identified a strategic goal of making the European Union by 2010 "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable more growth with better jobs and greater social cohesion" (EU 2004). According to the EU (2004), an educated, skilled workforce that can create and use knowledge effectively, together with a dynamic, supporting telecommunications infrastructure, are integral to creating and sustaining a knowledge economy capable of competing globally (OECD2002; World Bank 2002 ). 3. TEACHING OF GENERIC SKILLS The notion of transferability is a contentious issue (Eraut 1994; Clanchy & Ballard 1995; Tennant 1999) with debate revolving about whether or not skills learned in one context can be transferred into another. The task, people and expectations (Atkins 1999) may be so different as to require a completely new approach to learning, and its transfer and application in new contexts. It is generally believed by researchers that what are so-called “generic” skills and abilities cannot be learned or developed outside a disciplinary context (Clanchy & Ballard 1995). Rather that transfer and application between contexts can, and do, occur where facilitative teaching of the “meta-skills,” or skills of transfer (Honeybone et al 2001) occurs. A HEA-funded project, “Transferable Skills in Third-Level” was conducted to identify the transferable skills that are important for undergraduate students (Curry et al 2003). The role of computing education is not simply to impart knowledge but to contribute to maintaining a competitive economy and also to play a valuable part in the holistic development of the person. Central to this development is fostering of “transferable” or “generic” skills in individuals i.e. “skills developed in one situation which can be transferred to another situation”. Examples of such skills are communication skills, planning skills, multi-tasking etc. – skills that are essential not just in learning or work situations, but in all areas of life. The findings from the study reveal the skills that employers consider important are oral communication, team work, customer service, time management, written communication and the ability to cope with multiple tasks, which are particularly valued transferable skills. Transferable skills were rated significantly higher than specialist knowledge at the recruitment stage, this statement was therefore supported by the findings of this research. Transferable skills can be improved by work placements and the use of industry specific workshops / case studies. A dedicated transferable-skills course was also a useful way of helping students to acquire these skills. 52 How do we achieve these metacognitive skills that graduates need to cope with lifelong learning? It is our belief that problem based learning can help students to acquire these critical and essential generic skills. From the academic perspective, these skills can be taught to students in problem based learning (PBL). 4. PROBLEM BASED LEARNING Many students have experienced that learning is difficult, especially when it comes to problem-solving. They have no idea where to begin, despite their familiarity with the subject content. These students can memorise facts and procedures, but are unable to explain observed phenomena, to solve real-world problems, or to analyse problems and to think critically. Many of these students may pass examinations, but be unable to apply the same knowledge to solve new problems. They have difficulty in utilising the knowledge and skills acquired via formal learning. It is clear from contemporary thought in the field of education that lecture style methods of teaching are not effective. It is necessary to change the way we teach and help students learn to solve problems and think independent (Bransford et al 1990). That is, to develop strategies that teach content in ways that also teach thinking and problem-solving skills. These higher-level skills are termed metacognitive skills. This refers to knowledge and awareness of one`s own cognitive processes and the ability to actively control and manage those processes. Considerable evidence has accumulated that suggests an emphasis on metacognition during training can result in significant improvements in problem-solving for the tasks, as well as in transfer of skills across tasks (McCrindle & Christensen 1995). 4.1 What is PBL? Problem-based learning (PBL), according to Barrows (1992) is, “... the learning which results from the process of working towards the understanding of, or resolution of, a problem.” PBL is a way of constructing and teaching courses using problems as the stimulus and focus for student activities. The courses start with problems rather than the exposition of disciplinary knowledge. They move the students towards the acquisition of knowledge and skills through a staged sequence of problems presented in context, together with associated learning materials and support from teachers. Barrows describes the main educational goals as: • To develop students` thinking or reasoning skills (problem solving, meta-cognition, critical thinking) and; • To help the students become independent, self-directed learners (learning to learn, learning management). The purpose of PBL is to produce students who will: • Engage a challenge (problem, complex task, and situation) with initiative and enthusiasm; • Reason effectively, accurately, and creatively from an integrated, flexible, usable knowledge base; • Monitor and assess their own adequacy to achieve a desirable outcome given a challenge; • Address their own perceived inadequacies in knowledge and skills effectively and efficiently; • Collaborate effectively as a member of a team working to achieve a common goal. 4.2 Personal experiences Commonly stated benefits of PBL include: increased retention of data; integration of knowledge; life-long learning; motivation to learn; development of reasoning and critical thinking skills; development of communication and interpersonal skills; and development of the ability to work effectively in a team. The author has been implemented PBL for some of her students since 1996. Her experience of PBL was very positive and encouraging. Evaluating PBL is difficult because many of those benefits only become evident over a student’s lifetime. However, a post-module evaluation questionnaire revealed that students: • Enjoyed the opportunity to learn things for themselves (90%); • Felt that they had learned from each other (85%); • Felt that PBL gave greater confidence in tackling problems themselves (90%); • Felt that PBL helped them to develop their thinking and problem solving skills (95%); • Developed project management skills (80%). Of course, achieving those results required hard work for both the tutor and the students. The questionnaire results showed that over 98% of the students rated PBL as the best part of the course. In addition, students reported that they applied the techniques learnt in this module to other parts of their course. One student wrote, "When applied in other course modules which I have learnt, it helps me to remember what I have done because I know why I do it and how I can apply it when given a problem". Another student reported that he now applied PBL methods to all aspects of his life including managing his personal finances! 4.3 Long-term benefits Now that many of the students in our case study have graduated and gained employment, it is possible to obtain feedback from them on how PBL has helped them in their current work. The first author is continuing to receive e-mails and feedback from her students expressing their experiences of PBL. Below are selections of the comments received from graduates who are currently working: Student A from Singapore wrote to say that he used PBL to apply for his jobs. In his current job as an SAP Consultant he says, 53 "Confronted with limited information, I use the various problem-solving techniques taught in PBL to provide consultation for my clients." Student B wrote from BT (UK): "The PBL module was very useful to me ... in order to build our two working prototypes in time...” From Students C and D (both working as software engineers at National Computer Systems): "As software engineers, PBL has equipped us to be better team players ... to master new languages and software tools." Student E from Digital Equipment UK writes: "I personally found the PBL module extremely useful, particularly the principles of Problem-Based Learning, which I still use to tackle day-to-day research problems." Of course, this is only anecdotal evidence. However, it is rare to find graduates who are able to point to specific elements in their course and relate them to their jobs. This makes the above comments more substantial as an assessment of the course success. Even more important is the fact that the students felt able to make this an assessment - that is, they are clearly demonstrating critical evaluation of their own learning - a metacognitive skill that goes beyond the content of the specific module. 5. WORK PLACEMENT Developing close and effective co-operation between higher education institutes and industry is a challenge that must be addressed in the creation of a knowledge economy (EU 2003). The Lisbon strategy calls for the co-ordinated effort of a number of organizations, including educational institutes which have key roles in both research and education [13] to achieve the aim. Harvey’s (1999) research in the United Kingdom highlighted that it was the “graduate attributes” which were perceived to be the variable that determined a graduate’s success in the workplace, rather than their specific degree. Central to the success of the EU aim is that we should have flexible, well-educated graduates who can be integrated rapidly into the workforce. To meet the aim, graduates would require having skills that go beyond domain specific skills learned in classes. It is important to address the gap between the skills of graduates and those of industry in the future. This means calling on educational institutions to make lifelong learning a reality. We need to re-assess our delivery of IT education and, with the help of industry, develop a strategy to satisfy requirements of the future knowledge economy. It is our belief that incorporating a strong industrial focus in education and providing the building blocks to facilitate life-long learning are the primary challenges. Staffordshire University’s BSc degree in Computing and IT currently has an industrial placement in its third year (of four) with the intention to expose students to real practices and enhance their final year work on return. There are many benefits that work placement offers to the different stakeholders. For higher education establishments, work placement broadens the university curriculum and it allows academic staff to interact with employers. The importance of work placement to higher education was stressed by the Dearing Report (Dearing 1997). The placement program has been implemented over 40 years for our computing students. The placement program is designed to provide maximum benefits to the students. It is carefully structured with a high level of input from the university, including regular visits by tutors from the university to students. Students are assessed by the industry supervisor on overall work performance and maintenance of documentation according to the standard required by the employer. In addition there is also assessment by the academic supervisor who provides a basis for assessment in case of inconsistencies produced by different industry supervisors in relation to different students. Academic assessment also ensures that the student is measured against criteria that are considered important in relation to the goals of the placement as an element of the program. Another main purpose of the academic assessment is to cause students to reflect upon the experiences that they have during the placement. What are employers looking for when recruiting students for placement or jobs when they graduate? The big issue we have with recruitment is how to determine if a candidate is able to design and problem-solve logically and methodically. This is particularly pertinent with candidates at the lower end of the job market, where there appears to be a large number of people with reasonable technical knowledge of programming syntax but who have poor logical reasoning. These candidates often test well, and may even be able to talk a good job, but are unable to work with real projects of any reasonable complexity unless "spoon-fed". This is exacerbated by the fashion in the recruitment industry for listing as many technical skills as possible in CVs: which essentially de-values the technical skills area of CVs; but also places greater emphasis on the variety of technical skills a candidate can list at the expense of softer skills. There is also the problem of design validation in general. We utilise a number of techniques to ensure our developed software is of a good quality: a methodology for the development cycle; standards of work that are adhered to and open to review; methodical and documented testing. However we still come across what could best be described as “design gaps”. These are areas that are described in design documentation, but not in sufficient detail, and so 54 result in a further design iteration by the programmer; who notices the "gap" when they come to code. These sorts of gaps are particularly prevalent in the area of interface design, where what seemed reasonable at a conceptual and abstract level, is obviously flawed in practice. This has two practical repercussions: how can we reduce the gap at analysis and design; we have a need for programmers with sufficient analysis and design skills to bridge the gap. On the subject of design validation, our methodology consists of: documenting the system with as much information as possible, focusing particularly on processes and data; constructing a number of logical abstract views of the system, each focused on a different area; testing that these views are consistent with each other and with the system documentation, and iterating until they are. However while this sort of methodology driven analysis and design should result in a workable solution, how can we know that it is the right solution? This kind of skill is more than domain knowledge. It requires higher thinking skills that go beyond problem solving. We also agreed with the research finding that writing and team working skills are also important in employees to work effectively in software development. 6. CONCLUSIONS It is our belief that successful implementation of providing graduates with the required skills to cope with a dynamic changing world, it is important to provide is creative and flexible graduates rather than merely adept technical practitioners. To prepare students for work, it is imperative we provide appropriate environments for them to acquire the generic skills they need. Problem based learning has proved to be an effective way of helping students to acquire the generic skills graduates need. 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