sophie mckenzie 2014 - incorporating career portfolios as a course-wide learner tool: case study of...
DESCRIPTION
In the field of Information Technology the need for students to be career ready upon leaving University is more important than ever. Employers are reporting a shortage of graduates with adequate skills, arguing that students are often unprepared for the workforce. In an effort to address employability concerns tertiary curriculum is looking towards portfolios as a way of presenting a picture of students skills. This presentation will focus on the efforts of the School of IT at Deakin University in using a course wide portfolio approach to support and produce graduates that meet the requisite skill set as required by industry. Using resources provided in the Information Technology Course Hub, hosted in the Learning Management System Desire2Learn, IT students build a portfolio that provides evidence of their achievements with respect to relevant learning outcomes, and showcases their skills, achievements and career competencies. The process of building the course hub, and outcomes so far, will be presented in this session.TRANSCRIPT
Incorporating Career Portfolio’s as a Course
Wide Learner Tool
Sophie McKenzieDeakin UniversitySchool of Information Technology
Case study of Information Technology
Portfolio @ Deakin D2L ePortfolio is about building competencies◦ Academic literacies◦ Course competencies◦ Career competencies
Career Competencies Personal Management Learning and Work Exploration Career Building Articulation of skills for employability
◦ In IT technical and soft skills
The Students Very focused on IT “Learning Coding” Choose IT because they “like computers” “like playing computer games” Have very vague or no career aspirations Difficulty in understanding what goes into an “IT course” – evidenced by “Why do I have to learn about databases”
Students’ view of degree Enjoy their chosen major
BUT… Have difficulty constructing their ‘course’ into career competencies Don’t plan progression through 3 years
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes and career
competencies
Course Design
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes and career
competencies
Course Design Student Approach
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes and career
competencies
Course Design Student Approach
?
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes and career
competencies
Course Design Student Approach
?
??
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes and career
competencies
Course Design Student Approach
?
??ePortfolio
Aims for introducing ePortfolio
Provide a structured, holistic perspective of IT studies for students
Focus on Course Learning Outcomes Encourage development of professional/career aspirations
THROUGH Development of ‘graduate’ ePortfolio
Graduate Portfolio Template
ePortfolio strategy Students use ePortfolio from Year 1 Students create/collect artefacts and submit and save as artefacts Learn reflection to build competencies Career development – guided activities Integrated through course site
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes career
competencies
Course Design Student Approach
?
??ePortfolio
Assessment
Unit learning outcomes
Course learning outcomes
Course Design Student Approach
ePortfolio
Outcomes so far 1st year of course wide implementation Progressing students career development awareness: key◦ Skills progression◦ Job awareness◦ Employment opportunities
Outcomes so far Building students skills for articulating career competencies: a challenge◦ Reflection◦ Reporting on evidence/ learning outcomes
ePortfolio use becoming common and linked with assessment
Next steps Continue staff development of ePortfolio use Incentives to ePortfolio development for students◦ Industry feedback◦ Exemplars◦ Prizes/ competitions
Thank youPlease ask me any questions in our next break
References
Blackburn. J., and Hakel. M., 2006, Enhancing Self-Regulation and Goal Orientation with ePortfolios, Handbook of ePortfolios, IGI Group
Betz. N., et al, 1994, Evaluation of a Short Form of the Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale, Journal of Career Assessment, SAGE
Yang. J., et al, 2013, Career development learning and electronic portfolios: Improving student self-efficacy in employability skills in an undergraduate science course, Career Development Learning and ePortfolio, IN press.