The Missing Link: adding scholarship to university preparation courses

Olwyn Alexander and Sue Argent

Overview of the session

Aim: to show how materials to prepare students for academic study can go beyond language and skills to engage with scholarship and graduate attributes

• Scholarship• Graduate attributes• Rationale for inclusion in university preparation courses• Shaping tasks and activities: examples• Conclusion

Scholarship

• a new set of behaviours, determined by the culture and values of the academic community

• developed through critical thinking and independent learning activities

• on a pre-sessional course, students may not be getting a consistent and coherent understanding of these behaviours– not consistent: if the ideas are not embedded in a

syllabus, different teachers may present different understandings

– not coherent: underlying purpose of the activities may not be clear to students

Specific examples of scholarship Graduate attributes

'the skills, knowledge and abilities of university graduates, beyond disciplinary content knowledge, which are applicable to a range of contexts and are acquired as a result of completing any undergraduate degree'. Barrie (2006: 217)

Specific graduate attributes

• an ability to analyse and align individual needs & purposes to the needs of the academic discourse community and its wider community (university, professional community)

• an understanding of how knowledge is created in a discipline, and how students need to engage with this, e.g. through discussion and research

• an ability to evaluate critically the quality and impact of their own and other’s work

Precursor skills and abilities

– basic skills that permit acquisition of programme content, e.g. literacy, numeracy, technology & library skills

– students expected to arrive on a degree equipped with these

– but cannot assume that international students have acquired all these skills and abilities to the expected level

– so they are taught on university preparation courses

Beyond precursor skills and abilities

Why do we need to go further in terms of graduate attributes?

– need to create an awareness that students will be expected to develop graduate attributes further on a degree

– lecturing staff will model graduate attributes but will not teach them explicitly

– it can be taught on a pre-sessional, not by adding content but by shaping tasks in particular ways.

– we can introduce an orientation to questioning and reflection which can simulate graduate attributes at an accessible level.

Shaping tasks and activities

Provide students with a procedural framework to begin to develop graduate attributes

• Provide information• Stimulate analysis• Encourage self-alignment

Graduate attribute - context

an ability to analyse and align individual needs & purposes to the needs of the academic discourse community and its wider community (university, professional community)

‘Studying at university is an opportunity to become a member of a global academic community with shared goals, shared understanding and a shared language, English. You will meet many different people from different backgrounds and different countries. It’s an exciting time; it’s also a time when you have to be prepared to leave your comfort zone. Life will be very different from what you are used to and you will face many challenges.’

Information

Example 1: University mission statement

• Who are the intended readers of this statement and what is the university’s purpose in putting it on the website?

• In what respects are these students becoming members ‘of a global community with shared goals, shared understanding and a shared language’?

• To what extent are their backgrounds and countries different?

• Say which student is prepared to leave his or her comfort zone and justify your choice.

Analysis

Activity: Critical reading

• What might be the challenges for you personally and what steps can you take to prepare yourself?

• Self-alignment• Not ‘How does this align with me?’ but ‘How will I have to

align with this?’

Activity: reflection

Graduate attribute – knowledge creation

an understanding of how knowledge is created in a discipline, and how students need to engage with this, e.g. through discussion and research

Example 2: lecture on mathematical models

‘A model often starts as a kind of metaphor or analogy to represent a system in the real world. ... business students are familiar with metaphors like stock market crashes, credit crunch and price squeeze. .... Metaphors and analogies link new ideas to familiar ones that we all know.’

Example 2: lecture on mathematical models

‘A mathematical model is a description of a system using a set of variables together with the equations or ‘functions’ that relate the variables. The variables can include a range of values, for example measurements such as height, numbers, time values.’

Activity: analysis

• The lecturer thinks that business students are likely to

know the metaphors stock market crashes, credit crunch and price squeeze. Do these metaphors refer to positive or negative events?

• Think of examples of how the exponential growth in computer memory has impacted on products that we buy today compared with products ten or twenty years ago.

Activity: reflection and alignment

• Do researchers measure anything in your subject discipline? Give examples of these key variables.

Graduate attribute - evaluation

an ability to evaluate critically the quality and impact of their own and other’s work

Example 3: a university tutorial

Guy has worked hard on a draft text for his assignment about the co-operative movement. He e-mails the draft to Dr Malik for feedback at his next tutorial.

Activity: analysis and alignment

• What made Guy worried about the title he chose?• How did Dr Malik respond to this – positively or

negatively?• Did this surprise you?

Conclusion

Aim: to show how materials to prepare students for academic study can go beyond language and skills to engage with scholarship and graduate attributes

• can be taught on a pre-sessional – by inserting the target context into the materials– by shaping tasks in particular ways

• no change to the language and skills syllabus• just a different orientation to questioning and reflection

References

Alexander, O., Argent, S. And Spencer, J. (2008) EAP Essentials: a teacher’s guide to principles and practice. Reading: Garnet Education.

Argent, S. and Alexander, O. (2010) Access EAP: Foundations. Reading: Garnet Education.

Barrie, S (2004) A research-based approach to generic graduate attributes policy. Higher Education Research and Development, 23/3 pp 262–275.

Barrie, S.C. (2006) Understanding what we mean by the generic attributes of graduates. Higher Education, 51, pp 215–241

Laurillard, D. 2nd ed. (2002) Rethinking University Teaching: a framework for the effective use of learning technologies. London: Routledge Falmer.

Nicol, D. The foundation for graduate attributes: developing self-regulation through self and peer-assessment. QAA Enhancement themes 2010. Accessed 24.03.11 from http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/documents/G21C/Assessment_150910.pdf