I-MELT, 11-13 December 2017

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UsingtheWorkSkillDevelopmentFramework(WSD)toBuildRigourintoWILPrograms

DianeMayorga1,SuzanneSchibeci2andRayTolhurst3

1SchoolofAccounting,BusinessSchool,UniversityofNewSouthWales 2FacultyofScience,UniversityofNewSouthWales3SchoolofCivil,Mining&EnvironmentalEngineering,UniversityofWollongong

Correspondingauthoremailaddress:rayt@uow.edu.au

ApeerreviewedshortpaperforapresentationattheInternationalconferenceonModelsofEngaged

LearningandTeaching(I-MELT)inAdelaide,11-13December2017.Availablefromwww.imelt.edu.au

Abstract

ThisworkshopaimstohelpparticipantsapplytheWSDFrameworktoWILprograms.Thegrowing

importanceof"soft"(or“generic")skillsisacknowledged.Theworkshopisbasedondevelopingtechniques

thatidentifytheworkskillsthatstudentsrequireforemploymentandthenhowtodeveloplearningand

assessmentactivitiestoenablestudentstobuildaportfolioofevidencetodemonstratethattheyhavekey

employabilityskillsvaluedbyemployers.Toassistworkshopparticipants,examplesofpracticewillbe

provided.

Introduction

Ithasbeenlongacknowledgedthatuniversitygraduatesrequireskillsotherthanjustthetechnicalor

disciplinaryknowledgerequiredintheirchosenprofession.Apartfromrelevanttheoreticalandtechnical

knowledgegainedinagraduate’sdegree,successinachosencareerisalsodependentonmany"soft"

skills,whichcanbeacquirednotonlythroughtheprogram’slearninggoalsandoutcomes,butthelearning

andteachingenvironmentwithintheinstitutionandexperiencesoutsideastudent'scourseofstudy(Piper

2013).

Feedbackgainedfromthe2016QILT(QualityIndicatorsinLearningandTeaching)EmployerSatisfaction

Surveyindicatesthatofallgraduateattributesacrossallindustriesanddisciplines,currentlyemployability

skillshavethelowestrating,asshownbelowinFigure1.

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(SocialResearchCentre,2017)

EveryAustralianUniversityprogramhaslearninggoalsandoutcomeswhichdescribethetypeofgraduates

theprogramaimstoproducebythetimestudentssuccessfullycompletetheirdegree.Theselearning

outcomesincludeskillswhicharerankedasthemostimportantbyemployers:suchasinitiativeandself-

direction,communication,interpersonalskillsandculturalawarenessorfit(GraduateCareersAustralia

2016).Thesesocalled"soft"skillshavebeenembeddedintothecurriculumofmostcourseswithinmost

universities,andcanthereforebeassessedbyteacherstoacertaindegree.However,notallprograms’

learningoutcomesincludethe‘softer’employabilityskillssuchastheabilitytoworkunderuncertainty,

curiosity,resilience,abilitytomeetdeadlines,demonstratinginitiative,acceptanceofcriticismorfailure

andconfidenceinabilityandknowledge.Additionally,flexibilityofpractise,workinginadigitalworldand

takingresponsibilityforpersonalprofessionaldevelopmentarebecomingincreasinglyimportant

employabilityskills

Oneofthemajorreasonsteachersarereluctanttoincorporatetheseskillsintheirtraditionalcourse-based

assessmentsisthedifficultyofobjectivelyevaluatingtheirstudents’competence,particularlyinawaythat

canprovideevidenceofaskilltoaprospectiveemployer.

Whileitisdifficulttoassessthesesofterskillsintheclassroom,itispossibletojudgealevelofcompetence

intheuseoftheseskillsthroughWorkIntegratedLearning(WIL)offeredbymanyprofessionalprograms.

MembersoftheNSWMELTcoreareusingtheWorkSkillsDevelopment(WSD)frameworktobuild

objectivityandrigourintoWILrelatedprogramsandassessments.

TheWSDframeworkisoneofthesisterframeworksthathasemergedfromtheResearchSkill

DevelopmentFramework.Itwasspecificallydevelopedtoassessastudent’sperformanceinaWILcontext

(Bandaranaike&Willison2010).LiketheotherMELTs,thisframeworkhasanumberoffacetswhich

describebothconcreteworkskills(suchasfacetB,“Find&Generatedata/knowledge”)andthesofterskills

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(suchasfacetF,whichincludes‘sensitivityininterpersonalcommunications’).Theextentofstudent

autonomywithintheWILprogramalsohelpstoevaluatethelevelofindependenceandself-directionthat

studentsdisplayintheworkplace,basedonthehorizontalaxisoftheWSDframeworkdiagram.

Aspartoftheconferenceproceedings,wehavepresentedtwopapersthatillustratetheuseoftheWSD

Frameworkinspecificdisciplines.Inthefirstpaper,Mayorga(2017)describeshowspecificprofessionalskill

requirementsforaspiringprofessionalaccountantsareintegratedintotheWSDtodevelopacustomised

professionalskillsgrowthframeworkforaworkintegratedlearningprogramsetinanaccountingand

businessmanagementcontext.Inthesecondpaper,Baafiet.al.(2017)discusseshowtheWSDFramework

isusedtodevelopstudents’autonomyandindependenceinaminingengineerprogram.

WorkshopStructure.

Thisworkshophastwoaims.Thefirstaimistoguideparticipantsthroughtheprocessofidentifyingkey

employabilityskillsthattheirstudentsneedtogaingraduatepositionsintheirrespectivedisciplines.The

secondaimistowalkparticipantsthroughtheprocessofdevelopinglearningandassessmentactivities

whichwillenablestudentstobuildaportfolioofevidencedemonstratingthattheyhavekeyemployability

skillsvaluedbyemployers.Wewillprovidespecificexamplesoflearningactivitieswhichdevelopspecific

workskillfacetsaswellasstudents’independenceandautonomyincompletingWILtasks.Weexpectthat

participantswillleavetheworkshopwithnewlearningactivitiesandmorerigorousassessmentsthatwill

enhancetheirdiscipline’sworkintegratedlearningprograms.

Keyconceptsandquestionstobeexplored

1. Howdoyouidentifyspecificemployabilityskillsvaluedbyyourdiscipline’semployers?Given

therearemanywebsitesandpublishedpaperswhichoutlinetheskillsemployersseekinnew

recruits,howdoyouidentifythesetofskillswhichapplytoyourparticulardiscipline?Whodoyou

approachtonarrowdowntheparticularskillstheemployerswantintheirrecruits?

2. Howdoyougatherevidencetosubstantiatethattheseskillsarevaluedbyyourdiscipline’s

employers?

3. Dospecificdisciplinesdifferintheirdesiredemployabilityskills?Apartfromthespecifictechnical

skillsrequiredfortheprofession,manyskillsare‘generic’anddesirableinallworkplaces.Whatare

theskillsemployerslookforacrossalldisciplines?Howdowedeterminekeyskills?

4. Howdostudentsgaintheskillsemployersinyourdisciplinevalue?Inyourtertiaryprogram?

Throughactivitiesexternaltoyourtertiaryprogram?

5. PresentingtheWorkSkillsDevelopmentframeworkasatoolforstudentself-reflection.This

modelincludesthespecificworkplaceskillsmostemployersareseekingintheiremployees.

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Studentscanusethistooltoself-reflectandidentifyskillgapsoropportunitiesforgrowth.How

couldyouincorporatetheuseofthisframeworkinyourprogram?

6. WhatkeyskillsintheWSDFrameworkshouldyourprogramtarget?Howcanyourstudentsbuild

aportfolioofevidencetodemonstratetheyhavethesekeyskills?

7. Howdoestheteacherfacilitateastudent’smovementfromalowtoahighlevelofautonomy?

WhatWILlearningactivitiesfacilitatestudents’movementfromlevel1tolevel5?Whattimeframe

isneededtoachievethisdevelopment?CanthetargetdevelopmentbeachievedinasingleWIL

placementordoesthereneedtobeafoundationbeforeworkexperienceisundertaken?

8. Howdoestheinstructordecideonthetypesoftaskswhichassesstheseskills?Whatarethe

typesofassessmentswhichwilldemonstrateastudent’scompetenceineachofthesefacets?

9. Whattypesofassessmentwouldbeappropriatefor1stand2ndYearstudentsandwhatwouldbe

theexpectedlevelofautonomyachieved?Howwouldthisapproachbeusedtoshiftstudents’

achievementinlateryears?HowdoweshiftfromthelefttorighthandsideoftheWSD

framework?

10. Howaretheseskillsreportedtoemployers?Whatarethetypesofreportingstrategiesthatcanbe

takenawaybythestudentandincludedintheirresumeorprofessionalportfolio?

Bytheendoftheworkshop,participantsshouldhavedevelopedtheirownframeworkdesignedspecifically

fortheircontextandfortheirstudents’workskilldevelopment,whichcanbeappliedoradaptedtotheir

owncircumstances.

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References

Bandaranaike,S.andWillison,J.(2010)WorkSkillDevelopmentFramework:aninnovativeassessmentfor

WorkIntegratedLearning.InCampbell,M.(Ed.)WorkIntegratedLearning–Respondingto

Challenges:Proceedingsofthe2010ACENNationalConference,(pp.1-19).Perth,September29–

October1,2010.

GraduateCareersAustralia(2016)GraduateOutlook2015.Thereportofthe2015GraduateOutlook

Survey:PerspectivesonGraduateRecruitment.Accessed19July2017at

http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Graduate-Outlook-Report-

2015-FINAL1.pdf

Piper,T.(2013)EmbeddinghealthySydneyUniversitywithinthegenericattributesofgraduates(concept

paper–July2013).Accessed19July2017at

http://sydney.edu.au/dam/corporate/documents/about-us/values-and-visions/Healthy-Sydney-

University-Graduate-Attributes-Paper.pdf

SocialResearchCentre,(2017),"2016QILTEmployerSatisfactionSurvey-NationalReport",Australian

GovernmentDepartmentofeducationandTraining,April,p.5