Preparing for WIL : online career development for IT students

This paper reports on an online unit that enhances IT students’ generic skills. Frequently IT students, even those with a strong technical background and a high academic record, can be unsuccessful at obtaining work placements as they stumble at the interview stage due to a lack of social or professional skills. A simulation was created that enables students to enhance their employability and to prepare for transition to work integrated learning (WIL) through realistic interview preparation. The simulation utilizes a synchronous communication tool to conduct behavioural group interviews with expert careers advisors. The impact of this new initiative is explored and feedback received from faculty, careers advisors and students during three trimesters is discussed. The findings suggest that incorporating WIL through the simulation has been a success by at least raising students’ awareness of the importance and significance of being well prepared for job interviews.

Mapping WIL activities in the curriculum to develop graduate capabilities : a case study in accounting

Big business continues to request universities to produce graduates who possess both technical and generic skills. Although work-integrated learning (WIL) programs can be used to develop these skills, WIL placements in Australia are undertaken by a minority of students. Perceiving a gap, one Australian university undertook a major WIL revamp to expand WIL offerings embedded within its courses. This required major organizational change that impacted significantly on curriculum design. From a quality assurance perspective, this paper provides an overview of a revised WIL program in the accounting discipline, and discusses the issues and challenges associated with the revised WIL program four years after its implementation. The findings demonstrate that the discipline area has not yet fully met the revamped WIL program as defined by university policy. Recommendations are provided that form a valuable learning tool for educational institutions considering embedding broadly defined WIL within their courses.

Graduate attributes as a focus for institution-wide curriculum renewal: innovations and challenges

Curtin University's Curriculum 2010 (C2010) initiative aimed at ensuring degree programs were excellent and sustainable. Before C2010, graduate attributes were not universally emphasised and indicators showed room for improvement in generic skills. C2010 focused on embedding graduate attributes through three strategies. The first was embedding graduate attributes in degree programs and mapping for constructive alignment of outcomes and assessments. The second strategy was related: programs were reviewed drawing on evidence including perspectives of graduates, employers and program teams on the relative importance of graduate attributes and the extent to which they were generally demonstrated or developed. The third strategy was a university-wide eportfolio system enabling students' self- and peer-assessment of graduate attributes. Since completion of C2010, proxy indicators show improvement. However, this paper highlights the challenges associated with graduate attributes and renewal. These include: academic staff engagement, the time needed for innovations to come to fruition and evidencing achievement of graduate attributes.

What knowledge is most worthwhile in IS work placements?

A case study conducted across a cross-section of stakeholders involved in a year-long co-operative education (co-op) program within an IS business degree in an Australian university, uncovered a range of views of what knowledge was perceived as most worthwhile. This paper discusses these findings drawing on a multidisciplinary review of a wide range of research literature. It is proposed that the diversity of individual views promotes a broader spectrum of worthwhile knowledge that suggests universities recognise the different individual values in the design and delivery of courses and programs so as to provide students with richer, more satisfying leaning experiences.

Adopting an active learning approach to teaching in a research-intensive higher education context transformed staff teaching attitudes and behaviours

The conventional lecture has significant limitations in the higher education context, often leading to a passive learning experience for students. This paper reports a process of transforming teaching and learning with active learning strategies in a research-intensive educational context across a faculty of 45 academic staff and more than 1000 students. A phased approach was used, involving nine staff in a pilot phase during which a common vision and principles were developed. In short, our approach was to mandate a move away from didactic lectures to classes that involved students interacting with content, with each other and with instructors in order to attain domain-specific learning outcomes and generic skills. After refinement, an implementation phase commenced within all first-year subjects, involving 12 staff including three from the pilot group. The staff use of active learning methods in classes increased by sixfold and sevenfold in the pilot and implementation phases, respectively. An analysis of implementation phase exam questions indicated that staff increased their use of questions addressing higher order cognitive skills by 51%. Results of a staff survey indicated that this change in practice was caused by the involvement of staff in the active learning approach. Fifty-six percent of staff respondents indicated that they had maintained constructive alignment as they introduced active learning. After the pilot, only three out of nine staff agreed that they understood what makes for an effective active learning exercise. This rose to seven out of nine staff at the completion of the implementation phase. The development of a common approach with explicit vision and principles and the evaluation and refinement of active learning were effective elements of our transformational change management strategy. Future efforts will focus on ensuring that all staff have the time, skills and pedagogical understanding required to embed constructively aligned active learning within the approach.

Teaching for life : generic capabilities that link university learning with workplace learning

Business schools are under increasing pressure to enhance the learning capability and employability of graduates. Business professional institutes and employer organizations are demanding more than the technical knowledge and skills required to perform discipline/professional specific tasks. They want graduates who can demonstrate capabilities in communication, teamwork, risk taking, decision making, problem solving, critical thinking, analytical reasoning, visioning and innovation, leadership, ethical practices, appreciation of diversity, and a commitment to social justice. Evidence in literature and reports (Karpin, 1995; Kirby, 2000; Commonwealth of Australia, 2002; Nelson, 2002) and in test data (McCowan & Richardson, 1998; Employer Survey, 1998; DETYA, 2000) shows that the employability gap7 is closed when graduates possess these generic capabilities. What is important, however, is the increasing research showing that the strategies used to develop generic capabilities lead to improved learning, both in university courses and in the workplace.

A parallel-group, randomised controlled trial of a multimedia, self-directed, coping skills training intervention for patients with cancer and their partners: design and rationale

Introduction:

Assessment of simulated clinical skills and distance students: can we do it better?

Australian universities have traditionally been able to supplement clinical education, for undergraduate nursing courses, delivered on placement with weekly clinical teaching in the simulated environment. The Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) tool has been used in this simulated environment to assess clinical skills. Recently, however, online delivery of undergraduate nursing courses has become more common. The move from an internal mode of teaching to an online external mode is seen worldwide and poses challenges to staff and students as well as changing the teaching and learning culture of institutions (Philip and Wozniak, 2009). This cultural shift and the resulting diminishing timeframe for students to acquire and practice simulated clinical skills imply that it may become necessary to rethink assessment forms such as the OSCA assessment. This study examines whether or not the OSCA tool developed by Bujack et al. (1991a) is the best tool to be used in this new context, where online teaching is supplemented by very short, annual, intensive periods of study. Skills acquisition theories dictate that time is required to produce an ideal skills acquisition environment (Quinn, 2000) but the time constraints placed on students in such intensive periods of study could influence skills acquisition. This cross-sectional qualitative study used semi-structured interviews and focus groups to collect data. 65% of the nursing faculty participated in the study. The teaching of the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) occurred on two campuses and staff from both areas participated. This group of nurse academics was employed across the range of academic levels (from lecturer to professor) at the University. Data analysis followed a generic thematic analysis framework. Findings in this study show that there are a variety of attitudes and underpinning beliefs amongst staff in relation to the OSCAs. Doubts were raised in regard to the suitability of the use of the OSCA tool in this setting. It also became apparent during this study that the OSCA tool possibly serves purposes other than an assessment tool.

Strategies to develop divided attention skills through video game training

Research .over the past two decades has confirmed the learning opportunities that video games can offer. The objectives of the current study were to investigate the ability of video games to enhance divided attention skills and compare these skills based on individuals' level of expertise in video game playing. Female participants aged between 17-25 years categorised as experts or novices, were divided into experimental and control groups. All participants completed the pre and post-test of divided attention between which only the experimental group received video game training. Results indicate that participants who received video game practice achieved an increase in their dual-attention skills compared to those who did not receive any training, with novices displaying a greater
enhancement in perfonnance. Implications include the provision of video game training to enhance divided attention skills in air pilot training, driving, and heavyequipment operation apart from other tasks necessitating dual-task efficiency.

Comparing alternate teaching styles to teach computing skills to girls in their English classes

Low female participation rates in computing are a current concern of the education sector. To address this problem an intervention was developed — computing skills were introduced to girls in their English classes using three different teaching styles: peer tutoring, cross-age tutoring and teacher instruction (control). The sample comprised 136 girls from Years 8 and 10 from a single-sex government school. A pre-test post-test quantitative design was used. To describe the students perspectives, qualitative data were collected from six focus groups conducted with 8–10 students — one from each of the six classes. It was predicted that cross-age tutoring would yield more positive effects than peer tutoring which, in turn, would yield more positive effects than traditional teacher instruction as assessed by achievement on class tasks and attitudes towards computing. The hypothesis was not supported by the quantitative analysis, however in the qualitative data cross-age tutoring was appraised more favourably than peer tutoring or teacher instruction. The latter was the least preferred condition due to: (1) inefficiency; (2) difficulty understanding teachers' explanations; and (3) lack of teacher knowledge. Problems with the implementation of the intervention identified in the focus groups were teacher differences, system failures, missed classes, lack of communication, and selection of computing activities. Practical suggestions were provided relevant to the introduction of cross-age tutoring and the use of computers within secondary level English classes.

The oral language skills of young offenders: a pilot invesitgation

Although there is a large body of evidence attesting to the poor social skills of juvenile offenders, few workers have examined the underlying language skills of this population. This pilot study investigated the language skills of a group of young offenders in comparison to non-offending school students. Data were gathered from 15 community-based young offender males, aged between 13 and 21 years (M = 16.5 years, SD = 2.1) from the Victorian southern region Juvenile Justice Units. The comparison group comprised 15 male students, aged between 15 and 17 years (M = I 6.4 years; SD = 0.5 I) from government high schools in south-eastern metropolitan Melbourne. Each participant completed a narrative discourse task and measures of speed of processing, and abstract language. It was hypothesised that the young offender group would perform more poorly on each of the language tasks than the comparison group. Independent t tests (with a modified alpha level to control for family-wise error rates) showed that there were significant differences in the expected direction, on all language measures. Notwithstanding the pilot nature of the investigation, implications of these findings for both further research and intervention/early intervention are described.

Whither management studies in Australian engineering undergraduate courses

In response to a perceived need for management studies in engineering
undergraduate courses, the Institution of Engineers, Australia (IEAust)
mandated a requirement for 10% of course content to be management
studies in Australia in 1991. In 1996 a major review of engineering
education in Australia recommended that the IEAust move from a course
accreditation regime based on prescribed inputs to one based on
demonstrated graduate attributes. In the move to the new accreditation
system the policy on management studies in engineering undergraduate
courses has become less definitive and more open to interpretation by
individual educational institutions. A survey of recent engineering
graduates suggests that those management skills most highly valued by
graduates were generic professional practice skills, and that more
opportunities to develop these skills in undergraduate studies would be
beneficial. Survey respondents suggested the inclusion in the course of
more real world examples of engineering management, including case
studies, hands-on activities, industry visits, more in-depth coverage of
topics, and presentations from practicing professionals.

An evaluation of undergraduate engineering management studies

In 1996, a major review of engineering education in Australia recommended a move from a course accreditation regime based on prescribed inputs to demonstrated graduate attributes. In the move, the policy on management studies in engineering undergraduate courses has become less definitive and more open to interpretation. A survey of recent engineering graduates suggests that those management skills most highly valued by graduates were generic professional practice skills, and that more opportunities to develop these skills in undergraduate studies would be beneficial. Survey respondents suggested the inclusion in the course of more `real world ' examples of engineering management.

Computer and IT skills of Australian first-year university undergraduate students

The use of computers and information technology is becoming more widespread in chemical education and in the wider community and workforce. Universities are increasing the use of computers and information technology in their teaching and learning programs. The Australian situation, reported here, can be viewed as a microcosm, reflecting a world-wide trend.

The penetration of general IT literacy and ability amongst Australian undergraduate students is rising rapidly. This paper reports surveys of the detailed IT skills of Australian undergraduate students. To the best of our knowledge, apart from our own work, there have been no other published surveys of specific IT skills. Most students have some reasonable computer skills at the start of their university studies, but the level of skill is not uniformly high. In fact, many IT literate students lack a sufficient level of skill to use the new technologies, including full use of web-based flexible learning. There is an urgent need for IT training for university students in order to achieve successful learning outcomes using IT and to satisfy the needs of future employers.

This article, which is the second in a series (1) of investigations on the computer skills of undergraduate students at the start of university, is an expanded version of a paper presented at the World Chemistry Congress held in Brisbane (Australia) during 1-6 July 2001.