Engaging professional societies in developing work-ready graduates

Since the 1990s universities have faced increasing pressure to better prepare graduates for the workforce. Employers, professional societies and the government are increasingly calling for graduates who are work-ready. In this paper we identify the drivers of the work-ready initiative and present definitions and components of our identified professional work-ready attributes and skills. University graduates are expected to have more than just the discipline-based knowledge and skills that universities traditionally teach. In exploring the tensions, challenges and opportunities that this changing educational environment presents, this paper investigates the key graduate attributes, skills and criteria for successful careers in the professional workplace. Working in consultation with professional societies, our project aims to identify and contextualise work-ready skills to each of the targeted disciplines Information Technology and Business to maximise student relevance. We aim to rejuvenate the current curriculum to improve the development of students work-ready skills by integrating into the curriculum new work-ready subjects and learning activities within existing subjects. Skills identified by professional societies are critical for contemporary university graduates, and are being used to develop effective teaching and learning strategies, tutorials, activities and case-studies

Implementasi Pembelajaran Aktif-Kooperatif Pada Topik Fotokimia Untuk Meningkatkan Keterampilan Generik Sains Calon Guru Kimia

Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian pengembangan untuk menghasilkan pembelajaran yang dapat meningkatkan keterampilan generik sains (KGS) calon guru kimia. Pembelajaran yang dikembangkan menggabungkan pembelajaran aktif dan pembelajaran kooperatif. Pembelajaran diimplementasikan pada topik Fotokimia yang diikuti oleh 70 mahasiswa. Pelaksanaan pembelajaran menyimpulkan bahwa ada perbedaan N-gain yang signifikan dalam penguasaan konsep Fotokimia dan KGS karena perbedaan tahun akademik, nilai Kimia Fisika I, dan IPK. Pembelajaran Aktif-kooperatif yang dikembangkan dapat digunakan untuk berbagai latar belakang siswa

Pengembangan Perangkat Pembelajaran Berbasis Masalah Untuk Peningkatan Capaian Kompetensi Fisika Umum II Mahasiswa Prodi Pendidikan Fisika Fmipa Universitas Negeri Medan

Tujuan utama penelitian ini adalah untuk menghasilkan lembarkegiatan mahasiswa berbasis masalah (LKMBM) Fisika Umum II. Penelitian ini termasuk jenis penelitian R & D, namun untuk menghasilkan perangkat pembelajaran LKMBM digunakan model disain Dick dan Carey. Struktur isi LKMBM Fisika Umum II ini merupakan implementasi dari konsep pembelajaran berbasis masalah, dan konsep strategi pemecahan masalah. Pelaksanaan penelitian ini dibagi atas tiga tahapan yaitu tahap perencanaan, pengembangan, dan evaluasi formatif. Pelaksananaan evaluasi formatif dilaksanakan melalui tiga tahapan, yaitu: uji validasi oleh 3 orang reviewer, uji coba satu satu melibatkan 3 orang mahasiswa, uji coba kelompok kecil melibatkan 15 orang mahasiswa. Berdasarkan hasil analisis data dan pembahasan, hasil penelitian ini adalah: (1) seperangkat lembar kegiatan mahasiswa berbasis masalah (LKMBM) Fisika Umum II yang ditata dalam 10 komponen, yaitu: (a) judul kegiatan, (b) tujuan pembelajaran, (c) permasalahan, (d) hipotesis, (e) pengumpulan data, (f) pembahasan, (g) simpulan, (h) daftar pustaka, (i) lampiran, dan (j) tes kompetensi; 2) hasil uji coba LKMBM beserta perangkat perangkat pendukungnya dengan melibatkan para ahli dan mahasiswa sebagai pengguna LKMBM, secara keseluruhan sudah memberikan penilaian yang baik, layak digunakan dalam perbaikan pembelajaran fisika umum

Generic skills : do capstone courses deliver?

Generic skills are increasingly the focus of universities worldwide and are often developed in professional practice courses. This paper presents qualitative findings from students regarding their perceptions of the generic skills they developed during a capstone course in an Information Systems program. The study found that the capstone course improved their collaborative team-work, presentation skills and ability to apply skills/knowledge to new situations. The paper also demonstrates that students&rsquo; perceptions of generic skills were more closely tied to the discipline than university-wide generic skills. This lends support for generic skills policy/practice to be driven bottom-up rather than top-down.<br /

Using a learning portfolio to promote soft skill (pervasive skill) development

Abstract: Objective of the study: The objective of this study is to examine the extent to which South African (SA) accounting academics use learning portfolios as a method of instruction, and to establish their views on whether this method can be used to transfer pervasive skills to students. Research method: An electronically administered questionnaire was sent to academics working at universities accredited by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. Findings and conclusions: Prior research provides evidence of the value of learning portfolios in the transfer of pervasive skills to students. The findings of this paper reveal a gap between the use of learning portfolios by SA accounting academics when compared to their counterparts globally, and the views of accounting bodies. This gap can be attributed to a lack of awareness by SA academics of the competencies that can be transferred using learning portfolios, and the application of alternative teaching methods. Theoretical and practical implications: This paper provides insight into the use of learning portfolios by SA accounting academics whose traditional strengths were in technical teaching, and the reluctance of the majority of these academics to embrace learning portfolios into their academic programmes

Using Assessment to Develop Social Responsibility as a Graduate Attribute in Teacher Education

Australian higher education institutions have struggled to develop clear strategies for developing and assessing graduate attributes within their specific disciplinary contexts. Using the example of the graduate attribute of social responsibility, this paper explores the outcomes of using assessment tasks to raise the awareness of development of graduate attributes, while at the same time contextualising their meaning and relevance within pre-service teachers’ immediate lived experiences within the study situation. The data collected were pre- and post-surveys as well as written reflections. The findings indicate that if embedded in an explicit way in assessment tasks that require reflection on the development of social responsibility within practicum experience, the pre-service teachers demonstrate an increased awareness of its relevance to their emerging teaching practice

SOFT SKILL REQUIREMENT FOR EMPLOYABILITY IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING INDUSTRY

Polytechnic transformation is launched to give new “facelift” for education in polytechnic and quality of their graduates. According to the transformation, polytechnic graduates are expected to be high enterprising and posses employability skills. Employability skills or better known as soft skill required for employability vary according to industry. The aim of this study is to identify the required soft skills for employability in mechanical engineering industry. Six soft skills and sub skills were focused in this study. A descriptive quantitative research was conducted at Senawang Industrial Park. Data from respondents were analyzed in SPSS 16.0. SPSS 16.0 was the “backbone” instrument to analyze the data. Finding shows that mechanical industry require the highest mean value in almost all the sections. Finding of this study is believed to be beneficiary to the educators and learners to correlate to polish soft skills among learners. Keywords: soft skills, employability, engineering, industry, mechanical,requirement