Integrating communication skills into undergraduate science degrees: A practical and evidence-based approach

The introduction of generic skills, such as communication, into undergraduate science degrees is becoming common in higher education and has met with mixed implementation success. This study designed, piloted, and evaluated a set of adaptable activities that scaffold the explicit teaching and learning of science communication with non-scientific audiences. These activities were implemented in undergraduate science classes from three disciplines at an Australian research-intensive university. A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate learning gains by collecting data from: student surveys; semi-structured interviews with academic teaching staff; and student performance by marking of assessment tasks. Self-reported learning gains showed 95% of all students perceived improvements in their ability to do all communication skills and 94% perceived improvements in their confidence in communicating science as a result of the activities. Academic teaching staff reported improvements in students' communication skills and understanding of core science content, and indicated that the tasks were explicit, engaging, and sustainable for use in future years. Students successfully transferred their learning to their assignments, demonstrating on average, a 'good,' 'excellent,' or 'outstanding' standard for each of the science communication criteria. These activities provide a promising starting point for integrating employable communication skills into undergraduate science degrees

Student perceptions of communication skills in undergraduate science at an Australian research-intensive university

Higher education institutions globally are acknowledging the need to teach communication skills. This study used the Science Student Skills Inventory to gain insight into how science students perceive the development of communication skills across the degree programme. Responses were obtained from 635 undergraduate students enrolled in a Bachelor of Science at an Australian research-intensive university. Students rated their perceptions of two communication skills, scientific writing and oral scientific communication, across the following indicators: importance of, and improvement in, developing communication skills; the extent to which communication skills were included and assessed in the degree; confidence in using communication skills; and belief of future use of communication skills. While the majority of students perceived both communication skills to be important and of use in the future, their perceptions of the extent to which those skills were included and assessed were less, with oral communication being included and assessed less than scientific writing skills. Significant differences among year levels were discerned for most indicators, signifying a lack of coherent opportunities for students to learn and develop these skills across year levels. Results are discussed through the lens of progressive development of complex learning outcomes, with suggested areas for curriculum development and future research

Toward curriculum convergence for graduate learning outcomes: academic intentions and student experiences

© 2016 Society for Research into Higher Education. Graduate learning outcomes in undergraduate science degrees increasingly are focussed on the development of transferrable skillsets. Research into, and comparisons of, the perceptions of students and academic staff on such learning outcomes has rarely been explored in science. This study used a quantitative survey to explore the perceptions of 640 undergraduate science students and 70 academics teaching into a Bachelor of Science degree program on the importance, the extent to which outcomes were included and assessed, the improvement and likely future use of science graduate learning outcomes. Analysis of findings shed light on potential pathways toward curriculum convergence by arguing the need for shared perspectives of academics and students on graduate learning outcomes and drawing on the planned-enacted-experienced curriculum model. Moving toward coherent curriculum planning that draws on both student and academic perspectives to achieve graduate learning outcomes is the key contribution of this study. Resulting recommendations include: the need to consider the development of each complex graduate learning outcome as distinct from other outcomes in both curricular and pedagogical approach, and the need for a programmatic framework for assessment practices to facilitate the constructive alignment of assessment with learning outcomes

What makes stakeholder engagement in social licence “meaningful”? Practitioners’ conceptualisations of dialogue

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Social licence to operate (SLO) acknowledges the need for extractive industries to move beyond regulatory requirements into social accountability, which requires engagement between companies and their stakeholders. Engagement efforts point to dialogue as being integral for increasing the inclusivity of, for example, land-use decision-making in rural governance. Since little research explores what constitutes “constructive dialogue”, this research empirically explored how dialogue is conceptualised by expert engagement practitioners in SLO. Practitioners conceptualised constructive dialogue as both a threshold for, and an indicator of, social licence. This finding aligns with academic theorisation of dialogue wherein dialogue represents a collaborative form of engagement core to the development of SLO. Practitioners suggested dialogue is most commonly, and potentially problematically, operationalised as a goal-oriented process, aligning with previous work suggesting a “spectrum of dialogue” from strategic to learning-oriented. Contextual realities, such as time and costs, define where implemented dialogue practice ultimately falls. Analysis of practitioners’ views suggests industry and academia may consider future engagement practice and research in light of the centrality of reciprocal dialogic processes for increasing the inclusivity of SLO processes