This presentation outlines preliminary findings of a phenomenographic study of academic conceptions of the term professional skills

Beagon, Una

Bowe, Brian

English

Arrow@TUDublin

Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Other resources School of Civil and Structural Engineering 2019-03-21 Preliminary Findings of a phenomenographic research study into academic conceptions of the term professional skills Una Beagon Technological University Dublin, una.beagon@tudublin.ie Brian Bowe Technological University Dublin, Brian.Bowe@TUDublin.ie Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/engschcivoth  Part of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Beagon, U. & Bowe, B. (2019( Preliminary Findings of a phenomenographic research study into academic conceptions of the term professional skills, Create seminar. This Presentation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Civil and Structural Engineering at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Other resources by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact yvonne.desmond@tudublin.ie, arrow.admin@tudublin.ie, brian.widdis@tudublin.ie. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License CREATE Seminar PhD Candidate: Una BeagonPreliminary Findings of a phenomenographic research study into academic conceptions of the term professional skills  Supervisor: Prof. Brian Bowe21st March 20191) Aims of research2) Overall Methodological Approach3) Methods4) Findings to date5) Next steps6) Issues arisingOutlineBetter prepare students for the workplaceAims of ResearchMore opportunities to develop professional skills Curriculum Reform Convince Academics Better understand Academics Overall Methodological Approach Conceptions of Professional SkillsThe “What” The “How”What do academics mean by “professional skills”?How do academics think “professional skills” are taught? Better understand Academics My approach First proposed by Marton (1981)“Phenomenography is a research method adapted for mapping the qualitatively different ways in which people experience, conceptualise, perceive, and understand various aspects of, and phenomena in, the world around them” (Marton, 1986, p.31)Examples :• Surface and deep learning (Marton & Säljö, 1976)• Approaches to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell et al., 2005)• Academics Conceptions of Lecturing (Daniel, 2015)Phenomenography Phenomenology         v’s       PhenomenographySimilarities         v’s       Differences PhenomenographyPhenomenology         v’s       PhenomenographyPhenomenographyPhenomenography in relation to other research approaches (Trigwell, 1999)Sub QuestionsWhat are the qualitatively different ways that academics;• conceptualise teaching and learning (generally)• approach teaching and learning (generally)• conceptualise what is meant by professional skills• approach teaching professional skillsWhat are the qualitatively different ways that academics  experience the teaching of professional skills in engineering programmes in Ireland? Research Questions Phase 1: Online Survey  - complete Phase 2: Phenomenographic interviews – Pilot interviews underway Phase 3:  Phenomenographic AnalysisPurpose: To gather general information, provide data for triangulation and to provide a purposeful sample for Phase 2 interviews.Purpose: To collect the varied ways in which academics conceptualise and experience the teaching of professional skills.Purpose: To create outcome spaces to describe the varied ways in which academics conceptualise and experience the teaching of professional skills in engineering programmes in Ireland.Methodology • Gender• Educational Qualifications• Industry Experience• Academic Experience• Engineers Ireland Accreditation• Approaches to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell and Prosser,1996)• Importance of specific skills *• Provocative statements(n=273) Survey content    Male: 72% Other: 6% Female: 22%  Average score of importance of skills by genderCharacterandInterpersonal SkillsTeamwork&Collaboration SkillsCommunicationExcellencein TechnicalSkillsProblemSolvingSelfDirectionProjectManagementLeadershipFemale Average 3.60 3.71 3.71 3.17 3.78 3.62 3.22 2.82Male Average 3.27 3.41 3.59 3.23 3.71 3.44 3.07 2.560.000.501.001.502.002.503.003.504.00Female AverageMale AverageFindings to date – survey result Each respondent was given a Priority Tag if they fell into the following categories; Selection criteria for interviews• Academic Experience• < 5 years OR > 20 years• Mainly Lecturing OR Mainly Researcher• Female• No industry experience OR > 20 years industry experience• Recruited, trained or worked with graduate engineers• Above the threshold for the Approaches to Teaching Inventory • > 26 score for Conceptual Change / Student Focussed OR• > 26 score for Information Transfer / Teacher Focussed• Qualifications • PhD/DEd OR no PhD/DEd• Educational qualification OR no Educational Qualification• Chartered Engineer OR not a member of Eng IrelandSelection criteria for interviews• Involved in accreditation OR not involved in accreditation • Outlier opinion on Provocative Statements • Outlier opinion on importance of relevant skills Respondent ID P1 (Female) P2 (No Industrial Experience) P3 (>20 yrs industry o     P4 ( Worked with graduatesP5 (Outlier ATI results) P6 (PhD)6546217763 P3 (>20 yrs industry) P4 ( Worked with graduates) P5 (Outlier CCSF)6487080580 P1 (Female) P5 (Outlier ITTF and CCSF)6551935959 P1 (Female) P4 ( Worked with graduates) P5 (Outlier CCSF)6545611312 P3 (>20 yrs industry) P4 ( Worked with graduates)6536058873 P3 (>20 yrs industry) P4 ( Worked with graduates)6532813430 P4 ( Worked with graduates) P5 (Outlier CCSF)6530132268 P1 (Female) P2 (No Industrial Experience) P5 (Outlier ITTF)6528333966 P1 (Female) P4 ( Worked with graduates)6508432726 P1 (Female) P2 (No Industrial Experience) P6 (PhD or DEd)6508305707 P3 (>20 yrs industry) P4 ( Worked with graduates) P5 (Outlier CCSF) P6 (PhD or DEd)6501015956 P3 (>20 yrs industry) P4 ( Worked with graduates) P5 (Outlier CCSF) P6 (PhD or DEd)6500542113 P1 (Female) P4 ( Worked with graduates) P6 (PhD or DEd)6490636805 P1 (Female) P4 ( Worked with graduates)6489864197 P2 (No Industrial Experience) 6480180134 P3 (>20 yrs industry)Check on minimum criteria Attribute Range Initial suggestion of min number to be selectedActual number includedwithin sample of 33respondentsNotesGender MaleFemaleOther /Prefer not tosay88all16161Not appropriate to include all respondents (16no) who selected ‘Other/Prefer not to say@Age Less than 2525 to 3435 to 4445 to 5455 or older1 2222057138No respondents indicated an age of less than 25 years old. Respondents selected for interview based on highest no of priority tags Extremities used to identify outliers with opinions on skills requirements Refer to handout Findings to date (2 interviews)• RQ1: (The “what”)What are the qualitatively different ways that academics conceptualise “professional skills” in engineering graduates?Professional skills as being independent of technical skills Professional skills as being a combination of technical skills and soft skillsProfessional skills as being a subset of technical skills, an enabler to carry out technical skills Next steps• Confirmation report (Easter)• Confirmation Exam (May/June)• Interviews (March – June)• Analysis (Ongoing - December)• Write up - ongoingIssues arising • TimeCREATE Seminar PhD Candidate: Una BeagonSupervisor: Prof. Brian Bowe21st March 2019

Preliminary Findings of a phenomenographic research study into academic conceptions of the term professional skills

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Preliminary Findings of a phenomenographic research study into academic conceptions of the term professional skills

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