scholarly journals Deakin Launch Network: an employability network that improves engagement, graduate outcomes and wellbeing by connecting and leveraging the expertise of diverse students and alumni

Author(s):  
Trina Jorre de St Jorre

Graduates require opportunities to gain experience and develop professional networks to enhance their employability and career progression. However, students’ access to relevant networks and opportunities to gain experience is not equitable, and this contributes to gaps in employment outcomes at graduation and beyond (Harvey et al., 2017; Tomaszewski et al., 2019). This paper showcases key principles underpinning the design and success of a student and alumni-led network designed to enhance employability. In addition to creating networks between students and alumni, Deakin Launch Network, leverages their skills and experience to identify and create opportunities to enhance the employability of Deakin graduates, especially for those more likely to face disadvantage in the graduate employment market. In doing so, the network provides students with valuable connections, experience, and knowledge relevant to employability. Students also report that the connections and collaborations supported by the network, contributed to their wellbeing and sense of belonging during remote learning, and satisfaction with their educational experience. For alumni, the network has provided motivation and opportunity to reconnect or remain connected to the university. Our case study shows that students and alumni are a valuable source of networks, experience and influence that can, and should, be better utilised by universities. Furthermore, distributed student-leadership and purposeful inclusion can positively impact the outcomes of student-staff partnerships, including project deliverables, the student experience and learning outcomes.

2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie Sonley ◽  
Denise Turner ◽  
Sue Myer ◽  
Yvonne Cotton

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to report the results of a case study evaluating the revision of the assessment methods of an information literacy module. The revised assessment method took the form of a portfolio.Design/methodology/approachDuring 2004, all six credit modules at the University of Teesside had to be reviewed and restructured into ten credit modules. Following Biggs' principles of constructive alignment, the tutors looked at the existing module aims and learning outcomes. A review of the literature and previous experience informed the selection of the new assessment method by portfolio. An evaluation of the assessment method was undertaken after the module had run.FindingsThe paper finds that the assessment method had real strengths especially in terms of validity. It was also economical and efficient. Students knew what they were expected to do and where they needed to put in effort.Research limitations/implicationsThe assessment by a portfolio method has been carried out once with a relatively small cohort of students, so the findings can only be regarded as interim.Practical implicationsThe tutors believe that they have created a very useful module with an aligned assessment method which would be of benefit to a much greater number of studentsOriginality/valueThere is a shortage of publications that report the results of the use of portfolios for the assessment of information literacy.


Author(s):  
Grant Campbell

Assessing students (including giving feedback and making decisions based on assessments) is arguably the single most important thing done in universities in terms of tangible impacts on people’s lives, but assessment is hard to do. Academics are seldom trained in assessment, and for many it is the most worrying aspect of the job. The University of Manchester operates a New Academics Programme for its probationary lecturers, running over three years and encompassing research, teaching, and administrative aspects of academic careers, culminating in a reflective portfolio. This case study describes the introduction of an assessment component into this programme, including its motivation, content, implementation, and evolution, and its reception by the new academics. The assessment component of the New Academics Programme is now delivered in two sessions at different times of the year. The first covers the importance of assessment and gives guidance for designing good assessments and giving feedback. The second session goes more deeply into constructive alignment and learning outcomes, leading on to decision making in exam boards, and ending with a focus on cultivating academic judgement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-91
Author(s):  
Fatmata Daramy ◽  
Morag Duffin ◽  
Ibrahim Ilyas ◽  
David Taylor

This article explores the challenges of addressing inequitable outcomes and experiences for BAME Law students. It considers the specific challenges BAME students face in entering a profession that is highly competitive, and which has traditionally lacked diversity. It details the approach that The University of Law, as a specialist legal educational institution, has taken to work and co-create with its student body to reduce these inequitable outcomes and experiences, as well as to improve a wider sense of belonging between students, their educational institution and the legal sector. It takes, as a case study, The University of Law's BAME Student Advocate scheme, which was established in the spring of 2020, and spotlights a few key projects delivered by the BAME Advocates: an employer engagement project, a Ramadan project and a project on raising awareness of institutional racism through the Stephen Lawrence case.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8197
Author(s):  
John R. Hermann

Using Starting Strong as a case study, this article examines how four successful Student Learning Outcomes (SLO’s) emerged and one was eliminated during the Quality Enhancement Plan’s (QEP’s) development process. In comparison to the one that was purged, the four successful SLO’s had five commonalities: 1. Virtually unanimous support from the administration; 2. Wide acceptance of the SLO from the faculty and staff members working on the QEP; 3. A shared conception between the administration and faculty/staff of what is an appropriate SLO; 4. The SLO’s could be clearly conceptualized and measured; And, 5., the SLO’s are financially feasible for the university to implement. The study hopes that this article may provide guidance for other universities undertaking and developing SLO’s and QEP’s.


2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Lorenzo Delgado ◽  
Mª Pilar Cáceres Reche ◽  
Francisco Javier Hinojo Lucena ◽  
Inmaculada Aznar Díaz

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5745
Author(s):  
William Villegas-Ch ◽  
Xavier Palacios-Pacheco ◽  
Sergio Luján-Mora

Currently, universities are being forced to change the paradigms of education, where knowledge is mainly based on the experience of the teacher. This change includes the development of quality education focused on students’ learning. These factors have forced universities to look for a solution that allows them to extract data from different information systems and convert them into the knowledge necessary to make decisions that improve learning outcomes. The information systems administered by the universities store a large volume of data on the socioeconomic and academic variables of the students. In the university field, these data are generally not used to generate knowledge about their students, unlike in the business field, where the data are intensively analyzed in business intelligence to gain a competitive advantage. These success stories in the business field can be replicated by universities through an analysis of educational data. This document presents a method that combines models and techniques of data mining within an architecture of business intelligence to make decisions about variables that can influence the development of learning. In order to test the proposed method, a case study is presented, in which students are identified and classified according to the data they generate in the different information systems of a university.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (I) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Ashfaque Ahmad Shah ◽  
Zunaira Fatima Syeda ◽  
Uzma Shahzadi

Learning outcomes is always an extensive research area in higher education. The research is to assess the learning outcomes of university graduates. To accomplish the aim, descriptive research and survey design was used for data collection. It was the case study of the University of Sargodha. A self-developed questionnaire was validated by expert opinion, and reliability was established at .92. For analyzing the data, descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to test the mean difference of participative programs. It was found that there is no significant difference in the learning of students on the basis of the program in which they are enrolled. The study recommends an extensive study of learning outcomes in higher education.


Author(s):  
Rocío Valderrama-Hernández ◽  
Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo ◽  
Lucía Alcántara-Rubio ◽  
Dolores Limón-Domínguez

This paper presents a methodology to evaluate (1) to what extent students of a higher degree in the field of education acquire sustainability competencies, and (2) to determine whether the subjects that develop the ESD achieve their learning objectives. The methodology is applied to a case study. The instruments used are the sustainability survey and the sustainability presence map developed by the EDINSOST project. The survey consists of 18 questions, and has been answered by 104 first-year students and 86 fourth-year students belonging to the Bachelor Degree in Primary Education Teaching at the University of Sevilla. The Mann-Whitney U test has been used to compare the results of the two groups, and Cohen's D has been used to measure the effect size. Students only obtain significant improvements, with 95% confidence, in three questions (Q4, Q5 and Q6), all concerning critical thinking and creativity. An improvement is also detected in question Q11, with a confidence of 90%. However, no subject in the curriculum develops the learning outcomes concerning questions Q4, Q5 and Q6, and only one subject develops the learning outcomes regarding question Q11. On the other hand, up to five subjects declare development of the learning outcomes regarding questions in which there is no improvement in student learning. These results suggest that the subjects are failing to reach their ESD learning objectives, and that the students are either trained in sustainability outside the university or the subject learning guides do not reflect the work done by the students throughout their studies


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rocío Valderrama-Hernández ◽  
Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo ◽  
Lucía Alcántara Rubio ◽  
Dolores Limón-Domínguez

This paper presents a methodology to evaluate (1) to what extent students of a higher degree in the field of education acquire sustainability competencies, and (2) to determine whether the subjects that develop Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) achieve their learning objectives. The methodology is applied to a case study. The instruments used are the sustainability survey and the sustainability presence map developed by the EDINSOST project. The survey consists of 18 questions, and has been answered by 104 first-year students and 86 fourth-year students belonging to the Bachelor Degree in Primary Education Teaching at the University of Seville. The Mann-Whitney U test has been used to compare the results of the two students groups, and Cohen’s D has been used to measure the effect size. Students only obtain significant improvements, with 95% confidence, in three questions: Q4 (I know procedures and resources to integrate sustainability in the subjects), Q5 (I analyze the opportunities presented in the subjects to plan educational projects to integrate sustainability) and Q6 (I design educational projects from the perspective of sustainability), all concerning critical thinking and creativity. An improvement is also detected in question Q11 (I know how to develop myself satisfactorily in community educational projects, encouraging participation), with a confidence of 90%. Surprisingly, no subject in the curriculum develops the learning outcomes concerning questions Q4, Q5 and Q6, and only one subject develops the learning outcomes regarding question Q11. However, up to five subjects declare development of the learning outcomes regarding questions in which there is no improvement in student learning. These results suggest that the subjects are failing to reach their ESD learning objectives, and that the students are either trained in sustainability outside the university or the subject learning guides do not reflect the work done by the students throughout their studies.


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