Developing interactive oral assessments to foster graduate attributes in higher education

Author(s):  
Chin Pei Tan ◽  
Dora Howes ◽  
Rendell K. W. Tan ◽  
Karina M. Dancza
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 019-027
Author(s):  
Bashiru Lawal ◽  
Aliyu S. Rafi ◽  
Bashir Idris ◽  
Agunlejika Aderogba Joseph

This study sought to determine the computing disciplines’ graduate attributes that are perceived as most important by academics of Nigerian Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) to make graduates in computer related disciplines desirable to potential employers and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design was adopted. One hundred and Fifty (150) academic staff of computer related disciplines across the HEIs (Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education) in the North-Western Nigeria were screened and used through convenience random and purposive sampling methods. The Computing Disciplines’ Graduate Attributes Scale (CDGAS) (r = 0.90) was the research instrument used in gleaning the field data. Three research questions were raised and one hypothesis formulated, tested and analyzed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The findings revealed that effective communication skills, leadership quality, collaboration and teamwork, lifelong learning skills, cognitive ability and practical skills, ability to apply knowledge to solving theoretical and practical problems creativity and innovative thinking are the most important computing discipline’ graduate attributes that are desirable for graduate employability and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Also, result from hypothesis testing showed no significant relationship between computing discipline graduate attributes desirable for employability and that of entrepreneurship in Nigeria (r = 0.622; P < 0.05). Conclusively, the study recommended that career development support efforts should be included in the curriculum, which will focus on helping prospective graduate in computing related discipline on how graduate attributes can hinder or increase their employability and entrepreneurship strengths.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Hill ◽  
Helen Walkington ◽  
Derek France

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (S2) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Georgina Barton ◽  
Mary Ryan

Reflection, reflective thinking and reflexivity have received significant attention in the scholarly literature on higher education yet there is limited research that explores these concepts in relation to international students. This paper consequently explores what reflection and reflective thinking might look and feel like for international students. We theorize the importance of supporting international students in becoming reflexive practitioners in their chosen area of study; particularly in respect to graduate attributes including reflection and employability. The paper attends to this theorization by sharing Rodgers’ (2002) four functions of reflection, a reflective thinking model – the 4Rs – as well as Archer’s (2000, 2012) notion of reflexivity. We explore how higher educators might consider these frameworks comprehensively when working with international students particularly in the area of workplace experience.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 16-30
Author(s):  
Masoud Rashid Al Hinai ◽  
Abul Bashar Bhuiyan ◽  
Nor Azilah Husin

The Omani higher education system has enlarged noticeably since 1970 both in the number of students and in the infrastructure.  As a result, there has been a wide investment to provide quality higher educational institutes capable of providing suitable graduates to fulfill the requirements of both public and private sectors with a focus on females to assure equal gender educational and career opportunities chances. Therefore, graduates’ readiness for employability has become a major issue for Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Oman due to the growing concern from governments and industries on the quality of the graduates.  Therefore, the main objective of the current study is to develop a conceptual framework for the graduate readiness for employability and incorporates the graduate attributes including human capital attributes, social capital attributes, individual attributes, institution-related attributes, and active learning attributes moderated by gender, career, and moral mindset among Engineering Graduate in Oman. The study uses available sources of existing literature based on the four main keywords ‘higher education’, ‘graduate attributes ‘or ‘readiness for employability, and ‘skills gaps in Oman’. The study also justified by the following theories which are human capital; education and economy development; behavior theory; and motivation theory. The literature utilized for this study covers the latest literature (from 2013 to 2020) extracted from Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Scopus, and other online resources. Based on the summary findings, the study develops a framework that analyses the effects of influential factors on the graduate readiness for employability that will be considered as an empirical study on the graduates of the engineering colleges in Oman. Moreover, the study also concluded that there are moderating effects of gender, moral mindset, and career mindset on the influence factors and the graduate readiness for employability among Omani engineering colleges’ students. The results of the study will fill the gap in understanding the main factors affecting the attainment of graduates’ readiness for employability skills in Oman. The study recommends justifying this conceptual framework by empirical data from the Engineering Graduate in the Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) and draw a policy guideline for ensuring of readiness of engineering graduates for employability in the HEIs in Oman.


Author(s):  
Le Thai Hung ◽  
Pham Thi Anh Phuong

This study is aimed at evaluating the relationship among students’ skills and their employability based on surveying students using 5 point Likert scale. The survey includes 490 students whose major are foreign languages and the results show that there are differences in the level of awareness between first year students, third year students and last year students. Thanks to the data analysis, it is revealed that most students believe that the university reputation has an important role in their employability (Mean= 3.80), they can do any kinds of work provided that work matches their skills and experience (Mean=3.05); therefore, students need to have some other skills in order to become successful in finding their jobs. Among the skills mentioned in the survey, the skills for working in group, skills for adaptability, skills for listening to others, skills for risk acceptability, skills for public speaking and skills for critical thinking are  more effectively contributing factors to employability in comparison with other skills. Keywords Students, employability, skills, attitude, influence References [1] Bộ Lao động Thương binh và Xã hội. (2018). Bản tin cập nhật thị trường lao động Việt Nam - quý II năm 2018. [2] Đào Đăng Phượng. (2017). Thị trường lao động và sự hình thành nguồn nhân lực ở Châu Âu và Việt Nam. Paper presented at the Hội Thảo Khoa Học Quốc tế "Tăng Cường Cơ Hội Tiếp Cận Thị Trường Lao Động Cho Thanh Niên và Sinh Viên Việt Nam Sau Khi Tốt Nghiệp. [3] Hà, T. T. (2017). Tiếp cận thị trường lao động cho sinh viên Việt Nam trong thời kỳ đổi mới giáo dục. 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