scholarly journals Connecting experiences to employability through a meaning-making approach to learning

Author(s):  
Andrea Reid ◽  
Anna Richards ◽  
Dino Willox

A key part of the student experience in the higher education context is employability. There is an expectation that universities will contribute to their students’ employability and indeed they are measured on this contribution and are allocated funding based on it. Despite the importance of employability in higher education, it remains a complex and contested concept, often conflated with employment – graduates in jobs and the roles they occupy – and seen as a quantifiable outcome of the student experience. Where employability is understood as an individual’s knowledge, capabilities, and personal attributes that make them more likely to gain employment and be successful in their professional lives, it is often framed by the discourse of skills. There are some employability models, however, that champion a more holistic view of employability and highlight the role that experiences play in individual employability development. This paper reports on the development of an institutional employability framework and reflective process in an Australian research-intensive university. The paper discusses the experiential learning theories that underpin the reflective process that supports students to understand and articulate employability learning, for framing narratives around the potential to contribute to an organisation for employment, and for the transfer of this potential to professional contexts. The framework and reflective process represent employability as a learning process through which students make meaning from their experiences and learning opportunities. This involves understanding the value of their experiences, how to articulate that value, and how to transfer it to workplace performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene M. Duranczyk ◽  
Jennifer Franko ◽  
Shade Osifuye ◽  
Amy Barton ◽  
Jeanne L. Higbee

Mentoring and advising are critical aspects of the graduate student experience, and can have a significant impact on the professional lives of future postsecondary faculty and staff and a rippling effect throughout higher education and the global economy. This paper describes the process a new department undertook to create a graduate program that puts the inclusion and success of students first.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 501-516
Author(s):  
María Ángela Jiménez Montañés ◽  
◽  
Susana Villaluenga de Gracia

The implementation of curricula of degree, within the framework of the European space of higher education (EEES) has been a substantial change in University learning. The student spent acquire knowledge, competencies, being considered as “an identifiable and measurable set of knowledge, attitudes, values and skills related that allow satisfactory performance in real-life situations of work, according to the standards used in the occupational area” (Van-der Hofstadt & Gómez, 2013, p. 30). More specifically, we talk about generic skills, which are the cognitive, social, emotional and ethical (initiative, effort with the quality, liability, etc.) of transferable character that constitute “knowledge be” in vocational training of the University; and specific competencies in the various degrees and disciplines, allowing to specify functions and professional profiles to form. The degree of management and business administration, general objective is to train professionals and experts in the knowledge and use of processes, procedures, and practices employed in organizations. This overall objective implies to consider the interrelationships between the different parts of the Organization and its relationship with the environment. Studies administration and business management are aimed at learning theories, models and tools applicable to the processes of decision and management organizations. According to the book white of the title of the degree in economics and business, published by the national agency of evaluation and quality, distinguish between specific objectives in the field of knowledge and specific objectives in the field of competences and skills. Focusing on the latter, and in accordance with the Subject Benchmark Statements of General Business and Management, published by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the United Kingdom, the specific objectives in the field of skills and abilities that we focus the work would empower the student to it raise the ethical exercise of the profession, assuming social responsibility in decision-making. In this environment, it is necessary to consider the implementation of the 2014/95/EU Directive on disclosure of non-financial information and information on diversity of certain large companies and certain groups resulted in the publication of the Royal Decree 18/2017, of 24 November, whereby amending the commercial code, the consolidated text of the Capital Companies Act approved by Royal Legislative Decree 1/2010 of 2 July and the law 22/2015, 20 July audit of accounts , in the field of non-financial information and diversity. This new disclosure requirement for companies leads us to consider the need to introduce a transversal subject in the curricula of students in economics and management and business administration studies, in order to acquire the skills necessary in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), to produce the new business reports.


Author(s):  
Robin Bell

AbstractEntrepreneurship educators can maximise the effectiveness of their delivery by having a firm grasp of the different educational philosophies and theories that underpin entrepreneurship education pedagogy and practice. A particular educational philosophical orientation underlies, directs, and drives educator practices and should align with what the teaching seeks to impart and achieve, and the roles the learners and educator play in the learning process. Whilst educators might not always be explicitly aware of their philosophical orientation, it will direct and drive their pedagogic practice and have implications for what they deliver, and how they deliver it. The benefits of bringing together different learning theories, philosophies, and approaches for entrepreneurship education has previously been posited in the literature. However, it has been highlighted that connections between educational theory and practice are limited, and that the field of entrepreneurship education could be advanced through providing links between education literature, theory, and learning. This paper advances the literature by linking educational philosophy and theory to entrepreneurship education and pedagogy in higher education. It discusses and highlights how behaviourism, cognitivism, constructivism, and humanism can be used to underpin and support learning in entrepreneurship education. This meets calls for the conceptualisation of how educational philosophies and theories can be integrated into entrepreneurship education to support learners.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katerina Kedraka ◽  
Georgia Rotidi

The aim of this paper is to highlight University Pedagogy as a field that focuses on academics’ teaching role in Greek higher education. EU has recognized the need of improvement of the teaching skills of academics and urges the member states to recognize them as an important element of their professional profile. Only recently academics in Greece have launched the debate on innovative teaching and learning methods and practices. A Symposium that took place in 2016 and a significant empirical research are presented, because they are considered to mark the beginning of an emerging university culture, which incorporates the concern on teaching and learning excellence within higher education approaches in our country. The results of these initiatives indicate that critical self-reflection on teaching can lead to the transformation and to the adoption of alternative teaching practices, since the critically reflective process is a crucial point for the enhancement of an academic’s pedagogical, curricular and instructional knowledge.


Author(s):  
Tom H Brown

<p class="Paragraph1"><span lang="EN-US">The paper of Barber, Donnelly &amp; Rizvi (2013): “An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead”  addresses some significant issues in higher education and poses some challenging questions to ODL (Open and Distance Learning) administrators, policy makers and of course to ODL faculty in general.  Barber et al.’s paper does not specifically address the area of teaching and learning theories, strategies and methodologies per se.  In this paper I would therefore like to reflect on the impact that the contemporary changes and challenges that Barber et al. describes, have on teaching and learning approaches and paradigms.  In doing so I draw on earlier work about future learning paradigms and navigationism (Brown, 2006).  We need a fresh approach and new skills to survive the revolution ahead.  We need to rethink our teaching and learning strategies to be able to provide meaningful learning opportunities in the future that lies ahead.</span></p>


Author(s):  
Muji Gunarto ◽  
Ratih Hurriyati

Higher education products or services received by students are experiential values. The purpose of this study is how to create the values of student experience so that student satisfaction arises. Higher education should now focus on students by creating strong ties with students and alumni. This research was conducted with a survey confirmatory approach. The survey was conducted at 32 universities in South Sumatra Province, Indonesia with a total sample of 357 students. The sampling technique used was stratified random sampling and data analysis using structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. The results showed that the values of experience in HE were formed through increased co-creation in HE, where students were directly involved in various campus activities. High co-creation shows that there is a stronger attachment of students to HE and higher value of student experience. Co-creation does not directly affect student satisfaction, but it does indirectly affect experience value. If the value of experience is higher, student satisfaction will also be higher.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 9543
Author(s):  
Nicolás Matus ◽  
Cristian Rusu ◽  
Sandra Cano

Students’ experiences have been covered by a large number of studies in different areas. Even so, the concept of student experience (SX) is diffuse, as it does not have a widely accepted meaning and is often shaped to the specific purposes of each study. Understanding this concept allows educational institutions to better address the needs of students. For this reason, we conducted a systematic literature review addressing the concept of SX in higher education, specifically aiming at undergraduate students. In this work, we approach the concept of SX from the perspective of customer experience (CX), based on the premise that students are users of higher education institutions’ products, systems and/or services. We reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2021, indexed in five databases (Scopus, Web of Sciences, ACM digital, IEEE Xplore and Science Direct), trying to address research questions concerning: (1) the SX definition; (2) dimensions, attributes and factors that influence SX; and (3) methods used to evaluate the SX. We selected 65 articles and analyzed various SX definitions, as well as scales and surveys to evaluate SX, mainly relating to satisfaction and quality in higher education. We propose a holistic definition of SX and recommend ways to achieve its better analysis.


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