Welcome to Volume 3 of the Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability. This web-based journal is an open access publication of peer-reviewed publications disseminating research and best practice in higher education teaching and learning for graduate employability.
In response to contemporary global trends, higher education institutions are exploring innovative ways to transform teaching and learning. These trends include the rapid increase in the availability of interactive learning technologies and development of new frameworks for credentialing skills and achievements gained by learners outside formal educational institutions. Learners are increasingly embracing independent learning opportunities through free, online educational offerings. New approaches to teaching and learning will need to be developed to connect the learner across settings, technologies and activities. Innovative approaches and pedagogies will ensure that higher education institutions achieve their aim to transform students by providing them with the skills and abilities to actively contribute to our rapidly changing world.
Graduate employability will continually be a priority for universities and higher education providers, employers, professions, students and graduates. New solutions will enhance and change the way students learn and undoubtedly, the way graduate capabilities are developed within and beyond the formal curriculum. Universities and higher education providers are focusing on assuring and evidencing their institutions' espoused capabilities in their graduates. The development of agreed minimum standards graduates need to achieve to be employable, and how these standards are measured, continues to be a priority and source of much debate in the sector. New challenges include the assurance of credentials and academic integrity in the rapidly changing technological environment that includes Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).
Key to these challenges are how we evidence and assure student achievement, and much of this is strongly related to how we assess students. There is general acceptance within the sector that the development and assessment of graduate capabilities is most effective when contextualised within the discipline. Numerous approaches to assessment have been proposed including: exit interviews, capstone assessments, an outcomes-based approach using portfolios, standardised tests such as the Collegiate Skills Assessment and performance based assessment tasks. Increasingly e-assessment technologies are being proposed to facilitate the submission, workflow and marking of assessments and for diagnosing plagiarism. Nevertheless the challenges related to academic integrity, whilst not new, are likely to be greater when learning occurs online and assessments are not invigilated. It is likely that the design of valid authentic assessments to enable successful learning and for assuring graduates capabilities lies with the pedagogy rather than the technology.
On behalf of our editorial board, the journal's editor, Professor Beverley Oliver, and our administration officer Ms Linda Lilly, I encourage you to participate, through this journal, in scholarly communication, debate and scholarship in learning and teaching for effective graduate employability.
Beatrice Tucker
Deputy Editor
Exploring new learning paradigms in ODL: A reflection on the paper of Barber, Donnelly and Rizvi (2013): “An avalanche is coming: Higher education and the revolution ahead”.
