Does self-assessment and tailored
intervention help to improve
employability skills of post-graduate
students?
Dr Debbi Marais
Section of Population Health
Division of Applied Health Sciences; College of Life Sciences and Medicine
MSc Health Services and Public
Health Research & MSc International
Health and Management
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Diversity
• Diverse backgrounds
– Undergraduate degree
– Professions
– Nationalities & Cultures (60-80%
International students)
• Previous experience & skill levels
– Teaching and assessment methods
– Generic skills (IT, communication)
– English language proficiency
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Induction Programme
• Generic Skills course
– non-credit bearing
– Mostly 1st week
– Academic writing, Plagiarism, Library skills,
Presentation skills, Essay writing, Note
taking, Exams and Revision, Critical
appraisal
• Challenges
– Students arriving late
– Not relevant at that time
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Why Skills Audit?
• Individualised development
– Everyone does not have the same
needs
– Pitch in the middle
– Self awareness
• Generic skills - Curriculum Vitae for
future career
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Survey of 2009/10
Graduates
• SNAP survey
• 18 responses (60% of 30)
– Mostly international, but variety of
backgrounds, training
• Difficulty with
– >50% Assessments (exams & essays)
– >33% Oral presentations and Group work
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills Audit 2010/11
• Self-assessment of Skills during
induction to identify strengths &
development areas
• Tailored action plans to address areas
of improvement
• Reflect on usefulness and progress
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills Self-Assessment (SSA)
- Preparation
• Information session for all full time students
• Complete and keep a copy of:
1. Skills Info SK5003 self-assessment
– Non-credit bearing
– Self-assessment of IT skills
•
e-mail, internet, Word, Excel, PP
– Yes / No / Unsure
– Workshop or online assistance
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills Self-Assessment (SSA)
- Preparation
• Complete and keep a copy of:
1. Skills Info SK5003 self-assessment
2. Complete the free online personality typing Jung Typology Test™ and record personality
type (four letters)
–
–
–
72 Yes / No
Meyers-Briggs typology
4 Dichotomies
• Introvert vs Extrovert, Intuitive vs Sensing, Thinking
vs Feeling, Judging vs Perceiving
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills Self-Assessment (SSA)
- Preparation
• Complete and keep a copy of:
1. Skills Info SK5003 self-assessment
2. Personality typing
3. English not first/home language, complete the
Open University self assessment tasks
–
–
10 Tasks – Complete easily, with some difficulty, with
greater difficulty
Academic reading, summarising, paraphrasing, logical
order, grammar & spelling
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills self-assessment (SSA)
- Questionnaire
• Complete the SSA by linking to SNAP
survey via e-mail (20 min)
• Completed before appointment (20
minutes) with Programme Coordinator
– Dates and times on WebCT
• Think about own areas of improvement
and plans for development during MSc
www.abdn.ac.uk/
SSA SNAP survey
(30 questions)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Demographics
Strengths & weaknesses (own words)
Self-rated English language proficiency
Communications skills (oral & poster presentations,
publications, referencing)
IT skills (TurnitInUK, track changes, data base search)
Group work
Essays/exams
UK style CV
Personality typing
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills self-assessment
(SSA) - Interview
• Individual interview using SNAP results
• Plan of action discussed
• Suggestions made for:
– workshops/courses to be attended
– resources to be investigated
– referral to group(s) to assist with specific
aspects
• Using checklist
www.abdn.ac.uk/
‘Checklist’
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Plan of Action
• E-mails sent to each student individually
regarding resources to be utilised and
workshops to attend
• E-mails sent to groups of students
inviting them to specific workshops
having identified interest
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Skills self-assessment
(SSA) - Reflection
• Evidence of development activities to be
recorded in the portfolio and used to
build own CV
• Course/workshop attendance
• Resources referred to
• Other action taken
• Reflection on own development over the
4 months and plan of action for the next
6 months to be uploaded after exams
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Results
SSA
Action Plan
Reflection
Section of Population Health
Division of Applied Health Sciences; College of Life Sciences and Medicine
Sample
• 27 FT students
– 15 HSPHR & 12 IHM
• Mean age 30
– 22 to 52 years
• 2/3 International students (18)
– English language rating
• 1 poor, 7 average, 10 good, 9 excellent
• 10 English NOT 1st language
www.abdn.ac.uk/
English Language
Proficiency
Grammar and spelling Task 3
Grammar and spelling Task 2
Grammar and spelling Task 1
Logical ordering
Easily
Paraphrasing
With some difficulty
Summarising Task 2
With greater difficulty
Summarising Task 1
Academic reading Task 3
Academic reading Task 2
Academic reading Task 1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Development Areas
Never worked in a team
2
Never done an oral presentation
2
Rated ability to work in a team
as good (17) or excellent (7)
Never written UK-style assignment
6
Only 6 at congresses & 5 never used PP
Never used TurnitIn UK
7
Never written UK-style exam
8
Not familiar with referencing styles
9
IT skills need improvement
9
Not comfortable presenting to audience
9
Need help with literature searches
12
Never used track changes
14
Never made poster
15
No UK-style CV
17
Never published
19
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Personality Typing
25
20
15
10
Self-awareness and
getting to know each other
20
15
16
15
5
0
Extrovert vs
Introvert
Intitive vs
Sensing
Thinking vs
Feeling
Judging vs
Perceiving
• Most common personality types were ENTJ
(5), ENFJ (4) and INTJ (3)
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Tailored Action Plans
Workshops
Delivered
by
Date
No of
students
selecting
Practical session with draft first assignment
PC
3 Nov 10
5
Personality typing workshop
SLS
1 Feb 11
15
How to do a systematic literature search for your thesis
Library
22 Feb 11
14
Referencing workshop
Library
22 Feb 11
11
Enhancing your PowerPoint
SLS
1 Mar 11
11
Presenting a paper
SLS
1 Mar 11
12
Practice session for Protocol presentation
PC
14 Mar 11*
21 (12*)
How to use track changes for comments on thesis
PC
29 Mar 11
13
Poster practical
Med Illustration16 Aug 11
9
UK-style CV workshop
Careers
Service
PC
20
Preparing your thesis for submission
TBA
TBA
23
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Reflection
• 84% response rate
– 2 non-progression
– 4 not responded (3 reminders)
• Did not refer back to information sent re
Areas of development & Action plans
• Did not use portfolio
• Identified fewer areas of development
www.abdn.ac.uk/
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Self-assessment Questionnaire
Interview
Reflective Exercise
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Workshop Attendance
No of
students
selecting
No attended
Practical session with draft first assignment
5
1
Personality typing workshop
15
3
How to do a systematic literature search for your thesis
14
0
Referencing workshop
11
0
Enhancing your PowerPoint
11
10
Presenting a paper
12
10
21 (12*)
10
How to use track changes for comments on thesis
13
5
Poster practical
9
UK-style CV workshop
20
Preparing your thesis for submission
23
Workshops
Practice session for Protocol presentation
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Poor Workshop
Attendance
• Reasons for missing
– Prior commitments
– Forgot dates/confusion over dates
– Not right time
• Exams or assignments due
• Not relevant
• Booked additional courses
• Online support
www.abdn.ac.uk/
The initiative was ............?
• Added value
Especially for
feel •this
an
International students
Overall,
was
Useful/I do
Helpful
important component of the
masters course as it gave me
Enjoyable/
Supportive
access to tools that I could use to
improve myGood
transferable skills and
thus improve my employability.
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Because.........
• Provided insight into their strengths and
weaknesses and allowed them to plan
their development
It also helped me to feel
more confident about
my strengths.
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Suggestions for
Improvements
• Timing of interviews and reflection
• Timing of workshops
– When needed
– Not when assignments due / Exam time
• Better communication / timing of
notifications and reminders of
workshops
www.abdn.ac.uk/
Bonus!
• Programme coordinator
www.abdn.ac.uk/
The future?
• Make it part of the programme
• Improve timing of workshops and
communication
• Portfolio use
• Online testing and automated linking to
resources & workshops
www.abdn.ac.uk/