Enhancing graduate employability skills and student engagement through group video assessment

Abstract

Universities are under increasing pressure to equip graduates with a broader set of competencies, such as communication, teamwork and leadership skills, that go beyond subject-specific knowledge. This, alongside growing student numbers in higher education, creates pedagogic challenges, especially with regards to assessment design. Conventional assessment modalities, such as individual essay writing, are costly to scale up and poorly suited for the development of further desired competencies. To address these challenges in the context of a first-year economics module, we replaced a 1,000-word individual written assignment with a group video assignment, where students were required to work in small teams to create a three-minute video on a contemporary economic issue. Focus groups and module evaluation questionnaires were used to elicit students' perceptions of how the group video assessment contributed to their learning experience and skill development, how it compares with other modes of assessment, as well as suggestions for improved implementation. Our analysis generates insights on all these aspects. Students reported a preference for diversity in assessment methods, and found the video assignment to be a positive, engaging but also challenging experience, which provided the opportunity for collaboration and development of diverse skills.

The Employability and Career Development of Finance and Trade College Graduates

“…The concept of student engagement has been viewed as multi-dimensional with cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects with historic roots in study on student involvement (Trowler, 2010 ). The data from the OLT project Developing Graduate Employability (Jollands et al, 2014 ) has identified the specific employability skills for graduates with a broader set of competencies, such as communication, teamwork, and leadership skills, that go beyond subject-specific knowledge (Arsenis et al, 2021 ). It also involves a broad range of employability skills and knowledge learned in many contexts and through a range of experiences (Araujo et al, 2015 ).…”

“…Similarly, a new “pitch” assessment (Smith, 2012 ) helped students to present their pitch through a combination of video, oral, and poster presentations and supplementary documents, which successfully encouraged them to identify their relevant skills and experiences of future career options. And video group assessment (Arsenis et al, 2021 ) has been viewed as a positive and engaging but also challenging experience for students to collaborate and develop teamwork and communication skills for future employment. Therefore, based on the theories of student engagement, researchers have emphasized on graduates' participation in educational practice and evaluated various ways to improve and support their engagement both in learning and practicing.…”

One Tool With Multiple Uses: An Innovation Configuration Map of Flip in Education

“…Using video as an assessment mechanism aids in students participating in the assessment process (Christianson et al, 2009), increases overall student motivation (Tugrul, 2012), and aids in self-assessment and reflection (Barry, 2012). Arsenis et al (2021) replaced a text-based assignment with a short video assessment. Student perceptions included preference for varied assessment measures and were overall positive despite challenges.…”

Classroom Trade Show: An Alternative to Traditional Classroom Presentations in an Undergraduate Plant Identification Course

“…However, many students have a fear of oral presentations (Ferreira Marinho et al 2017;Grieve et al 2021;Jean-Pierre et al 2021). Other methods of public speaking, however, have been shown to alleviate student anxiety, including video blogs (Madzlan et al 2020), group presentations (Jean-Pierre et al 2021), video assessments (Arsenis et al 2022), and technology, entertainment, and design (TED) talks (Salem 2019).…”