The Introduction and Evaluation of Key Skills in Undergraduate Courses

Havard, Max; Hughes, Martin; Clarke, Jackie

doi:10.1080/0309877980220107

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…As reference framework, we use general academic competencies (AC), that are widely known and used in higher education and core skills in academic work (e.g. Havard, Hughes and Clarke, 1998;Van Dierendonck and van der Gaast, 2013;Mah and Ifenthaler, 2017). These have been recently examined e.g.…”

Section: Competencies In the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Society needs experts with climate change competencies – what is the role of higher education in atmospheric and Earth system sciences?

Riuttanen

Ruuskanen

Äijälä

et al. 2021

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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The urgent societal need for climate action requires climate change expertise. But who is a climate change expert? What is the role of atmospheric and Earth system science education? In this study, we examine what competencies do atmospheric and Earth system scientists teach in selected programmes in seven European countries, and how they view the importance of various competencies for the students to learn. We also asked about teacher experiences and wishes related to teaching collaboration. We found that the atmospheric and Earth system scientists taught and valued the highest the traditional academic competencies related e.g. to critical thinking and applying knowledge. The normative, strategic and interpersonal competencies of sustainability were generally less valued and taught. The largest teaching gaps were found in competencies such as developing new ideas, interpersonal competency, making arguments and looking for solutions, critical thinking, collaboration and communication skills. Preferred collaborators for atmospheric and Earth system scientists were scientists from their own field or from other natural sciences, while collaborators from other sciences and wider society were less popular choices. The atmospheric and Earth systems scientists in our study did not see themselves as climate change experts. We foresee here a need to define climate change competencies.

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Section: Competencies In the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Society needs experts with climate change competencies – what is the role of higher education in atmospheric and Earth system sciences?

Riuttanen

Ruuskanen

Äijälä

et al. 2021

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

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“…At present there is little reported research into any possible relationship between generic skills and the disciplines in which they are situated. Recent projects (Barrie, 2004;Bowden et al, 2000) identify the graduate attributes in a number of disciplines at a range of higher education institutions and discuss practical steps toward implementation of such programs.A number of studies have considered ways in which generic skills can be taught in the context of the academic disciplines: accounting, business studies (Boyce,Williams, Kelly, & Yee, 2001;De La Harpe, Radloff, & Wyber, 2000;Humphreys, Greenan, & McIlveen, 1997;Monks, 1995), geography (Brown, 1999;Dyas & Bradley, 1999), multimedia (Oliver & McLoughlin, 2001), social science (Havard, Hughes, & Clarke, 1998), mathematics (Nyman & Berry, 2002) and biological science (Johnson, Herd, & Tisdall, 2002). These studies, however, do not consider the relationship between generic skills and the discipline in question but rather consider a set of externally devised skills which must be imposed upon the discipline.…”

Section: The Skills Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Multiplicities or Manna from Heaven? Critical Thinking and the Disciplinary Context

Jones

2007

Australian Journal of Education

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This paper explores the nexus between epistemic culture and academic conceptions of the generic skill of critical thinking. Although generic skills are seen as being of great importance in higher education, there has been little examination into the ways in which the knowledge culture of each specific discipline influences the academic staff's conception of generic skills. This paper investigates the ways in which critical thinking is understood by academic staff in two related but distinct disciplines, history and economics. It finds that while there are some similarities, critical thinking in economics is defined primarily as the use of economic tools whereas critical thinking in history is described from a range of perspectives. Thus the epistemic culture of the discipline appears to influence conceptions of critical thinking. This has implications for the ways in which generic skills are framed within the broader university community and indeed has implications for policy at both the university and the political level.

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“…Havard, Hughes and Clarke have noted the general lack of information given to students regarding employer expectations (Havard et al, 1998),…”

Section: Competencymentioning

confidence: 99%

The New State

Cunningham¹

2000

Journal of Organizational Change Management

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Today, with the increase in popularity of electronic commerce (e-commerce), security on the Internet for e-commerce transactions is an important issue for both the vendors and customers. In an international context employers are seeking IT professionals with both Internet and e-commerce security skills. In Australia many universities now offer undergraduate e-commerce curriculum. Typically, computer security is addressed however only by means of a general introduction. Previous investigations both within Australia and internationally clearly indicated that both students and employers demand not only a good theoretical foundation but also practical skills. These practical skills can only be gained by extensive workshop exercises in a laboratory equipped with contemporary commercial hardware and software. Such a laboratory has been designed and commissioned at Edith Cowan University. This paper outlines an undergraduate curriculum in e-commerce security. This curriculum is designed to provide not only conceptual knowledge but also essential procedural skills directly relevant to employer expectations. The two units CIM and NIM are complemented by two further units-Computer Systems Management (CSM) and also Network Design and Management (NDM). The two units CSM and NDM have a dedicated laboratory established at the initial cost of AUS$60,000. This laboratory has a variety of equipment that includes: Bay Stack switches, Pentium III PCs, NT Server, a direct Internet connection. According to Kohli (Kohli et al., 2000) these units provide students with the opportunity to practically implement network security issues such as: user security, web security etc. All these units provide a practical, inter-disciplinary, problem oriented approach to computer technology. The objectives of the units are that completion of these units students will be able to, 'Install, maintain and manage a population of networked PCs to a professional standard using safe, systematic, generic and vendor independent skills'. Curriculum without such a dedicated laboratory must, by definition, tend to be 'issues' based. Valuable though this approach may be it fails to provide the appropriate procedural knowledge required by industry. According to Havard (Havard, Hughes, & Clarke, 1998): The world of work requires people who 'know how and not just know what'. Graduates invariably fall into an 'information gap' of having knowledge about a specific subject area but do not necessarily know how to operate in the working environment. It should be noted that the authors are currently conducting an in-depth analysis of the job requirements in both commerce and industry. PROCEDURAL AND CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE Technical expertise is an enhancement of theoretical knowledge. According to Cervero (Cervero, 1992), the popular wisdom among practicing professionals is that the knowledge they acquire from practice is far more useful than what they acquire from more formal types of education. Cervero further argues that the 'goal of professional practice is wise action'...

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The Introduction and Evaluation of Key Skills in Undergraduate Courses

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Society needs experts with climate change competencies – what is the role of higher education in atmospheric and Earth system sciences?

Society needs experts with climate change competencies – what is the role of higher education in atmospheric and Earth system sciences?

Multiplicities or Manna from Heaven? Critical Thinking and the Disciplinary Context

The New State

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