Abstract
In the context of a Transition to Work course for fourth-year psychology majors, we had students use an e-portfolio to self-reflect on the learning experiences they deemed most significant during their degree. Such significant learning experiences can be drawn upon when answering behavioral job interview questions. We examined whether students would show improvement in mock behavioral interview performance over time, and whether any potential improvement was related to performance on self-reflective course assignments. Students indicated that the majority of their significant learning experiences had taken place outside of the classroom (e.g., paid and unpaid work, extracurricular activities). Across the duration of the course, students improved on all metrics of interview performance, and final interview performance was predicted by student grades on a self reflective e-portfolio, but not other course assignments.
Highlights
More than in the past, universities are charged with educating students with diverse backgrounds and aspirations (Kift & Nelson, 2005), with career advancement as one of the primary motivators for attendance (Côté & Levine, 1997; Phinney, Denis & Osorio, 2006)
Some universities include personal development planning in their curriculum, which involves student self- and career-reflection (Doig, Illsley, McLuckie & Parsons, 2006) and both the American Psychological Association's (APA) Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major and the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance include learning goals that focus on professional development
We describe the introduction of a Transition to Work (TtW) Psychology capstone course for non-honors Psychology majors and explore how successful it is at improving students' job interview performance over time and whether the inclusion of assignments designed to promote self-reflection encourages improved interview performance
Summary
More than in the past, universities are charged with educating students with diverse backgrounds and aspirations (Kift & Nelson, 2005), with career advancement as one of the primary motivators for attendance (Côté & Levine, 1997; Phinney, Denis & Osorio, 2006). Some universities include personal development planning in their curriculum, which involves student self- and career-reflection (Doig, Illsley, McLuckie & Parsons, 2006) and both the American Psychological Association's (APA) Guidelines for the Undergraduate Psychology Major and the Ontario Universities Council on Quality Assurance include learning goals that focus on professional development. These curriculum additions may be somewhat difficult to integrate into traditional contentbased course work. They include such things as undergraduate research experiences, learning communities, capstone courses, experiential learning (including experiences with diverse groups), writing-intensive courses, and the opportunity to participate in collaborative projects
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