Development Of Generic Skills Research Articles

Improving a self-assessment tool to monitor generic skills development in an active learning environment

While typical academic skills such as research and writing are commonly monitored in Higher Education, generic skills such as teamwork, critical thinking or communication receive less attention. This is problematic in light of discussions on students’ further career development. It is often said that active learning environments facilitate the training of such skills. Having a tool to monitor skills progression is an important prerequisite to properly test such claims. At Maastricht University, we developed a self-assessment tool to raise awareness about skills required to take full advantage of the active learning environment, and to initiate self-reflection on the side of students. While the current tool achieves these objectives, it is less suited as an instrument for measuring skills development. In this article, we propose a re-developed self-assessment tool and test its merits through a quasi-experimental study. A group of sixty-two students was asked to complete both the old and new version of the tool. Students and mentors were subsequently asked to evaluate which score represents students’ skills level best. We evaluate if the new self-assessment tool provides a better insight into students’ generic skills development in an active learning environment.

Generic skills in accounting education in Saudi Arabia: students’ perceptions

PurposeThe purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the perceptions of Saudi university accounting students of the importance of developing generic skills in their accounting education, the levels of competence they should acquire and expect to achieve during the academic study, and the constraints that may hinder the development of generic skills in accounting education.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the skills outlined in the IFAC’s International Education Standards (IES) 3 (intellectual, personal, organizational and business management, and interpersonal and communication) and IES 4 (ethics in accounting/business). A survey questionnaire was used to collect the data.FindingsThe findings show that students perceived all five generic skill categories to be important, with ethical skills rated as the most important. However, the students expected that they would achieve a somewhat lower level of generic skill by the end of their studies in all areas, and they perceived a number of constraints that impede their skill development. The results indicate the importance of developing generic skills in accounting education and suggest that the Saudi accounting education system could do more to provide students with opportunities to develop generic skills to enable them to succeed in their future careers.Originality/valueAs little of the current literature has focused on generic skills in accounting education in a non-Western country, this research contributes to the literature on generic skills in a developing nation.

Desenvolvimento de Competências e Metodologias Ativas: a Percepção dos Estudantes de Graduação em Administração

As competências passaram a ser vistas como elementos centrais na formação de profissionais e também como garantidoras de empregabilidade em um cenário de altas taxas de desemprego entre jovens. O objetivo do artigo é examinar se e como, na percepção dos estudantes do curso de graduação em Administração, a utilização de metodologia ativa contribui para o desenvolvimento de suas competências profissionais Um estudo de caso foi realizado em Instituição de Ensino Superior IES do estado de São Paulo que adota, no curso de bacharelado em Administração estratégias ativas de ensino-aprendizagem, fundamentadas nos métodos Problem-based learning (PBL) e Case-based learning (CBL). Os resultados mostram que são nas práticas realizadas no ciclo de trabalho PBL/CBL que os estudantes percebem estar adquirindo capacidades específicas agrupadas em três dimensões de competências: básicas (CBs); sociais (CSs), e para a solução de problemas (CSPs). O desenvolvimento de competências no ambiente educacional requer que a aprendizagem de seus componentes (conceituais, procedimentais e atitudinais) ocorra por meio de procedimentos (fontes de aprendizagem) disciplinares, interdisciplinares e/ou metadisciplinares, e com o apoio de metodologias que possibilitem a aprendizagem ativa, transferível, cooperativa, porém, autônoma dos aprendizes. Analisamos que nas metodologias ativas, fundamentadas no modelo problem-based, dois componentes do processo tutorial influenciam no desenvolvimento das competências: o problema e o professor. O problema pela qualidade da estruturação com que é constituído. O professor pelos vários papéis de orientação dos estudantes que assume nos estágios do ciclo de aprendizagem. Os resultados obtidos contribuem para o campo do Ensino em Administração, no sentido de auxiliar tanto gestores na tomada de decisão sobre a implementação de metodologias ativas no currículo dos cursos de Administração quanto professores na (re)organização de suas práticas educativas e na conscientização sobre novos papéis que devem assumir no processo de ensino-aprendizagem.

Approaches for Developing Generic Skills in Building Technology Graduates for Global Competitiveness

The need to inculcate generic skills into graduates to meet the demands of the ever dynamic workplace has been of concern to stakeholders in education and the world of work. This concept of a global competitiveness, and generic skills were reviewed and discussed. This paper also examined the importance of generic skills; and factors influencing generic skills development among graduates were highlighted. This factors calls for different approaches and shift in pedagogy in developing generic skills for global competitiveness which include: change in instructional delivery, from the traditional method of instruction to cooperative learning model. It also involves integration and contextualized learning, creating world class spaces for learning, enhanced utilization of technology and inclusive learning and teaching environment for producing global workers in building technology.

Professional learning in the everyday provision of self-management support: situated knowledge and the problem with generic skills development

Supporting people to self-manage long-term conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, is a concern for health-care providers globally. Despite continued attention being paid to the production of educational resources for workforce development nationally and internationally, reports have highlighted that we do not yet know how to best help health-care professionals learn to undertake this work. This article employs sociomaterial workplace learning perspectives to show that many educational resources focus unhelpfully on generic skills and give insufficient consideration to the complicated and complex nature of this work. Using data from a wider study, which explored how health-care professionals in the United Kingdom learn to support children and their parents to self-manage type 1 diabetes, this article examines the informal learning that unfolds in the actions and conversations at work as professionals encounter, consider, explore and (temporarily) resolve specific challenges. This article provides novel insights into this area and suggests alternative ways of understanding, investigating and enabling professional knowledge.

Higher achievers? Mobility programmes, generic skills, and academic learning: a UK case study

ABSTRACTThe received wisdom is that mobility programmes considerably contribute to students in terms of the development of generic skills, language and multicultural competence and competitive advantage in the global labour market. Surprisingly, the impacts of mobility programmes on academic learning have received very limited research interest in the literature. This study uses students enrolled on international management and modern language degrees in a British university to investigate the benefits of a yearlong study abroad programme, on the development of linguistic and multicultural skills measured by their academic results pre- and post-international mobility. Using a control group of students who stay on campus, quantitative data drawn from a longitudinal study over 8 years conclusively suggest that study abroad students academically outperform control group students after controlling for gender, domicile, ethnicity, socio-economic status, prior academic performance and age. The implications of these results on higher education and policy-making are discussed.

Exploring practising pharmacy graduates’ views on improving the effectiveness of pharmacy education at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa

Background. South African health professional education institutions have a mandate to produce graduates who are able to address priority needs of the healthcare system and larger society. However, evidence of the effective use of public resources by health education institutions is not routinely collected. Practising graduates are a target audience who could provide part of this evidence. Objectives. To explore the views of University of the Western Cape (UWC) pharmacy graduates on the effectiveness of pharmacy education in relation to their current and anticipated practice aspirations. Methods. A cross-sectional electronic survey was administered to UWC pharmacy graduates through the university’s alumni office network. Results. Twenty-five graduates responded, of whom 60% were male (average age 38.9 (standard deviation 9.52) years). One of the strongest themes that emerged was the need for exposing pharmacy students from early on in the curriculum to a broad range of pharmacy and healthcare sectors and addressing real issues in these changing and complex environments. Graduates stressed the importance of the development of generic skills, such as interpersonal skills, leadership, advocacy and innovative problem-solving, which are necessary to effect positive change through collaborative and equitable approaches. Conclusions. The findings are aligned with general trends in health education reform, such as embedding undergraduate training in the healthcare system and development of generic skills. Routine and reciprocal communication with graduates might be a valuable resource to monitor and evaluate educational outcomes to strengthen the healthcare system and benefit society.

Academics’ perspectives of the teaching and development of generic employability skills in science curricula

ABSTRACTGraduate employability is a key issue for higher education as new graduates face a highly competitive and rapidly changing employment sector. To maximise their likelihood of employment, graduates need to be able to demonstrate the skills and attributes most valued by employers. Employers, however, have long criticised the ability of graduates to contribute effectively to the workplace, especially due to a perceived lack of generic employability skills. This indicates a possible mismatch between the skills required by employers and those possessed by graduate applicants. This study addresses a gap in the scholarly literature regarding employability skills – the perspectives of science academics at an Australian and UK university regarding the promotion of generic employability skills in the subjects they teach. More specifically, this article discusses academics’ perspectives regarding: (a) which of the targeted generic skills were developed and assessed through their science units, and (b) the approaches used to promote the targeted skills and any associated challenges in employing those approaches. The discussion explores how shifting from traditional transmissive pedagogies to more problem-based approaches and embedding reflection into pedagogy and assessment practices would contribute to promoting the skills employers increasingly demand from science graduates.

Incidencia de la evaluación y las metodologías docentes en el desarrollo de competencias genéricas

Este artículo presenta un programa de investigación que lleva a estudiar la incidencia de la evaluación y las metodologías docentes activas usadas y esperadas en la formación universitaria, para el desarrollo de las competencias genéricas comunicativas en los estudiantes de diferentes carreras. En sentido más general, se busca Identificar el uso percibido y esperado, por profesores y estudiantes, de la evaluación y metodologías activas; recopilar estrategias transversales exitosas; describir y comparar los patrones psicoeducativos y su papel en los resultados de aprendizaje y competencias genéricas comunicativas de lectura crítica y construcción textual, a partir de lo cual de llegaría a configurar formación en valoración integral de la enseñanza y aprendizaje que habría de proporcionarse a los docentes de la universidad para que éstos se conviertan en mediadores y promotores de competencias genéricas comunicativas de lectura crítica y construcción textual a través de las asignaturas –across disciplines- en los estudiantes. Se realiza en la Universidad de la Costa en Colombia y se aborda desde dos focos de estudio: detección de necesidades e implementación de estrategias transversales. Se trabajan patrones psicoeducativos (autoeficacia, atribuciones, motivación, inteligencia emocional…); también la revisión sistemática de prácticas exitosas internacionales. Los resultados se orientan a la implementación de estrategias para la innovación curricular de las asignaturas y mejora docente y de los resultados académicos y de aprendizaje; así mismo, para el aumento de conocimientos teóricos y tecnológicos instruccionales pedagógicos y didácticos como base para la toma de decisiones en la segunda fase de validación y contrastación de estrategias transversales. “Proyecto de Investigación Competitivo CONV-ÍNDEX Núm. 13-2018, Código Proyecto INV. 150-01-007-13 Universidad de la Costa (Colombia) – Universidad de León (España). Evaluado por la ACAC (MEN Colombia)”

El desarrollo de competencias genéricas en la educación técnica de nivel superior: un estudio de caso

The present study aims to improve the understanding of the process of the acquisition and development of generic skills in post-secondary vocational programs, according to the students' visions and perceptions. Through a qualitative phenomenological-type case study, at the largest higher education vocational institution in Chile, eight vocational students were tracked for three years, in order to inquire about their perceptions on the effectiveness of the learning process and the pedagogical practices used by their teachers to develop generic skills. The results suggest that the development of generic skills depends mainly on: (a) the skills' foundation that the student has upon entering the institution; (b) the degree of skills' proficiency on the part of the teacher, the specification of the learning objectives and to what extent they are able to inspire student interest; (c) how significant and challenging the activities designed to work on generic skills are, and d) their degree of contextualization to the work environment.

National higher education policy and the development of generic skills

ABSTRACTThis article explores the contribution of higher education to the development of numeracy and literacy competencies. To control for other post-schooling determinants of generic skills, the analysis is confined to adults aged 20–24 years who have completed or who are enrolled in tertiary studies. The quality of incoming students is controlled for by estimating the average PISA score attributable to this cohort using a truncated distribution approach. Average tertiary competencies are obtained for 31 countries from the OECD’s Programme for the Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The empirical findings are that the PISA scores account for most (70 per cent) of the international variation in PIAAC scores. Government expenditure on higher education is found to exert a small positive effect on PIAAC scores, at least for numeracy. The level of national research activity, as measured by research publications, has a small negative effect on PIAAC scores

The use of an extended flipped classroom model in improving students’ learning in an undergraduate course

One of the biggest barriers preventing teachers from utilizing the flipped classroom approach in their teaching practices is the lack of a general and practical framework for guiding the design and implementation of flipped classrooms. This leads to the fact that the effectiveness of the flipped classroom approach is unconfirmed. Building on research findings from the field of learning and instruction, this study proposed a step-by-step general model named the “O-PIRTAS” (Objective, Preparation, Instructional video, Review, Test, Activity, Summary) flipped classroom model and examined its effectiveness in promoting student learning in an undergraduate psychology course. Two classes of 101 first-year undergraduates were taught by the flipped classroom model or the traditional lecture-based approach for 16 weeks. The results supported the effectiveness of the flipped classroom model; the flipped model not only improved the students’ perceptions of the teaching quality and peer interaction engagement but also promoted their generic skills development and examination performance. Instructional implications for implementing flipped instruction are provided, and directions for future research are discussed.

Impact of differences in clinical training methods on generic skills development of nursing students: A text mining analysis study

BackgroundDiscussions and investigations are being conducted in regard to the question of how, instead of acquiring specific kinds of expertise at university, students can instead be taught “generic skills,” which are the competencies for engaging in the everyday life of a working adult. ObjectivesThis survey was aimed at assessing the impact of clinical practical training on generic skills from the perspective of student's own perceptions of personal growth. And we compared different three nursing colleges of the practical training methods to investigate the associations between generic skills and practical training methods. DesignA text mining analysis study. Settings and participantsThe study was conducted with the participation of Japanese third-year students who had completed clinical practical training at three nursing colleges. Study period was December 2016 to February 2017. There were 242 participants in total, and valid responses were obtained from 216 participants. MethodsWe distributed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Data collected from open-ended responses was subjected to analysis using text mining methods. ResultsA total of 2,903 words were extracted as the result of analyzing text data for a total of 568 sentences. From the patterns in which the extracted words appeared, we were able to classify details reported by students about the areas where they recognized personal growth into nine categories. We found “teacher,” “now,” and “clinical instructor” among the characteristic words for School A, as well as “learn,” “records,” and “planning.” The terms extracted for School B included “acquired,” “communication,” and “consideration.” Terms extracted for School C included “perform,” “human,” and “action + can.” ConclusionStudents perceive more growth in terms of generic skill competencies than in terms of expert knowledge or techniques. Project-based learning is associated with students' “ability to discover problems,” while experience-based practical training is associated with students' “ability to sustain action.”

Monitoring Generic Skills Development in a Bachelor European Studies

To ensure a smooth transition from studies to professional careers, students’ skills and attitudes are often considered of greater value than theoretical knowledge and understanding. Yet, whereas typical academic skills such as research and writing are commonly monitored and trained, generic skills such as teamwork and communication receive scant attention. At Maastricht University, we developed a portfolio to raise awareness about skills required to take full advantage of the Problem-Based Learning environment, and to initiate self-reflection by students. As such, the portfolio also provides an opportunity to engage in a more in-depth assessment of students’ skills acquisition. Students assessed their skills at the start of the bachelor programme through a survey that was administered again at two later stages during the first year. Comparing data of 414 students, we provide a unique insight into skills progression in an active learning environment. Repeated measures can thus provide a first impression of the impact of an active learning environment on generic skills acquisition. While we argue that the current portfolio achieves its educational objectives, as an instrument for measurement of skills acquisition it has its limitations.

Encouraging intrinsic motivation in management training: The use of business simulation games

Business simulation games are one of the most effective tools for motivating and engaging players actively in the learning experience. In this context, understanding which factors promote the intrinsic motivation of players is of primary importance. Self-determination theory (a theory of human motivation) postulates that contexts that support satisfaction of the three innate psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness allow individuals to maintain intrinsic motivation. However, no previous research has applied this theory to explain motivation while playing business simulation games. To address this gap, we propose that satisfaction of the needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness influences players’ intrinsic motivation, which in turn facilitates engagement. This study also explores the impact of intrinsic motivation and engagement on the development of generic skills and perceived learning. Based on a survey of 360 undergraduate business students who used a business simulation game, the findings provide support for most of the hypothesized relationships.

Generic Skills Assessment Through Implementation of Group Based Learning to Understand SDGs

In this competitive world, it is important for students to acquire generic skills and its assessment in higher education is scarce. This study is an attempt to address the effect of group based learning on generic skills development and and also an approach to spread the knowledge of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Like generic skills, educating young students about SDGs has become crucial. A workshop was conducted for 3 days and a total of 12 students filled in the questionnaire for group and self assessment of generic skills for 10 selected generic skills after every workshop. The overall results indicated that the group based learning have positive impact on the development of generic skills. We found that all generic skills were more developed in group assessment than individual assessment. When the inter-relationship among the skills were assessed for individual ratings using network analysis, the results revealed that the effective team work was strongly associated with co-operativity (r 2 =0.7529 p <0.001), communication (r 2 =0.7146, p <0.001) and information sharing (r 2 =0.7529 p <0.001). The significant finding of this study is the use of shared educational materials which helped the students to overcome the language barrier and be more interactive to achieve the given goal. Further, this study has explored the application of group based learning as an effective educational approach to introduce any designed studies (in this case, SDGs) for fostering the innovative human resources belonging to different educational backgrounds. Moreover, this study also emphasizes on the importance of teaching SDGs to the engineering students for their capacity building, so that they not only understand but also act to ensure that the goals are met for better future. Keywords: Engineering students, Generic skills, Group based learning, Self assessment, Group Assessment Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Classification Trees vs. Logistic Regression in the Generic Skill Development in Engineering

From an experimental approach, the performance of Logistic Regression vs Classification Trees is evaluated in the context of two generic engineering skills (quantitative reasoning and reading comprehension). These methods incorporate two separate predictor scenarios (indicators only, and only constructs derived from Principal Component Analysis: ACP). The sample is 7,395 instances of Saber Pro 2015-3, 2014-3 (Colombia). The study considers: training (70% of the sample), prediction (30% remaining) and experimentation (176 original observations, design of three factors: method, type of predictor and competence). The response variable is a new metric (Underlying Asset Ratio obtained by ACP). Both methods present similar performance in the scenario of only indicators, but not in the scenario of constructs (Regression Logistics, better performance).

Accounting Students' and Employers' Perceptions on Employability Skills in the SEE Country

Accounting education at the university level in developing SEE countries has often been criticised for the inability to develop essential skills of graduates necessary for a career in professional accountancy in the 21st century. Our research study presents the results of a survey among students enrolled to an accounting degree program and employers for their perceived importance of a wide range of generic and technical skills for successful entrance to the profession. The study also investigated perceived effectiveness of the university accounting education to develop important skills at an appropriate level. The results indicated agreement between the two respondent groups in respect of the greater importance of generic skills, where students gave more weight to personal skills of time management, good presentation and characteristics of self-confidence, motivation and self-promotion. Employers valued more oral communication, knowledge of foreign languages, ethical attitude and credibility and commitment to life-long learning. The employers and students agreed that education process and program need improvements in order to allow for better development of technical and generic skills among successful graduates.

Generic Skills Development in Discipline-Specific Courses in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Generic Skills Development in Discipline-Specific Courses in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review

Development of generic science skills on determination of mineral chloride levels in packed drink using inquiry guided laboratory

This study aims to describe learning activities, to analyze students ‘ability to complete worksheets, and to analyze students’ generic science skills during the determination of based mineral water chloride content.The Mohr method is an argentometric titration that can be applied to the determination of the mineral water chloride content. Inquiry Guided Laboratory can be used as an alternative learning model to develop generic science skills of students. IGL adopt learning cycle stages consisting of orientation, exploration, concept discovery, application and finality. Subjects of this study are 57 student of Chemistry Analytical students. The research design used is classroom research. The research instrument consisted of instructional learning observation sheet, psychomotor assessment sheet, worksheet, and report and presentation report sheet that emphasized on generic science skill assessment. The result of the research shows that the learning is done very well, with the average of the implementation percentage is 88,27%. The students’ ability to complete the worksheet earns an average of 87.92. Generic science skills developed through learning scored an average of 88.1. The generic science skills generator developed scores above 80, only symbolic language indicators scored 76.6. It shows that inquiry guided laboratory can developed generic science skill on determination of mineral chloride levels in packed drink.