No abstract

The research field on generic skills in higher education has expanded rapidly. In addition, the importance of generic skills has been highlighted both in educational policy discourses and in practice of higher education. The present study reviews theoretical, methodological, and empirical viewpoints on learning generic skills and synthesizes the empirical evidence about the factors that enhance and impede student learning of generic skills. Altogether 116 articles were included in the analysis. The systematic analysis revealed remarkable variation in concepts, research methods, and operationalization of generic skills. These findings suggest that research in this field is still incoherent. According to the results, contextual factors that enhance or impede higher education students' learning of generic skills were investigated more often than individual factors. Furthermore, the articles included in this review emphasized learning of work-oriented professional skills over higher-order thinking skills. To ensure the development of research on generic skills, it is important to focus on more coherent theorization and operationalization of the various generic skills. More longitudinal studies with methods that genuinely capture actual skills and their development are also needed to advance the field. The results can be used for future discussions on theorization, empirical research, and practical development of student learning of generic skills.

Critical thinking is a combination of complex cognitive skills that are used for purposeful thinking. It is important for the successful acquisition of disciplinary skills in higher education and thus, it is a valuable competency for a new student.The complex nature of critical thinking leads to challenges for its assessment even in performance assessments such as CLA+ International (Collegiate Learning Assessment). The aim with this study is to examine internal associations of a critical thinking assessment for new students in higher education. The sample consisted of 1469 first-year students in 18 higher education institutions in Finland. An open-ended performance task and multiplechoice tasks were used to assess six measures of critical thinking, namely analysis and problem solving, writing effectiveness, writing mechanics, scientific and quantitative reasoning, critical reading and critiquing an argument.Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyse the data. A latent component indicated by the measures derived from the performance task was identified. The measures derived from the multiple-choice tasks did not form a factorial structure. Multiple-choice questions are problematic in critical thinking assessment as they focus on individual skills instead of holistic use of skills. Implications for assessment development and higher education are discussed.