Comparing desired workforce skills and reported teaching practices to model students’ experiences in undergraduate geoscience programs

Viskupic, Karen; Egger, Anne E.; McFadden, Rory; Schmitz, Mark D.

doi:10.1080/10899995.2020.1779568

Cited by 16 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…During this initial coding step, we noted skills that were observed in the ads but were not present in Vision and Change (Mosher and Keane, 2021) and added these as emergent codes. We grouped skills by using and expanding on a scheme outlined by Viskupic et al (2021). Additionally, we identified qualifications in the ads that are not skills, such as professionalism and attention to detail.…”

Section: Developing Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical workforce skills for bachelor-level geoscientists: An analysis of geoscience job advertisements

2023

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Understanding the skills bachelor-level geoscientists need to enter the workforce is critical to their success. The goal of this study was to identify the workforce skills that are most requested from a broad range of geoscience employers. We collected 3668 job advertisements for bachelor-level geoscientists and used a case-insensitive, code-matching function in Matlab to determine the skills geoscience employers seek. Written communication (67%), field skills (63%), planning (53%), and driving (51%) were most frequently requested. Field skills and data collection were frequently found together in the ads. Written communication skills were common regardless of occupation. Quantitative skills were requested less frequently (23%) but were usually mentioned several times in the ads that did request them, signaling their importance for certain jobs. Some geoscience-specific skills were rarely found, such as temporal understanding (5%) and systems thinking (0%). We also subdivided field skills into individual tasks and ranked them by employer demand. Site assessments and evaluations, unspecified field tasks, and monitoring were the most frequently requested field skills. This study presents the geoscience community with a picture of the skills sought by employers of bachelor-level geoscientists and provides departments and programs with data they can use to assess their curricula for workforce preparation.

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Section: Developing Codesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical workforce skills for bachelor-level geoscientists: An analysis of geoscience job advertisements

2023

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“…Ads were coded for 34 skills; many were listed by Mosher and Keane (2021) and others emerged through multiple rounds of coding ad subsamples. We defined the skills and organized them into categories (e.g., data skills, communication skills) according to the classification of Viskupic et al (2020). We coded a subsample of ads to establish interrater reliability among the three co-authors; we had 90% or greater agreement on all codes and Cohen's Kappa value of 0.84.…”

Section: What We Didmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our results provide geoscience departments with current representation of the most sought-after workforce skills that bachelors-level graduates need to be successful in the current job market. Proficiency in the whole spectrum of data skills-from data collection and record keeping to interpretation-is critical; these skills are practiced across many geoscience courses (Viskupic et al, 2020) and can be highlighted as workforce skills. We also note the emphasis on communication skills, leadership, project management, and planning.…”

Section: How Can Our Work Be Used?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…None of these skills are content-specific and may be less commonly explicit in curricula. Written communication skills are more commonly practiced in geoscience courses than oral communication skills (Viskupic et al, 2020), but we are unaware of any data describing the practice of planning and management skills in geoscience programs.…”

Section: How Can Our Work Be Used?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Answering this question requires examining the alignment of undergraduate program outcomes and workforce needs. The results allow faculty to identify strengths and weaknesses in their programs with respect to workforce preparation (e.g., Viskupic et al, 2020). How well do we know workforce needs?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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