Competency-Based Feedback for the Improvement of Employment Outcomes for Computing Students

Abstract

Much of modern education is steeped in the acquisition of skills that will strengthen the employability prospects of learners. The concept of work-readiness has come to mean framing the academic curriculum with as many opportunities for gaining the experience of work as possible and thereby developing those professional skills that industry demands of new Computing graduates. This has led to, among other provisions, the embedding of work-related, work-based and project-based components into the academic curriculum for which newer forms of assessment and feedback are necessary. This paper reports on a study conducted with a cohort of Computing students whose degree includes an embedded final year work-related learning (WRL) module. Findings from a previous pilot study highlighted the severe lack of awareness and understanding on the part of students for competency building. In order to tackle this deficiency, this current work employs an adapted competency framework, developmental feedback and self-evaluation tools for direct use on the work-related learning module. This powerful combination of tools results in significant improvement in students' perceptions regarding their competencies with overall module performance also increasing significantly. More importantly, it has been possible, through cluster analysis and dimension reduction, to optimise the competency framework to a condensed form which can be readily utilised throughout the work experience.

Construction and Coordination Mechanism of College Students’ Employment and Labor Relations in the Internet+ Environment

“…The rapid development of information technology in today's era has promoted the interconnections between people, between people and things, and even between things, and enabled long-distance communication and exchanges [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Under the Internet+ environment, college students' employment and labor relations can be defined as the bond between college students and employers and the key to the mutual understanding and two-way selection of the two sides [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. Based on all college students and all employers, an employment and labor relations network can be constructed, where the college students and employers in the network can be analyzed to reveal the law of two-way selection between the two sides and identify the possible connection modes existing in the network structure.…”

A Problem-Based Introduction to Technical, Social, and Systemic Thinking in Engineering Courses

“…In classes, the evaluation of each student or group demands a strategy to differ from content-based (i.e., specific technical content) and general knowledge (e.g., systems thinking and social responsibility) competencies. Among other student assessment techniques such as pen and paper exams, lab exams, surveys, questionnaires, and online tasks, portfolios are a purposeful collection of students' work exhibiting their mastery of several competencies [19]. The way portfolios are graded lends itself well to the CBL approach [20].…”