Curriculum mapping food science programs: An approach to quantification of professional competencies

Abstract

It is fundamental that students are able to identity where they have developed specific professional competencies during their study. This ensures students can not only articulate their competencies well in job applications and assessments but also draw on their experiences for use in the workplace. The aim of study was to ascertain if desirability of an element or competency as indicated by employers, was reflected in an equivalent level of program content, appropriately perceived by the student.A case study approach mapped elements of the previously developed Competencies for Food Graduate Careers framework against food sciences curricula at University of Nottingham. The mapping process facilitated evaluation of appropriate levels of inclusion of each element in degree programs, by recording types of content and experiences provided, in collaboration with teaching staff. Perspectives of the student experience were captured using an online survey. In addition, guidance from a prior industry survey provided context of the level of desirability for each element across the range of graduate roles in the United Kingdom. The results showed some areas of mismatch, where curricular content did not align with employer expectations or student perceptions. This has informed review of this curriculum, to best reflect "competency development" to meet the needs of the food industry. Recommendations were made to address gaps through enhancement of content, delivery, communication, or assessment. Additionally, the exercise has suggested a more informed development of curricula categorization and coding for future similar mapping activities. K E Y W O R D Scurriculum, education, experiential learning, mapping, professional competencies J Food Sci Educ. 2020;19:97-108.

Strengthening undergraduate food science programs: Comparing industry relevance of the Institute of Food Technologists' Essential Learning Outcomes with graduate proficiency levels

“…While the information we obtained is important for helping us understand how to best prepare our graduates for local employment, we recognize that other areas of the world may require scientists with different skill sets. Still, studies produced by other food science programs have highlighted many of the same themes that are discussed within this paper, including an increased need for product development experience and application of foodrelated regulations (Bohlscheid & Clark, 2012;Weston et al, 2020a).…”

“…This study builds upon the work of Bohlsheid and Clark (2012), Morgan et al (2006), andWeston et al (2020a) to evaluate the importance of food science graduate competencies to the food industry. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that relates the relative importance of IFT's revised ELOs to industry.…”

Career management for UK food degree students at multiple institutes using an industry‐developed professional competencies framework

“…With respect to the teaching interventions, they found regular application of CFGC in activities such as interrogating job specifications, CV writing ,and mock interviews very useful. The provision of posters on the wall in the teaching room supported in‐class activities while self‐directed work drew on the online resources, including use of the additional maps of CFGC elements against their core program of study at UoN (Weston, Benlloch‐Tinoco, et al., 2020).…”

“…Equally, it has been collectively agreed that in the future, all activities should be explicitly aligned so that the students can see how their career journey has been facilitated during their whole program of study. Specific curriculum mapping against CFGC (as outlined earlier) may be employed in other institutes to facilitate this, and prior work aligned to this study at UoN (Weston, Benlloch‐Tinoco, et al., 2020) informed by studies including the limited work by other food science educators (Joyner, 2016), in addition to further publications (Joyner & Stevenson, 2017), may help to support this endeavor for others. It is also appreciated that some of the terminologies may be different for other countries; however, the content and applicability of the approach to aid employability is perceived to be universal for the wider food industry and higher education outside of the United Kingdom.…”