Meeting Real World Demands of the Global Economy: An Employer's Perspective

McGunagle, Doreen; Zizka, Laura

doi:10.15394/jaaer.2018.1738

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Table 4 shows a comparison of skills by the HR hiring managers for the manufacturing industry and a previous study of Airline, Aerospace and Defense (A and D) HR professionals industry who employed 432 STEM students in STEM positions (McGunagle and Zizka, 2018). The A and D HR professionals reported the highest-ranking job skills as problem-…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The essential STEM competencies were established in previous research by McGunagle (2016), and their importance was supported in further research by McGunagle and Zizka (2018). Ratings were made on a five-point Likert scale (1 5 not important; 2 5 somewhat important; 3 5 moderately important; 4 5 highly important; 5 5 extremely important), participants were asked to evaluate the job performance skills relevant to the manufacturing industry.…”

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Table A1 Workforce Skills Survey identified 16 workforce skills from the job openings with the A and D companies. McGunagle and Zizka (2018) validated the survey instrument with hiring managers from five organizations who had hired 432 STEM students.…”

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While many previous studies have analyzed the employability skill requirements for STEM students' success in various industries (Hartmann and Jahren, 2015;Maxwell et al, 2009;McGunagle, 2016;McGunagle and Zizka, 2018), this study will address 16 employability skills as cited by 250 employers in five industries (Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Consumer Products, Electronics and Industrial Manufacturing) that will ensure success of the new STEM workforce. These results can be used to aid STEM educational institutions in their quest of preparing the "graduate-ness" of their students, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Employability skills for 21st-century STEM students: the employers' perspective

McGunagle

Zizka

2020

HESWBL

Self Cite

163

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PurposeOne of the goals of educational institutions is to prepare their graduates to be workplace-ready. The purpose of this paper is to identify the employability skills lacking in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) industry from employers' perspectives to assist STEM educational institutions in creating more relevant programs inclusive of employability skills.Design/methodology/approachThis study addresses 16 job-specific skills based on data deriving from the responses of 250 Human Resource Managers (HRMs) who represent five manufacturing industries (Aerospace and Defense, Automotive, Consumer Products, Electronics and Industrial Manufacturing) located in five regions (Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, West-Mountain and Pacific) of the United States.FindingsThe median scores for all 16 skills confirmed their importance for employability in the five manufacturing industries. The five highest ranking skills were team player, self-motivation, verbal communication, problem-solving and being proactive, which align with previous studies on workplace skills.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is a call to all STEM educational institution stakeholders, both internal and external, to re-assess current curriculum and programs and collaborate to narrow the gap between graduate competencies and the practical needs of the workplace.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to bridge the gap between the competencies gained in STEM educational institutions and the competencies needed for the future workplace, as confirmed by HRM professionals. Although this study is focused on STEM educational institutions in the United States, it will be of interest to all STEM educational institutions worldwide who play a significant role in preparing the next generation of employees for the global workplace.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Instrumentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Employability skills for 21st-century STEM students: the employers' perspective

McGunagle

Zizka

2020

HESWBL

Self Cite

163

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“…There are pedagogical advantages to incorporating oral presentation assignments into a course curriculum: it reinforces students’ research skills, challenges them to better organize information and articulate their learning, encourages them to explore their creativity, helps them learn through peer presentations, promotes retention of knowledge, and even enhances their postgraduation employability ( 1 , 2 ). Undeniably, creating and delivering a clear and effective oral presentation is considered a highly desirable workplace skill, especially in STEM ( 3 ). The most common format we faculty use is for each student, or each group of students, to deliver a 10- to 15-minute PowerPoint presentation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Students Learn Better with Pecha Kucha, an Alternative Presentation Format?

Liao

Lewis

Winiski

2020

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

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Oral presentation assignments help students develop and engage multiple learning skills. In the process of preparing a presentation, students search and evaluate information (evidence-based engagement), decide whether to include it (content relevancy), organize information in an engaging manner (audience engagement), adhere to the presentation instructions (logistics), and attempt to appear credible (credibility). The final product is often a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation. In this study, we introduced students to the Pecha Kucha presentation format: 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each. While previous studies claimed that Pecha Kucha is pedagogically superior to traditional formats, particularly in the presentation and communication competence, its impacts on learning have not been examined. This study, which involved students in three classes, was designed to do so. All the students presented twice in a semester, but in one class, the first presentation was in Pecha Kucha and second in the traditional format and in the other two classes, the first was in the traditional format and second in Pecha Kucha. Five decision-making categories were assessed: evidence-based engagement, content relevancy, audience engagement, logistics, and credibility. Also assessed were the students’ confidence levels in presentation. The statistically significant differences between these two formats mostly reflected the intentional selection of presentation material to meet the time constraint of the Pecha Kucha format. However, all were slightly more confident in presentation after the second one. Students also reported that they preferred listening to Pecha Kucha than to traditional PowerPoint presentations.

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Empowering the Future of Construction and Quantity Surveying Professionals: Unveiling the Skills Revolution in New Zealand's Construction Industry

Zhou,

Cheng

2024

Lecture Notes in Educational Technology

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Meeting Real World Demands of the Global Economy: An Employer's Perspective

Cited by 7 publications

References 17 publications

Employability skills for 21st-century STEM students: the employers' perspective

Employability skills for 21st-century STEM students: the employers' perspective

Do Students Learn Better with Pecha Kucha, an Alternative Presentation Format?

Empowering the Future of Construction and Quantity Surveying Professionals: Unveiling the Skills Revolution in New Zealand's Construction Industry

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