More than just an add-on: Enhancing discipline-specific employability skills and awareness via the virtual learning environment

Abstract

While students tend to recognise the value of employability skills and training, they often do not prioritise this due to academic demands, lack of clarity regarding the most sought-after employment competencies, and challenges attaining these whilst studying. The benefits of tailored, discipline-specific employability training have been well documented. However, little guidance exists as to how to integrate employability within the core online curriculum, particularly in disciplines with highly diverse and rapidly evolving career landscapes. To address this gap, this postgraduate taught learning development project systematically identified discipline-specific employability competencies, and integrated them into the core online curriculum, which aimed to boost students’ employability skills, awareness and career management skills. The rich learning generated from this project is captured in a series of actionable prompts and recommendations for identifying and implementing meaningful and scalable employability practices.