Some Reflections and Insights
Participation in the project was voluntary and we assembled a team of economics students across the three undergraduate levels to lead the discussions and be the subjects of the digital narratives . Ethics approval was not necessary since this project was not a research project per se , and therefore no data collection was being carried out . Participating students all signed an industry standard release form for having their image and voice recorded in pictures and videos . A small team of students from Media worked on the production of the digital stories as part of their final year , work experience module , and the funds were used to hire audio visual equipment and video processing software licenses . In March 2020 , the Covid-19 pandemic , and the imposed lockdown , considerably hindered work on both fronts , especially on the creative side of operations , and the final outcomes were not what we had planned for or expected . This is the reason why the digital stories produced were not publicly disseminated . Nonetheless , useful lessons have been learned from the process , and I share some of the main insights below . There are some further resources available upon request from the author , for those who may be interested in undertaking similar project as Teaching and Learning ( T & L ) tools , namely , an infographic of a roadmap of designing a digital story as a T & L tool , with some main considerations at each stage .
Some Reflections and Insights
Student participation and engagement with the project was limited from the outset and dwindled as time progressed . This was expected and the result of a more general attitude of disengagement with anything not directly associated with summative assessments – perhaps this is unique among economics or business school students , however , anecdotal evidence suggests a more widespread occurrence . Nonetheless , a core of dedicated students remained engaged until the end and drove the project forward .
Start with the Basics : What are Employability Skills ?
It quickly became obvious that students had a very limited and almost fabricated understanding of what employability skills are and how they develop through programmes of study at university . Their understanding was limited to what is being presented in job search Internet sites as “ intelligence ” articles aiming to inform and educate students at what employers are looking for in graduates , and career advice blogs on how to make good impressions either on paper by giving specific answers to standardised questions , or in an interview ( an invitation to one is to be celebrated as an achievement , according to most of these sites ). These views are evidently hard-wired into the minds of students by the time they reach their final year at university . It is therefore essential that any work explaining what employability skills are and how they are developed , should start as early as possible and be continuously reinforced .
Is it Really Clear to Everybody ?
Another important and clear finding of the project was that academic staff assume students can make connections not just between material and practice , but also between engagement with all aspects of the programme and employability skills . Such is the lack of explanation of the purpose of T & L activities by academic staff in many instances , that students often see their time in class or their interactions with peers as solely imparting subject-specific knowledge .
Flexible Guidance
Our conversations when led by students almost always digressed from topic . That is not necessarily an unwanted outcome , but instructors should be alert and steer the conversation . Students would rather talk about topics or matters they are already familiar , and hence comfortable with , and not be challenged by new concepts . Such disruptions , however , provide the developmental opportunities that we seek . It is therefore important for instructors to keep the conversation going in certain directions . Students were encouraged to bring into the discussions their own experiences , but they then failed to independently relate those to the development of employability ( soft ) skills . This shows the need for an educator to facilitate , and point out the otherwise obvious ( to them , not the students ), instead of assuming that such mental connections follow organically .
Don ’ t Listen to Me , Listen to Your Peers
The project greatly benefited from the presence of students who had undertaken a work placement year , and it is our firm suggestions that in any student-led project around employability skills , students with industrial placement experience are involved .
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