ENHANCING THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE – LINKING DISSERTATIONS TO ATTRIBUTE DEVELOPMENT

Dr Vanessa Armstrong, Academic Lead for Employability in the School of Biomedical, Nutritional and Sports Sciences at Newcastle University, discusses a study to investigate whether students can identify, understand and articulate the skills developed through their dissertation. The research also highlights the importance and potential impact of working with students as partners in employability research.

Newcastle University’s Graduate Framework was established in 2006 and re-launched in 2019 following a substantive review. The framework is based around 10 core attributes and behaviours: curious, collaborative, engaged, socially responsible, resilient, critical thinkers, confident, creative, innovative and enterprising, and digitally capable. Employers report graduate skills gaps in many of these areas, particularly resilience, problem solving and communication, as highlighted in The Global Skills Gap report (2019).

The dissertation is widely recognised as a key academic component of a degree where students develop many skills and attributes. Here at Newcastle, experiences of academic staff supervising dissertation students indicated that whilst they could see students’ development in many areas of the framework, students themselves were often unaware of this, or unable to articulate it.

RESEARCH APPROACH Following ethical approval, we conducted two final year student surveys, with two different cohorts: one in May (post dissertation) and another in October 2019 (pre-dissertation). We used OMBEA for anonymous data collection during lectures, with approximately 100 students taking part in each survey (around one third of the total cohort). Our aim was to determine students’ expectations for, and reported benefits of, the dissertation project for employability and future plans.

PARTICIPANTS IDENTIFIED THAT THE DISSERTATION HAD HELPED THEM DEVELOP SEVERAL ATTRIBUTES INCLUDING CRITICAL THINKING, CONFIDENCE AND COLLABORATION

Pre-dissertation findings (October 2019) • 96.6% of participants expected the dissertation to further their knowledge and understanding of their subject area • Critical thinking was the most cited skill participants expected to develop, with digital capability and social responsibility least cited • Only 62% believed the dissertation would impact on their employability.

Post-dissertation findings (May 2019) • 71% of participants enjoyed their dissertation experience • 69% believed the dissertation enhanced their employability • Participants identified that the dissertation had helped them develop several attributes, including critical thinking, confidence and collaboration.

The internship has allowed me to develop my teamwork skills by working in partnership with another intern and I have been given experiences I would not have had the opportunity to partake in, such as running a focus group, which aided my confidence in leadership and public speaking.

Emily, Student intern, MA Law

We also carried out a focus group (seven participants) in October 2019 to explore students’ understanding of the Graduate Framework and the relationship between this and their expectations of the dissertation. The focus group revealed a lack of understanding about the meaning and applicability of some attributes included in the newly-launched framework. Participants also suggested a wider range of available projects could help allow the development of more of these attributes.

RESPONDING TO THE FINDINGS The findings have led to planned sessions and new projects to further enhance students’ experiences of undertaking their dissertation. We have developed a session to introduce the Graduate Framework,

Additionally, when working independently, I had the opportunity to develop information retrieval skills as well as analysing data from the surveys conducted. I also enjoyed the aspect of organising and conducting the focus group, as having never done this before, I learned a lot from the process and the feedback given.

Ramandeep, Student intern, BSc Biomedical Sciences

which will emphasise where skills can be developed. We are also piloting an Open Badge to recognise student engagement with career development activities. Some of the survey comments suggested students were experiencing isolation and loneliness during their final year of study, so an event promoting the support and opportunities available to students will take place each semester to address this. Finally, we plan to continue to repeat the two surveys each year to ensure the link between attributes and the dissertation is reinforced. We have an additional survey (post dissertation) planned for May 2020. Whilst the second focus group and student interviews can no longer take place on a face-to-face basis, we are also exploring options for running some remote focus groups.

STUDENTS AS PARTNERS We recruited two student interns to work with academic and careers staff on the project, who were crucial to the project’s success. They assisted with survey design, running the focus group, which included innovative activities to engage participants, creating presentations and reports on our findings, and suggested actions to address key themes emerging from these. Through working alongside academic staff on a live research project, they too have developed their confidence and skills in many ways.

Acknowledgements: Emily Jeffreys and Ramandeep Dhanoa, our student interns. Dr Jessica Jung, for her enthusiasm and input, and module leaders Dr Simon Wilkinson and Dr Catherine Méplan. We also very grateful that we received a University Education Fund Development Grant in order to carry out this project.

/in/vanessa-armstrong vanessa.armstrong@ncl.ac.uk @DrVanArm