Graduate Careers Australia
Graduate Grapevine - Number 9, Summer 2007
NAGCAS Members Recognised in Carrick Citations
The Carrick Institute has recently established the Carrick Citations, which are granted to people who have made a significant contribution to student learning over a number of years. These Citations are open to academic and professional staff. The Citations for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning are designed to recognise and reward the varied contributions that individuals and teams make to the quality of student learning. Individual universities firstly have to recognise the individuals being nominated – and then support their nomination through to Carrick. Each year up to 210 awards are granted across Australia – and they come with a $10,000 prize to be used for professional development by the Citation winners.
In August this year it was announced that two NAGCAS members were awarded a Carrick Citation – Joanne Tyler was part of a group awarded a Citation for her work at Victoria University and Martin Smith, University of Wollongong was recognised for his individual efforts in the Careers sector.
Each Citation nomination needs to be couched around a title (of no more than 25 words) which encapsulates the nature of the activity/practice. Martin’s Citation: Helping students understand the connections between their disciplines and the world of work came under one of the four criteria to be considered, specifically – Respect & support for the development of students as individuals. Below are a few entries from Martin’s nomination documents:
I have collaborated extensively with colleagues in regional and national settings – internally with faculties, administrative departments and other units, and externally with business/industry, government and community sectors.
My approach has been to establish programs, services and resources that are open to students from any discipline, from undergraduate or postgraduate settings, and who are domestic or international – thereby supporting the development of all students.
Work Integrated Learning (WiL) programs facilitate the capacity of students to gain insights into the ‘World of Work’ – to observe structures, cultures, behaviours and expectations. Students can then reflect upon these interactions for self-assessment in relation to career decision-making and when considering self-promotion for future job seeking contexts. This knowledge contributes to their capacity to make informed career and course decisions. Conversely, organisations within the world of work gain insights into university culture, structures and behaviours and can then reflect upon this knowledge to inform their ongoing interactions with the higher education sector. The metaphor I find useful in explaining the value of this work is ‘The Two Way Mirror’.
All activities have the underlying objective of providing opportunities for all students to understand the connections between their discipline and the world of work. Strategies at the national level were undertaken in parallel to the institutional level – with the view to effect change in both contexts. Implicit within this approach has been the objective of contributing to student career development learning, as students make more informed choices in career and educational contexts.
The key feature associated with the WiL programs which I initiated at UOW is their capacity to cater to the career development needs of all students. A pragmatic approach to providing exposure to workplace culture and skills resulted in the design of team-based activities which focus on employability skill development, without requiring large numbers of students to be on site on an ongoing basis. This approach was developed in response to attitudes that may impede easy access for all students, eg. attitudes to international, Arts or Science students. The multidisciplinary teams facilitate wider participation and cross-disciplinary interaction. This rationale led to the development of the national collaborative program – HEWSO, its regional version Univative Illawarra, and the Graduate Attributes Challenge. In these programs student teams work collaboratively to research their set topic and prepare reports and presentations of their findings. Each program connects with the strategic directions of the university – linking graduate attributes and employability skills to the judging criteria in these competition formats.
The programs focus on the objectives of increasing positive graduate outcomes, and improved retention and completion rates. Participating students are able to reflect upon these experiences and self-assess in relation to their career intentions and the development of their employability skills.
In a more holistic sense, it is the identified needs expressed by students from all backgrounds which have driven the development and structuring of programs and services on an ongoing basis. Student engagement or participation is maximised by offering a suite of programs, as students are more likely to access a program that suits their circumstances due to multiple start and conclusion times, and variations in the objectives and learning outcomes.
Martin is keenly aware that the success of the activities for which he has responsibility is heavily dependent upon the collaborative efforts of others – within his own Careers Service, within the academic community at Wollongong, and also externally in business, industry and government settings.
Joanne Tyler was part of a Victoria University group which won a Carrick Institute award for novel and effective approaches to life long student learning and employability through a cross-university interdisciplinary collaborative teaching program developed over an extended period.
The work, taking six years of dedicated effort, emanated from collegial relationships developed when VU’s ‘Career Bridge’ mentoring program was first put forward as an assessable component of an academic service subject offered to Computer Science students. This involved a three-way partnership which was the foundation for other activities, such as teamwork training to support industry projects, interview and résumé skills development and industry relationships to support WiL.
The interdisciplinary team redeveloped assessment procedures and processes, so that common assessment activities were applied across the entire curriculum and a ‘real world’ approach applied to programs within the relevant areas. These provided concrete workplace experiences that were underpinned by the targeted teaching aimed at improving job application and interview skills and strategies.
Most importantly this work demonstrates the importance of collaborative relationships with peers across the university, and the opportunity these provide to try out new approaches. Joanne is quick to point out that none of this would have happened without ongoing effort from staff from the three VU areas of the Portfolio of Learning for Work and Community Service (formerly Student Career Services), Computer Science and Professional Communication.
Joanne Tyler is currently Director of Employment and Career Development at Monash University.
|
