1. D4 - Employability Curriculum Design: Workshop
Discover - Dream - Design - Deliver
Benn
Bennett & Folley (2016)

2. Intro and Aims of Session
Format of the session
Intro and Aims of Session
Task 1: Discover
Task 2: Dream
Task 3: Design
Coffee break
Task 4: Deliver
Evaluation
Bennett & Folley (2016)

3. Aims of the session
To provide a starting point for discussions of your course development
To introduce you to a range of curriculum design tools (Appreciative Inquiry and Employability resources)
To identify support available from the School, Careers Service and the University.
To create a personal, team action plan and any actions for the School and University
Bennett & Folley (2016)

4. What is Appreciative Inquiry?
Appreciative Inquiry is a theory of organization development management or research approach that focuses on the “best of what is” instead of focusing on problems.
From: (p.16) )
Bennett & Folley (2016)

5. Appreciative Inquiry Discover Dream Design Deliver
The best of what has been
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
What we will commit to
Best that might be
What it might truly look like
Bennett & Folley (2016)

6. Employability TEF and DLHE
Productivity challenge
Over 7 million graduate jobs
At least 20% of graduates not working in high skilled 3.5 years on
STEM employers concerned about shortages
Organisations finding it difficult to recruit certain skills
Surplus and mismatch in other areas
‘HE needs to provide degrees with lasting value to their recipients’
Bennett & Folley (2016)

7. Employability and levelling the playing field
Social equity drivers (Bathmaker et al. 2015)
Students’ opinions about ‘use value of degrees’
Source:
Bennett & Folley (2016)

8. University of Gloucester USP “A Future Plan”
Employability as a USP
Language of marketing “creating an employability proposition” (HEA Employability Model)
University of Gloucester USP
“A Future Plan”
Bennett & Folley (2016)

9. USEM Model of Employability (Yorke & Knight 2006)
Understanding
Skills
Efficacy beliefs
Meta cognition T
Bennett & Folley (2016)

10. Task 1 – the Discover Stage
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 1 – the Discover Stage
Split into groups of 3-4 people.
a) In your group, brainstorm the types of jobs that our graduates get.
b) Identify the things that help our students to get into work both within and outside the curriculum?
c) Identify the things that your course/curriculum do well in supporting students to get started in their career.
Bennett & Folley (2016)

11. Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 2 – the Dream Stage
Still in your small groups you are going to create a vision of what the desirable attributes a first class student graduating from your course demonstrates.
Think about: How you want your degree to enable graduates to:
Work effectively with others
Meet employer’s expectations
Work with professional bodies (if appropriate)
Be adaptable and agile to work and learn in a variety of contexts
To be able to work in a digital world
Draw a mind map or other diagram to represent the ideal graduate attributes.
Feedback to whole group and distil into a list of themes
Bennett & Folley (2016)

12. Embedding Employability
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 3 – the Design Stage
Embedding Employability
Development takes time – months and years.
Development takes practice.
Students need to hear, repeatedly, what it is intended that they learn in order to understand what that means, to know ways of judging what they have achieved, and to see how to improve.
Ideally, this would mean programme-level planning having priority over planning at the level of the module. (Mantz & Yorke 2006, p.7)
Bennett & Folley (2016)

13. Task 3 – Embedding Employability models
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 3 – Embedding Employability
models
Employability through the whole curriculum
Employability through the core curriculum
Work based, work related components within the curriculum
Work based, work related components in parallel with the curriculum
(Mantz & Yorke 2006, p.14)
Bennett & Folley (2016)

14. Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 3 – the Design Stage
Still in your small groups this task is to map the development of employability skills across the 3 years of your course.
a) Using the coloured cards identify whether there are any gaps with Task 2 and if so create some new cards for attributes that you’ve identified in Task 2.
b) Write out on the sheet provided the modules that make up your programme.
c) Map onto the modules the current activities and tasks that develop the graduate attributes identified in Task 2.
Bennett & Folley (2016)

15. Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 3 – the Design Stage
c) Using the cards and the stickers colour code these activities
d) Start to discuss gaps/overlaps and create a vision of what your curriculum may look like in the future
Bennett & Folley (2016)

16. Bennett & Folley (2016)

17. Task 4 – the Deliver Stage
Discover
Dream
Design
Deliver
Task 4 – the Deliver Stage
Using what you have done in the previous task(s) and the backs of the cards discuss which aspects of employability skills you cover well in your current curriculum and those you would like to include in your future planning to cover any gaps.
Complete the first three boxes on the front of template form to capture your discussions.
Following this create a team action plan of what action needs to take place in the short/medium/long term to make the changes you need. Agree on who is taking responsibility for each of these changes and complete the second page of the template form provided.
Bennett & Folley (2016)

18. To Conclude Thanks very much for taking part…
Any feedback on the workshop you are happy to share?
When would be a good time to follow this up?
Please complete the evaluation forms
Bennett & Folley (2016)