Embedding 21st Century Employability into Assessment and Feedback Practice through a Student-Staff Partnership

Veitch, N. , Mcgregor, A. , Stubbs, F., Broom, M. and Zainudden, D. (2021) Embedding 21st Century Employability into Assessment and Feedback Practice through a Student-Staff Partnership. Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2021, 26-30 April 2021.

Abstract

Although commonly thought to be only a measure of academic performance, assessments can also provide students with an opportunity to apply skills and knowledge acquired at university into written literacies that prepare them for the transition into prospective careers. Within a Level 2 Microbiology and Immunology course, students struggled to engage with standalone timetabled careers-related sessions, yet they showed enthusiasm when employability was embedded into assessments. A staff-student partnership project explored these issues, with the overall aim of understanding how to effectively embed employability skills into assessment and feedback, which supports the theme of supporting students to position themselves for the future. Through student-run focus groups, this project investigated the reasons for low student engagement with the timetabled employability session and used student views to develop digital initiatives that could be applied to assessment and feedback practice with an emphasis on developing 21st-century competencies. These initiatives were then implemented as pre-session self-directed activities, which helped students link course feedback with employment skills and future career planning, followed by a newly developed in-class reflective feedback session that allowed students time to consider what skills they have developed and make links with future careers. Project evaluation was conducted using a quantitative survey of students involved. This project aims to make feedback more meaningful and better valued by students. The approaches were designed in partnership with former students from the course, this project possesses the unique ability to deliver a genuine student voice both on employability concerns and the role of assessment.

• Item Type: Conference or Workshop Item
• Keywords: Employability, skills, staff student partnership.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Mcgregor, Dr Anna and Stubbs, Fiona and Veitch, Dr Nicola
• Authors: Veitch, N., Mcgregor, A., Stubbs, F., Broom, M., and Zainudden, D.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Life Sciences; College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity; University Services > Student and Academic Services > Student Services
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher