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Towards an efficient approach for examining employability skills Dr Stephen Garrett Senior Lecturer in Applied Mathematics Department of Mathematics University of Leicester www.le.ac.uk The problem • Employability skills will be the focus in post-2012 HE world • Traditionally confined to a small number of specialist modules and final-year project • Is it possible to: a. embed skill development throughout; and b. efficiently assess some skills in traditional written exams? Employability skills • Bartram’s Great Eight Competencies – – – – – – – – Leading and deciding Support and cooperating Interacting and presenting Analysing and interpreting Creating and conceptualising Organising and executing Adaptive and coping Enterprising and performing • Here we concentrate on those assessable in examinations Designing a test exam question • Open-ended exam question, no right/wrong answer • L3/7 Theory of Interest module • Control: “mini project” • Two cohorts: BSc and MSc students – BSc have extra exam question – MSc have mini-projects The (paraphrased) question • You are the financial adviser to a small shoe making business in Scottish Highlands • Here’s some re assets and income • Here’s a number of business and investment opportunities • Recommend which to invest in, report the discussion and result – BSc (exam) statements with justifications – MSc (project) 3000 word report to client Common skills • Despite different requirements re reporting, common skills are being tested: 1. correct interpretation of information provided 2. correct choice of mathematical tools 3. accurate use of mathematical tools 4. justification of approach and of recommendations (and appropriate communication style throughout) 5. clear statement of the recommendation • Linked back to Bartram in the report Was the exam question as “good”? • Efficiency? – Time to mark: 10 mins (cf 30 mins) • Relevance? – Interpretation: common errors/successes – Choice of tools: common errors/successes – Mathematical accuracy: common errors/successes – Justifications: common errors/successes – Communication – Clarity/concluding statements: some did some didn’t Conclusion • Some employability skills can be tested in traditional exams. This is efficient. • Some cannot Recommendations • Programme level adjustments required: – We should continue to run dedicated skills modules (group work, presentations), which appropriate workload allocations for assessments – We should look to embed skills as thoroughly as possible across all modules and assess in traditional exams (openended problems, computational tasks, present questions in unfamiliar ways, etc) Going forwards • New BSc Mathematics with Actuarial Science programme • Chance for further study • How best to teach employability skills? • Are academics best placed to do so alone? Questions?