Developing Graduate and Employability Skills in Mathematics MSOR Nottingham, 23 June 2008 Personal Development Planning Mary McAlinden, Oxford Brookes

Developing Graduate and Employability Skills in Mathematics

MSOR Nottingham, 23 June 2008

Personal Development Planning

Mary McAlinden, Oxford Brookes Universityand

Jeff Waldock, Sheffield Hallam University

Page 2

Developing Graduate and Employability Skills in MathematicsMSOR Nottingham, 23 June 2008

Personal Development PlanningMary McAlinden and Jeff Waldock

1. Background – PDP and Employability

2. Purposes of using PDP in Mathematics degrees

3. PDP Implementation at Oxford Brookes and at Sheffield Hallam

4. Student and staff perceptions of the value of PDP

5. So what appears to be successful?

Page 3



A definition of Employability (Mantz Yorke 2004) ...‘a set of skills, knowledge and personal attributes that make an individual more likely to secure and to be successful in their chosen occupation(s) to the benefits of themselves, the workforce, the community and the economy’

'There is a strong relationship between PDP and student employability, and this relationship is central to the development of learners’ ability to identify, articulate and evidence their learning and overall development'

HEA, 'Personal development planning and employability' (2007):

[The concept of sustainable employability is important]

Page 4


The original guidelines on Progress Files incorporating PDP (QAA, 2001) defined PDP as ...

‘a structured and supported process to develop the capacity of individuals to reflect upon their own learning and achievement and to plan for their own personal educational and career development’ …


Page 5



• become more effective, independent and confident self-directed learners

• understand how they are learning and relate their learning to a wider context

• improve their general skills for study and career management

• articulate personal goals and evaluate progress towards their achievement and

• encourage a positive attitude to learning throughout life.’

The QAA Progress File guidelines on PDP also stated that 'the primary objective for PDP is to improve the capacity of individuals to understand what and how they are learning, and to review, plan and take responsibility for their own learning, helping students:

Page 6



Potentially, PDP can help develop skills in

• Autonomy

• Problem identification, target setting and action-planning

• Self awareness/understanding/efficacy

• Planning, time-management, organisation

• Communication

• Reflection

Page 7



A range of models for embedding PDP within the curriculum can be identified:

•add-on ... e.g. separate skills module

•one module ... partially embedded

•fully embedded ... permeates the programme

For illustrative case studies, see for example...http://www.recordingachievement.org/downloads/PDPEmpCaseStudies.pdf

http://pdp.ulster.ac.uk/default_templates/exmplars/

http://www.services.ex.ac.uk/cas/employability/pdp/external/index.php

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/publications/learningandemployability

http://www.recordingachievement.org/downloads/PDPEmpCaseStudies.pdf

http://pdp.ulster.ac.uk/default_templates/exmplars/

http://www.services.ex.ac.uk/cas/employability/pdp/external/index.php

http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/publications/learningandemployability

Page 8


To get students to take PDP seriously:


• connect PDP practice to core academic activity

• explain its purposes and anticipated benefits at an early stage

• emphasise the process of PDP rather than the bureaucracy

• support staff in understanding the benefits of engagement with PDP, both for students and for themselves. They must value the approach!

• involve student feedback in the design, development and review of methods of implementation

• provide regular access to a named individual who will support (and challenge) them through the PDP process

• award credit!

Page 9



• PDP is incorporated into a Mathematics module.

• The module runs over two semesters and is taken in the final year.

• The number of students is small.

• Students are required to complete specific activities and write short reflective statements.

• The PDP contributes 10% to the overall module assessment.

PDP at Oxford Brookes University (OBU)

Page 10



• Library skills for Mathematics

• Careers preparation and awareness

• Presentation skills

• Time management

• Evidencing of transferable skills.

PDP at Oxford Brookes University (OBU):

The activities included have varied with experience in using the scheme. General areas which have been incorporated include the following.

Page 11



Requirements

• Work is submitted in the form of small logbooks.

• The logbook content is specified exactly.

• There are two submission points.

PDP at Oxford Brookes University (OBU):

Awarding CreditAll activities are assigned a weighting. Full marks are awarded when the activities are completed exactly as specified. Reflective statements are graded using an assessment matrix. The attributes which are assessed are:

(i) the standard of the written work;(ii) the extent of the reflection;(iii) the evidence of personal initiative.

Page 12



PDP at Oxford Brookes University (OBU)

Year Num Students Num Submissions Pass Rate

2005/2006 10 10 70.0% (7/10)

2006/2007 11 10 81.8% (9/11)

2007/2008 14 14 92.9% (13/14)

Total 35 34 82.9% (29/35)

Student participation between September 2005 and May 2008

Page 13



PDP at Sheffield Hallam University (SHU)

• PDP is part of an electronic Progress File, based in one module in each year of the course.

• In year 1, students make weekly entries for all modules

• In year 2, students make bi-weekly entries for all modules

• For final year students, it is part of the Project module.

• In all years, students receive academic credit for engaging with PDP

• Placement students will be using the system for the first time this coming year

e.g. http://extra.shu.ac.uk/cetl/e3i_Case_Studies/JeffWaldock.pdf

http://extra.shu.ac.uk/cetl/e3i_Case_Studies/JeffWaldock.pdf

Page 14




• Entries should summarise progress, be reflective, identify strengths, weaknesses and problems, and develop a strategy for dealing with them.

• Various summaries of the data can be generated from the database.

o Staff can view comments for their module and respond to them immediately via email, from within the system.

o Students can save summaries of their logs, in PDF, for review purposes. This helps them to become aware of their own development through the year

Page 15



Course Year Num Entries Num Words % takeup

Mathematics 1 4892 262597 87.9 (51/58)

2 3659 297582 85.7 (48/56)

3 3 105 20.0 (2/10)

4 535 89195 72.4 (21/29)

Total: 9142 649479 79.7 (122/153)


Entries between 14 September 2007 and 4 June 2008

Page 16



From the QAA Benchmark Statement (sec 3.27, 5.15), a graduate in MSOR will typically, amongst other things:

• have 'the ability to work .. with a degree of independence' and 'the ability to learn independently'

• 'have the opportunity to develop general skills of time-management and organisation'

• 'be adaptable'

• 'have general communication skills ... write coherently and communicate results clearly'

• be able to 'work in teams' and 'contribute to discussions'

• 'be able to transfer knowledge from one context to another'

Page 17



• have 'the ability to work .. with a degree of independence' and 'the ability to learn independently'

"When you are entering a comment into the logbook you have to think about it carefully and if it is something that you have been struggling with then I sometimes find that by thinking about it I have solved my problem

that I was going to write in the first place." [SHU]

"The statements required us to reflect on the sessions we’ve done and

encouraged further performance and use of our initiative." [OBU]

"This was very helpful, as it allowed me to break down problems and deal

with them swiftly and effectively" [SHU]

Page 18



• 'have the opportunity to develop general skills of time-management and organisation'

"made me completely alert on what work I had done and what work was left outstanding."

"gave me constant awareness of my assignment deadlines ... each week I would write about how I had ones due .."

"has helped me keep a track of the activities that I have and haven’t completed during the week. This has helped me work out what things are next in priority."

"It has helped me to condense my thoughts about what work I am doing, what I have done, and more importantly what I still needed to do. This kept me on track."

"I have also found it useful in helping me to organise my time better"

Page 19



• 'have general communication skills ... write coherently and communicate results clearly'

"From the usage of Progress File I gain lots of things like better apprehension in lessons, self-criticism and the most important helps me to improve better my English."

"The progress file has helped me to develop my communication skills and to become more confident in talking about my own work and feelings on the course."

[the Progress File] "has a vital role for the international student, since the English language is not their mother tongue."

"It was a good opportunity to produce a CV of a high standard. The CV session and availability of the careers advisors made it easy to produce and get help on aspects of the CV"

Page 20



Results of student survey from Sheffield Hallam (year 1)

Page 21



Results of student survey from Oxford Brookes (year 3)

Page 22



Staff-student communication:

"It is a great place for communication and helped strengthen the bond between teacher and student because it allows the lecturers to understand more about what we the students want"

Additional perceived benefits...

Problem – response – action:

"I have definitely used it for reflection and taken the appropriate action from it as I have often listed problems that I have had then I have had a response and taken appropriate action from there on"

"The most useful thing about it is that the tutors read what I have put and sometimes have contacted me by email and the problem that I have had has been sorted before the next tutorial, which has meant I have been able to continue with my work and get the maximum from the tutorial questions"

Page 23



It scores marks!

"The fact that the progress file added to a module score gave most of the motivation to do it but I am glad that this was applied otherwise I wouldn’t have started one in the first place"

Additional perceived benefits...

Improving module delivery:

"It has given me the ability to provide weekly feedback on how the lectures went and thus given the lecturers the opportunity to read my comments and consider making improvements to their lectures"

Encouraging reflective learning:

"It helped me to ... engage in self-evaluation and objective reflection"

“It provides you with, what in my course, feels like a substantial piece of reflective work”.

Page 24



OBU final year students' comments show a greater focus on career prospects. They recognised that PDP had helped them to develop employability skills:

"I found the PDP component very useful as beforehand I had no idea of possible future career paths"

"I have been alerted to the usefulness of the careers centre"

"As I went on I realised the importance of it in preparing myself for a master’s application or a job interview"

"Very useful in the sense of providing space/time to think about careers, the future and how what we are doing on the course can help to further our goals"

"It helped in developing my skills and in thinking about a future career"

"It gave me very good professional experience to enable me to take responsibility for my own development."

Page 25



So – what are the secrets of 'success' ??

• PDP needs to be embedded, and part of core academic activity

• explain to students why they are doing it

• the process is more important to student learning than the bureaucracy

• (all) staff need to be engaged with the process

• collect and use student feedback

• the process needs a key staff 'champion'

• award academic credit!

The experience at SHU and OBU reinforces the key principles outlined on slide 8:

Documents

Developing Graduate and Employability Skills in Mathematics MSOR Nottingham, 23 June 2008 Personal Development Planning Mary McAlinden, Oxford Brookes