Employability skills gained through team projects

Employability skills gained through team projects

Dr Janice Whatley

17th October 2013

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This presentation describes a Live Project module, aimed at providing undergraduate students with experience of managing a project, and developing their employability skills.

Outline of presentation• Introduction• Why this module• All about the module• What we found• Conclusions• Discussion points

Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013

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Employability skills


IT skills

Working in a team

Innovative

Manage own learning

Communication

Working with others

Presenting

Problem solving“effective performance, within a team

environment, including leadership, team building, influencing and project management skills”

Project management

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What employers want


A survey in 2007 found that 64% of employers regarded employability skills more highly than the discipline knowledge of a student’s undergraduate degree programme (Prospects, 2010).

A Gallop survey covering the European Union confirms: 98% of employers questioned said team working

skills are important in recruiting 97% asked for an ability to adapt to different

situations knowledge of foreign languages sought by 67% of

employees

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All about the Live Projects module


A real life project, provided by an external client Clients range from local charities to national

organisations Clients present a business problem, which the team

have to try to address Providing the opportunity for experiences to develop

skills Learning as participation and learning as acquisition 6 months from October to April

6 Dr Janice Whatley, APM Branch Event 17th October 2013

About 300 students took the new MDP2 module in 2010 to 2011.

We had over 40 different projects, so roughly eight students in each team.

Team members were allocated randomly, membership was adjusted to provide balanced teams with members from all programmes of study.

A team of 5 tutors supported the student teams, through meetings with the teams on a fortnightly basis. Tutors had expertise in marketing, hospitality, data analysis, finance and IT.

There was a weekly lecture, covering topics such as project management, working in teams, conducting research, presenting data and report writing, as well as guest speakers who gave their perspective on project working in organisations.

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Assessment


Combination of reports on outcomes for the client, individual reflection on learning, presentation at an Expo at the end of the project.

Part of the graded outputs from the project comprised milestones to be achieved throughout the project, including a client contract, project plan and interim and final reports.

Grading: Group project 50%, included assessments from the client

and from the team tutor. Expo presentation 10%. Individual contribution, 40%, including peer assessment and

tutor observation of individual contribution as well as assessment of an individual reflective report and the weekly learning log.

Examples of projects

Salford City College – Public Perception Project


Examples of projects

PROJECT: RESEARCH INTO FUNDRAISING AND PROMOTION


http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=447281006636&set=o.159913604030020

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Interplay between Product and Process


Report for client

Artefacts

Managing the project

Collaboration

Learning

Learning

Discipline related skills

Employability skills

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What we found


Feedback from students and clients What did you find most useful about this module? What did you find least useful about this module? Are there any changes you would recommend

making to this module?

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Skills recognised by students


1. Team working skills2. Project and time management3. Working with students from other

programmes of study4. IT skills5. Communication skills6. Leadership

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Some of the students’ comments


“learn how to do websites”, “working in a team of people I have never met

before”, “learning to work as a team”, “social learning, people with different abilities

working in a group”, “learn how to develop a project from scratch”, “striving towards deadlines”, “improve problem solving skills”, “how goal planning can help you in future”.

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Tools to support their project work


Lots of supporting information on Blackboard Tutor support

MS Project Group pages on Blackboard Excel spreadsheet MS Messenger FaceBook Mobile phone

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Clients’ comments


“The team have worked hard to complete the project on time and come up with some interesting and relevant proposals.”

“Good, we have met regularly & Z as team leader has led the team & kept all members in touch although I think he may have experienced some difficulties in getting co-operation from all the team. He mentions this in the interim report too and has probably found this frustrating although all credit to him in ensuring the project is delivered well & is on track.”


“it might be useful to organise the work in the future around a project management framework, where the client receives regular updates on project implementation including the in-house support and issues arising from this.”

“On the whole, I have found the team to be professional & committed. I was heartened to read the comment & sentiment on page 8 of the interim report – that “we find that this is a very worthy goal and look forward to making that dream become reality” – fantastic!” from a charitable organisation.

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Some of the issues of Live Projects


Success in this module relies on the good will and willingness to help from our project clients

Tutors need to support the process as facilitators, by providing scaffolding for students to build up their own knowledge

Individual student motivation and commitment was variable, and this affected performance in the team

Not all teams worked in the same ways, so it was difficult for tutors to monitor progress

It is whether and how teams overcome these issues that determine the success of a project


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Conclusions Live Projects are a marvellous way to provide

students with opportunity to develop a range of employability skills

Students also reflected on their performance and learning

Local community projects helped the university in its mission to engage locally

Undergraduate team projects are very complex

Motivational and commitment issues often arise


Thank you for listening to me

Now it is your turn to tell me what you think as potential employers

Email: [email protected]:

jansinterests.wordpress.com

mailto:[email protected]

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Discussion points


Are Live Projects co-operative or collaborative learning?

Does the desire for self motivated learning and learning from mistakes conflict with the university’s need to assess students?

Each project had different degrees of difficulty, so how can we ensure equal learning opportunities?

Should the projects be more structured?


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXL2lAuaIug

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjgqqzgw6PY





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Employability skills gained through team projects