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'Usemyability’ (UMA). An Investigation Into Whether an Online Employability Skills Audit Can Enhance Students Understanding of the Term Employability

Beaman-Evans, Charlotte, Chapman, Val, Breeze, Nicholas and Bowen-Jones, Will (2015) 'Usemyability’ (UMA). An Investigation Into Whether an Online Employability Skills Audit Can Enhance Students Understanding of the Term Employability. Worcester Journal of Learning and Teaching (10). ISSN 2024-8032

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Abstract

This project was completed as part of the students as
academic partners (SAPs) initiative. The project aimed to
ascertain the current level of understanding surrounding
students’ employability skills and how they may be improved. It was expected that through the use of an
online self-audit tool ‘usemyability’ (UMA 1) students
would be able to establish a benchmark from which to
track their development across a range of 16 benchmarked employability skills. A baseline questionnaire was completed by 31 University of Worcester (UW) students to investigate their existing knowledge surrounding the concept of employability.
Results suggested that students had a limited understanding of the term employability. Notably, students regarded employability as simply ‘getting a job’ (9 students suggested this) or ‘having skills’ (12 students noted this). Skills listed focussed around personal attributes (including reliability and confidence) illustrating discrepancies in what students think employers look for (attributes) and what employers actually look for (skills, literacy, being ICT efficient for example) (Archer & Davison, 2008). The UMA audit allowed students to document their skills and work experiences to date, as well as further educate students on employability skills. Students stated benefits associated with completing the UMA audit and provided relevant examples in support of this. A number of limitations to the project, including timing and length of the audit were identified by students. Further limitations identified by the researchers included the timing of the study within the academic year, low participation rates and attendance of participants on the day of the presentation of employability skills. A greater response sample is required to generalise the impact of the UMA audit on a wider scale.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information:

Worcester Journal of Learning and Teaching (WJLT) is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Worcester to disseminate academic articles, project reports and personal perspectives about Learning and Teaching written by staff associated with the University and its partners.

Uncontrolled Discrete Keywords: students as academic partners, students’ employability, skills, employability, skills, employers, student understanding, learning, teaching. Worcester Journal of Learning and Teaching
Subjects: L Education > L Education (General)
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2361 Curriculum
Divisions: College of Business, Psychology and Sport > School of Sport and Exercise Science
Related URLs:
Copyright Info: Open access journal
Depositing User: Karol Kosinski
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2016 15:31
Last Modified: 17 Jun 2020 17:14
URI: https://eprints.worc.ac.uk/id/eprint/5058

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