Director of Teaching and Learning Biomedical Sciences, SBBS
To approach the challenges of teaching and developing transferable skills in a way which is valued by students, the Biomedical Sciences programme has mapped academic activities and assessments to the Queen Mary Graduate Attributes.
In Biomedical Sciences, students engage in a range of activities which develop the Graduate Attributes required for future, high quality graduate jobs. For example, students work in teams to deliver quality projects which develop their digital skills, communication skills and critical thinking skills. In addition, throughout the programme, students are supported in taking proactive steps to manage their own professional development via careers workshops, SBBS Careers Day, and 1-2-1 meetings with their advisor. It is frequently commented though that for many students, the development of these Graduate Attributes, and the broader personal and professional development scaffold was unclear. In many cases students desired a strong focus on their academic skill development and disliked the development of transferable skills. As a result, following graduation, students may be expected to struggle to apply for high quality graduate opportunities because they are unable to clearly evidence statements found within a person specification.
Students struggled to recall examples of transferable skill development later on within their programme, especially when an activity may have been completed within a previous academic year
Approaches
To approach the challenges of teaching and developing transferable skills in a way which is valued by students, the Biomedical Sciences programme has mapped existing academic activities and assessments within the programme to the QMUL Graduate Attributes Framework and also programme level learning outcomes. This identified clear points within the programme where students learn academic content, but in a way which simultaneously develops one or more transferable skills. Following this mapping, some assessments were modified to further enable transferable skill development or give increased credit to those students who engaged fully with both academic and transferable aspects of an assignment.
Students also reportedly struggled to recall examples of transferable skill development later on within their programme, especially when an activity may have been completed within a previous academic year. The programme therefore has developed a graduate attributes portfolio tool, currently embedded within QMplus, which will encourage students to document their personal and professional development, as they acquire and develop their skills. Students will be asked to reflect on their experiences via a suggested framework of questions to both document their activities for future use, and also to identify how they may improve their performance in the future. This personal document will be primarily for the student to evidence their own development, but also act as a discussion point to use during meetings with academic advisors and provide sources of information when references are required.
To further increase student awareness of transferable skill development, from 2023/24 academic modules will be tagging their assignments with the Graduate Attribute Framework icons, which clearly identify the skills a student is expected to develop by engaging with an activity. Together these tags, alongside a structured portfolio will engage students in both their academic and Graduate Attribute skills development, for the benefit of the student experience and future graduate outcomes.
Future Perspectives
The initial pilot of the Graduate Attributes framework and portfolio tool will be launched for all levels in 2023/24 and student perspectives and experiences will be documented in order to further develop the project. In addition, funding has been awarded from the President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence to procure an external online portfolio tool which will provide greater flexibility to students, and remain accessible to them after they graduate.
Acknowledgements
This pilot project would not have been successful without the substantial input of Dr Jayne Dennis (current Director of Scholarship, SBBS and former Director of Teaching and Learning Biomedical Sciences) who initiated the Graduate Attributes Framework alignment. The project has also benefited from the engagement of Module Organisers from both SBBS and FMD in the initial conception of the portfolio proposal, and support for its continued development. With thanks to the President and Principal’s Fund for Educational Excellence for providing funds.