Employability and Assessment and Feedback Alasdair Blair Paper presented at workshop on ‘Preparing Graduates for the Changing World of Work: British Perspectives on Addressing the “Employability” Agenda in Political Science’, American Political Studies Association Teaching and Learning Conference, Washington DC, 17 th -19 th February, 2012

Traditional Assessment Patterns Essays End of year/module exams Dissertation

Implications for learning Surface learning Focus on memorisation Segmentation of learning Driven purely by task completion

Significance for employability Traditional emphasis on general skills –Reading –Writing –Digesting information Implications –What job can I do? –Where is the practice of Politics? –Assessment for the real world?

Changes patterns of assessment Presentations Simulations Written reports Document analysis Placements Reflective journals and blogs

Bolt on or Integrated? Assessment innovations –A sop to employability? –Downgrading of critical thinking skills? –Too many ‘easy’ assessments? –Students graduating with employability bot not graduateness?

SMART Assessment Scaffolded Motivating Active Reflective Timely