Graduate Qualities at Flinders: Embedding Graduate Qualities in topics Academic Development Team SDTU Hand out of Flinders GQ’s in case not seen and explain that faculties have until August 2009 to establish how they intend embedding them into their courses.

Common pitfalls ‘Tick box’ approach No buy-in from academic staff Focusing on course mapping & forgetting implementation Failure to adapt generic descriptions to relevant field of study Working with staff or students in isolation from each other We can help avoid some of these pitfalls. Simply going through courses and programs and mapping where things currently occur without considering how students perceive what is being taught and without assessing the skills students gain is a common problem. Academic staff need to feel they are involved in the entire process and it needs to be integrated into practice. It is essential that the graduate quality fits the topic being taught – if the topic does not lend itself to a particular graduate quality then do not include that one, address another. It is important that academic staff and the students they teach are all aware of the implementation of graduate qualities so that students do not feel they are missing something and staff know what students expect

Why supported implementation is important Consistency - interpretation across faculties, across degrees, across teaching teams Complementary – to avoid duplication of effort and confusion for staff & students Connected – to other university policies and priorities (eg WIL, internationalisation etc) To avoid confusion it is important – particular where students are studying across faculties that they are receiving a consistent message from all staff Identifying examples of good practice will help support those areas that need support in developing direction or in seeing what is possible. So that all staff are not “reinventing the wheel” – it is useful to keep track of developments, successes and problems as they occur Again to ensure consistency – developing a strategy for implementing graduate qualities requires connection to other university policies – this avoids confusion and contradiction in approaches

Recommended process Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific context Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course Write GQs into the topics Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and being assessed for Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific – work out how they might apply, which are stronger etc Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course – work out where they most appropriately fit across the courses within the discipline Write GQs into the topics – where they fit eg if being collaborative is not part of the specific topic then it should not be included Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment – ensure that the quality is actually part of the assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and assessed on – it is important that students are told that they are learning a particular skill and that this its relevance is made clear to them – “this skill is useful because employers want it” type thing Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements (could consider introduing GQ’s as part of SAMs) – in order to teach it, it needs to be part of the curriculum and be assessed Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach – this will allow you to determine your progress

Recommended process Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific context What more precisely does it mean to: be knowledgeable be able to apply knowledge communicate effectively work independently be collaborative value ethical behaviour connect across boundaries as a graduate/practitioner in your discipline? Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific – work out how they might apply, which are stronger etc Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course – work out where they most appropriately fit across the courses within the discipline Write GQs into the topics – where they fit eg if being collaborative is not part of the specific topic then it should not be included Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment – ensure that the quality is actually part of the assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and assessed on – it is important that students are told that they are learning a particular skill and that this its relevance is made clear to them – “this skill is useful because employers want it” type thing Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements (could consider introduing GQ’s as part of SAMs) – in order to teach it, it needs to be part of the curriculum and be assessed Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach – this will allow you to determine your progress

Recommended process Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course All GQs All/most GQs All/most/some? Course CD Sequence Topic CD frames informs Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific – work out how they might apply, which are stronger etc Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course – work out where they most appropriately fit across the courses within the discipline Write GQs into the topics – where they fit eg if being collaborative is not part of the specific topic then it should not be included Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment – ensure that the quality is actually part of the assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and assessed on – it is important that students are told that they are learning a particular skill and that this its relevance is made clear to them – “this skill is useful because employers want it” type thing Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements (could consider introduing GQ’s as part of SAMs) – in order to teach it, it needs to be part of the curriculum and be assessed Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach – this will allow you to determine your progress

Recommended process Identify where & how does your topic fit within the structure of the course and the development of GQs through the course Course CD Sequence Your Topic(s) frames informs Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific – work out how they might apply, which are stronger etc Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course – work out where they most appropriately fit across the courses within the discipline Write GQs into the topics – where they fit eg if being collaborative is not part of the specific topic then it should not be included Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment – ensure that the quality is actually part of the assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and assessed on – it is important that students are told that they are learning a particular skill and that this its relevance is made clear to them – “this skill is useful because employers want it” type thing Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements (could consider introduing GQ’s as part of SAMs) – in order to teach it, it needs to be part of the curriculum and be assessed Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach – this will allow you to determine your progress

Recommended process Write GQs into the topics What GQs should be learned/developed? content How to promote learning about GQs? assessment Staff & students How to gauge learning about GQs? Identify how GQs fit into the discipline specific – work out how they might apply, which are stronger etc Identify where inclusion of GQs is appropriate across the course – work out where they most appropriately fit across the courses within the discipline Write GQs into the topics – where they fit eg if being collaborative is not part of the specific topic then it should not be included Ensure GQs are included as part of assessment – ensure that the quality is actually part of the assessment Ensure teaching of GQs is explicit so students are aware which GQs they are being taught and assessed on – it is important that students are told that they are learning a particular skill and that this its relevance is made clear to them – “this skill is useful because employers want it” type thing Include GQs in curriculum and assessment statements (could consider introduing GQ’s as part of SAMs) – in order to teach it, it needs to be part of the curriculum and be assessed Monitor CEQ and SET data to determine effectiveness of approach – this will allow you to determine your progress learning interactions

Recommended process Where are GQs in your topics now? content What GQs are being taught/developed? How is learning about GQs promoted through learning and teaching? assessment Staff & students How is learning about GQs assessed? learning interactions

Recommended process How can you bridge the gap between what is and what should be?? Make the implicit/taken for granted more explicit and visible to students. GQs in many cases are already incorporated into topics Build GQs explicitly into assessment tasks (eg. Group projects to develop collaboration) and criteria (eg. Effectiveness of group processes rather than just assessment of the project output/outcome/report). Talk to colleagues to ensure that what you do is consistent, complementary and connected with the overall course approach to explicitly developing GQs.