Employability and Assessment and Feedback Alasdair Blair ablairdmu

Employability and Assessment and Feedback Alasdair Blair ablair@dmu. ac. uk 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