The Future of Education

This paper will report on a study exploring the impact of a ‘dream job application’ assessment which was designed for a diverse cohort of undergraduate students of Business, Law and Accounting at an alternative higher education provider in the UK. Motivated by the challenges of promoting greater student engagement and achievement of non-traditional students [2], the desire to design inclusive assessments which are not only of but for learning [1,3], and an aspiration to equip students with ‘future-ready’ skills necessary to navigate in the ever changing employment market, this assessment was developed by blending authentic contexts and academic learning [4]. Implemented in the academic year of 2018-19, the ‘dream job application’ assessment consisted of a CV, cover letter and a video CV which students prepared in response to a genuine job advertisement of their choice. This vacancy needed to represent students’ ‘dream job’, or a position that would help them get closer to that dream. As part of the assessment, students also attended a ‘job interview’ in which they tackled questions assessing their achievement of module outcomes and completed some of the more typical job interview tasks. To evaluate the effectiveness and impact of this assessment type, data was collected through an anonymous and voluntary online survey which was advertised to students two months after the assessment took place. 114 students, i.e. 9% of all invited, completed the questionnaire. Additionally, an analysis of assessment completion rates and grade distribution was carried out. The results indicate that this assessment was positively welcomed by students and that it was effective in developing employability related skills alongside assessing learning. Student engagement and achievement increased, too. Most crucially, the experience of preparing for and completing the job application assessment seemed to have empowered 83% of participants to seek (or plan to seek) a new employment, internship or promotion opportunity. At the time of the survey, 10% of the participants were already in new positions. Due to its flexibility, the job application process could be adopted in various disciplines as a type of assessment. This would allow for effective and engaging testing of students’ knowledge whilst at the same time enable academics to respond to (future) market needs in developing their students’ graduate attributes.

Keywords: higher education, authentic assessments, graduate attributes, employability.

References:
[1] Gardner, J. (Ed.). (2012). Assessment and learning. Sage.
[2] Office for Students (2019). Preparing for degree study.
https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/f3450e04-2d2b-4b33-932f-41140d57c41e/ofs2019_20.pdf
[3] Waterfield, J., West, B., Parker, M. (2006). Supporting inclusive practice: Developing an assessment toolkit. In Towards Inclusive Learning in Higher Education (pp. 97-112). Routledge.
[4] Wiggins, G. (1990). The Case for Authentic Assessment. ERIC Digest.