Title: Enhancing student employability through Independent Learning
Presenter(s): Dawn Leggott
Leeds Metropolitan University
Abstract:
This session will present the findings of a 5-year longitudinal study into student perceptions of independent learning and employability skills development on an undergraduate languages and business degree which includes one year of residence abroad. The study follows through the changes in student perceptions from Year 1 to Year 4 of their degree and then one year after graduation. The findings have resulted in almost one hundred recommendations, which have been included in the course evaluation process and have had a direct impact on the development of the course curriculum. The subject area of languages will be used as a case study to show how the feedback given by students about their course can feed into valuable staff development which will ensure that students’ needs are met and ultimately that the quality of the student learning experience is improved.
A group of students was interviewed each year over the five-year period and a questionnaire was subsequently distributed to the whole cohort in Years 1, 2 and 4. The first year of the study focused on independent language learning: learning and teaching methods, feedback and assessment, and student support. In Years 2 and 3 of the study I investigated the roles of the tutor and of the learner in independent learning respectively and the fourth and fifth years examined the area of transferable employability skills developed as a result of language learning.
The paper will be divided into three parts:
1. How did the students' perception of their independent learning change during the period of the study?
2. How can we enhance the quality of our students' independent learning experience?
3. Which skills are developed as a result of independent learning?
After presenting the study’s major findings and recommendations, the workshop will give the participants ample opportunity to discuss the points made and apply them to their own context.
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