Challenge

To enhance the quality of this course and student learning outcomes, Dr Pearson was presented with the idea to embed an employability assessment that would encourage students to think about long term career goals. The course was a very content heavy course with a quite traditional assessment approach before the employability aspect was raised. In order to make the assessment beneficial Dr Pearson determined that it needed to be Achievable, Meaningful and Manageable. Because of the heavy science nature of this course, there were limitations about the type of assessment that could be undertaken. So the most suitable assessment type was to create an ePortfolio.

Approach

The assessment item was for students to create an ePortfolio

• Drop in computer tutorials were run to provide assistance
• LinkedIn profiles were required to be created or updated with photo, education, experiences, skills etc., linked to their ePortfolio
• Students were required to join Griffith and external groups and have those linked if possible on their LinkedIn profile
• Students had to complete the Academic Integrity module on Learning@Griffith and write a reflection on their profile about academic integrity
• Badges were awarded when students achieved 90% on quizzes. These could then be displayed on their profiles.

Outcomes

Some of the work received exceeded expectations with variety, content, design and layout. The thought and effort the students put into their work really showed they were vested in their long term career interests and how they portrayed themselves to prospective employers. One student sent informal feedback saying "it was one of the best assignments".

Enabling Technology

Dr Pearson discusses his use of LinkedIn and badges in his Celebrating Teaching Week 2015 presentation.

Next Steps

Please contact Dr Pearson if you would like to learn more about how he added ePortfolios to his assessment and course. Learning Futures also has resources available regarding using ePortfolios. If you would like to learn how to add employability skills into your course work, contact the Careers and Employment service.

Support Resources

• Griffith University's Enrich program

  Options provided to build on experiences and gather more skills towards employment after university life

Contributed by

• Griffith Health
  School of Medical Science
  Dr Andrew Pearson
  (07) 555 29161
  a.pearson@griffith.edu.au
  http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3458-8351
  Griffith Experts profile
• Learning Futures
  

Preferred Citation

Pearson, A. & Learning Futures (2019). ePortfolios to promote employability in Health students. Retrieved from https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/3125/view