Challenge

In a complex world in which industries continue to evolve, choosing a career pathway can be overwhelming for students. This is further problematised for first year students, who are navigating the higher education system for the first time, whilst seeking to manage their competing priorities. It can thus be difficult for first year students to find the space to think clearly about their future and develop a set of goals to navigate that pathway. To enable students to start thinking about their career in their first year, a Career Action Plan was introduced as an assessment item.

Approach

In a first year course, Information Technology Fundamentals (1004ICT), a 10 per cent assessment item - the Career Action Plan - was introduced to encourage students to reflect upon their career pathway through a reflective template. The template was developed by the academic team and Group Advisors and Curriculum Consultants. The aim of this assessment item is for students to demonstrate an understanding of their personal strengths and how these skills may be reflected in terms of employability skills for their aspired career pathway.

Platform
PebblePad provided an effective platform for the delivery of the reflective template. A series of prompts are provided throughout the template to enable students to reflect upon their skills and future career in a structured and coherent manner.

Support resources
As this was the first time in which the students encountered PebblePad, an introduction to PebblePad was provided to students, along with a one page flyer which highlighted the steps involved to complete and submit the template (see Support Resources below).

Outcomes

Overall students expressed positive sentiments to using the Career Action Plan, and liked that they can draw upon it to develop an ePortfolio in the future.

The academic team also felt that it was more efficient to mark within PebblePad, compared to Learning@Griffith.

Enabling Technology

This assessment item was based within PebblePad and used the reflective template option. It is strongly encouraged that students are provided with support materials if they are encountering the platform for the first time.

Pebblepad (Fact sheet). Getting Started with VLE tools and the Course Design Standards.

Pebblepad (Module). Getting Started with VLE tools and the Course Design Standards.

Implement

If you are thinking of implementing this approach, consider the following:

• If you or your team haven’t used PebblePad before, participate in training to learn the basics.
• Provide support resources for students (for example a flyer with pictures) to guide them through the process.

Griffith Graduate Attributes

This assessment item aligns with the following Griffith Graduate Attributes:

1. Knowledgeable and skilled with critical judgement
2. Effective communicators and collaborators.

In this assessment item, students are encourgaed to draw upon their meta-cognitive abilities to reflect upon their career plan and articulate their personal strengths.

Support Resources

• 1004ICT, Career Action Plan

  Instructions for students on how to access the Career Action Plan within PebblePad.

Contributed by

• Griffith Sciences
  School of Information and Communication Technology
  Dr David Tuffley
  (07) 373 55045
  d.tuffley@griffith.edu.au
  http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0132-9804
  Griffith Experts profile

Preferred Citation

Tuffley, D (2020). Leveraging educational technology to enhance career confidence. Retrieved from https://app.secure.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/5505/view