Embedding the Development & Grading of Generic Skills in the Business Curriculum

This project is one of the three proposed follow-on projects arising from the scoping study “Business as Usual?” conducted by the Australian Business Deans Council Teaching and Learning Network. One of the areas of need identified in the scoping study was the need to assure the learning of generic skills in a discipline-specific context. The four graduate skills chosen are: critical thinking, teamwork, ethical practice and sustainability.

Our vision is to transform the way that students engage with graduate skills by explicitly demonstrating the development and embedding of these skills in the business curriculum through appropriate assessment, learning tasks and feedback mechanisms that are formulated into a series of modules and resources. This initiative is one that allows for variation between different business courses and institutional positioning. Included will be the identification of standards for the chosen graduate skills as students improve the skills from first through to third year. This collaborative action research project addresses the issue of how to embed selected graduate skills within business faculties in a manner that is educationally meaningful and professionally relevant for students, academics and their future employers.

Team

The expertise, enthusiasm and leadership of the following project members have made this project a success:

Presentations

  • The project was also featured in the 3rd Annual Australian Higher Education Congress, Sydney, March 2010 through a presentation by the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University, titled Graduate capabilities for the new business environment
  • Dr Theda Thomas  presented a paper at the Australian Technology Network of Universities (ATN) Conference, held at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Melbourne on 19-20 November 2009
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