GRF 2015

Title

The Development of Generic Skills Competency: A conceptual evidence-based model to effectively engage students from out-of-class, extra-curricular and in-class learning experiences in a discipline-specific context.

Project Overview

Focusing on two out-of-class (i.e. internship, community service), one extra-curricular (i.e. hall education) and one in-class (i.e. lecture with group projects) learning experience, the proposed study aims to 1) identify and investigate the specific learning ingredients (e.g. opportunities for observation, reflection, discussion, and receiving mentorship) that engage students in the development of generic skills; 2) investigate students’ development of generic skills; and 3) explore the relationship between the specific learning ingredients, student engagement/participation and generic skills development in the selected learning experiences.

Taking a mixed method approach, document review of program/course materials, collection of direct evidence of student learning, and representative surveys and interviews will be conducted. Findings from the study will be integrated to inform the development of a curriculum framework incorporating those specific learning ingredients that effectively engage students in the development of generic skills in out-of-class, extra-curricular and in-class activities in higher education. It is known that if generic skills are to be better developed, study needs to be discipline specific thus, for this study, a science-based discipline of engineering has been selected as the context for this study. It is foreseen that the curriculum framework herein designed for generic skills development can be expanded and applied to other disciplines over time.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Cecilia Chan