GiLE Journal of Skills Development
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Unlocking Potential With Multimodal Learning and Assessment: A Discussion of the Barriers and Benefits
Full text linkIn the current dynamic education landscape, equipping students with flexible, critical and creative digital literacy skills is essential. Higher education plays a key role in this endeavour, as changes in the use of digital technology and academic practices have created an increasing need for teachers and students to develop multimodal competencies. To develop these skills, educational institutions should embrace and utilise multimodality in both teaching and assessment. Aside from meeting students’ expectations to develop their digital literacy skills, multimodal approaches provide an engaging, interactive and creative experience of education. They also constitute a more inclusive method of learning, as neurodivergent students can access information and demonstrate knowledge in different ways. This article provides a synthesis of research into the barriers and benefits of multimodal learning and assessment. The paper calls for a change in mindset among education stakeholders, advocating for the recognition of learning as multimodal, and the implementation of multimodal assessment
Hungarian EFL Students\u27 Perspectives on Global Competence Development in a Thematic Language Course
Full text linkIn today’s increasingly complex world, education must equip students to become engaged, globally competent citizens, who can solve both local and global issues and are ready to face the challenges of the 21st century. The goal of global competence is to address these demands by strengthening the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes: a globally competent student can examine issues of global significance, understand other people’s perspectives, engage in appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultural backgrounds, and act for collective well-being and sustainable development. In this framework, this case study aims to explore how a thematic language development seminar focussing on global content can contribute to developing second-year EFL students’ global competence and its perceived effectiveness. One group of students (N=18) from a prestigious Hungarian university was involved in the study, instructed by the first author. Data was collected over the course of the Spring 2023 semester from multiple data sources: student reflections after each thematic lesson, a beginning-of-the-term feedback sheet, an end-of-the-term feedback sheet, weekly student reflections, observation notes (by the second author) and reflective journals (by the first author). The findings emerging from this qualitative inquiry suggest that the students were satisfied with the course overall and could effectively gauge which global and language skills they developed during the course. These findings imply that designing courses with dual aims is both feasible and worthwhile, and with the help of regular reflection exercises, the students can be made aware of the development of their skills, leading to increased global awareness and satisfaction with the course
The Use of Social Media and Artificial Intelligence Tools by Online Doctoral Students: Skills Needed and Challenges
Full text linkOur paper aims to explore how doctoral EdD students in their thesis stage made use of digital technologies, social media (SM), and artificial intelligence (AI) tools. In this study, AI does not involve data on the use of the new generation of AI, which has been introduced in more recent years after this study took place. This paper refers to a 2nd stage qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews collected from research undertaken in 2018 into student use of digital technologies in an online professional doctorate programme. The original study utilised an exploratory case study approach, an online survey (n = 28), and a series of semi-structured interviews (n = 9). This study will add further qualitative findings and perspectives to those that emerged in the previous study. This study will help to provide new insights into the interview data that was used to inform the initial paper resulting from the research in 2018. We argue that the unique characteristics of online doctoral students as both individuals and learners determine the popularity of some digital tools and that, in order to make the best use of the full range available they need to develop new skills and a better understanding of the pedagogy associated with those digital tools and the value they can add to an educational context. This can be achieved through the provision of more systematic coaching and support systems. This in turn will contribute to enhancing students’ feelings of belonging to a real academic learning community and their self-confidence and autonomy as online learners in general and in their performance in a Viva in particular
Exploring Knowledge and Perceptions of Level Learning Outcomes and Meta-Skills in a Creative Business School Context
Full text linkMuch has been written about the necessity for graduates to be aware of their skill set and transferability for the workplace. Degree programs in Scotland have long relied on guidance from the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) on the taxonomy or wording of level learning outcomes (LLOs), which are the building blocks of degrees. More recently, a meta-skills framework created by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) offers clarity around meta-skills and suggests relevant wording, but these do not always align with academic taxonomies. The current research sought to explore the relationship between LLOs and meta-skills further from an academic and student perspective. A qualitative approach consisting of staff interviews and student focus groups from a range of creative business courses was adopted. A thematic analysis revealed gaps in staff and student understanding of LLOs and meta-skill terminology. The findings support the argument that skills should be linked more obviously to modular learning and recommendations are made as to how these could be communicated effectively to aid understanding around the transferability of university-acquired skills to the workplace.
Developing a Supportive Community of Practice: A Doctoral Case Study
Full text linkThis paper employs a qualitative case study to suggest how the research journey of doctoral students can be improved in educational institutions by encouraging the formation of small and informal Communities of Practice (CoP). It examines themes emerging from the feelings and opinions of four part-time professional doctorate students about their study experience and participation in their emergent CoP. A peer group developed where the students share their experience, expertise, insight, and knowledge in a caring and supportive, but informal, forum. CoP could become an effective tool to aid retention, identity development and wellbeing of postgraduate level students, factors which have been previously identified as key areas of risk. An autoethnographic approach was used to review the feelings, perceptions, and opinions of the four case study group members about their experiences of the informal CoP to date. Thematic analysis of transcripts and WhatsApp communications was used to reveal the perceived common benefits and gains from participation in the informal CoP such as joy, safe spaces, and identity development, aligning members experiences to a CoP lifecycle. The study found small group formation at doctoral programme induction, and encouragement for students to organise their own regular study days using of social channels, may impact overall success. Application and adaptation of this doctoral CoP model could form the basis for future research and a model for academic institutions to suggest to new and existing students
Developing Employees’ Critical Thinking Skills in Malta: Evaluating a Hypothetical Business Proposal
Full text linkCritical thinking is considered one of the most significant competencies that employees need to develop in order for them to contribute to an organisation’s success and productivity. The lack of professional development opportunities aimed at enhancing the critical thinking capacity of employees might be deleterious for organisations seeking to capitalise on this competence as a means of remaining innovative. By means of a conceptual case study of Thinkerly – a business-to-business (B2B) firm offering critical thinking training solutions in Malta – this article considers the firm’s business idea, target customer segment, and competitive external business environment. The hypothetical business proposal analyses the internal and external factors affecting the firm’s performance and evaluates the positioning, strategy and competitive advantage of the bespoke training firm. The primary objective of the conceptual case study is to indicate the main considerations a B2B company needs to take when developing critical thinking training in a specific context. To illustrate how any such proposal is likely to have its limitations, two of the models utilised in the design of Thinkerly’s proposal are subjected to critique
The Inner Leader in Transformative Leadership: Personal Transformation through Trauma Integration and Spiritual Development
Full text linkThis article analyzes the role of personal transformation in the context of transformative leadership, focusing on the processes of trauma integration and spiritual development. Trauma integration facilitates access to the inner leader through a gradual process of increasing awareness of unconscious patterns. Spiritual development expands consciousness developing the capacity to hold in awareness both the inner and the outer world, contributing to the self-transforming mind, an open and adaptive engagement with the world. These two aspects of personal development support leaders to de-construct oppressive structures in their own consciousness and engage in awareness-based social transformation. Trauma integration and spiritual development contribute to the Being dimension of the Inner Development Goals framework, creating access to the inner compass and increasing self-awareness, authenticity, openness and presence
The Outcomes of a Virtual Exchange (VE) Project Carried Out by Universities from Three Different Countries: Benefits of Collaborative Initiatives on Cultural Sensitivity Involving International Students at Universities
No full textThe VE project was implemented with the cooperation of three universities: Budapest Business University, University of Applied Sciences, Hungary; University of Sfax, Tunisia; and Izmir Democracy University, Turkey, in 2023. The main objective of the Virtual Exchange project was to provide students with opportunities for intercultural and interactional development through the performance of collaborative intercultural tasks. The further aim of the project was to provide students with international intercultural experience and to foster mutual understanding, global education, and digital literacy. We focused significantly on creating joint activities that encouraged international students to communicate in ways that enabled them to grasp knowledge beyond what they could merely acquire from websites or books. Both a preliminary survey and a follow-up survey were conducted among the students involved from the three universities, exploring their initial expectations and cultural perspectives before and after the project. The present study summarises the details and the experiences of the implementation of the Virtual Exchange Project, while another paper presents the results of the questionnaires in more detail
Re-visiting the Leadership Gap: How to lead in a task-focused work system
Full text linkThe organisational focus on workplace automation is fuelling the evolution of the labour market towards task focused work systems, and an emerging gig economy. This evolution creates new demands on organisational leaders to introduce flexible and agile management techniques, whilst maintaining a strategic focus on upskilling and reskilling their employees for a digitalised world. We revisit our previous GJSD paper, “Mind the leadership gap”, to further emphasise these aspects of the changing work environment and introduce 1. Their potential influence on organisational belonging, and 2. The resultant impact on leadership styles and skills. This paper presents a short synthesis of the complex challenges faced by leaders within such an operating environment. This is followed by four further proposals for the future research agenda along with two suggested research methods which enhance our previous call to action on the leadership gap
Cognitive Skills within the Inner Development Goals (IDG) Framework: Empowering Sustainable Careers and Sustainable Development
Full text linkOur theoretical manuscript aims to explore the role that dimension two, ‘Thinking-Cognitive Skills’ of the Inner Development Goals (IDG) framework, can play in empowering sustainable careers and sustainable development. We begin by setting the scene before introducing the theoretical framework, which combines the IDG framework and Sustainable Career Ecosystems Theory (SCET). Our attention then turns to systematically considering each of the components of dimension two of the IDG framework. These include (a) critical thinking, (b) complexity awareness, (c) perspective skills, (d) sense-making, and (e) long-term orientation and visioning. The theoretical contribution comes from integrating the IDG framework and SCET. Practical implications come from offering eight pragmatic recommendations to empower students in the context of higher education to prepare for sustainable careers and sustainable development: (i) curriculum design, (ii) interdisciplinary approach, (iii) experiential learning, (iv) faculty development, (v) assessment and evaluation, (vi) campus culture, (vii) collaboration and external partners, and (viii) research and innovation. Limitations and a future research agenda are also provided