Academic insights: the value of embedding Graduate Attributes into our teaching - Transcript

Dr Ruth Page (English Language and Linguistics): ‘so the Graduate Attribute that really comes through in my teaching is helping the students to become local and global leaders, and we do that in a module where we teach the students research methods, but crucially they have to work together in groups to solve real-world problems for employers.  So through that they have to both think creatively and act inclusively, so they have to really understand the needs of other people, whether that’s through how we teach: we use design-based thinking and empathy maps, so they put themselves in the shoes of the employer, the person who will use their research, and they have to understand how the group themselves work.  They also have to in the assessment write an employer report, so they have to be able to communicate with people outside the university in a way that’s really clear, and all of that equips them really well to go into the workplace, to interview, and to talk about how their work has made a real-world difference.  So, for example, that might be about helping a journalist to write about immigration in an appropriate way, or it might be helping a person who’s experiencing homelessness to get the help that they need.’

Dr Sophie Cox (Chemical Engineering): ‘that’s really interesting, Ruth, and I think that a lot of that really resonates with what we do in Chemical Engineering.  I think having reflective assessments embedded into our modules means that they have that how they, what role they played, and how they kind of knitted together as a group, and I think that ability to reflect really ties in with the attribute around leadership, and locally and globally.  The other thing for me that’s really key is about future-mindedness, and we embed research-led teaching into a lot of our small-group practice, so whether that’s working with PhD students or postdocs, so that our students rea really working on cutting edge challenges, so from a technical perspective they really learn ‘the cutting edge’, and at the same time we look to design assessments where we can bring out entrepreneurial skills, so they’re learning to talk in a technical language but they’re also learning to talk to other stakeholders like you mentioned, so having that awareness of empathy I think is really important for leadership and future-mindedness.’