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Embedding graduate attributes in a mathematics programme

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Exploring the question of what the focus should be when embedding Graduate Attributes in a mathematics university curriculum

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Embedding UWC Graduate attributes into HE Mathematics courses: possibilities and tensions 20 May 2014 Teaching & Learning workshop Mathematics department Rita Kizito
Exploratory Questions (10 minutes) 1. What is the BSc (with Mathematics) or BSc (Mathematics & Statistical Sciences) degree for? 2. What are the values that underpin mathematics at UWC? • What are the key skills that an undergraduate student will need in order to succeed in mathematics? • What is it that you expect a mathematics graduate to be able to do at the end of the module /programme?
What is the BSc degree for? • From the UWC website :The department of Mathematics offers programs for Undergraduate and Post-graduate degrees. We have established programs of fundamental research in mathematics, as well as research in various areas such as Mathematical Modeling, Financial Mathematics and Mathematics Education among others. Our graduates are employed in Banking, the IT industry, Insurance, Forestry, in Government Departments and as academics. • Students rank employability as the key factor for studying a degree or choosing mathematics as a subject.
Values that underpin mathematics teaching and learning Mathematics communities are usually divided along two lines: • ‘pure’ – the pursuit of rigorous mathematical theory, or • ‘applied’ – the modelling of real world phenomenon through mathematics • Values are also related to issues of institutional identity (Barrie Cooper, 2013)
Workshop structure 1. Why GAs? 2. The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes 3. Activity - embedding one GA into your module 4. Way forward
Why GAs? 1. Course specific skills - to help students become more effective students, raising their levels of engagement and achievement in mathematics. 2. Graduate employability - necessitating HEIs to work closely with employers to produce graduates with skills required to drive the future economy. * Mentioned tacitly in SAQA document on level descriptors (Handout #1)
What are Graduate Attributes? “The qualities, skills and understandings a university community agrees its students should develop during their time with the institution. These attributes include but go beyond the disciplinary expertise or technical knowledge that has traditionally formed the core of most university courses. They are qualities that prepare graduates as agents of social good in an unknown future” (Bowden et al., 2000 p. 3)
Classification of GAs – key areas Work based learning (WBL) and work integrated learning (WIL) Work experience or work placements ( Research assistants, Teaching Assistants, Tutors, Peer mentors) Reflection and action planning, Personal Development planning (PDP) Students reflect on an identify own strengths and weaknesses, together with a strategy for improvement , setting and achieving personal goals (portfolio development, blogs) Career management skills (CMS), usually run by university career services CV writing, sourcing job opportunities, career fairs, attending open days, preparation for “a would-be researcher” by conducting research and developing oral & written presentations, posters etc. *Employability skills going beyond the content Communication, teamwork, leadership, problem solving, logical argument, digital literacy (IT skills)
The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes (consult document) Tier 1 (Generic attributes) • Scholarship - a critical attitude towards knowledge • Critical citizenship and the social good - a relationship and interaction with local and global communities and the environment • Lifelong learning - an attitude and stance towards themselves Tier 2 ( Personal skills & abilities) • Inquiry focused and knowledgeable • Critically and relevantly literate • Autonomous and collaborative • Ethically, environmentally and socially aware and active • Skilled communicators • Interpersonal flexibility and confidence to engage across difference
The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes Tier 2 • Inquiry focused and knowledgeable • Critically and relevantly literate • Autonomous and collaborative • Ethically, environmentally and socially aware and active • Skilled communicators • Interpersonal flexibility and confidence to engage across difference Tier 1 “Complex interwoven aspects of human ability” (Barrie, 2004)
Common tensions • Philosophical – a wish to retain the pure , theoretical nature of the subject • Practical difficulty of finding a space for GA development in an already crowded curriculum * We are now training students for unknown futures in roles that are yet to be invented.
How does one embed/integrate GAs? • A holistic (programmatic ) approach where a skills development map /matrix is used to ensure that there is a coherent strategy for embedding/integrating GAs across the programme. • A modular approach where each academic is responsible for embedding /integrating GAs in their own courses.  The GAs can be delivered as ‘stand alone’ sections in the modules or as ‘complete modules’.  They can be integrated with the learning outcome statements or have their own outcomes.
Skill Development Map for BSc Mathematics ( Year 1) Discipline specific skills Module [ I - Introduced, P - Practiced , A – assessed] MAT105 APM111 APM121 Introduction to Latex I P A I P A Proof I I ?? Transferable skills ( tier 2) (outcomes) Inquiry focused and knowledgeable ability to carry out inquiry-based learning, problem solver, conduct research, project design and implementation P P P Critically and relevantly literate ability to critically evaluate literature, develop library skills P P P Autonomous and collaborative develop skills of independence of thought and social interaction through teamwork, time management, cooperative learning, group work etc. Ethically, environmentally and socially aware develop awareness of ethical and environmental issues and their impact on society Skilled communicators become an effective communicator and presenter, able to interact appropriately ( with oral, written, presentation skills), and technologically (digitally and information literate). P A P A P A Interpersonal difference and confidence to engage across difference ability to apply UWC Graduate attributes to a range of life experiences to facilitate life-long learning
Activity ( 15 minutes) • Using the Charter of Graduate attributes choose one attribute and develop a teaching activity aimed at developing it. • The activity should include learning outcomes (or be associated with already existing learning outcomes), relevant content and an assessment task. • Share your activity with a colleague , explaining how each of the above components will lead to the development of the attribute you have choses. Use the feedback you receive to refine and develop your activity ( see examples handouts #3 & 4).
Way forward
Barrie , S (2004). A research-based approach to generic graduate attributes policy. Higher Education Research & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, August 2004 Bowden, J., Hart, G., King, B., Trigwell, K., & Watts, O. (2000). Generic capabilities of ATN university graduates. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Available at http:/www.clt.uts.edu.au/atn.grad.cap.project.index.html Cooper , B ( 2013). Reviewing the mathematics curriculum in a changing HE environment. Inspiring Academic Practice https://education.exeter.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/inspire/article/view/13

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Embedding graduate attributes in a mathematics programme

  • 1. Embedding UWC Graduate attributes into HE Mathematics courses: possibilities and tensions 20 May 2014 Teaching & Learning workshop Mathematics department Rita Kizito
  • 2. Exploratory Questions (10 minutes) 1. What is the BSc (with Mathematics) or BSc (Mathematics & Statistical Sciences) degree for? 2. What are the values that underpin mathematics at UWC? • What are the key skills that an undergraduate student will need in order to succeed in mathematics? • What is it that you expect a mathematics graduate to be able to do at the end of the module /programme?
  • 3. What is the BSc degree for? • From the UWC website :The department of Mathematics offers programs for Undergraduate and Post-graduate degrees. We have established programs of fundamental research in mathematics, as well as research in various areas such as Mathematical Modeling, Financial Mathematics and Mathematics Education among others. Our graduates are employed in Banking, the IT industry, Insurance, Forestry, in Government Departments and as academics. • Students rank employability as the key factor for studying a degree or choosing mathematics as a subject.
  • 4. Values that underpin mathematics teaching and learning Mathematics communities are usually divided along two lines: • ‘pure’ – the pursuit of rigorous mathematical theory, or • ‘applied’ – the modelling of real world phenomenon through mathematics • Values are also related to issues of institutional identity (Barrie Cooper, 2013)
  • 5. Workshop structure 1. Why GAs? 2. The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes 3. Activity - embedding one GA into your module 4. Way forward
  • 6. Why GAs? 1. Course specific skills - to help students become more effective students, raising their levels of engagement and achievement in mathematics. 2. Graduate employability - necessitating HEIs to work closely with employers to produce graduates with skills required to drive the future economy. * Mentioned tacitly in SAQA document on level descriptors (Handout #1)
  • 7. What are Graduate Attributes? “The qualities, skills and understandings a university community agrees its students should develop during their time with the institution. These attributes include but go beyond the disciplinary expertise or technical knowledge that has traditionally formed the core of most university courses. They are qualities that prepare graduates as agents of social good in an unknown future” (Bowden et al., 2000 p. 3)
  • 8. Classification of GAs – key areas Work based learning (WBL) and work integrated learning (WIL) Work experience or work placements ( Research assistants, Teaching Assistants, Tutors, Peer mentors) Reflection and action planning, Personal Development planning (PDP) Students reflect on an identify own strengths and weaknesses, together with a strategy for improvement , setting and achieving personal goals (portfolio development, blogs) Career management skills (CMS), usually run by university career services CV writing, sourcing job opportunities, career fairs, attending open days, preparation for “a would-be researcher” by conducting research and developing oral & written presentations, posters etc. *Employability skills going beyond the content Communication, teamwork, leadership, problem solving, logical argument, digital literacy (IT skills)
  • 9. The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes (consult document) Tier 1 (Generic attributes) • Scholarship - a critical attitude towards knowledge • Critical citizenship and the social good - a relationship and interaction with local and global communities and the environment • Lifelong learning - an attitude and stance towards themselves Tier 2 ( Personal skills & abilities) • Inquiry focused and knowledgeable • Critically and relevantly literate • Autonomous and collaborative • Ethically, environmentally and socially aware and active • Skilled communicators • Interpersonal flexibility and confidence to engage across difference
  • 10. The UWC Charter of Graduate Attributes Tier 2 • Inquiry focused and knowledgeable • Critically and relevantly literate • Autonomous and collaborative • Ethically, environmentally and socially aware and active • Skilled communicators • Interpersonal flexibility and confidence to engage across difference Tier 1 “Complex interwoven aspects of human ability” (Barrie, 2004)
  • 11. Common tensions • Philosophical – a wish to retain the pure , theoretical nature of the subject • Practical difficulty of finding a space for GA development in an already crowded curriculum * We are now training students for unknown futures in roles that are yet to be invented.
  • 12. How does one embed/integrate GAs? • A holistic (programmatic ) approach where a skills development map /matrix is used to ensure that there is a coherent strategy for embedding/integrating GAs across the programme. • A modular approach where each academic is responsible for embedding /integrating GAs in their own courses.  The GAs can be delivered as ‘stand alone’ sections in the modules or as ‘complete modules’.  They can be integrated with the learning outcome statements or have their own outcomes.
  • 13. Skill Development Map for BSc Mathematics ( Year 1) Discipline specific skills Module [ I - Introduced, P - Practiced , A – assessed] MAT105 APM111 APM121 Introduction to Latex I P A I P A Proof I I ?? Transferable skills ( tier 2) (outcomes) Inquiry focused and knowledgeable ability to carry out inquiry-based learning, problem solver, conduct research, project design and implementation P P P Critically and relevantly literate ability to critically evaluate literature, develop library skills P P P Autonomous and collaborative develop skills of independence of thought and social interaction through teamwork, time management, cooperative learning, group work etc. Ethically, environmentally and socially aware develop awareness of ethical and environmental issues and their impact on society Skilled communicators become an effective communicator and presenter, able to interact appropriately ( with oral, written, presentation skills), and technologically (digitally and information literate). P A P A P A Interpersonal difference and confidence to engage across difference ability to apply UWC Graduate attributes to a range of life experiences to facilitate life-long learning
  • 14. Activity ( 15 minutes) • Using the Charter of Graduate attributes choose one attribute and develop a teaching activity aimed at developing it. • The activity should include learning outcomes (or be associated with already existing learning outcomes), relevant content and an assessment task. • Share your activity with a colleague , explaining how each of the above components will lead to the development of the attribute you have choses. Use the feedback you receive to refine and develop your activity ( see examples handouts #3 & 4).
  • 16. Barrie , S (2004). A research-based approach to generic graduate attributes policy. Higher Education Research & Development Vol. 23, No. 3, August 2004 Bowden, J., Hart, G., King, B., Trigwell, K., & Watts, O. (2000). Generic capabilities of ATN university graduates. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Available at http:/www.clt.uts.edu.au/atn.grad.cap.project.index.html Cooper , B ( 2013). Reviewing the mathematics curriculum in a changing HE environment. Inspiring Academic Practice https://education.exeter.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/inspire/article/view/13

Editor's Notes

  1. The number of graduates that follow a research career is very small? Where do the others go? How does the university prepare them for the world of work?
  2. Additional skills students should gain in the university over and above the course specific skills