Lesson 8 Notes: GraduaTENESS and CEMS Framework

8.1 UNISA’S EXPECTATIONS OF GRADUATES

  • Unisa graduates are characterised by distinctive graduate qualities (Unisa Curriculum Policy 2010, p.13-14):
    • (i) independent, resilient, responsible and caring citizens who can fulfil and serve in multiple roles in their immediate and future local, national and global communities.
    • (ii) a critical understanding of their location on the African continent with its histories, challenges and potential concerning globally diverse contexts.
    • (iii) the ability to critically analyse and evaluate the credibility and usefulness of information and data from multiple sources in a globalised world with ever-increasing information and data flows and competing worldviews.
    • (iv) the ability to apply their discipline-specific knowledge competently, ethically and creatively to solve real-life problems.
    • (v) a critical awareness of their own learning and developmental needs and future potential.
  • As a student in the Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, you are part of the College of Economic and Management Sciences (CEMS).
  • CEMS aims to create graduates who are Responsible, Accountable, Relevant and Ethical (RARE) citizens in every community where they live and work.
  • In support of Unisa’s statement on graduateness, CEMS focuses on imparting to its students a specific set of generic transferable meta-skills and personal attributes (generally referred to as graduateness skills and attributes) that transcend disciplinary-specific outcomes.
  • Note: errata in the figure indicates that RARE = Responsible, Accountable, Relevant, Ethical.
  • CURRICULUM, TEACHING, LEARNING & ASSESSMENT DESIGN illustrates how graduateness sits within the overall design; graduateness is framed within
    • GRADUATENESS
    • STUDENT-CENTRED Scholarship Lifelong Learning Global Citizen Interactive Problem-solving & Decision-making Presenting & Applying Information SKILLS & ATTRIBUTES Continuous Learning Orientation Enterprising Goal-directed Ethical & Responsible Analytical Thinking Skills EMPLOYABILITY RARE

8.2 THE CEMS FRAMEWORK OF GRADUATENESS SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES

  • The framework addresses three holistic overarching attributes regarded as important transdisciplinary enabling outcomes of university education: egin{aligned}(1) & ext{ Scholarship}, \ (2) & ext{ Global Citizenship}, \ (3) & ext{ Lifelong Learning}.
    ag{1}

\text{As scholars, graduates should:}
& ext{ be leaders in the production of new knowledge and understanding through inquiry, critique and synthesis.}
\&\text{They should apply their knowledge to solve consequential and complex problems and communicate their knowledge confidently and effectively.}
\end{aligned}

  • As global citizens, graduates must aspire to contribute to society in a full, meaningful, ethical and responsible way through their roles as members of local, national and global communities.
  • As lifelong learners, graduates must be committed to and capable of continuous learning to further their understanding of the world and their place in it.
  • The CEMS generic transferable meta-skills and personal attributes form an integral part of the generic critical cross-field outcomes listed by the South African government as learning outcomes that are relevant throughout life for all South African citizens.
  • These generic outcomes enable graduates to be proactive, enterprising learners who are flexible and able to adapt to change throughout their careers and professional lives.
  • The learning and assessment activities in the module are designed to enable you to develop the graduateness skills and attributes alongside disciplinary-specific outcomes.
  • Developing and applying the graduateness skills and attributes by completing the activities will help you master the disciplinary-specific learning outcomes and applied competencies for the module.
  • While studying, doing assignments, or applying theory in work, you should be constantly aware of your effectiveness in displaying and using the applied competencies listed in the module’s purpose statement and the graduateness skills and attributes summarized in the table below. This will give you a broader understanding of your own skills and acquired effectiveness as a Unisa graduate.

8.3 CEMS GENERIC TRANSFERABLE META-SKILLS AND PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

CEMS generic transferable meta-skills and personal attributes include:

  • Interactive skills: relate to (1) the effective and efficient use of the English language and technology when communicating, and (2) the ability to function effectively and efficiently when communicating and interacting with people from diverse cultures, backgrounds and authority levels.
  • Problem-solving and decision-making skills: relate to being creative and proactive in solving recognised but ill-defined problems or complex situations.
  • Continuous learning orientation: involves being cognitively open to lifelong learning and willing to proactively engage in acquiring new knowledge, skills and abilities throughout one’s life and career in reaction to and anticipation of changing technology and performance criteria.
  • Enterprising skills: involve being adventurous, applying critical thinking and initiative, and being proactive when engaging in economic activities or undertakings to create or operate an enterprise or to contribute significantly as an employee. Also, recognition of and adeptness at dealing with organisational or team politics.
  • Presenting and applying information skills: refer to the ability to clearly and convincingly communicate knowledge, facts, ideas and opinions (oral and written) to offer solutions to problems for oneself or for a community/workplace.
  • Goal-directed behaviour: the ability to be proactive and apply initiative to achieve goals, accomplish tasks or meet deadlines; setting realistic goals, developing plans and taking action.
  • Ethical and responsible behaviour: involves accepting full responsibility for and taking the lead in upholding the code of moral beliefs and values of one’s profession, community and/or workplace.
  • Analytical thinking skills: implies employing logic, reasoning and analysis to explain information and data and draw insightful conclusions.
  • As students study and work, these skills are evidenced in day-to-day interactions through language use, critical reasoning, self-improvement, consideration of consequences, presentation of solutions, goal setting, leadership, and clear explanations of information. Examples are illustrated in table 1 (Coetzee 2012).

8.4 CEMS GENERIC TRANSFERABLE META-SKILLS

CEMS generic transferable meta-skills include:

  • Interactive skills
  • Problem solving/decision making skills
  • Continuous learning orientation
  • Enterprising skills
  • Presenting and applying information skills
  • Goal-directed behaviour
  • Ethical and responsible behaviour
  • Analytical skills

SKILLS EVIDENCE

  • Interactive skills
    • Use of language and technology
    • Communication style
    • Understanding
    • Conflict resolution
    • Persuading
    • Gaining cooperation
    • Expertise sharing
  • Problem solving/decision making skills
    • Critical reasoning
    • Considers complexity of a larger cultural, business and economic reality
    • Initiate changes
    • Creative
    • Proactive
    • Novel ideas
  • Continuous learning orientation
    • Self-improvement
    • Monitor own performance
    • Successful completion of goals, tasks and assignments
  • Enterprising skills
    • Identify business opportunities
    • Financial awareness
    • Consider the consequences
    • Impact on the larger culture of the business
    • Adept in dealing with organisational and team politics
  • Presenting knowledge, facts, ideas and opinions
    • Present knowledge, facts, ideas and opinions
    • Avoid jargon/complicated language
    • Apply information for making a positive difference
  • Goal-directed behaviour
    • Set realistic goals
    • Develop plans
    • Take action
    • Identify necessary resources
    • Access information
    • Take the lead
    • Motivate others
  • Ethical and responsible behaviour
    • Accept responsibility for own actions
    • Considers plagiarism
    • Give accurate explanations for information
    • Rational judgments
  • Analytical skills
    • Breaking information into components
    • Sees relationships/patterns
    • Draws insightful conclusions

8.5 CRITICAL READING SKILLS

  • In academia and other environments, critical reading skills are important.
  • This module includes activities that require critical reading; you should exercise judgement about what you read and not take everything at face value; do not be argumentative without substantiating evidence to the contrary.
  • You should examine what you read critically and look for limitations, omissions, inconsistencies, oversights, and counterarguments.
  • You should be able to understand different viewpoints and make your own judgments based on what you have read.
  • As a critical reader you should reflect on:
    • What the text says: take notes, paraphrase key points in your own words.
    • What the text describes: understand it well enough to use your own examples and compare/contrast with other writing on the subject.
    • Interpretation of the text: analyse the text and state a meaning for the text as a whole.
  • Critical reading involves scrutinising the style and structure of the writing, the language used, and the content.
  • Read more at: https://www.skillsyouneed.com/learn/critical-reading.html.
  • We encourage you to acquire this skill while working on this module and to show evidence of the skill in the various activities; the first activity is at the end of this lesson.

8.6 A TYPICAL GRADUATE

  • The diagram illustrates the type of graduate Unisa would like you to be in a global knowledge-based economy.
  • Employers’ perceptions of graduate quality, employability and work readiness increasingly influence graduates’ transition into employment; employability is a key aspect of graduateness.
  • Employability relates to a subjective career – a sense of self-directedness or personal agency in retaining or securing a job based on personal career-related attributes and dispositions promoted by employers and researchers as an alternative to job security in an uncertain employment context.
  • In this module you will learn more about these employability attributes.
  • By developing graduateness skills and attributes, you will have the necessary tools to be a valuable employee or candidate in the 21st-century world of work.
  • Research has shown that graduates’ graduateness significantly predicts their employability.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 8.1: YOUR SKILLS AND FUTURE JOBS (within 8.6)

  • The Youtube video provides an overview of what the future of jobs will be like.
  • Link: https://youtu.be/eH1fFdjzJAw
  • If you cannot access the video you will not lose out on any learning; students will not be assessed on the video’s content.

8.7 CONCLUSION

  • This concludes the lessons for IOP1601, Personality in the work and self-employment context.
  • You are encouraged to reflect on the learning experience and consider how predictions of the future world of work would impact your goals as you continue with your studies.
  • A reflective video is provided for further consideration.