Transcript W314 - Positive psychology and constructive conversations

Enabling students to
SOAR to Success / SOAR 4 Employability
Arti Kumar MBE
Doug Cole
Former CETL Associate Director,
Currently Hon. Research Fellow at
the University of Bedfordshire.
External Examiner at University of
East London.
National Teaching Fellow
NICEC Fellow
HEA Associate Fellow
Independent consultant and trainer
Senior Lecturer
Fellow of IMSPA
Committee Member ESDN
Skills Active National Evaluator
External Examiner University of
Bedfordshire
Currently studying - MPhil/PhD
Coventry University
Session Content
The need to SOAR
The dilemmas in implementing SOAR
The solutions (in different contexts)
Some examples of SOAR based activities:
- group discussions
- practical examples and outcomes
Your views and plans
The need (1): SOAR linkages
and integration
• Dynamic relationships between Self, Opportunity,
Aspirations, Results
• Connections between personal, academic and career
development
• Structured and supported delivery for the Career
Development Blueprint (as in Canada & Australia, 2007)
• Personal Development Planning (PDP), leading to
Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
• Employability (focus on ‘behavioural competencies’)
• Developing attributes for a global economy
• Curriculum design and delivery – in actual and virtual
environments
• Theory and practice
The need (2): Main underpinning theories
(linked with practice)
Appreciative inquiry
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Self-efficacy
Engaging with ‘Opportunity’
Optimistic Aspirations
Effective Results
Career theories
e.g. Psychological: Super, Holland…
Social: Community Interaction (Law)
Career Decision Learning (Law)
Education development theories
Personal and social constructionist
approaches
e.g. Constructive alignment (Biggs, 2003)
Psychological approaches to teaching,
learning and assessment
The context for SOARing at UoB:
Aims of the Bridges-CETL:
student-centred, developmental,
…to identify, sustainable
enhance and
evaluate effective
practices that:
- bridge back to
students’ prior
experiences
- bridge through
the curriculum by
linking activities
- bridge beyond
the curriculum
into careers of
lifelong learning…
SOAR as a cycle of integrated learner
development in each year group
Self
Where am
I now?
Reflect on
current position
Evaluate
and Review
Results
Transitions
How do I
get there?
Research
and explore
information
& guidance
Record
achievement
Opportunities
Determine
skills required
Plan
development
goals
Aspirations
Decisions
Plans
Where do I
want to be?
SOAR as a spine or spiral in curricula at UoB
HEAR (Burgess, 2007)
Skills Award
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‘Begin with the
end in mind’ …*
What result do you
need / want to achieve?
Learning
*The
2nd of journeys
Covey’s
7
highly
inhabits
real &ofvirtual
effective
learningpeople
environments
Goal setting and
My Self
My Opportunities
My Aspirations
My Results
personal agency
theories
Self as hero in the
journey of life-career
DC
My SelfMAP*
What *MAP* does a
student need in order to
be(come) effective, learn
and develop successfully?
*Motivation (beliefs,
interests, attitudes)
Ability (skills, competencies)
Personality (interactions
with others)
My SelfMAP*
DC
What skills are needed for ‘learnability’? …
and what do employers look for? e.g. Logica
Communication
Skills
Problem
Solvers
Drive for
results
Well
Rounded
Individuals
Client
Focus
Team
Players
Flexibility &
Adaptability
Business
Awareness
DC
Re-framing definitions of
employability
“A set of achievements – skills,
personal attributes and
understandings – that make
graduates more likely to gain
employment and be successful
in their chosen occupations,
which benefits themselves, the
workforce, the community and
the economy.”
(Yorke, 2004)
A journey with staged
outcomes, requiring
positive self-MAPs – i.e.
beliefs and attitudes that
drive performance and
behaviour in relation to
finding and engaging with
suitable opportunities,
implementing realistic
aspirations and learning
from results.
DC
An example of self-assesment:
In relation to group / team effectiveness…
To what extent do I (a) consider these actions
important; (b) act in this way? –
Where 4 = high and 1 = low
a) Ratings
1–4
importance
b) Ratings
1-4
frequency
The behaviours I consider most
important are…
I express myself confidently and assertively
I contribute ideas and suggestions relevant to
the task
My highest ratings:…
Evidence that I do this in real life…
I take on a specific role when required
I listen respectfully to others
Areas I need to improve:…
I support others’ positive contributions
I focus (or re-focus) the group on its tasks and
goals
I help the group to achieve its goals within a
given timeframe
Opportunities I will use in order to
improve…
Self-audits in a SOAR process
• Make ‘skills’ comprehensible as actions and
‘behavioural competencies’
• Alert students to what they might do and
develop
• Look for potential, not perfection
• Act as reflective aids/prompts
• Could be used as conversation starters
• Should lead to personalised action plans
• Need to form part of a developmental process:
diagnostic, evaluative, cyclical...
DC
Self- Other awareness: how can it work?
Driving behavioural competencies
towards personal and interpersonal
effectiveness in tandem
DC
Student and tutor in tandem:
who might lead…?
DC
‘ elf awareness’: impact
“I realised that I should not be such optimistic
about my study life here, although I can speak
fluent Chinese, but I am in UK now. So I should
improve more on my language study”
“I have learnt that I am more of a critical individual
in the team. Plus that I am very adaptable but my
presentation skills need quite a lot of work. I really
enjoyed working with the group, it didn’t even feel
like a task as we had a lot of fun doing it and we
got to know each other personally and for me that
is a crucial part of working well with others.”
Self- Opportunity awareness:
Students explore options for
future choices, choose extracurricular opportunities and
develop a range of skills
“I have enjoyed being a
volunteer at the BBC
regional radio station. I
don’t think I want to do this
for a career though…” First year student’s
reflective log in e-portfolio
DC
Opportunities for learning and
developing in multiple contexts
In the community
In study
At leisure
“I never knew
I had so much
substance!”
(student)
as a ‘meta-model’ :
- students understand,
identify and develop
effective behaviours
- move from student
to graduate to
professional identity
How captured
- (e)-portfolio?
- HE Achievement
Report? (HEAR)?
DC
Self-Opportunity-Aspirations
…generate, clarify, test aspirations
'Whatever you can do, or dream you
can, begin it! Boldness has genius,
magic, and power in it.' (one of Goethe’s
couplets)
Individuals must adopt strategies for
making sound, informed choices and develop these progressively for
future re-use.
Planning action to implement
decisions needs to take both a short
and long-term view, and be capable
of constant adjustment
Career aspirations, decisions
and transitions are complex
Self-OpportunityAspirations-Results
• A winning CV, application,
interview and Assessment
Centre requires
– Targeting suitable opportunities
– Matching its requirements with the
‘Self-MAP’ or applicant profile
“I learned to write a
– Understanding ‘transferability’
good CV and got a
summer holiday job – Defending a decision – at interview
in an advertising
– Demonstrating ‘behavioural
agency, which is
competencies’ at Assessment Centre
very hard to get…”
activities and exercises
- First year student
DC
Working with students to
unlock their potential…
The dynamic relationships between
SOAR elements can generate
synergy and real-life relevance
The model should be animated and
contextualised within different
subject disciplines
You can take student development to
a whole new dimension: put the
jigsaw bridge together!
Vision, action, evaluation
• "Vision without action is a daydream.
Action without vision is a nightmare."
- Japanese Proverb
How will we know we
have made the right
impact?
Over to you…
Main References
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Atlay, M.; A. Gaitan & A. Kumar (2008). Stimulating Learning –
Creating CRe8. In C. Nygaard & C. Holtham (eds.). Understanding
Learning-Centred Higher Education. Frederiksberg, Denmark: CBS
Press.
Burgess, R. (2007). Measuring and Recording Student Achievement:
report of the Scoping Group. London: Universities UK & SCOP.
Kumar, A.(2007) Personal, Academic and Career Development in
Higher Education – SOARing to Success London & New York:
Routledge Taylor & Francis. Companion website last accessed 1 June
2011 http://www.routledge.com/professional/978041542360-1/
Watkins, J. and Cooperrider, D. (2000) ‘Appreciative inquiry: a
transformative paradigm. Journal of the Organization Development
Network, 32, 6–12.
Watts, A.; B. Law; J. Killeen; J. Kidd & R. Hawthorn (1996). Rethinking
Careers Education and Guidance: theory, policy and practice. London
and New York: Routledge Taylor and Francis.