The idea for this assignment came about during a talk with a former student who was trying to decide in which direction to take his job search. At the time, both instructor and student thought that using a skills grid, as is used in job searches, might be a good starting point. It then occurred to the instructor that it would help students to use such a grid throughout their undergraduate degree. The instructor then tried it out in a first year class of about 60 students, as an optional or bonus assignment. The experiment was a great success, and the instructor then introduced this assignment in upper year courses, also as an optional or bonus assignment.
The structure of this article on the skills grid assignment is as follows:
It discusses pedagogical reasons in favor of the assignment; it presents instructions for both instructor and students; it discusses how to grade the assignment; it lists some of the challenges to be expected in its use; and it closes on applications of this assignment to various courses.
Pedagogical reasons for using the skills grid
The traditional method of providing students with an overview is the examination. There are, however courses where examinations are not well-suited to the subject matter, particularly in interdisciplinary courses, or in the method of delivery, for example in competitive cooperative multi-class role play situations. In these situations, it is still important to ensure that students know that they know. Indeed, that was commented on by students the first time I used the skills grid: they didn’t realize how much they knew until they wrote the assignment. Like examinations, however, it can be used across the spectrum of disciplines, including exact sciences and courses found in professional schools. It also makes for a more satisfied customer, and prepares the students for their entry into a tough job market. Finally, it provides the instructor with feedback on teaching and learning: in other words, the skills grid is a win-win assignment.
Preparatory Notes for the Instructor
The instructor needs to settle a number of questions before introducing the skills grid into a course. S/he must decide:
• Whether this should be a mandatory assignment;
• On what deadline works best for the course;
• How far in advance you want to deliver instructions;
• Whether students should complete it at the end of the course or as they go;
• Include it the course outline or introduce it separately, and in what format.
The instructor should also review the student instructions before explaining them, and may also wish to allocate class time so that students can start, and the instructor check that they are on the right track by filling out two or three rows.
Notes for Verbal Instructions to Students
The goal of the assignment is to help students develop an overview of what they have learned in the course. The grid can be retained and filled out for every course, job and volunteer experience added, and provides students having to start them on their job search.
What follows are column by column instructions in filling out the grid.
Under column 1, Simulation/Exercise/Course/Experience:
o List your job and volunteer experience, course, course component, exercise or simulation.
o For each entry, use a new or separate line.
o See the sample grid for an idea of how to complete the form.
Under Column 2, Content/Role,
o List the aspect of the course, course component or experience that led you to develop new skills or expand on your existing experience.
o For each entry, use a new or separate line.
Under Column 3, Skill,
o List the skill or skills than you used for the first time or on which you expanded during the course or courses component.
o For each entry, use a new or separate line.
Under column 4, Application in workplace,
o Give a list of all the uses you can think of for each of the skills identified in column 3.
In the next section is a sample skills grid assignment filled out for a fictional political science major.
How to Grade the Skills Grid
This assignment should be detailed, specific, exhaustive and thoroughly analyzed. The detail required can be illustrated by the content of column 1. If it only gives the course number, then column 2 should have several entries, changing lines with each entry. A sufficiently specific assignment would list in column 4 enough entries to be useful. The entire course or components of the course should be broken down and listed. Although to some extent this depends on the extent of the course analyzed, it should be exhaustive. Finally, every possibility needs to have been explored, identified and considered. The instructor is usually well informed on these topics: every possibility has been explored, every aspect to course or course component has been identified and considered.
Challenges
Such an assignment presents a number of challenges for the instructor. The first of these is that the instructor must know or figure out the real world applications for material covered in the classroom. A second, more esoteric challenge is whether the instructor wishes to give in to the already overwhelming pressures of the job market’s intrusion into the academic environment, or for that matter any other strictures which may require more conformity than the dictates of excellence allows. A third challenge is one of time: what will the instructor sacrifice in order to give students the opportunity to hear the explanations or fill out the assignment itself. A fourth challenge is how to ensure that the students really do write in enough detail to make the assignment meaningful. Another challenge is that, if the assignment is done properly, it will be come clear how much of the course content or component will be of use in the job market, and this can give rise to discussion about the content of the course itself. Another challenge is that you may have to give that feedback consideration in future, and the current generation of students may ask you to justify your pedagogical decisions. If by any chance you have not given much thought to the reasons for your pedagogical decisions, you may have to do so now. It will be easier for instructors to being with the more practical courses in their repertoire. The skills grid assignment is harder to complete for the students, but more significant and, of course, with much wide applications, the more theoretical and abstract the course is.
Outcome
The grid below incorporates information produced by students in the summative assignment into a skills grid for a job search.
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