Developing transferable personal skills: part of the graduate toolkit

Abstract

Issues such as the development of transferable personal skills and student assessment are receiving increasing attention in higher education establishments. Reports on an investigation into the enhancement of work‐based skills within a university environment. Presents a learning strategy which describes the approach used in developing group work, presentation and self‐ and peer‐assessment skills, and evaluates by questionnaire students’ impressions of the process. Reports the results which suggest that skill development does take place and that students find group work an enjoyable learning experience. Conceptually, students appreciated the need for self‐ and peer‐assessment, but had difficulties with implementing it in practice. Argues that, ultimately, there is a need to continue to involve students so that they can see evaluation in a positive, development light and to envcourage sudents to take a more proactive role in assessing their own performance.