Abstract:

A major challenge facing today’s students is to find employment upon graduation. Many studies highlight the skills gap between the academic and employment sectors as a significant contributing factor to this challenge. Moreover, the lack of periodic reports detailing the most in-demand skills, a shortage of student guidance services, mobility and internships, the insufficient integration of a skills approach to learning, and the need for teacher preparation, all point to the fact that universities and labour market stakeholders need to engage in a more productive dialogue. The EPICA project aims to contribute to reducing the skill gap by identifying generic and discipline-specific employability skills that employers require and by supporting graduating students in showcasing them through an ePortfolio when preparing for employment. The ePortfolio is an integral pedagogical strategy that in this study is aimed at supporting the whole process. A pilot study with a sample of thirty participants, three teachers and seven employers, was conducted at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). Students partook in a micro-credential process that encouraged inquiry, reflection, and integration to help them to demonstrate the four following skills: communication and interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills, creative thinking skills, and digital competence skills. They identified and articulated the skill(s) developed through curricular, co-curricular, extracurricular, professional and work-related activities and provided supporting evidence. They also wrote a reflective narrative that focused on the situation(s) that best explained how they developed the skill(s), and how the supporting evidence shows this. Teachers accompanied and guided students by introducing the skill(s) and tasks, providing formative feedback, summative assessment and micro-credentials. Next, students submitted a three-to-five-minute video testimonial discussing their experience, articulating the skill(s) and contexts in which they developed them, and how it could contribute to the workplace and their career prospects. They recorded the video using the STAR Method, a structured set of responses to behavioural-based interviews that takes into account the specific situation, task, action and result of the experiences described. Employers appraised the video and the ePortfolio using a Student Assessment Scale. Employers wrote a commendation for those students who successfully articulated their employability skills to a standard that would enable them to stand out among their peers. Overall, students learned how to identify and articulate their employability skills for both their teacher and employer, thus increasing opportunities for being hired. This process was as equally enriching for teachers who, by accompanying students in showcasing their employability skills helped identify gaps in the course curriculum in terms of skills integration.

Keywords:

Skills gap, higher education, ePortfolio, employability skills.