A bridge over the computer science graduate skill gap
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Date
2013
Journal Title
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Volume Title
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Abstract
Universities are increasingly required to respond to the ever evolving needs of an ever more sophisticated and globalised workplace, which requires well-rounded workers with more than mere technical knowledge. Employers expect their prospective employees to already have acquired a range of professional and personal skills. Universities face a challenge in helping students to develop these skills and it is debatable whether this can be achieved within the university environment. What is needed is a way for students to interact with the outside world as part of their undergraduate programme in a situated learning environment. This paper reports on a computer science assignment specifically designed to develop professional and personal as well as discipline-specific skills. The results suggest that situated learning assignments are indeed able to enhance the development of precisely those soft skills which are so valued by employers.
Description
Paper presented at X World Conference on Computers in Education, 2-5 July 2013; Toruń, Poland
Keywords
Graduate attributes, Graduate skills, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Situated learning, Critical social theory, Teaching strategies, Learning strategies
Citation
Blignaut, R., Venter, I., Renaud, K., (2013). A bridge over the computer science graduate skill gap. WCCE 2013, pp 274-283, Torun, Poland.