Mapping and embedding graduate attributes
A process to trigger discussion and action for the review, mapping and
embedding of graduate attributes within programs and courses.
Introduction
Background
Graduate attributes, (see the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Policy and Statement of Graduate Attributes), describe the overarching qualities, skills, knowledge and abilities to be developed by students during their studies in undergraduate programs at the University of Queensland.
The UQ Teaching and Learning Enhancement Plan highlights the role that the identification of graduate attributes within programs and courses plays in improving program and course quality. Identification of graduate attributes as they pertain to programs and courses, assists University teachers and Faculties and Schools in planning, implementing, and evaluating curricula, and helps students to know expectations, plan for their own learning and review their progress and achievements. Graduate attributes inform the wider community about the qualities, skills, knowledge and abilities developed by the University's graduates.
The recent policy on Graduate Attributes and Program Review requires that all programs and courses will map and embed the graduate attributes. See the University Teaching and Learning page for further information
The purpose of the following resources is to assist University teaching staff in the process of mapping by focusing attention on the following questions relating to graduate attributes and their development within and across programs and courses.
- In what form do/could the graduate attributes already exist within programs and courses offered by Faculties and Schools?
- Where, within a course or a program, do opportunities lie for the development of graduate attributes?
- How can graduate attribute development be made explicit within course outlines and also in teaching practice?
These resources provide support for teaching staff in the process of reviewing their programs and courses. They are, essentially, a set of brainstorming tools to assist staff to document the way that each of the elements of a curriculum (curriculum goals, intended learning outcomes, planned learning interactions and assessment activities) relate to the graduate attributes.
Note
These resources are intended as starting points for discussion
and action. They are suggestions for how mapping and
embedding graduate
attributes
might take place.
The process
The process described in this package is made up of four phases illustrated in the diagram in Figure 1.
Phase
1: Program mapping - What do the UQ graduate attributes mean when applied
to graduates of OUR
program?
This task involves the identification of
attributes that the Faculty or School believes its graduates
should or
will develop
after experiencing
the undergraduate program of study in question.
This task is one of translation from the 'generic'
descriptions
of
the UQ
graduate
attributes,
which
appear in the UQ
Teaching and Learning Enhancement policy, into program or field-specific descriptions.
These translated
graduated
attributes
become the program graduate attributes.
Phase
2: Course mapping - How does each of the courses within a program support
the development
of program
graduate attributes?
The major task in this
phase should be undertaken by those responsible for the planning and/or
implementing and/or
evaluating of courses.
The outcome of the course mapping phase is
an overview of how the program graduate attributes
are evident
within the
learning
activities,
and
therefore,
also in the learning objectives and assessment
program, of each course.
Phase 3: Program
review - How does the whole program support the development of the
program graduate
attributes?
The task in this phase should
be undertaken by a Faculty or School as a means of synthesising
the
data that
emerge from
the Course
Mapping Phase (Phase 2). This exercise
will provide
a map of the support
provided for the development of the program
graduate attributes across a whole
program.
Phase 4: Review and revision
- How can programs and courses be refined to ensure
developmental
and sequential
support
for students
to develop
program graduate attributes?
This phase
involves a Faculty or School in analysing the outcomes of the previous
three
phases with
the aim of identifying
how
both individual
courses and the overall program can
be enhanced to offer improved support
for
the development
of the
program graduate
attributes.
Plans should
be made to review and revise programs
and courses periodically to ensure
that the
nature of support
offered for student
development of graduate
attributes is appropriate and effective.
The task of assessment and
evaluation of the program and course
graduate attributes thus needs to
be investigated.
Note
Phases 2, 3 and 4 will not necessarily
occur one after the other. As the
mapping process
begins staff may
find that
discussions move across
the phases, back and forth.
