Learning & Teaching

Title of case study	Surfacing skills… in working world insights
School/Subject:	Chemistry
Lecturer(s):	Cosma Gottardi / Katrina Gardner
Course:	CHEM1001
Student Level:	1
Class size:	550
Location:	Moodle/YouTube

Brief summary

This project was an LTDF funded collaboration between a Lecturer in the School of Chemistry and the Careers & Employability Manager for CoSE. They recruited two student interns to work in partnership to create a series of short videos featuring UofG alumni to be integrated into Level 1 teaching activities (550 students). The aim was to showcase to students how disciplinary skills and techniques that are taught in the chemistry labs are being used in industry through videos of alumni demonstrating the techniques in their role/industry.  

Additional videos of the alumni show what a Day in their Life as a professional looks like in their industry and what the future/professional skills are that they learnt at university. Both types of video offer students an insight into how level 1 skills are used in the workplace that can build their confidence and encourage engagement in career exploration.  

Objectives

• To enhance employability readiness 

• To enhance knowledge of chemistry career options 

• To connect abstract learning in labs to real-world applications 

What is done? 

The project focussed on the 550-student Chemistry-1 course (CHEM-1001) and the Quantitative-1 Laboratory therein, of which the Lecturer is the current coordinator. During this semester-long lab, students complete 7 different experiments.  The project team aimed to recruit one relevant alumnus per experiment (covering as many as possible within the time frame) to show the students how they use a particular skill or technique in the experiment through a brief video filmed at their workplace (approx. 1 to 3 mins duration). The videos are designed to retain their relevance for a number of years before needing review and possible replacement.  

After performing the experiment and watching the video on the Quant-1 Moodle, students had to complete a short quiz on the video to obtain a small amount of credit. Feedback suggested that students would prefer simply to watch the videos without a quiz so they can focus on the key message about how disciplinary and professional skills are utilised, so next year, credit will be given for simply watching the video. 

In a second Day in the Life video (2 to 3 mins duration), which students were encouraged but not obliged to watch, the alumnus gives an overview of what a typical day at work looks like for them, with an emphasis on future/professional skills they have learnt in their degree, how they are applied, and also what they did at university to develop their employability.  

The Day in the Life videos will soon be added to the UofG YouTube account so a collateral benefit of the second video relates to the University’s civic mission to educate the wider public, in this case educating the public about the diversity of professions chemists fulfil in our society. This may in turn have collateral benefits for recruitment.  

What works well?

Students enjoy videos & learn about some careers. Many students commented on the widening of their perception of chemistry-related jobs post-graduation during the listening session. They had said that despite being such a variable degree, it was difficult for them to picture exactly what their workplace could look like, before they viewed the videos. 

The videos were created by and in partnership with two interns funded by the Learning and Teaching Development Fund (LTDF). Their input was very helpful to get the right level of language / knowledge, and to take on the lengthy work of editing. This is an ideal project for a Student-Staff Partnership. Student input ensures relevance in order to fully engage a (mainly)  GenZ audience.  

Student Intern perspective: ‘As a student intern that had many questions during my first-year chemistry course, a lot of the work we did focused on what me and my other intern partner had also felt confused about during our first year, such as the difference in scientific equipment in the industry compared to the university labs. We were able to implement knowledge about the experiences of a first-year chemistry student into the videos, and from the results taken from the listening sessions, it was clear that we had cleared many doubts that the students had. A lot of the questions developed for the scripts used during the videos had input from me and my intern partner and were questions we had ourselves during our Quant-1 labs.’ – Damindu Jayasundara 

From an Embedding Employability perspective, this approach aligns with 2 stages of the UofG Framework – ‘Surfacing Skills’ and ‘Enhance’ (Learning About Work on the Experiential Learning Continuum). 

Benefits (students & staff)

Positive feedback from questionnaires and listening sessions (managed by the two student interns) confirms that students gain a clear insight into how Level 1 Disciplinary and Future skills are used in the workplace which can build their confidence and encourage engagement in career exploration.  

Building the videos into the lab homework was relatively easy and quick for staff.  

There is high potential for integrating the project outcomes into existing learning and teaching practice e.g. at the end of lectures, but equally across subjects, as such videos are anticipated to have a low impact on students’ and academics’ time but achieve workplace-contextualisation of the knowledge imparted in lectures & labs. 

Challenges            

It was difficult to contact alumni with a response rate of about 1 in 10 for each email or LinkedIn message sent. For some of the experiments it was difficult to find someone locally.  

Filming and Editing – sourcing equipment and software. 

What did you learn? What advice would you give to others?

• Use/pay for LinkedIn premium to contact alumni. 

• Ensure videos are timeless (do not mention any dates, e.g. use “I graduated 2 years ago” instead of “I graduated in 2022”; no references to transient pop culture). 

• Write a script before filming in collaboration with the alumnus so that you can ensure all the important things are mentioned while ensuring the video is not too long (Maximum 3 mins). 

• Ensure high quality, consistent audio track. Consider recording the narrative/text as one shot and overlay it with “B roll” that shows the actions/things being described. 

• It does not need to be professional quality, but it is inspiring if the alumni are from our own institution. 

• We encourage you to try this transferable example of good employability practice in teaching.