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Business Readiness and Skills (Stage 2)

  • Module code: BH5555
  • Year: 2018/9
  • Level: 5
  • Credits: 0
  • Pre-requisites: None
  • Co-requisites: None

Summary

This module consists of up to 22 weeks of management and personal skills training, designed to prepare students for their placement and to improve their employability after graduation. Students will experience a wide range of opportunities to enhance their skills, ensure they make the most of their potential, gain the best possible placement, and give them an edge in the job market after graduation.

During their training, they will build an on-line profile indicating their progress with their skills development.  Where appropriate, the skills work will be integrated with core curriculum activity. Students will work with faculty staff, including their personal tutor and the Business Experience Office, to identify their skills requirements. In addition to the standard skills required by employers, there will be skills development linked to specific subject areas, run during the fourth teaching term just before the placements begin.

Aims

  • To provide students with a rounded set of skills that prepare them for their placement and for their subsequent working lives
  • To teach students to identify their particular skills requirements
  • To motivate students to use the tools provided to develop their skills and to make the most of face to face teaching and other activities
  • To enhance students' ability and self-confidence to operate in an employment context
  • To support career development and enhance career prospects
  • To improve the student's ability to apply for and gain employment
  • To enable students to determine their future skills requirements.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module students will be able to:

  • Function as useful and productive members of their placement organisations' workforce
  • Develop career aspirations and enhance personal development
  • Understand how to assess and continue to develop their personal and management skills
  • Provide a good account of their current skills level and any gaps
  • Identify and provide an account of how their skills have developed
  • Understand and develop further work-related skills and behaviours and identify the requirements for additional skills

Curriculum content

  • Completion of an initial situation analysis/assessment of their skills
  • Analysis of preferred career paths and identification of additional skills required.
  • Training in the relevant skills - these will be developmental and increase in complexity over time.  They will include substantial inter-personal aspects including networking and interview techniques, negotiating skills and managing conflict, which are vital to success in organisations (see below for further detail). 
  • Start building an online Skills Portfolio which enables students to manage and track their progress and enables employers and Kingston staff to identify which placement organisations are appropriate, on an individual basis.

The skills will include personal presentation and management (eg. time management, communicating, writing and editing, presenting, telephone and email skills, creating a digital persona, blogging, problem-solving), IT (eg. advanced editing in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, graphics, web management, web publishing, creating and analysing data sets), placement (assessing and selecting placement opportunities and preparing for placement eg. interview preparation), team-working, general management (eg. leadership, motivation, training others) and research (eg. sourcing and using research, making sense of secondary data) and job-seeking (eg. CV preparation, interview skills).

Teaching and learning strategy

This module involves a combination of workshop-style training sessions, guided independent preparation and tutor-led input, testing and reinforcement of skills by core curricular activity.

Students will be supported by the Business Readiness team, monitored by tutors and receive progress tests.

Breakdown of Teaching and Learning Hours

Definitive UNISTATS Category Indicative Description Hours
Classroom sessions Face to face 44
Guided independent study Guided independent learning on up to 22 sessions during academic terms (2 hours per session) 66
Total hours = 110
Total (number of credits x 10) 0

Assessment strategy

Assessment is based on satisfactory preparation of an online skills portfolio and where appropriate specific tests designed to assess the absorption and deployment of skills.

Students will be assessed through their Skills Portfolio which includes statements of initial skills assessments, activities undertaken to improve skills, assessment of outcomes in terms of improved skills and evidence of skills deployment. In many of the sessions documentation will be produced that is required for the portfolio. Attendance at a minimum of 80% of these skills sessions is required to ensure that students can develop the interactive skills necessary.

Mapping of Learning Outcomes to Assessment Strategy (Indicative)

Learning Outcome Assessment Strategy
Function as useful and productive members of their placement organisations' workforce Portfolio
Develop career aspirations and enhance personal development Portfolio
Understand how to assess and continue to develop their personal and management skills Portfolio
Provide a good account of their current skills level and any gaps Portfolio
Identify and provide an account of how their skills have developed Portfolio
Understand and develop further work-related skills and behaviours and identify the requirements for additional skills Portfolio

Elements of Assessment

Description of Assessment Definitive UNISTATS Categories Percentage
Individual portfolio Coursework 100
Total (to equal 100%) 100%

Achieving a pass

The portfolio consists of 5 to 6 components. These will be assessed by a simple Pass or Fail mark. It is a requirement that any major assessment category must be passed separately in order to achieve an overall Pass for the module.

Bibliography core texts

Most of the material used will be in the form of a skills manual, continuing training briefs and independent/class exercises, plus on-line links where appropriate.

Kingston University (2016) The Business Readiness portfolio.

Videos on job search are available from the Placements Office.

The facilities and resources of the University Careers Service and materials in the Learning Resources Centre are available to placement students.

Links and resources for Professional bodies will also be included.

Anderson, L. E. and Bolt, S. B. (2008) Professionalism. Real skills for workplace success. Upper Sadder River, NJ: Pearson - Prentice Hall.

Cameron, S. (2010) The Business Student's Handbook. Skills for study and employment. 5th edn. Harlow: Pearson - FT Prentice Hall.

Cottrell, S. (2015) Skills for Success. Personal development and employability. 3rd edn. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Kirton B (2012) Brilliant workplace skills for students and graduates, Harlow: Pearson

Fagan A. (2011) Brilliant job hunting. Your complete guide to getting the job you want. 3rd edn. Harrow: Pearson - Prentice Hall.

Trought, F. (2012) Brilliant employability skills. How to stand out from the crowd in the graduate job market. Harrow: Pearson - FT Prentice Hall.

Winstanley, D. (2005) Personal Effectiveness. London: Chartered Institute for Personal Development.

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