An investigation into the effectiveness of in-person and online interventions to support student engagement in the evidencing of transversal skills as part of DCU Futures

Project Title: An investigation into the effectiveness of in-person and online interventions to support student engagement in the evidencing of transversal skills as part of DCU Futures

Team Member(s): Dr Aoife Burke, Dr Donnla O'Hagan, Leigh Porter; Science and Health, Health and Human Performance, BSc Sports Science and Health, BSc Athletic Therapy and Training 

Audience:Did we ask this

Aims/Objectives: To develop, and evaluate the effectiveness of, targeted interventions to support final year students to evidence their transversal skills from two retrofitted DCU Futures programmes (BSc Athletic Therapy and Training and BSc Sports Science and Health).

There are a number of deliverables achieved from this project

1. An education session on the benefits of transversal skills from an industry perspective was delivered to staff teaching on the programmes 
    
2. A focus group was conducted with a sample of students to understand their understanding of the DCU Futures project and their perceived value of transversal skills, and supports they believed would assist in the process. 
    
3. A range of interventions were developed to support final year students in two DCU Futures retrofitted programmes (BSc Sports Science and Health and BSc Athletic Therapy and Training) to complete and evidence their transversal skills. Both in person and online supports were developed using existing resources and developing new ones. These were initially trialled on a group of second year students, refined and then made available to the fourth year students. 
    
4. The refined interventions were delivered to students. The interventions delivered included augmented existing DCU Futures resources and consisted of online and in person information sessions, explanation of transversal skills and DCU Futures, explanation of the relevant transversal skills, demonstration of how to record each of the transversal skills and subcomponents, online and in person workshops and drop-in clinics to assist students in the evidencing process and using the DCU Transversal Skills Platform.
    
5. A survey was developed to assess the effectiveness of the project interventions. Baseline measures were taken and made available post intervention, although the post intervention uptake was very poor. 
    
6. The research assistant will complete post intervention assessments and evaluations, including recommendations for DCU Futures programmes. 
    
7. In parallel, a cv writing workshop was delivered to a cohort of students to link in the importance of transversal skills following graduation. 

Student engagement/learning

This project has led to the development of resources to support students of retrofitted programmes in the evidencing of transversal skills using the DCU Futures platform. This can be used as a platform to support students of the two programmes into the future and may be a platform for other DCU retrofitted programmes. 
Importantly, the project identified a notable gap in awareness and comprehension of transversal skills and DCU Futures in this cohort of students. The vast majority of students who responded to the baseline surveys were not aware of the DCU Futures programme (90% of students reporting no prior knowledge of the initiative, and 42% had not heard of transversal skills previously). Although although all respondents found transversal skills to be important once explained to them,  the lack of engagement with the supports developed and post intervention survey, also suggested that this cohort of students did not sufficiently value them. We also linked in with DCU Careers services to offer workshops in cv writing to give a tangible benefit of engaging with the process of documenting transversal skills benefits. However, there was still limited engagement. Some of the limited engagement may have been explained by delays access to the transversal skills platforms which were beyond our control. As these were fourth year students, their academic demands would likely have increased as the academic year progressed which may have been prioritised over engagement with the supports offered as part of this project. 

Future Work

I believe that the DCU Futures and evidencing of transversal skills will be of huge benefit to the graduates of DCU. However, based on this project targeted at two retrofitted programmes, it seems as if students have low levels of awareness of the DCU Futures and the long term benefits of evidencing transversal skills. These issues may not be present in DCU Futures programmes or other retrofitted programmes. However, I will be recommending measures to support students in fourth year on the BSc in Sports Science and Health and the BSc in Athletic Therapy and Training to support this. These include
1.        Linking evidencing transversal skills with career development supports such as cv writing and interview skills workshops. 
2.        Incorporating step 1 into a module with a contribution from each phase to a continuous assessment element for this module. 
3.        Creating greater awareness of DCU Futures in earlier years of the programme
4.        Organising past graduates or potential employers to speak to the group about the importance of transversal skills
5.        Make sure the timing of step 1 takes into account the academic demands of students in final year of their programme. 
In terms of potential research projects, I believe that if steps 1 and 2 are adopted, then the same format of baseline surveys, delivery of interventions and post intervention assessments from this project could be used to form the basis for an academic publication. This is something that I am actively pursuing. 
 

Key Learning

1. Incentivising student engagement: While students in this intervention solely self-reported their transversal skills and participation was voluntary, we understand that future students will see their transversal skills formally captured within their respective modules, as well as having the opportunity to self-report. In the context of this project, by embedding career-focused activities, such as CV writing and interview skills as compulsory, credit-bearing components within modules could help motivate students to participate and drive greater engagement to further support students’ career development. Ideally, these activities should be scheduled in Semester 1 or early in Semester 2, as students tend to face significant pressure toward the end of the academic year.

2. It is important to support students in recognising and evidencing their transversal skills through clear examples and practical guidance. For instance, students could be encouraged to reflect on times when they demonstrated teamwork during group projects or communication skills in presentations. While students may not yet fully appreciate the relevance of these skills during their final year, they will likely need to articulate such experiences when applying for jobs or further study after graduation.