The integration into the undergraduate curriculum of the following three Graduate Attributes (GAs) promotes a distinctive University of Wolverhampton undergraduate education.
The three attributes are:
The decision of Executive to commit to these attributes derived from discussions with the students and recent graduates. The purpose of the GAs is to show what the University can offer our students alongside professional and subject expertise. This builds on strengths we already have, particularly with respect to the first two attributes. The blend of employability oriented GAs with that of global citizenship ensures that we sustain both the enlightenment and the professional purposes of the University.
For examples of Graduate Attributes in practice have a look at the Graduate Attributes case studies. These pages contain helpful tips and ideas from colleages across the University about how to embed Graduate Attributes into modules on all levels.
During the Academic year 2009/10 the university ran three expert panels. The expert panels drew out certain characteristics that a student might demonstrate while studying at Wolverhampton
Characteristics
How these characteristics are 'stitched together' depends on the course that they are studying. Richard Winter, referring to patchwork text assessments, offers a model relevant for Graduate Attributes.
"What is important, however, is that a patchwork is not just a ‘collection’ but a ‘pattern’: in the end it does have a unity, albeit made up of separate components. To begin with it is defined by academic staff, as they carefully derive a sequence of tasks from the course material. And finally it is, … re-defined by individual students, … to write their final section as an interpretation of what this course material ‘means’, to them." Winter (2003: 119)
We are collecting short cases studies that demonstrate or support graduate attributes and we would like to hear from you.
Please contact Dr Megan Lawton if you are willing to share your experiences.
Winter R. (2003) Contextualizing the Patchwork Text: addressing problems of coursework assessment in higher education. The Patchwork Text: A Radical Reassessment of coursework Assignments. A Special Issue of Innovations in Education and Teaching International 40, 112–122.
‘Cushions’ with the kind permission of http://fabricadabra.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/squint-patchwork-1cushions1.jpgpatchwork-1cushions1.jpg
