Noorin Manji and Erica Refling have created this menu of activities and assessments for those instructors interested in incorporating skills articulation as part of their ARTS 160 offering. Menu components are listed from the lowest to highest level of intensity/involvement.
Passive professionalism
Recommended grade allocation: 5% or less
Students are evaluated on their level of passive professionalism throughout the term. For example, punctuality; preparedness; submitting work on time; general politeness and demeanor; quality of contribution/participation in class discussions; constructing professional/ appropriate emails to instructor; interacting with peers in a collegial and professional manner; dressing style during presentations; etc.
Student self-evaluation
Recommended grade allocation: 5% or less
Students are asked to self-evaluate their work for other deliverables in the course, and the selfevaluation then becomes the basis for the instructor to evaluate student professionalism. Students may be required to complete a numeric self-evaluation and/or a written self-evaluation reflection. Instructors can gauge a student’s self-awareness, integrity, honesty, and communication, among many other metrics of professionalism.
Feedback reflection
Recommended grade allocation: 5% or less
A major hurdle to student progress is the lack of time/attention students often give to reviewing instructor feedback on their work. The ability to receive, review, and apply feedback is a core competency for any strong professional. For this task, students are asked to receive/read, review, and apply the feedback their instructor has provided them on one or more course deliverables. Then, some form of reflection must be completed. This evaluation can be done in a variety of ways including but not limited to: written reflection; recorded video response; (in)formal instructor-student chats; peer review; addendum to follow-up assignment, etc.
Midterm networking meeting
Recommended grade allocation: 5%-15%, depending on how many associated deliverables
Students are responsible for taking the initiative to email or speak to their instructor at any point during the term and setup a brief meeting. Meetings can be conducted in person or virtually. The goal of these brief (5-15 minutes) instructor-student meetings is to give instructors a chance to check-in with students and let them know of their progress in the course and to give students a chance to connect with their instructor and strive to develop the important professional skill of networking.
Field cases
Recommended grade allocation: 5%-20% via multiple smaller deliverables
Course instructor may either locate ‘real world’ cases or may opt to create real-world-type cases for students to practice exploring and navigating. Some themes of professionalism to consider when delving into case studies may include: process, ethics, integrity, discipline, among so many others. Evaluation can be completed in a wide variety of methods including, but not limited to, in-class discussion questions; student debates and/or presentations; written responses; creative visualizations, among many other possibilities. Cases, themes, and deliverables will be field/topic/course specific.
Popular media analysis
Recommended grade allocation: 5%-20% via multiple smaller deliverables
Similar to the Field Case activity described above, for the media analysis, students are asked to locate, analyze, and discuss examples they find of ‘real world’ popular media. Students should select media with themes relevant to the course topic, as specified by the instructor. Examples of media include news stories, political cartoons, memes, tweets, etc. Evaluation may be applied to the selection of media, quality of analysis, and communication of content – either orally or in written form.
Professional path plan
Recommended grade allocation: 10%-25% as a set of scaffolded deliverables
Using course content as a starting point, students are asked to map out the next 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, etc. years of their professional lives. The goal with this deliverable is to give students the opportunity to understand how their academic experiences will bridge with their professional experiences, and everything in between. As part of this plan, students may explore courses to take as they finish their degrees; part-time and/or temporary work experiences they may attempt while in school; networking efforts they may make to advance; considerations of further education; contemplation of the types of organizations they may find employment with, among so many other elements.
Job talk
Recommended grade allocation: 10%-30% as a set of scaffolded deliverables
Students are asked to explore employment fields most closely related to the course’s designated topic/area of study. Students are evaluated on their ability to locate information about the field/job position and on their ability to communicate that information to the class. Deliverables may include: locating position posting; presentation; peer feedback, among other elements.
Professional identity construction
Recommended grade allocation: 10-40% as a set of scaffolded deliverables
Students are asked to create a ‘professional identity’ for themselves in the particular field(s) of study most relevant to the course topic. Deliverables may include traditional professional assets like: resume, CV, portfolio, etc., as well as more modern professional assets like: a social media profile or personal website. Deliverables may include the assets themselves, as well as scaffolded additions like a (in)formal presentation.
Structured interview simulation
Recommended grade allocation: 10-40% as a set of scaffolded deliverables
Students must ‘apply’ to a field-specific job and are evaluated on multiple components throughout the process. Instructor may create a mock position posting for students to work with, or students may be asked to find their own position online. Evaluation components may include: locating the position posting; letter of application and/or resume; structured interview; follow-up connection, among other elements.