by Tomas Trescak, The Conversation
Credit: Shutterstock
Graduates entering an ever-more-competitive job market are often unaware of the skills and values they offer employersThe challenge is greater with emerging job roles that require certifications and both multidisciplinary skills and specialist knowledge, even for entry-level positions
We seek to empower our graduates and maximize their career prospects
New research has enabled us to harness the power of artificial intelligence for a custom-designed course planning and recommendation system for students based on the skills their desired jobs actually require
We named these curriculum delivery models JobFit and ModuLearn
JobFit: A career-driven curriculum JobFit builds on a simple premise of informing students about the skills they will gain by completing a knowledge unit
This helps students to analyze skills gained from an individual study pathway and how these relate to career prospects
Students can explore and experiment with various pathways
This "what if?" analysis is tailored to their career goals and knowledge preferences
The system monitors their study progress and proactively offers alternative pathways to maximize their acquisition of skills related to their goals
We base the skills on recognized frameworks
For science, technology and business, we use the Skills for Information Age (SFIA) framework version 8, defining 121 skills, each on seven different levels
Students can see their employability rating for various job roles based on the skills they acquire
Author provided, Author provided For example, performing a basic risk assessment in an organization requires "information security" skill at the lowest level
At the highest level it enables the person to design organizational and governmental policies assuring global information security
Governments and organizations in Australia, United States, United Kingdom and European Union have created datasets using SFIA skills to define desired job profiles
Drawing on these datasets, we designed a prototypical course-planning tool
(To login, please provide your email and role you would like to play in the system
A password is not required
) Western Sydney University students can use it to explore their skill compatibility with ICT job roles
The chart above shows the compatibility with general role profiles, for Bachelor of ICT students considering junior-level positions
The video below shows the possibilities of this tool
This approach has several benefits
First, students understand how their studies develop their skills
They can then set career-driven goals and make well-informed decisions about their study pathways
Solid understanding of skills and knowing how to express these in CVs and cover letters are increasingly important
This is because human resource departments are adopting automated approaches to search for and filter out candidates, using algorithmic processing and text mining
The author explains how students can match the skills they acquire with the jobs they desire
We can use SFIA to express skills in technology-related areas
However, it does not apply to other areas such as engineering, human sciences, law or medicine
We are looking at acquiring data from an external partner to analyze and process required skills from live job offers across all industries
We will then be able to inform students on the quantity, variety and compatibility of actual job offers in any industry based on their knowledge profile
This approach will also benefit curriculum designers facing the challenges of new subjects being rapidly introduced to maintain an advantage over competitors
The result is often an incoherent curriculum, particularly when it comes to meeting industry and employer needs
A lack of understanding of what skills are desired in the job market and ad-hoc additions have led to programs that do not provide clear study pathways and relevance to work roles
Our model allows curriculum designers to analyze and validate their curriculum against job market needs
Last, working with industry partners, we defined custom job profiles for the industry area of interest and locality
Students who target such custom skill sets are in a stronger position when applying for work with an industry partner
The system helps guide students in choosing units of study that provide skills to match their desired jobs
ModuLearn: Promoting cross-disciplinary skills Informing students on the skills they are acquiring is only half of the job
A student must also acquire all their desired skills in a relatively short period
In undergraduate degrees, much of the course is typically pre-defined with core subjects
Students are often left with only one or two semesters to focus their knowledge on particular employers' desired skill set
It's even more of problem in shorter courses such as diplomas or certificates
It's likely too that a student's faculty or school does not offer some critical skills
Students are often reluctant to study in a different school or faculty, fearing the challenge of a new environment
To overcome these issues, we looked at ways to increase the variety and number of knowledge units with diverse skills
We found inspiration in Charles Sturt University's Engineering Topic Tree
It allows students to customize their degree by choosing from over 1,000 different topics
Topics are organized by disciplines, with well-organized prerequisites and pathways
What this topic tree lacks is the backing of technology that allows students to easily explore all their options
We built on the topic tree idea and designed skill-informed modules
These are study units usually lasting two to eight weeks
Each module clearly defines the skills required as prerequisites and the skills it delivers
Charles Sturt University’s Topic Tree offers a dizzying array of choices, but artificial intelligence can help
Credit: Charles Sturt University An intertwined network of modules delivers fundamental and applied knowledge but each module requires less of a commitment from students than semester-long subjects
We hope in this way to encourage students to study across disciplines
However, managing all the possible module combinations, prerequisites and user preferences is a significant technological challenge
This called for novel research, not just an application of existing AI approaches
Working with the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute (IIIA) in Barcelona, we developed technological means to design and maintain a module-based curriculum for both curriculum designers and students
Delivery models can be adapted to different public or private financing options and educational standards, such as the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
Curriculum development tends to lag behind technology development and shifting market needs
Ideally, curriculum development should be more responsive and future-focused rather than reactive
With smaller modules instead of semester-long subjects, it is possible to adapt much more quickly to ever-changing job market needs
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