Embedding Employability into an Information Technology Curriculum Using PebblePad: A Practice Report

Abstract

Commencing their university studies, students benefit from having clear career goals. A vision of their ideal future career can help an otherwise insecure student to cultivate the resilience and determination that endows the forward momentum to keepmoving when the going gets tough. Goal-setting helps to re-frame their degree program in their minds as simply a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. A key aspect of this process is to embed a Career Action Plan as an integral element of the assessment plan. This detailed plan is implemented within PebblePad. In this chapter, we report on the experience and results of a pilot study using a PebblePad workbook Career Action Plan in 2017 with a cohort of first year, first semester information and communication technology (ICT) students in the course ‘Fundamentals of Information Technology’. It will be seen that the students found the usability of this approach to be beneficial, enabling them to produce an effective Career Action Plan sufficient to warrant the continued use of the method.