BSc (Hons) Computing
(Level 4)
Employability, Professional Development
& Study Skills
Assignment 1 (75% Weighting)
Date for Submission: Please refer to the timetable on ilearn
The submission portal on ilearn will close at 13.59 UK time on the date of submission
Assessor: Robert Manderson
Assignment Brief
As part of the formal assessment for the Bachelor of Science you are required to submit two Employability, Professional Development & Study Skills assignments. This is the first assignment and is worth 75% of the module’s assessment. Please refer to your Student Handbook for full details of the programme assessment scheme and general information on preparing and submitting assignments.
Maximum word count: 4000 words
Please note that exceeding the word count is likely to result in a reduction in grade
You are required show the word count on the front page
You will be penalised if you are significantly over this limit
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this assignment learners will be able to:
• Demonstrate responsibility for own personal and professional development
• Demonstrate acquired interpersonal and transferable skills
• Demonstrate an understanding of the dynamics of working with others • Demonstrate an ability to develop strategies for problem solving SCENARIO – CASE STUDY: YOUR EMPLOYMENT ROLE
Using your current professional employment role and employer organisation as a casestudy for this assignment, consider the following:
• Your responsibilities, performance, personal and professional development
• Your interpersonal and professional skills
• Your dynamics of working with others
• Your strategies for problem solving
The theories and concepts of these are set out in the learning materials of iLearn and represent the areas that you need to address for this coursework assignment, by focussing on tasks 1, 2, 3 & 4. As well as referencing the relevant theories and concepts for each task, the majority of the work you do for each task will be based around reflections of your work in your employment role.
When providing examples from reflections of your employment role in the answers to the tasks, ensure that they are relevant to the role and employer organisation, or, a previous employment if you are not currently employed.
With respect to the personal and professional development part of the assignment, you are required to reflect on your current level of performance and think about how to enhance this towards a higher-level professional employment role that you wish to achieve in the field of business computing, e.g. senior business computing analyst in the Dell corporation, or, a promotion to a higher grade of responsibility in your current role, and explain what role your current studies on the Business Computing degree will play in your development plan.
N.B. Contact your tutor, Robert Manderson (rmanderson@arden.ac.uk), to discuss your choice of employment scenario.
Assignment Tasks
Using the learning materials provided in iLearn, reading materials from authoritative sources (e.g. EBSCO, Google Scholar), and examples from your chosen employment role based on your experiences and reflections on these, you are required to answer the following assignment tasks (1, 2, 3 & 4) and their respective component parts (a, b, etc.):
1. This task concerns personal and professional development (2000 words).
a) Summarise the principal concepts and theories of personal and professional development.
b) Specify your employment role, describe its responsibilities and specify the particular skills and competencies you possess to perform this role.
c) Describe your current personal performance objectives and how these are set and monitored as part of an appraisal system.
d) Describe your employer’s organisational objectives and how these relate to your own performance objectives.
e) Complete the Skills Audit Matrix in Appendix 1 of this assignment.
f) Complete the Personal Development Plan in Appendix 2 of this assignment.
g) Produce an up-to-date CV-Resume in the style of the ‘Personal Information Sheet’ and attach it as an appendix to the end of your assignment report entitled “Appendix 1: My CV-Resume”.
(50 marks)
2. This task concerns acquired interpersonal and transferable skills (500 words).
a) Summarise the principal concepts and theories of interpersonal and transferable skills.
b) Describe how you effectively communicate in your employer organisation.
c) Describe the interpersonal skills you use in your employer organisation.
d) Describe how you manage your time in your employer organisation.
(13 marks)
3. This task concerns the dynamics of working with others (500 words).
a) Summarise the principal concepts and theories of the dynamics of working with others.
b) Describe how you work with others in your employer organisation.
c) Describe the teams and how these are built in your employer organisation.
(12 marks)
4. This task concerns developing strategies for problem solving (1000 words).
a) Summarise the principal concepts and theories of problem solving.
b) Describe a significant problem that has arisen within the employment role of your employer organisation.
c) Describe the process you used to specify the problem.
d) Describe how you identified possible solutions.
e) Describe the tools and methods you used to solve the problem.
f) Draw a Fishbone diagram for the problem you have specified and comment on its suitability as a method.
g) Describe how you planned and implemented a solution.
h) Describe how you evaluated the problem’s solution.
(25 marks)
Guidance
1. This is an individual piece of work.
2. Maximum word count is 4000 words not including references, tables.
Please note that exceeding the word count is likely to result in a reduction in grade
3. Referencing should be in the Arden University (AU) Harvard format.
4. To produce this assignment will require reading wider than just the course material that has been provided. The course material provides a basis for your study of Employability, Professional Development & Study Skills which needs to be supplemented by further reading.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND MARKING STANDARDS
Level 4 introduces students to HE. Students are expected to demonstrate relevant skills and competencies; to be articulate in expressing ideas orally; and to be coherent and structured in terms of written or other media. Forms of expression at this level may be descriptive or imitative, but students are expected to demonstrate an increasing understanding of the theoretical background of their study and the analytic competence to explore it, as well as its relationship, where appropriate, to particular skills. Students are expected to develop an awareness of strengths and weaknesses in their skill sets
Mark Bands Outcome Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) (Academic Regulations, Section 2)
Knowledge & Understanding Intellectual (thinking), Practical, Affective and Transferable Skills
90-100% Achieves module outcome(s) related to
GLO at this level Exceptional information base exploring and analysing the discipline, its theory and ethical issues with extraordinary originality. Exceptional management of learning resources, complemented by assured self-direction/exploration. Exceptional structure/accurate expression. Demonstrates intellectual originality and imagination. Exceptional practical/professional skills.
80-89% Outstanding information base exploring and analysing the discipline, its theory and ethical issues with clear originality Outstanding management of learning resources, complemented by assured self-direction/exploration. An exemplar of structured/accurate expression.
Demonstrates intellectual originality and imagination.
Outstanding practical/professional skills
70-79% Excellent information base, exploring and analysing the discipline, its theory and ethical issues with considerable originality. Excellent management of learning resources, complemented by self-direction/exploration. Structured/ accurate expression. Very good academic/intellectual and team/practical/professional skills
60-69% Good information base; explores and analyses the discipline, its theory and ethical issues with some originality Good management of learning resources with some selfdirection. Structured and mainly accurate expression. Good academic/intellectual skills and team/practical/ professional skills
50-59% Satisfactory information base that begins to explore and analyse the discipline and its ethical issues but is still mainly imitative Satisfactory use of learning resources and input to team work. Some lack of structure/accuracy in expression. Acceptable academic/intellectual skills and satisfactory practical/professional skills
40-49% A marginal pass in module outcome(s) related to GLO at this level Basic information base; omissions in understanding of major/ethical issues. Largely imitative Basic use of learning resources with no self-direction. Some input to team work. Some difficulty with structure and accuracy in expression. Some difficulties with academic/intellectual skills and developing practical/ professional skills
30-39% A marginal fail in module outcome(s) related to GLO at this level. Possible compensation. Satisfies qualifying mark Limited information base; limited understanding of discipline and its ethical dimension Limited use of learning resources. No self-direction, little input to team work and difficulty with structure/accuracy in expression. Weak academic/intellectual skills. Practical/professional skills are not yet secure
20-29% Fails to achieve module outcome(s) related to this GLO. Qualifying mark not satisfied. No compensation available Little evidence of an information base. Little evidence of understanding of discipline and its ethical dimension. Little evidence of use of learning resources. No selfdirection, with little evidence of contribution to team work. Very weak academic/intellectual skills and significant difficulties with structure/expression. Little evidence of practical/professional skills
10-19% Inadequate information base. Inadequate understanding of discipline and its ethical dimension. Inadequate use of learning resources. No attempt at selfdirection with inadequate contribution to team work. Very weak academic/intellectual skills and major difficulty with structure/expression. Inadequate practical/professional skills
1-9% No evidence of any information base. No understanding of discipline and its ethical dimension. No evidence of use of learning resources of understanding of self-direction with no evidence of contribution to team work. No evidence academic/intellectual skills and incoherent structure/ expression. No evidence of practical/ professional skills
0% Awarded for: (i) non-submission; (ii) dangerous practice and; (iii) in situations where the student fails to address the assignment brief (eg: answers the wrong question) and/or related learning outcomes
Appendix 1: Skills Audit Matrix (include in task 1d of the report)
SKILL TYPICAL DESCRIPTORS SKILL LEVEL
Low High SPECIFIC COMMENTS
Organisation and time management Prioritising, dealing with paperwork; interruptions; planning your day. 1 2 3 4 5
Decision making and problem solving Ability to make decisions; selecting suitable solutions; analysis of appropriateness.
1 2 3 4 5
Planning Leading teams; consulting team members; task allocation; objective setting.
1 2 3 4 5
Delegation Matching tasks to staff; providing guidance and advice; maintaining staff motivation and focus.
1 2 3 4 5
Motivation Applying motivational techniques; understanding individual motives; making tasks challenging; encouraging creativity; providing team support; engendering trust and openness.
1 2 3 4 5
Coaching Providing guidance; listening skills; ability to draw out information; reinforcing behaviour using feedback; negotiating; planning goals and objectives.
1 2 3 4 5
Target setting Understanding and communicating organisational objectives; use of SMART objectives to achieve targets. 1 2 3 4 5
Interpersonal skills Relating to others; building rapport and positive relationships; being sensitive to people’s needs; using influencing and persuasive skills to help others improve performance or overcome problems; listening effectively and providing feedback; being assertive; use of body language.
1 2 3 4 5
Written communications Structure and format of letters, memos, e-mails, reports 1 2 3 4 5
Oral communications Structure and format: techniques for effective presentations; using the telephone; meetings.
1 2 3 4 5
OTHERS SPECIFIC
TO YOUR ROLE
(ADD MORE ROWS)
Appendix 2: Personal Development Plan (include in task 1e of the report)
Objectives What do I want to be able to do or do better?
Actions What methods will
I use to achieve my learning objectives?
Implementation
How will I practice and apply what I learn?
Monitoring When and how will I
review my progress?
Success criteria How
will I recognise success? How will I review
and measure my
improvement?