Lifelong Employability

Code:

EAV1

Acronym:

EAV

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
CNAEF	Psychology

Instance: 2023/2024 - 1S (edição n.º 2)

Active?	No
Course/CS Responsible:

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
ELV	0	Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2020	1	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.BIO	0	Syllabus	3	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EA	0	Syllabus	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EC	0	Syllabus	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EEC	0	Syllabus	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EGI	0	Syllabus	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EIC	0	Syllabus	3	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EMAT	0	Syllabus	3	-	1,5	9	40,5
L.EMG	0	Plano de estudos oficial a partir de 2008/09	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
			3
M.BIO	0	Syllabus	1	-	1,5	9	40,5
MEB	0	Syllabus	1	-	1,5	9	40,5
M.EIC	0	Syllabus	2	-	1,5	9	40,5
M.EM	0	Syllabus	1	-	1,5	9	40,5

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The main objective of this training unit is to develop the competences of Higher Education students to build and reconstruct their professional paths throughout their lives, in an intentional, contextualized, and autonomous manner.

Learning outcomes and competences

With this training unit, students are expected to acquire:

In Step 1:

1. Knowledge about the (current and emerging) transformations in work contexts and in the conceptualisation of professional careers, as well as the ability to reflect about their impacts on the construction of career paths throughout life;
2. The ability to enumerate and reflect on their previous academic, professional, personal, family and social experiences, reflecting a unified vision of their path, in order to construct meaning of these same experiences;
3. Ability to self-reflect on internal (personal) and external (contextual) dimensions of his/her own professional path;
4. Ability to define future academic and professional goals, and to plan their achievement, through the definition and monitoring of an individual action plan.

In Step 2:

1. The competence to perform, continuously and autonomously, an analysis on the dynamics of the labour market, considering different sectors of activity, companies, functional areas and functions;
2. The competence to build a professional Curriculum that reflects the personal singularity of the individual and, at the same time, considers the specificities of the sector, institution/company and function to which he/she intends to apply;
3. The competence to write, autonomously and through a process of individual analysis and reflection, a Cover Letter or a synopsis/personal biography, which considers the objective of the self (academic, professional or other) and its addressee;
4. The competence to manage, in a personal and professionally relevant way, his/her own digital footprint and to build and maintain a professional network promoting his/her development;
5. The competence to explain verbally and articulately his/her purpose and personal history in an interview context.

In Step 3:

1. The ability to reflect on the professional background and experience of others and to recognize the diversity of possibilities they will face in their future;
2. The ability to select, within the resources made available by the Community, those that contribute most to the achievement of the objectives defined in its action plan;
3. The ability to reflect on different components of the professional context under analysis, integrating the different points of view of the various interlocutors involved in the work activity.

Working method

B-learning

Program

Step 1 (9 hours):

1. The (current and emerging) transformations in work contexts and in the conceptualisation of careers: their impacts on the construction of career paths throughout life;
2. The recovery and graphic presentation of previous academic, professional, personal, family and social experiences, as a developmental factor that allows the development of meaning;
3. The internal (skills, purpose, limitations) and external (labour market and professional network) dimensions that must be taken into account in a process of self-reflection and that contribute to the definition of academic and professional objectives;
4. Dimensions to be taken into account when defining and monitoring an individual action plan (e.g. actions, resources to be involved, possible difficulties, degree of achievement).

 

Step 2 (19,5 hours):

1. The analysis of the labour market, considering different sectors of activity, companies, functional areas and functions;
2. The Curriculum and the Cover Letter as professional communication and presentation tools;
3. The importance of digital footprint management and the methods and techniques to do it, autonomously, over time;
4. Preparation for participating in selection processes: the interview context.

 

Step 3 (12 hours):

1. The professional background and experience of others: getting to know probable and unlikely/atypical paths;
2. Ways to identify, explore and select, within the resources made available by the Community, those that contribute most to the achievement of one's personal objectives;
3. Visits to companies as a way of getting to know different professional contexts: integrating the points of view of the various interlocutors involved in the work activity.

Mandatory literature

Bolles, R. ; What color is your parachute? 2020: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career-Changers., RANDOM HOUSE USA, 2020
Jackson, D. ; Re-conceptualising graduate employability: the importance of pre-professional identity, 2016
Tymon, A. ; The student perspective on employability, 2013

Teaching methods and learning activities

This training unit is based on the structured combination of several teaching methodologies, considering, namely, moments of theoretical content exposure, using didactic tools (e.g. PowerPoint, videos); group and individual activities for the application of the covered contents; presentation of case studies and dilemmas; and moments of validation of the taught contents.

More specifically, it will be considered:

1. A face-to-face session, dividing the total number of enrolments into classes of 50 students, of a theoretical and practical nature that will constitute the starting point of the training unit and will allow the students (1) to acquire the fundamental knowledge to proceed to the other planned initiatives; and (2) to become aware of the different stages and initiatives of the training unit;
2. A set of microlearnings (i.e. short videos of 5-10 minutes) with relevant content on the topics to be covered, which will allow each student to browse the content autonomously and at an individualised pace.
3. Learning based on dilemmas, where students will be placed in a real situation involving a decision making, reflecting later on the decision made;
4. Availability of previous work, which will allow students to prepare themselves in advance for the exploration of the themes that will be detailed in the microlearnings;
5. Synchronous sessions throughout the semester to explore and consolidate the contents foreseen in the training unit, which are intended to be participative and dynamic;
6. Making available complementary resources, for each of the topics to be addressed, for autonomous and optional exploitation (e.g. scientific articles, digital platforms, webinars, among others);
7. Provision of an optional peer-review tool, which will allow students to exchange considerations on possible outcomes of the training unit (e.g. Curriculum Vitae, digital profile) in a guided and structured manner.

 

This training unit is also pedagogically innovative because of the possibility it gives to students to conciliate mandatory with flexible moments and initiatives in which each one chooses the themes he/she considers most suited to his/her interests and needs (which includes visiting companies, listening to a programme of podcasts on professional careers and participating in Community initiatives directly or indirectly related to the theme of Employability).

keywords

Social sciences > Psychological sciences

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	30,00
Teste	50,00
Trabalho prático ou de projeto	20,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	19,50
Frequência das aulas	9,00
Trabalho de campo	12,00
Total:	40,50

Eligibility for exams

The moments of face-to-face and synchronous contact are subject to verification of attendance. Students who miss more than 25% of the scheduled contact times will not obtain attendance.

Calculation formula of final grade

The course includes the following typology and elements of evaluation:

• Formative assessment: throughout the training unit, there will be several moments of formative assessment (e.g., after the exploration of the previous work, at the end of each module), which will act as precedents so that they can continue to advance towards the following initiatives. These moments will be fundamental so that the students can decide, according to the needs (identified), the initiatives to be carried out and the resources to be explored in stage 3 of the training unit (of a flexible nature), building their own formative itinerary.
• Summative assessment: aims to understand whether and to what extent the general objectives and learning outcomes have been achieved. The final classification will be defined according to the consideration of the following components:

1) 30% referring to the classification obtained in step 1: through the face-to-face evaluation at the end of the workshop, and submission of evidence of the filling of the tools;

2) 50% referring to the average of the ratings obtained in the five modules of step 2: through the asynchronous and individual assessment for each module of the training unit, supported by the 'Test' tool of the Moodle platform;

3) 20% relating to participation in step 3 initiatives: by submitting evidence of participation in initiatives integrated in this stage.

The final evaluation of each student will be carried out on an ordinal numerical rating (scale of 1-20 values).

The lack of completion of an assessment component implies a classification of 0 points in that component.

The minimum classification required is 8 points in each of the three stages mentioned above, that is, students will need to obtain a classification of at least 8 points in each stage to pass this Curricular Unit.

The improvement of classification is limited to the components that, by their nature, are liable to be repeated and, therefore, allow the redefinition of the classification initially assigned. Thus, the improvement will only be possible by taking a test composed of all the contents of the step 2 (Employability Toolkit) modules.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Working students are not required to attend classes. In their final classification the same assessment components will be weighted as for other students. Therefore, the performance of the assessment components will be subject to the same rules of functioning common to all students.

Classification improvement

The improvement of classification is limited to the components that, by their nature, are liable to be repeated and, therefore, allow the redefinition of the classification initially assigned. Thus, the improvement will only be possible by taking a test composed of all the contents of the step 2 (Employability Toolkit) modules. Only one reformulation of this assessment component is permitted.

Observations

Special situations, namely the foreseeable impossibility of carrying out, on the scheduled dates, one or more assessment components, should be discussed with the teaching staff at the beginning of the training unit.