Graduate Experiences of Employability and Knowledge (GEEK) Project
This project was a continuation of CGHE Project 3.3, ‘Understanding Knowledge, Curriculum and Student Agency.’ It examined how the students from the UK-SA project experience the first three years after their expected graduation from their degree courses.
About this project
The UK-SA project was a longitudinal project that is following undergraduate students of Chemistry and undergraduate students of Chemical Engineering at six universities (two in South Africa, two in the UK and two in the USA). It focused on examining how STEM disciplines transform students’ sense of agency by engaging them with disciplinary knowledge. This went beyond examining the potential of STEM disciplines to benefit individuals and economic development, to consider how ‘graduateness’ is produced through students’ transformational relationships with knowledge.
The GEEK project investigated the notion of graduatedness and the transformational potential of studying Science and Engineering by following the same students involved in UKSA after they graduate. It examined how students’ engagement with their discipline affects their lives in terms of worldviews and agency, employability and career, and wider social and cultural embeddedness in society.
Team
Dr Margaret Blackie is a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. She also teaches theology at the same institution. She has research interests in medicinal chemistry and tertiary STEM education.
Nicole Pitterson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She holds a B.Sc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Technology, Jamaica, a M.Sc. in Manufacturing Engineering from Western Illinois University, and a Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University. Upon completion of her doctoral degree, Dr. Pitterson worked as a postdoctoral research scholar at Oregon State University.
Reneé Smit is the Academic Development Lecturer, Electrical Engineering at University of Cape Town based in South Africa.
Publications
CGHE working papers
- Undergraduate students’ knowledge outcomes and how these relate to their educational experiences: a longitudinal study of chemistry in two countries (CGHE working paper 86, Paul Ashwin, Margaret Blackie, Nicole Pitterson, Reneé Smit, November 2022)
- Can and should assessment nurture an orientation to society and social justice? (CGHE working paper 72, Jan McArthur, Margaret Blackie, Nicole Pitterson, Kayleigh Rosewell, September 2021)
- Transforming university teaching (CGHE working paper 49, Paul Ashwin, April 2019)
Additional publications
- Ashwin, P., Blackie, M., Pitterson, N., Smit, R. (2022) Undergraduate students’ knowledge outcomes and how these relate to their educational experiences: a longitudinal study of chemistry in two countries. Higher Education, p.1-16.
- Case, J. M., Agrawal, A., Abdalla, A., Pitterson, N., & McArthur, J. (2022). Students’ experiences of the value of lectures for their learning: a close-up comparative study across four institutions. Teaching in Higher Education, 1-19.
- McArthur, J., Blackie, M., Pitterson, N., & Rosewell, K. (2021). Student perspectives on assessment: connections between self and society. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-14.
- McArthur, J (2020) Assessment for social justice: Achievement, uncertainty and recognition. In C. Callender, W. Locke and S. Marginson, Changing Higher Education for a Changing World. London: Bloomsbury.
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