Publisher
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Place of Publication
Chattanooga (Tenn.)
Abstract
The popularity of the psychology degree among undergraduate students demonstrates the widespread appeal of a degree that incorporates an understanding of social constructs, behaviorism, individual motivations, empirical research designs, levels of statistical analysis, and a deeper understanding of problem-solving. Despite the various skills psychology students gain in their training, these students are chronically unemployed in the workforce. One possible reason for their unemployment may be that many psychology students and graduates struggle to identify transferable skills acquired from their core undergraduate psychology courses and relate to potential employers. The proposed study aims to address this gap by developing and administering a survey that assesses the critical skill sets that professors consider to be obtained in their courses. With the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) selected, identified using O*NETs methodology, undergraduate psychology professors will rate the extent to which identified KSAOs are obtained through the undergraduate psychology curriculum. Outcomes of the proposed study will enhance understanding of which job-related KSAOs are relevant to core psychology courses and transferable to the professional setting. This data will then be used to design a KSAO matrix that provides students a resource to identify KSAOs acquired during their psychology education, and consequently, understand the practical and transferable implementations of these sought-after workplace skills. Ultimately, this intervention will assist students in articulating what they have learned in their training to the job market and future careers.
Date
10-24-2020
Subject
Industrial and organizational psychology
Document Type
posters
Language
English
Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Included in
Linking Psychology Curriculum with Career Skills: The Faculty Perspective
The popularity of the psychology degree among undergraduate students demonstrates the widespread appeal of a degree that incorporates an understanding of social constructs, behaviorism, individual motivations, empirical research designs, levels of statistical analysis, and a deeper understanding of problem-solving. Despite the various skills psychology students gain in their training, these students are chronically unemployed in the workforce. One possible reason for their unemployment may be that many psychology students and graduates struggle to identify transferable skills acquired from their core undergraduate psychology courses and relate to potential employers. The proposed study aims to address this gap by developing and administering a survey that assesses the critical skill sets that professors consider to be obtained in their courses. With the knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) selected, identified using O*NETs methodology, undergraduate psychology professors will rate the extent to which identified KSAOs are obtained through the undergraduate psychology curriculum. Outcomes of the proposed study will enhance understanding of which job-related KSAOs are relevant to core psychology courses and transferable to the professional setting. This data will then be used to design a KSAO matrix that provides students a resource to identify KSAOs acquired during their psychology education, and consequently, understand the practical and transferable implementations of these sought-after workplace skills. Ultimately, this intervention will assist students in articulating what they have learned in their training to the job market and future careers.
Department
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Dept. of Psychology