Comments on 10 Competencies for Every Graduate

• Achieving Competency
• Posted by Bryon Grigsby , Senior VP and VPAA at Shenandoah University on March 17, 2010 at 11:15am EDT

• This past year, Shenandoah University rolled out MacBook Pros and iPhones or iPod Touches for all incoming students and created a First Year Seminar Program on "Going Global" that sought to accomplish these technology goals while engaging them in substantive content. See <www.su.edu/www/iml/index.html>

  I believe that these learning outcomes should be the minimum standard for graduation, and we are meeting that goal by having our students learn to do podcasts in their first semester. I also think that students need to learn information literacy, but do so in a content-based course. We have been piloting Diigo with our first year seminar students to help them catalog, highlight, and evaluate digital media and information.

  I think we have a requirement to help students learn how to use technology in meaningful and substantive ways--ways that the business and education communities need. Technology, like writing, critical thinking, and teamwork, is a skill that can be learned across courses and time. I think we overestimate what all of our undergraduates can do with technology.

• What about writing?
• Posted by Dan Close , Elliott School of Communication at Wichita State University on March 17, 2010 at 2:15pm EDT

• The list is fine, and we teach all of the items on it. But behind it all lies good writing, and behind that lies good reading, and behind that lies good thinking. That's what the folks who employ our students tell us, too. The technological toys alone won't mask a lack of critical thinking skills.

• Not just media production
• Posted by Mark Notess , Development Manager, Digital Library Program at Indiana University on March 17, 2010 at 2:30pm EDT

• Of course there is much more to effective use of today's technology infrastructure than media production and the uni-directional foisting of oneself on an unsuspecting and uninterested world. In particular, social networking leaps to mind. Here are some social media skills ideas.

  1. Start a twitter or other microblogging account focused on something of professional or disciplinary interest and accumulate at least 100 followers.
  2. Take a fully online, instructor-led course.
  3. Create, correct, or enhance a Wikipedia (or other public wiki) article in your discipline, dealing with any discussion that ensues from these changes.
  4. Create a LinkedIn or other professional online profile, build up your list of connections, and write some recommendations for at least three of them.
  5. Create or join a Ning, LinkedIn, or other group (even a listserv) related to your profession, discipline, or a class you're taking, and ask (and answer) questions.
  6. Create a review of a currently popular or controversial book or movie. Post a video of your review on YouTube or other popular video site and post a text version of your review on Amazon, IMDB or other text-oriented site appropriate to your chosen media. Reflect on the difference between the ratings and discussion provoked by each.

• Disagree on about 70%
• Posted by Beth on March 17, 2010 at 2:45pm EDT

• Sorry, but my top choices would still revolve around the ability to think clearly, analyze critically, and construct coherent arguments and explanations, as well as a strong grasp of written (and spoken) English. My biggest complaint about lists like this is that they lose sight of the idea that all of that glossy presentation is only as sound as the story/argument/proposal it is presenting. Ability to use such tools needs to be coupled with the awareness of what tools are needed and what tools are obscuring a lousy premise. My institution focuses far too much on tools (I'd argue that, at least here, most of them are merely toys...) and too little on quality of content. The top abilities for college graduates haven't changed for me since Socrates. And I can always hire my middle-school nephews and nieces to help with the tech parts...

• My homeschooled 16 y-o has done all but #4 & #6
• Posted by Ben Reynolds , Sr. Program Manager, CTYOnline at Center for Talented Youth/Johns Hopkins University on March 17, 2010 at 4:30pm EDT

• And he's smart, but he's no genius (well, he may be a musical genius).

  He's got the tech chops to post Podcasts, but no interest in doing an Interview.

• Writing, Thinking and Technological Skills
• Posted by Jerry Johnson , Science at Corban College on March 21, 2010 at 5:30pm EDT

• To those who did not like the list:

  Of course, skills such as thinking clearly, critically analyzing and being able to communicate clearly are important. No one would argue with that. The author is not stating that these are the only competencies a graduate should have. He's stating that in today's world, employers want someone who is able to do more than just write a report using Word. Read Critical Challenges in the 2010 Horizon Report at http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2010/chapters/challenges/ for more on this.

• Posted by Brian on March 23, 2010 at 5:00pm EDT

• This is great question. I would add, I think, the following: 11. Work collaboratively on a project using a tool like Google Wave or a wiki. I also think, as other comments have implied, that because “everyone in an organization is a communicator, everyone is a salesperson,” college graduates should have acquired a rhetorical disposition. They need to be able to recognize and exploit the affordances of whatever multimedia technologies are available, of course, but because these technologies allow authors to encounter incredibly diverse audiences, college graduates should possess the rhetorical agility to create effective texts in an unpredictable variety of circumstances. Current graduates, particularly considering the likelihood of their changing careers several times over the course of their professional lives, are not going to be able to survive if they specialize in a single genre or in a single technology.