Placement or practicalities? Barriers and disincentives to work experience, as reported by computing students
Presentation / Conference
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Smith, C. (2017, December)
Placement or practicalities? Barriers and disincentives to work experience, as reported by computing students. Paper presented at Society for Research Into Higher Education (SRHE) Annual Conference, Newport, Wales
Having relevant work experience, such as a placement or internship, is valued by employers in the technology sector and can improve employment outcomes for computing graduates...
From Interest to Decision: A Comparative Exploration of Student Attitudes and Pathways to Co-op Programs in the United States and the United Kingdom
Journal Article
Ramirez, N., Smith, S., Smith, C. F., Berg, T., Strubel, B., Ohland, M., & Main, J. (2016)
From Interest to Decision: A Comparative Exploration of Student Attitudes and Pathways to Co-op Programs in the United States and the United Kingdom. International Journal of Engineering Education, 32(5A), 1867-1878
Cooperative education programs (co-op) play a vital role in developing engineering and computing students’ applied technological skills and professional self-confidence. Never...
The impact of work placement on graduate employment in computing: outcomes from a UK-based study
Journal Article
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, C., & Webster, G. (2018)
The impact of work placement on graduate employment in computing: outcomes from a UK-based study. International Journal of Work-Integrated Learning, 19(4), 359-369
This study followed recent computing graduates into the workplace and explored their undergraduate experiences of work placements and subsequent impact on graduate employment....
An Exploration of the Professional and Leader Identity of IT Professionals Transitioning to a Permanent Hybrid Role: A Longitudinal Investigation
Journal Article
Smith, S., Garavan, T., Munro, A., Ramsay, E., Smith, C., & Varey, A. (2021)
An Exploration of the Professional and Leader Identity of IT Professionals Transitioning to a Permanent Hybrid Role: A Longitudinal Investigation. Information Technology and People, 34(2), 789-811. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-02-2019-0084
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the role of professional and leader identity and the maintenance of identity, through identity work as IT professionals trans...
From work-integrated learning to learning-integrated work: motivations and apprehensions of Graduate Apprentices
Conference Proceeding
Smith, S., Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, C., & Varey, A. (2018)
From work-integrated learning to learning-integrated work: motivations and apprehensions of Graduate Apprentices. In Proceedings of the 3rdInternational Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, Stuttgart, Germany (199-207
Graduate Apprenticeship (GA) degrees bring new collaborations between universities and employers and new opportunities for apprentices—to gain a university degree, while also ...
Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures
Journal Article
Berg, T., Bowen, T., Smith, C., & Smith, S. (2017)
Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures. Higher Education Research and Development, 36(7), 1339-1354. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2017.1325855
The gradual commodification of higher education in the context of an increased focus on graduate employability attributes together with evolving labour markets is creating cha...
Towards graduate employment: exploring student identity through a university-wide employability project
Journal Article
Smith, S., Smith, C., Taylor-Smith, E., & Fotheringham, J. (2019)
Towards graduate employment: exploring student identity through a university-wide employability project. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 43(5), 628-640. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2017.1390077
Students have expectations of their university education leading to graduate careers, with universities investing considerable resources in institution-wide initiatives design...
In search of graduate employability: An exploration of student identity
Journal Article
Smith, S., Smith, C., Taylor-Smith, E., & Fotheringham, J. (2017)
In search of graduate employability: An exploration of student identity. Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 18(1), 15-24
Universities are adopting institution-wide projects to increase student work placements and work-related learning across all subject disciplines. However, there are large vari...
Identity and belonging for graduate apprenticeships in computing: the experience of first cohort degree apprentices in Scotland
Conference Proceeding
Taylor-Smith, E., Smith, S., & Smith, C. (2019)
Identity and belonging for graduate apprenticeships in computing: the experience of first cohort degree apprentices in Scotland. In Proceedings of the 24th Annual Conference on Innovation & Technology in Computer Science Education (ITiCSE’19) (2-8). https://doi.org/10.1145/3304221.3319753
In September 2017, our university’s first graduate apprentices began degrees in Software Development, Cybersecurity, and Information Technology Management for Business. This s...
Taking education for granted: the role of placement in computing science
Presentation / Conference
Smith, S., Smith, C., Taylor-Smith, E., & Gemma, W. (2017, June)
Taking education for granted: the role of placement in computing science. Presented at Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland
The importance of placements and internships was highlighted in the 2016 Shadbolt Review of Computer Science Degree Accreditation and Graduate Employability – indeed the secon...