Unit rationale, description and aim

Graduates need to be equipped for the current job market, developing professional and career readiness skills, building the capacity to be adaptable to future changes in a dynamic work environment as an IT professional. Enhancing graduate employability requires a comprehensive and versatile approach that aligns academic training with industry needs, developing technical and transferable skills and encouraging a continuous learning mindset. This unit starts students on the road to bridge the gap between academic preparation and the professional expectations of the IT industry. Ensuring graduates are prepared for the evolving technology landscape requires addressing several areas. As well as sound disciplinary knowledge, computer science/data science graduates need:

·        Transferable skills including problem solving, communication, adaptability and project management;

·        Emotional intelligence including self-awareness, empathy, emotional regulation and interpersonal skills

·        Effective teamwork and leadership

·        Social capital through networking and professional relationships

·        Developing a strong professional identity

·        Support for career development

This unit aims to help students enhance their journey towards successful graduate outcomes by exploring industry expectations and supporting the development of career aspirations.

2026 10

Campus offering

No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.

Prerequisites

Nil

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Describe the expectations of professionals in the ...

Learning Outcome 01

Describe the expectations of professionals in the IT Industry
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC7, GC10, GC11

Discuss the ethical rights and responsibilities of...

Learning Outcome 02

Discuss the ethical rights and responsibilities of being an IT professional
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC2, GC6, GC8

Reflect upon their practice as a beginning IT prof...

Learning Outcome 03

Reflect upon their practice as a beginning IT professional to prepare them for a career in the field
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC2, GC3, GC7

Create a plan to achieve career aspirations

Learning Outcome 04

Create a plan to achieve career aspirations
Relevant Graduate Capabilities: GC1, GC2, GC3, GC7, GC8, GC9, GC10, GC11, GC12

Content

Topics will include:

·        Understanding the tech industry

·        Becoming a reflective practitioner

·        Professional and ethical frameworks

·        Ethical reasoning frameworks

·        Theory and practice of teamwork

·        Industry tools – Trello, GitHub, Jira etc.

·        Data and document curation

·        Career planning – industry expectations, applications and interviews

·        Career planning – building an evidence portfolio

·        Career planning – building social capital

Assessment strategy and rationale

Assessments are designed to support students career readiness and build their graduate capabilities beyond technical skills. Assessment 1 exposes students to potential ethical issues they may face in the workplace, providing them a framework to analyse and develop a response to the situation. Assessment 2 steps them through the process of building an online professional profile (eg in LinkedIn) and developing a job application, while reflecting on their career aspirations and their career preparation activities. In assessment 3 students work in small groups, taking part in mock interviews as interviewer and interviewee for the position they have developed the job application for. This is an active learning opportunity for students to experience the process of being interviewed in a fun and non-confrontational setting. The final individual report is a reflection on the learning the student has achieved through this process.

To pass the unit, students must demonstrate achievement of every unit learning outcome and obtain a minimum mark of 50% 

Overview of assessments

Type – Report - Ethical Scenario Analysis Purpos...

Type – Report - Ethical Scenario Analysis

Purpose – To expose students to potential ethical issues and frameworks to explore the impact and implications of them.

This is an individual assessment

Weighting

30%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC2, GC6, GC7, GC11

Type – Career preparation – online professional ...

Type – Career preparation – online professional profile and job application

Purpose – Use a self-assessment tool, such as the Developing Employability student toolkit, to critically reflect on the development of career aspirations and the career preparation required to achieve them.

This is an individual assessment

Weighting

30%

Learning Outcomes LO3, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC7, GC11

Type – Mock Interviews Purpose – Students have ...

Type – Mock Interviews

Purpose – Students have the opportunity of experiencing, and reflecting on, an interview situation taking part in mock interviews as interviewer and interviewee for the position they have developed the job application for.

This is a group assessment

Weighting

40%

Learning Outcomes LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Graduate Capabilities GC1, GC3, GC6, GC12

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is industry focussed, providing students an opportunity to build an understanding of what to expect as a graduate. Access to guest speakers from industry are key to developing an understanding of what the IT industry expects and how students can hope to prepare for the initial steps into their chosen career.

Direct active learning through structured classroom activities facilitates these outcomes alongside the opportunity to network and build social capital with the industry speakers. This strategy allows students to meet the aims, learning outcomes and graduate capabilities associated with the unit. Learning and teaching strategies will reflect respect for the individual as an independent learner, recognising that most will be in their first year of tertiary education and will require appropriate support. Students will systematically develop their understanding of the expectations by industry of IT graduates and how to prepare for a successful career.

Representative texts and references

Representative texts and references

Kate Williams (Series Editor) Pocket study skills, Bloomsbury:

·        Coonan, E. (2020) Where’s your evidence?

·        Hartley, P., Dawson, M. & Beckingham, S. (2022) Success in Groupwork

·        Radcliffe, C. (2019) How to Analyze Data

·        Reid, M. (2018) Report Writing

·        Shoolbred, M. & Cooper, H. (2022) Where’s Your Argument?

·        Thomas, G. (2017) Doing Research

·        Van der Ham, V. (2017) Analysing a Case Study

·        Williams, K. (2022) Getting Critical

·        Williams, K. & Davis, M. (2017) Referencing and Understanding Plagiarism

·        Williams, K., Woolliams, M. & Spiro, J. (2020) Reflective Writing

·       Woodcock, B. & Keaveney, J. (2019) Successful Applications

Locations
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