Curriculum transformation for graduate connectedness and employability : perspectives from the University of Wollongong

Globally, there continue to be intense discussions and reports (e.g. Manyika et all, 2017; Smith et., 2018) surrounding the employment, career markets and future roles of graduates in light of significant technological, economic and social changes. While these influences are already making themselves felt, the future impact of these factors is currently hard to predict, even as higher education moves towards a renewed focus on capabilities that may prepare graduates for the challenge of lifelong learning and relearning. It is agreed that university graduates need to be adaptable and innovative to successfully navigate the evolving workforce (Hagel et al., 2014). There is also increasing recognition that traditional, content-driven and teacher focused approaches to higher education are not particularly effective in developing the capabilities required for future life and work (Ernst and Young, 2012). Rather, it may be more productive for universities to focus on educational techniques and methods that allow complex kinds of learning to take place in authentic environments that have been expressly designed to develop the future-oriented employability capabilities of learners. The University of Wollongong (UOW) Curriculum Model represents a university-wide attempt to transform curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices, with a view to the types of learning that are conducive to the development of twenty-first century capacities for employability. From 2014 onwards, the Curriculum Model was (and continues to be) embedded in all courses at UOW. The model and its roll-out to date are discussed in this chapter with a specific focus on the connectedness learning that is occurring within the five transformational pedagogic practices at the heart of the Model, and how these pedagogic practices are being translated into learning and teaching experiences throughout the university.