Interdisciplinary collaboration works: Reflection tool off to a good start

However, the full project could not have succeeded without strong collaboration across the four departments, the Faculty Administration and SDU RIO.

According to Vice Dean Poul Nielsen, My Skills Portfolio is an excellent example of what can happen when skilled academic and administrative staff join forces to work towards a common goal:

– It’s great to see everyone’s enthusiasm and energy going into the work with the skills portfolio. They have a strong belief that the project is producing results and will make a difference for our students.

Specialist Consultant Lise Junker Nielsen, who was part of the project group for My Skills Portfolio, explains why the collaboration has been going so well:

– My Skills Portfolio is based on all the good things that the study programmes are already doing. So we’re building on some of the things that already work, which is probably why so many people can see the point of the project. They are also playing a part in shaping the skills portfolio so it best suits their students.

Jewel in the crown of the faculty’s strategy for education

My Skills Portfolio is a very important element in the faculty’s education strategy and will help solve two of the greatest challenges in the study programmes: attachment and career perspectives.

In the 2021 Danish Student Survey, a number of questions were added about the graduates’ experiences of the transition to the labour market. This showed that 35 % of the surveyed graduates from the master’s degree programmes had difficulty in communicating their skills to potential employers.

Student Counsellor Simone Sørensen describes the problem as follows:

– Many graduates find it difficult to verbalise what their skills are when they finish their studies. At the same time, some students struggle to stay motivated as they are, for one reason or another, constantly focusing on the next goal or exam.

The hope is that, through reflection, the students will gain more confidence and resilience as they progress through their studies:

Associate Professor Jane Ebsen Morthorst from the Department of Biology also emphasises the performance-free space as one of the strengths of My Skills Portfolio:

– Many students today are afraid of making mistakes. I find that the students welcome the opportunity to open up and talk about themselves. In doing so, they realise that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and also that everyone makes mistakes.

As mentioned before, My Skills Portfolio also serves the purpose of preparing the students for their first job:

– Once they have completed the programme, the idea is that the skills portfolio can be used as an overview of some of the skills that the students can present to a future employer. In this way, we’ll hopefully solve two fundamental challenges for our students, says Simone Sørensen.

The students’ experiences

Here in the start-up year of the project, the students’ experiences with My Skills Portfolio have been mixed, but there are some positive signs.

For example, Biomedicine Student Ida Mølri Knudsen explains how the discussions during Workshop 2 helped her get to grips with her first-year project:

– I think it made a lot of sense to talk about our roles in the group, so we got a better understanding of each other’s ways of working.

She supports My Skills Portfolio, but also recognises that it is still a work in progress:

Biology Student Mathilde Schrøder Petersen explains how My Skills Portfolio helped her overcome the doubts she had about her choice of study programme:

– I was uncertain about my choice of study programme even before I started, as I was considering lots of different exciting programmes. But the skills portfolio was really rewarding because it focused on what you can do as a biologist and what your own skills are. The reflections helped convince me that I’ve landed in the right place here at Biology.

Biomedicine Student Louise Breum Jørgensen says that she used My Skills Portfolio particularly to reflect on what she can use her degree for:

– The fact that we were introduced to the skills portfolio in the very first semester made me think about what we do in biomedicine and how it can be used in life.

In September 2023, the faculty’s student counsellors held workshops for third semester students for the first time, and the feedback has generally been positive:

– Our starting point for the four workshops was dialogue and exercises, and we felt that the students were really engaged during the process. The focus was on both well-being and skills. These are particularly important now that they’re embarking on their second year of study, which can be difficult for some students, as they have to stand more on their own two feet, say Simone Sørensen and Team Leader and Student Counsellor Camilla Gundlach.

Still in development

According to Poul Nielsen, with My Skills Portfolio we have really found something that makes sense for everyone involved:

– There’s a lot of support for this initiative, both among our heads of programme and in the project group, and I think many of our lecturers are on board with the idea as well. However, we need even more lecturers to incorporate the skills portfolio as a natural part of their teaching, as it helps to show students what the tool is for.

However, no one involved is hiding the fact that My Skills Portfolio is still a work in progress, with all that it entails:

– We’re continuously adapting the skills portfolio in line with student feedback. I hear from the students that it’s incredibly beneficial for them to have the time and space to reflect on both their own and their fellow students’ academic and personal development, and it validates my belief that we just have to keep going with the good collaboration, even though there are still some elements that need to be adjusted, concludes Jane Ebsen Morthorst.

In the near future, the study programmes will be holding workshops for the new first-year students, and in this way all year groups will eventually be working with My Skills Portfolio.