Institute:	Curtin University
Discipline	Bachelor of Commerce
Title:	Integrated Professional Skills Project
Year addressed:	1st Year (in context of 4 years)
Phase:	Identifying Attributes, Curriculum, Learning Experiences and Assessment
Generic Attributes:	-Team-working -Computer Literacy -Information Literacy -Decision Making -Communication

Issues Revealed:
-The use of the term "Generic attributes" was contested for 2 reasons; the words have come to mean a variety of things and research has shown that skills should be taught in-context and, therefore, are not generic. The term "Professional skill" was, therefore, chosen to be used in the context of Business graduates.
- Consultation with interested parties and stakeholders is very important in identifying appropriate professional skills.
- The skills identified need to be an integral part of the entire course and should be taught and assessed in-context.
-Staff need to develop strategies to teach and assess the skills, most staff would benefit form attending professional development seminars supplemented with one-on-one assistance to implement the skills into their own units.
-It is necessary to work in closely with the academic staff who will be introducing the new approach to encourage ownership of the changes.

Action Taken:
-Identification of generic skills: a task force was formed made up of staff, students and employer representatives. The group held regular meetings and passed relevant questions on to the subcomittees. - The group collected ideas on the professional skills that they should be teaching and then classified them. Sub-committees of academic staff members were set up to give detailed consideration to the classes and definition of the skills, the reasons for teaching and assessing them, the levels to be achieved at the end of the common core and at the end of the degree course.
- Assessment: Research instruments are being developed to measure the success of the project in terms of student professional skill development. Unit outlines will specify the professional skill selected for the unit, as well as content and learning objectives. Attached marking guides will show how the skills are assessed separately from the content. Students will also develop a Professional Skills Portfolio during their degree course.
- Learning Experiences: each generic skill was defined in the form of learning objectives.
- Curriculum: Three tools were developed for implementation: A matrix for review of existing units; A standard Unit Outline template; Professional Skills Portfolio guidelines.
- The teaching of professional skills commenced in the first semester units and is to be rolled in over the period 1999-2001.
- Unit controllers are given a reduction of their teaching load for planning and implementation of the changes in their units.
- A series of staff development seminars have been provided.

Lessons Learned/Reflections:
- There was a risk of lack of ownership on the part of the mass of staff due to the involvement necessarily of only a small number in the development task force. It is important to keep all staff informed of the developments to avoid this.
- Some of the skills, for example, Oral Communication and Team Working, will be difficult to assess in Distance Education/Offshore programs.
- Staff development is needed to embrace the changes to learning experiences. This requires both formal courses and one-to-one assistance.