Professional Skills
The Professional Skills Curriculum is a joint initiative between the Centre for Academic, Professional and Organisational Development (CAPOD) and the Students' Association, with a lot of help from many other staff and students.
It comprises a series of evening lectures and online workshops, each looking at a different professional skill.
In essence, the PSC is a bit like having a graduate training scheme before you graduate! It's open to all students and you can dip in and dip out as much as you want.
The evening lectures are free to attend. They run between 5.15-6.15pm in School 3. The sessions will be delivered by professionals and students, all of whom have extensive real world experience in the topic of their workshop and will be able to give you the best possible advice.
No registration is required to attend any of the workshops, and you are welcome to come along to one, some or all of the events, and you can also dip in and out of the online workshops too.
The PSC now has a Facebook page, so 'like' us for reminders about sessions and top tips on professional skills. www.facebook.com/ProfessionalSkillsCurriculum
Certification
If you complete 8 or more of the evening lectures and/or online workshops over the course of the year, and complete a short reflective essay, you will recieve a Certificate in Professional Skills from CAPOD and the Students' Association. You can start attending at any point in the year and will receive a Passport to Professional Skills in which you can record what you do and when. You can also use your passport to keep track of all the other extra-curricular activities you do which help develop your professional skills. For example, having a role on a society committee; being active in a sports club; attending a Careers Centre event etc.
You collect passport stamps for attending the evening lectures by bringing your passport along with you.
You collect stamps for completing the online workshops by successfully passing the assessment quiz for each one. If you've passed the quiz you can get your passport stamped at one of the evening workshops or by visiting the CAPOD admin office.
If you manage to collect 8 stamps over the course of the year, there is one final task. Complete a short (1-2 sides of A4) reflective essay on 'What I gained from the PSC." You will then receive your Certificate in Professional Skills. You can upload your completed essay here.
What's happening, and when
| Date | Venue | Topic | Presenter | Resources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONLINE | 18th September 2012 | Moodle course | Assess Your English! Tools to improve your grammar, punctuation and vocabularly | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 25th September 2012 | School 3, 5.15pm | Understanding Thinking Styles | Cat Wilson, CAPOD | |
| ONLINE | 2nd October 2012 | Moodle course | Managing a Team | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 9th October 2012 | School 3, 5.15pm | Assertiveness and Confidence | Cat Wilson, CAPOD |
|
| ONLINE | 16th October 2012 | Moodle course | Communication Skills | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 23rd October 2012 | School 3, 5.15pm | Time Management | Erwin Lai, CAPOD | |
| ONLINE | 30th October 2012 | Moodle course | Presentation Skills | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| ONLINE | 6th November 2012 | Moodle course | Chairing Meetings and Taking Minutes | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 13th November | School 3, 5.15pm | Title TBC | Chris Brodie, Skills Development Scotland | |
| LECTURE | 20th November 2012 | School 3, 5.15pm | Public Speaking | Parker Burns, Debates Society | |
| ONLINE | 27th November 2012 | Moodle course | Professional Conduct | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| Semester 2 | |||||
| LECTURE | 5th Feburary 2013 | School 3, 5.15pm | Effective Interpersonal Communication | Steve Yorkstone, Edinburgh Napier Univeristy | |
| ONLINE | 12th February 2013 | Moodle course | Leadership |
https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 |
|
| LECTURE | 19th February 2013 | School 3, 5.15pm | Writing for the Web | Duncan Stephen, IT Services | |
| ONLINE | 26th February | Moodle course | Project Management | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 5th March 2013 | School 3, 5.15pm | Managing Change | Cat Wilson, CAPOD | |
| LECTURE | 12th March 2012 | School 3, 5.15pm | Self Coaching | Helen Scott, Careers Centre | |
| ONLINE | 17th March 2013 | Moodle course | Organisations and Strategies | https://moody.st-andrews.ac.uk/moodle/course/view.php?id=1792 | |
| LECTURE | 2nd April 2013 | School 3, 5.15pm | The Makings of a Good Poster | Rachel Kinloch, Students' Association | |
| LECTURE | 9th April 2013 | School 3, 5.15pm | Being Enterprising | Bonnie Hacking, Careers Centre |
PSC History
The PSC first began in 2011, from an idea between the then Students Association DOSDA, David Graves, and Cat Wilson from CAPOD. In the first year, over 180 students engaged with the programme and 44 received certificates having completed 8 or more workshops.
Over the academic year of 2011/12, a team of student volunteers became CAPOD interns and worked on developing a suite of online workshops for piloting in academic year 2012/13. Their hard work and effort has helped the PSC become bigger and better. Special thanks to Malgorzata Irminska, Claire Rampen, Simon Bartram, Nicola Raw, Chang Shi and Colette Talbot.