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The focus on short-term graduate employment metrics has catalysed the employability agenda as a strategic directive in universities. A raft of embedded, co-curricular, and extra-curricular activities has emerged for developing employability. Their relative value lacks empirical exploration. This study explored graduates’ self-reported participation in, and their perspectives on the value of, a range of embedded, extra-curricular, and cocurricular learning activities, as well as paid work, for employability. Survey data were gathered (N = 510) from Business and Creative Industries graduates from three Australian universities about the perceived value of activities for skill development, gaining relevant experience, networking, and creating employment opportunities. The activities were considered more useful for gaining experience and skills than for broadening networks and improving career outcomes. Embedded and extra-curricular internships, as well as extra-curricular activities, were believed to be important for enhancing employability. Internships organised as an extra-curricular activity rated better than those delivered as work-integrated learning. Implications for stakeholders responsible for curricular and cocurricular design are discussed.

The diversity of topics in education makes it difficult for artificial intelligence (AI) to address them all in depth. Therefore, guiding to focus efforts on specific issues is essential. The analysis of competency development by fostering collaboration should be one of them because competencies are the way to validate that the educational exercise has been successful and because collaboration has proven to be one of the most effective strategies to improve performance outcomes. This systematic review analyzes the relationship between AI, competency development, and collaborative learning (CL). PRISMA methodology is used with data from the SCOPUS database. A total of 1,233 articles were found, and 30 passed the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The analysis of the selected articles identified three categories that deserve attention: the objects of study, the way of analyzing the results, and the types of AI that could be used. In this way, it has been possible to determine the relationship offered by the studies between skill development and CL and ideas about AI’s contributions to this field. Overall, however, the data from this systematic review suggest that, although AI has great potential to improve education, it should be approached with caution. More research is needed to fully understand its impact and how best to apply this technology in the classroom, minimizing its drawbacks, which may be relevant, and making truly effective and productive use of it.

Graduate employability is a multifaceted concept considering the Sustainable Development Goals. Graduate employability and skills development are also significant determinants for future career success. Graduate employability has seen more sweeping emphasis and concerns in national and global job markets, due to the ever-rising number of unemployed people, which has increased even more due to COVID-19. Due to its importance, this study investigates the current state of skill development initiatives in Bangladesh and the perceptions of university graduates regarding skill development for their future employability. This study uses mixed-method research. Data was collected through surveys and in-depth interviews; various probabilistic and non-probabilistic sample selection methods were used. A total of 437 participants responded to this study. After analysis, the data was shown descriptively. The empirical findings of this study demonstrated that university graduates are well-aware of the skill development requirements for their future employability. However, university graduates face many obstacles in acquiring these necessary skill development opportunities. Therefore, the government and relevant stakeholders must work together to alleviate the obstacles. Furthermore, this study includes recommendations that can assist in developing a model for skill development programs and initiatives in the country for university graduates to ensure their future employability.

PurposeDrawing on the conservation of resources theory, this study examines how proactive skill development (PSD) influences job performance and mediating and moderating mechanisms underlying the above relationship.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a sample of 261 full-time workers in three waves, spaced by a six-week interval (Time 1, N = 360; Time 2, N = 320; Time 3, N = 261).FindingsThe results confirmed that career stress mediated the relationship between PSD and job performance. Additionally, high career decidedness strengthened this negative relationship between stress and performance. Furthermore, career decidedness significantly moderated the indirect PSD–performance relationship via career stress, accentuating the indirect effect when decidedness is higher.Originality/valueThis study sheds light on the important role of proactive skills development in influencing job performance and what factors can affect this relationship. It offers practical implications by highlighting how targeted training can boost employees' proactivity and performance.

Introduction: Gap remains in understanding how students perceive the impact of simulations on their development of critical thinking skills and how their emotional well‐being is affected during high‐fidelity simulations. This gap occurs because little attention is paid to what students think about such specifics in learning activities. Aim: This study aimed to explore the strengths and weaknesses of simulation as perceived by students, with a focus on understanding the associated scenario design, emotional impact, and skills development. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted at a government university in central Saudi Arabia. Twenty nursing students participated in one‐to‐one interviews between November 2023 and January 2024. Results: Five themes and six subthemes emerged from the students’ verbatim accounts: (1) conceptual understanding (subtheme: preparation for real‐world practice), (2) development and refinement of clinical skills (subtheme: identifying weaknesses), (3) trepidation to triumph (subthemes: stepping outside the comfort zone and reframing difficulty), (4) technical and scenario limitations of advanced simulation (subtheme: gap between simulation and reality), and (5) yearning for the cutting edge (subtheme: interest in immersive learning technologies). Conclusion: Participants reported positive experiences, including increased confidence, skill development, and an improved understanding of complex clinical concepts. However, limitations such as unrealistic scenarios and technical difficulties were identified. This study emphasizes the potential of advanced technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality, to overcome these challenges and create more immersive and engaging learning experiences.

How do workers build careers across organizations? We propose that increased worker mobility means that workers may now build their careers using interorganizational career ladders , working in certain kinds of organizations earlier in a career and in other kinds of organizations later in the career. We develop a matching framework that predicts such interorganizational moves based on how systematic changes in workers' needs and resources over the course of their careers alter the kinds of organizations they will best match. We specifically propose that workers will be more likely to work for organizations that provide more training early in their careers, and work for organizations that have higher demands for skills later in their careers. We use this argument to make three broad predictions: first, that interorganizational transitions are more likely to take place from larger to smaller workplaces, and into organizations in industries that employ a higher proportion of workers in the focal occupation; second, that such skill-based career paths are more common where the labor market provides more opportunities that reward those skills; and third, that the nature of external opportunities will disproportionately affect turnover from organizations on the lower rungs of the career ladder. Data from the career histories of college-educated information technology workers support our hypotheses.

BackgroundLife skills development among youth in foster care is critical in helping them overcome the barriers they face when leaving care. While foster care agencies, child welfare professionals, and caregivers play important roles in life skills development, little research has examined the topic from their perspectives.ObjectiveThis study examined the barriers and supports Florida foster care agencies, child welfare professionals, and caregivers face related to life skills development of youth in foster care.MethodsFoster care agency representatives (n = 11) completed interviews or questionnaires and identified agency-level challenges, agency-level supports, and caregiver-focused supports for life skills development. In surveys, child welfare professionals (n = 24) and caregivers (n = 23) identified the challenges and supports they experience, as well as additional supports they needed. Semi-structured interviews with three child welfare professionals and seven caregivers gathered in-depth information on the topics covered in the survey. Thematic analysis was employed to identify themes within the data.ResultsWhile a number of challenges (i.e., lack of youth-focused resources, staff turnover) emerged across all three groups, supports were more varied across and within groups. Notably, caregivers received minimal support from the foster care system in helping youth develop life skills. Despite this, caregivers and child welfare professionals mainly identified youth-focused resources and services as needed additional supports.ConclusionsMore training, support, and funding are required to address the challenges identified in this study. Broader child welfare issues, such as staff retention and turnover, must also be addressed to support the youths’ development of independent living skills.

Surgical residents underutilize opportunities for traditional laparoscopic simulation training. Serious gaming may increase residents' motivation to practice laparoscopic skills. However, little is known about the effectiveness of serious gaming for laparoscopic skills training. The aim of this study was to establish construct validity for the laparoscopic serious game Underground. All study participants completed 2 levels of Underground. Performance for 2 novel variables (time and error) was compared between novices (n=65, prior experience <10 laparoscopic procedures), intermediates (n=26, prior experience 10-100 laparoscopic procedures), and experts (n=20, prior experience >100 laparoscopic procedures) using analysis of covariance. We corrected for gender and video game experience. Controlling for gender and video game experience, the effects of prior laparoscopic experience on the time variable differed significantly (F =4.77, P=.01). Both experts and intermediates outperformed novices in terms of task completion speed; experts did not outperform intermediates. A similar trend was seen for the rate of gameplay errors. Both gender (F =14.42, P<.001 in favor of men) and prior video game experience (F =5.20, P=.03 in favor of experienced gamers) modulated the time variable. We established construct validity for the laparoscopic serious game Underground. Serious gaming may aid laparoscopic skills development. Previous gaming experience and gender also influenced Underground performance. The in-game performance metrics were not suitable for statistical evaluation. To unlock the full potential of serious gaming for training, a more formal approach to performance metric development is needed.

Big Data technology is one of the most promising organizational processes within the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industry and crucial for any company that wants to preserve the competitive advantage in the market, where most of the organizational structures are already struggling with the right skills and knowledge to fully support existing business needs for storing and processing and even analyzing information. This paper aims to examine the extent to which new Big Data technology and data-related processes are developing different professionals skills and competencies within the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries, and creating sustainable development in addressing critical organizational challenges in recruiting, retaining, and discover professional skills that can fully support the advances and exponential growth of Big Data technology benefits. This research paper also highlights the significant aspects of Big Data in professional technical and process oriented skills development, and the influence it has on organizational business processes including how various internal functions will need to adapt to new circumstances with renewed competency and skills development programs for departments that are strongly connected to the business and analytical needs. We conducted a focus group with twenty-five industry based professionals’ ranges from analysts to executive directors to better assess the necessary knowledge to answer the proposed research questions: (1) which professional skills can big data influence in employee development and (2) how can organizations adapt their employee skills to big data. Regarding the key research limitations/implications most of the article and research was built on the foundation of the literature review and the performed focus group. The conceptual recommendations and observations presented provide solid empirical evidence but should be subjected to more comprehensive, large-scale empirical testing and validation. It’s recommended for future research a more extensive sample of companies, organizations, and interviewees. Studying a broader set of similar research questions in more homogeneous organizations could provide deeper insights into the process, governance, and stakeholder dimensions of Big Data within specific contexts. Therefore this study contributes to explore in-depth and systematically to what extent Big Data technology and processes are currently influencing the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industries where to the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first focus group dealing with the presented research questions.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of compensatory training on later-born basketball players, who had less match time compared to their peers, focusing on their physical fitness and skill development. A prospective cohort study compared three groups of male youth basketball players (ages 12-14). One group consisted of later-born players with a high volume of match play in competitive scenarios (lbHPT), while the other two groups had match play below the median of the teams. Among these two groups, one received compensatory training (lbLPTcomp), and the other did not (lbLPTreg). Players were evaluated at three time points: baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. The assessments measured aerobic capacity (using the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test), 10-meter sprint performance, 5-0-5 change of direction (COD deficit), and performance on the basketball technical test (LSPT). The compensatory training consisted of two weekly sessions in which, after regular training, the later-born players participated in 2v2 or 3v3 small-sided games lasting 15 minutes per session. The results revealed that lbLPTcomp was significantly effective in reducing the differences with lbHPT, as no significant differences were observed between the two cohorts over the 6 months for any of the outcomes (p > 0.05). Additionally, lbLPTcomp performed significantly better than lbLPTreg post-6 months in the LSPT (p = 0.033) and COD deficit (p = 0.003). The lbLPTreg group was also significantly worse than lbHPT in the YYIRT (p = 0.022), LSPT (p = 0.036), and COD deficit (p = 0.005). No significant between-group differences were found in 10-m sprint after 6 months (p = 0.241), though lbHPT and lbLPTcomp improved significantly (both p < 0.001). In conclusion, while compensatory training like twice-weekly small-sided games may help later-born youth athletes with limited playtime, further research is needed before broad implementation.