Helping engineering students develop employment-oriented online presences: a pedagogical application of Conscious-Competence model

In numerous HE examples, creating LinkedIn accounts is regarded as a straightforward process which requires mere instructions on how to operate the tool step by step. However, we identified a pedagogical affordance  of  LinkedIn  which  might  facilitate  a  process  of  transformative learning. Such learning may be defined as “the process of  making  a  new  or  revised  interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  an  experience, which guides subsequent understanding, appreciation and action.” (Mezirow, 1990). To design for the transformative learning process, we have designed and  conducted  an  innovative  pedagogical  application  of  conscious-­‐competence model (Howell 1982) to help engineering students moving from  ‘Unconscious  Incompetence’  to  ‘Conscious  Incompence’  and  then to ‘Conscious Competence’.  This  work  details  the  opportunities  posed  by  an  effective  online  presence,  identifying  the  problems  hindering  engineering  students from creating such a presence. The work also presents the research work  done  in  converting  a  group  of  final  year  undergraduate  engineering students from persona non-­‐grata online to experts who take pride in their online presences and actively engages with friends, employers, colleagues and course tutors through their online profiles. The  work  establishes  a  methodology  for  encouraging  engineering  students to create employment-­‐oriented online presence which will lead  to  enhanced  employability  as  well  as  all-­‐rounded  professionals  ready to walk into their first jobs on graduation.