Enhancing student employability through urban ecology fieldwork

Figures & data

Table 1. Breakdown of student responses to the activity-related post-activity questionnaire.

Question		1	2	3	4	5
1. How useful was the pre-activity information in preparing you for the activity?*	Female	–	33.3%	–	33.3%	33.3%
	Male	–	–	50%	50%	–
	All respondents	–	11%	33%	44%	11%
*only 8 students looked at this information before the activity; 3 female; 5 male	Comment re Bacon and Peacock (2016) findings	There is more of a spread in responses here but fewer students responded to this question than in 2016. All students last year responded 4 or 5; overall lower student satisfaction with the preparation material than previously
2. Rate the usefulness of this activity for developing your understanding of urban ecosystems and ecology	Female	–	17%	41.5%	37.5%	4%
	Male	–	15%	54%	31%	–
	All respondents	–	16%	46%	35%	3%
	Comment re Bacon and Peacock (2016) findings	A general trend towards lower satisfaction than in 2016, where no students rated this question at 2 or lower and more rated it at 4 (59% female; 70% male)
3. Rate the usefulness of this activity for your understanding of ecological concepts (e.g. ecosystems, relationships between different organisms	Female	4%	13%	46%	29%	8%
	Male	–	23%	54%	23%	–
	All respondents	3%	6%	49%	27%	5%
	Comment re Bacon and Peacock (2016) findings	Overall these results are similar to 2016, but with fewer scores of 5, but a greater proportion answering 3 or 4. There were also no scores of 1 last year.
4. Rate how well you feel this activity complimented the lecture topics of Living Planet	Female	4%	4%	38%	50%	4%
	Male	–	8%	46%	46%	–
	All respondents	3%	6%	41%	49%	3%
	Comment re Bacon and Peacock (2016) findings	Broadly similar to 2016 but slightly lower scores.

Notes: Students were asked to respond to the question on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much). Reponses are given in percentage. Fifty-one students took part in the activity, 37 completed questionnaires (24 females; 13 males). Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.5%.

Table 2. Responses to employability-related questions.

Question		No (%)	Yes (%)
5. Have you considered your online professional identity before this session?	Female	46	54
	Male	31	69
	All respondents	46	54
6. Have you considered your online professional identity since this session?	Female	17	83
	Male	15	85
	All respondents	16	84
7. Was this session helpful in terms of considering your online professional identity?*	Female	19	81
*Three female students did not answer this question	Male	7	93
	All respondents	15	85

Notes: Responses were No/Yes binary options. Reponses are given in percentage. Fifty-one students took part in the activity, 37 completed questionnaires (24 females; 13 males). Percentages are rounded to the nearest 0.5%.

Figure 1. Word clouds of students’ responses to questions about the session requiring text input. (A) If you have considered your online professional identity, how do you intend to develop it? (26 responses; 17 female, 9 male); (B) Was this session helpful in terms of considering your online professional identity? (see Table 2) How? (25 responses; 14 female, 11 male); (C) List two skills gained in this session that will help with your future employability (26 responses; 18 female (7 provided 2 responses), 9 male (4 provided 2 responses).

Bacon, K.L. , & Peacock, J. (2016). Making the most of the university campus for teaching ecology. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences , 11 . Retrieved from https://journals.le.ac.uk/ojs1/index.php/new-directions/article/view/585

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