Developing work readiness through curriculum-embedded consultant–client project workflows in an undergraduate computing module

Abstract

Graduate employability remains a central concern in computing education, where students are expected to move from academic learning into professional environments requiring technical, organisational, social and self-management capabilities. This study examines, from a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning perspective, changes in students’ self-reported work readiness after participation in a curriculum-embedded consultant–client project workflow in an undergraduate computing module in Botswana. The module required student teams to elicit requirements, complete benchmarking activities, develop an e-learning module, participate in structured meetings, prepare staged deliverables, demonstrate outputs to peer-client teams and submit final handover documentation. A within-cohort pre–post survey design was used. Self-reported work readiness was measured before and after the module using an adapted Work Readiness Scale. Thirty-two students with matched pre- and post-module responses were included in the final analysis. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to compare pre- and post-module scores. Significant increases were found in organisational acumen, work competence, social intelligence and overall self-reported work readiness, while personal characteristics did not change significantly. Sensitivity analysis excluding one influential case showed that work competence, social intelligence and overall self-reported work readiness remained significant, while organisational acumen became a non-significant positive trend. The study provides practical guidance for computing educators by illustrating how professional project practices can be made explicit, structured and assessable within the curriculum.