| Summary: | Purpose-There is dread that traditional teaching methods (including lectures and tutorials) do not prepare graduates with the generic employability skills required by the information management students. This has motivated information management academics to consider the use of student-centred approaches like knowledge café as one of the teaching and learning techniques used at the university. However, the effectiveness of knowledge café approaches has not been widely examined in information management education. The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical results on the effectiveness of knowledge café from information management student's perspective. Design/methodology/approach-From a questionnaire survey conducted with Diploma students who studied in information management programmes at a university in Malaysia, 95 valid responses were received. Descriptive statistics were used to test these data for any significant agreement or disagreement between respondents. Findings-All information management students agreed that knowledge café benefited them in building their academic knowledge and generic skills. However, the degree of agreement about their generic skills development differed between programmes. The findings of this study highlight the effectiveness of knowledge café as a means of developing students' employability skills. Research limitations/implications-First, the analysis of the benefits of knowledge café is based on students' perceptions rather than objective measures of learning gains. Although research suggests that self-reported measures of learning are valid indicators of educational and skill gains, the possibility of individual's bias or peer influence in the responses cannot be discounted. Second, the study does not consider the lecturer's instructional skills that may affect the effectiveness of knowledge café. To minimize the impact of different tutors on students' learning experiences, standardized delivery mode and questions were adopted in the surveyed courses. Practical implications-From the findings presented, the knowledge café is a viable tool which assists in improving both the technical and generic employability skills of students. To allow students to appreciate collaboration in a practical context, knowledge café can be integrated in information management curricula. Through collaboration with others, students can understand the ways of working with other professionals. At the same time, information management educators can apply knowledge café to strengthen specific collaborative skills. To maximize the benefits of knowledge café, teachers should arrange regular knowledge café sessions with students to ensure participation from each individual. Originality/value-The findings provide confidence to information management academics to incorporate knowledge café practice in their courses. Mapping students' generic skills development between programme of study provides indicators that highlight the use of knowledge café for different generic skills development in different information management programmes. The results of this study provide useful information for information management lecturers, assisting them to design multi-disciplinary knowledge café curricula. © 2020 Academic Conferences Limited. All rights reserved.
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