soft skills: connecting classroom to careers. last time we met… soft skills are: > skills,...

SOFT SKILLS:Connecting Classroom to Careers

Last Time We Met…

Soft Skills Are:> Skills, abilities and traits

that pertain to personality, attitude, and behavior

Soft Skills Are Not:> Formal or technical

knowledge

What Industry Thinks

Technical skills and computer

literacy are assumed!

What Industry Wants

Skill sets that include:

Oral and written communication skill

Critical thinking ability

Problem-solving resourcefulness

Ability to work productively on a team

What Our Students Want

Meaningful employment

Competitive advantage in today’s economy

Help with soft skills

One Solution: Soft Skills at Work

Workbook and Video Package

Published by Cengage

Contains practical guidance with videos and personal reflection “callout boxes”

Our Experience at Northern Arizona University

Implemented “Soft Skills at Work”

Used in Intro CIS course

Close to 1,000 students Fall 08

Topics covered:Resumes, attire, online persona management, written communication, team dynamics and generational differences, presentation basics

CIS Course Implementation

Course Coverage

Part lecture, part lab (Office 2007)

Soft Skills Integration

Replaced some critical thinking cases

Covered all 5 workbook/video chapters by spacing them out over 15 weeks

What Did the Students Do?Completed the in-text “personal reflection”

boxes

Example:

Watched and critiqued the accompanying videos

Submitted end-of-chapter exercises

For Example…Chapters 4 and 5

Chapter 4 Exercise: Planning the Next Training Meeting (in teams)

Had to research locations

Created a Word document with summary

Prepared an Excel worksheet for all locations

Required team coordination on formatting, data collection and reporting

Then…

Chapter 5

Teams selected and presented one location to the class

Had to “dress the part”

Submitted Word, Excel and PPT documents

Moment of Truth: Student Survey

Student majors:

Business

Accounting, Finance, Advertising, Marketing, Management, CIS

Hotel and restaurant management

Elementary education

Forestry, geology

Entrepreneur /own business

Health professions

Dental, speech, medical, PT

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Students were asked to rate topics in

terms of how helpful it will be in the future.

Resumes and interviewing skills:

97%(Somewhat to very helpful)

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Online persona management, identify theft and cyberstalking:

88%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Written communication skills, e-mail/cell/text message etiquette:

90%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Team dynamics and generational differences:

89%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Presentation skills:

94%

Some of the Comments Related to the Chapter Contents

I need to clean up my online persona – I have pictures out there I’d rather not be public!

It helped me fix what was wrong with my resume’

I found things when I “googled” myself that surprised me!

Made me realize that everyone on a team has a different personality but can still contribute

These are life skills I will use all the time

It reminded me how important basic grammar and etiquette are!

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Students were asked to evaluate how much

they learned from each chapter’s video episode.

Resumes and interviewing skills:

72%(Moderate to tremendous amount)

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

What the recruiter does back at the office:

83%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Preparing for the first big writing assignment on the job:

81%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Working with a dysfunctional team:

83%

Moment of Truth: Student Feedback

Making an effective presentation:

86%

Some of the Comments Related to the Videos

I noticed how people acted – what worked and what didn’t. I don’t think I would have caught it if I didn’t actually see it.

As soon as you walk in the building, you are being evaluated on how you present and carry yourself.

I need to be prepared – do my research, dress appropriately, and act professionally if I want to get and keep my job.

I need to speak up and not assume that people will know I am qualified just by looking at me or reading my resume’.

Students Enjoyed…

The resume and interviewing skills chapter and videos the most

(but the others received votes as well)

Would We Do It Again?Yes! We are!What we observed (besides what the students said in

their comments):

E-mail messages were written with more care

Not everyone knows what an executive summary is

Professional business casual attire does not include sneakers, jeans and t-shirts

Career Connection

Students caught on pretty quickly

Recognize need for advantage in today’s competitive job market

Recruiter feedback is positive

Wrap Up

The workbook and videos are available now – see your sales rep!

Questions?

beverly.amer@nau.edu