Work-in-Progress: Soft-skills Development for Higher Education Engineering and Economic Students using HERA Collaborative Serious Games

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Caeiro-Rodriguez ◽  
Carlos Vaz de Carvalho ◽  
Jaanus Terasmaa ◽  
Lene Tolstrup ◽  
Triinu Jesmin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Work In Progress

scholarly journals Soft Skills Research in Higher Education: Top 100 Scopus-Indexed Publications

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 593-607
Author(s):  
Olesia V. Rumiantseva
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
University Education ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Pedagogical Issues ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Main Subject ◽  
Subject Areas

Introduction. At present, employers’ standards for university graduates are scrutinized, obviously stepping up requirements for soft skills. The issue of modernization of university curricula or development of new ones that include soft skills development in the framework of university education is relevant. The importance of the problem makes us turn to the experiences of foreign universities. This article aims to identify the main subject areas, where much attention is paid to the issues of soft skills, as well as directions of research on students’ soft skills development between 2010 and 2020 in the framework of higher education. Materials and Methods. ИThe study was conducted in two phases. During the first phase, we used a search strategy to identify the main subject areas of research on the topic of soft skills development in the period from 2010 to 2020. At the second phase, a study of one hundred most cited articles indexed in the Scopus database on the topic of soft skills in education was carried out. The selection was based on the inclusion and non-inclusion criteria. We used a method of content analysis. The selected articles were divided into several clusters demonstrating the research focus. Results. The analysis of foreign studies provided information on the subject fields that essentially focus on forming soft skills. The main subject areas, where the largest number of studies on soft skills published from 2010 to 2020 were recorded, embrace social sciences, IT, engineering, business and accounting. The areas of research on students’ soft skills in the period between 2010 and 2020 were general pedagogical issues, issues of increasing employability, and different areas of education. Discussion and Conclusion. A selection of the worldʼs best practices described in the leading articles on the formation of soft skills in education enriches the collection of methodological techniques of teachers in various specialized disciplines. The materials of the article can be useful for methodologists and teachers of professional education institutions, engaged in the formation and development of a new type of curricula, taking into account the needs of the modern labor market, and persons interested in the problems of higher education.

scholarly journals English Trainee Teachers’ Perspective on Soft Skills Development in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Kniaz ◽  
Olena Chukhno
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Professional Teacher ◽  
Research Questions

The integration of soft skills in training pre-service teachers ensures higher academic performance and provides them with better career opportunities. However, many university teachers pay insufficient attention to developing soft skills in higher education. The article aims to investigate the correlation between the soft skills included in professional teacher training and undergraduates’ viewpoint on soft skills development at university. The authors formulated three research questions: (a) How do English trainee teachers assess their soft skills? (b) How much attention, in students’ opinion, do teachers pay to developing soft skills? (c) Is there a gap between teachers’ work on developing students’ soft skills and trainee teachers’ expectations? To answer these questions, the researchers analized the empirical data received through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 153 English trainee teachers studying at H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Ukraine. The respondents answered two close-ended questions regarding the level of soft skills they believe to possess and the amount of time devoted to soft skills development. The findings suggest that most students consider the level of their soft skills intermediate or high. Nevertheless, a significant number of the respondents still feel that teachers pay insufficient or hardly any attention to improving these skills. It is necessary to conduct further research to analyze university teachers’ viewpoint on improving students’ soft skills and organize the development of soft skills which would meet trainee teachers’ expectations.

Soft Skills Development in Higher Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1916-1925
Author(s):  
Karimova Nilufar Ummatqul Qizi
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skills Development

scholarly journals Investigating the Perception of Stakeholders on Soft Skills Development of Students: Evidence from South Africa

10.28945/3417 ◽  
2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Estelle Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Interdisciplinary Journal ◽  
Development Of Students

[The final form of this paper was published in the journal Interdisciplinary Journal of e-Skills and Lifelong Learning.] Soft skills are becoming increasingly important and will be critical for success in the Information Systems profession. Employers complain about a lack in soft skills among graduates from tertiary education institutions. No agreement exists about what these skills actually are, which are of importance, and how acquiring these soft skills should be approached in higher education. The aim of this paper is to research the perceptions of lecturers, industry, and students on soft skills development of students and to identify important soft skills that need to be developed. The paper starts with a problem statement emphasizing the importance of soft skills and the possible lack thereof. This is followed by a literature review, a description of the methodology followed for this research, the results, conclusion, and the references. The research was done at a university in South Africa. Questionnaires consisting of open questions were distributed to lecturers, industry, and students respectively, and qualitative analysis was done on the results. Results show that stakeholders feel that soft skills of students are not developed adequately, that there is some uncertainty about who should be responsible for developing soft skills, and that the development of soft skills is seen as a difficult task. A list is compiled of the most important soft skills according to literature, lecturers, industry, and students. This list can be used in further research on the soft skills of IT-students. Recommendations are made for the teaching and learning of soft skills.

scholarly journals English Trainee Teachers’ Perspective on Soft Skills Development in Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 299-313
Author(s):  
Hanna Kniaz ◽  
Olena Chukhno
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
University Teachers ◽  
Trainee Teachers ◽  
Career Opportunities ◽  
Professional Teacher ◽  
Research Questions

The integration of soft skills in training pre-service teachers ensures higher academic performance and provides them with better career opportunities. However, many university teachers pay insufficient attention to developing soft skills in higher education. The article aims to investigate the correlation between the soft skills included in professional teacher training and undergraduates’ viewpoint on soft skills development at university. The authors formulated three research questions: (a) How do English trainee teachers assess their soft skills? (b) How much attention, in students’ opinion, do teachers pay to developing soft skills? (c) Is there a gap between teachers’ work on developing students’ soft skills and trainee teachers’ expectations? To answer these questions, the researchers analized the empirical data received through a questionnaire. The questionnaire was completed by 153 English trainee teachers studying at H.S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Ukraine. The respondents answered two close-ended questions regarding the level of soft skills they believe to possess and the amount of time devoted to soft skills development. The findings suggest that most students consider the level of their soft skills intermediate or high. Nevertheless, a significant number of the respondents still feel that teachers pay insufficient or hardly any attention to improving these skills. It is necessary to conduct further research to analyze university teachers’ viewpoint on improving students’ soft skills and organize the development of soft skills which would meet trainee teachers’ expectations.

scholarly journals The Importance of Soft Skills Development to Enhance Entrepreneurial Capacity

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Sarom Tem ◽  
Ariyabhorn Kuroda ◽  
Keow Ngang Tang
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
Soft Skills ◽  
Youth Unemployment ◽  
Skills Development ◽  
Entrepreneurial Success ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Individual Personality ◽  
Successful Entrepreneurs

Soft skills development has come with the intention of an all-rounded development of individual personality and entrepreneurship can be taught or not has been an argument until today. Therefore, this study was designed to explore the importance of soft skills to enhance entrepreneurial capacity. The three key soft skills that researchers examined were communication, leadership, and critical and problem-solving skills while the entrepreneurial capacity was the dependent variable of this study. A total of five successful entrepreneurs were purposively selected to be the informants of this study. Researchers employed a qualitative method using interview protocol as an instrument to conduct in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed using content analysis. The results revealed that critical thinking and problem-solving skills is the most significant soft skills to assist entrepreneurs to improve their competitiveness and productivity. Moreover, all the informants came to the consensus that higher education should teach the students the three required soft skills to be successful entrepreneurs. They emphasized the importance of soft skills that can assist entrepreneurs not only to compete in the formal labor market but also has the potential to reduce youth unemployment, drive economic growth, and reduce poverty. The overall results are successfully contributed to a growing body of research by suggesting that soft skills, namely communication, leadership, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills associated with entrepreneurial success are malleable and can be trained through higher education institutions.

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