Students’ Awareness and Embracement of Soft Skills by Learning and Practicing Teamwork

Abstract

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a study about changes in computer science and software engineering students’ perceptions of their soft skills during their progress through the Computer Science Soft Skills course. Background: Soft skills are often associated with a person’s social, emotional and cognitive capabilities. Soft skills are increasingly sought out and are well recognized by employers alongside standard qualifications. Therefore, high importance is attributed to soft skills in computer science and software engineering education. Methodology: Content analysis was applied to interpret, categorize and code statements from students’ course assignment answers. Data analysis was performed gradually at the three main stages of the course and by the two students’ study populations. Contribution: The paper highlights the variety of (a) soft skills that can be learnt in one course, both on the individual level and on the team level and (b) assignments that can be given to students to increase their awareness and motivation to practice and learn soft skills. Findings: Data analysis revealed the following: (a) five individual soft skills categories, with 95 skills, and five team-related soft skills categories, with 52 skills (in total, the students mentioned 147 soft skills); (b) course assignments and particularly team-based activities elicited student awareness of their individual soft skills, both as strengths and weaknesses; (c) students developed their reflection skills, particularly with respect to team-related soft skills; and (d) significant differences exist between the two groups of students in several categories. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is important to provide undergraduate students with opportunities to integrate soft skills during their training. Establishing a meaningful learning process, such as project-based learning, enables students to apply and develop soft skills when accompanied by reflective thought processes. Recommendation for Researchers: A similar course can be taught and be accompanied by similar analysis of students’ learning outcomes, to examine the influence of local culture on the characteristics of soft skills. Impact on Society: Increased awareness of soft skills in scientists and engineers’ undergraduate education. University graduates who will strengthen their variety of soft skills in their academic training process and will be more meaningful employees in the workplace and in society. Future Research: Our future research aims (a) to explore additional innovative ways to increase students’ learning processes, awareness and practices in relation to soft skills and (b) to research how students’ soft skills are developed during the entire undergraduate studies both on the individual level and the team level.

Implementing Team-Based Learning: Findings From a Database Class

“…The qualitative feedback from the student participants clearly emphasized value from team-based learning assessments as it can help with the development of valuable soft skills in a database management course. Relatedly, recent research has identified an increasing interest for the development of social competence and other "soft skills" for IT professionals so they can effectively and successfully work in professional teams upon graduation (Beard et al, 2008;Figl, 2010;Osmani et al, 2016;Ragonis et al, 2020). In fact, research has suggested technical skills alone are insufficient and students need to work to develop a broad set of soft interpersonal skills, including teamwork and communication, as the most desired skills as well as problem solving, working under pressure, conflict management, and negotiation (Osmani et al, 2016).…”

“…At the same time, there have been calls in the information technology (IT) education literature for the development of "soft-skills" as a part of the educational experience so that students can effectively and successfully work in professional teams upon graduation (Beard et al, 2008;Figl, 2010;Osmani et al, 2016;Ragonis et al, 2020). In fact, research has suggested technical skills alone are insufficient and IT students need to work to develop a broad set of soft interpersonal skills including teamwork and communication as the most desired skills for development and growth (Osmani et al, 2016).…”

Learning Sequence “Learning | Growing | Working”: A Helpful Approach to Facilitate the Entry into the IT Faculty

“…A soft skills course can also address changes in computer science and software engineering students' perceptions of their soft skills, as explored by Ragonis et al (2020). Their study employed content analysis to categorize and code students' statements.…”

Engineering students' development of PBL competences in a PBL curriculum: Exploring students' reflections of teamwork competences in PBL

“…Given that engineers work in interdisciplinary domains, developing teamwork and communicative competences are needed to engage productively and considerately in practice (Borrego et al, 2013;Passow & Passow, 2017;Trevelyan, 2010). As we saw earlier, for students to critically reflect on generic competences, developmental knowledge of the constituent parts of a particular competence is needed (Necchi et al, 2020;Ragonis et al, 2020).…”

“…Other approaches such as analysis of students' logbooks and reflective writing were also found. A single study stood out by using continued assignments for students to explicitly reflect on their 'soft skills' as the point of departure (Ragonis et al, 2020).…”