Soft skills and grades
Good grades are necessary to get a degree and a degree may open the door to get a job but a job may not last for long if the student lacks soft skills.
Good study habits are necessary to succeed in school but good work habits are necessary to succeed in you job
Hi Elizabeth,
Personality conflicts, power struggles, inept peers - all are but a few of the many interactive encounters that occur in the workplace. It'd be a shame not to prepare students for the non-technical aspects of the world of work.
Barry Westling
Just being Right is not always good enough in the work environment. We have to get along with each other and respect each other even during times of disagreement. This can be hard to teach to some individuals, but comes easily to others.
Hi Kimberly:
I think this a great system to reinforce the importance of professionalism. I think many younger students lack the perspective of how important this is as an expectation of their future employers and colleagues.
Regards, Barry
Hi Lori:
Accountabilty equals successful learning - Barry
Great idea Deanna, hold them accountable. At the same time take time to share where you see they can improve and help them set goals. Love it!
Hi Deanna:
I like the shared responsibility aspect for an area that is just as important as the technical knowledge component of a class.
Regards, Barry
There are some great ideas here! Might have to borrow some of them :) In the profession my students are preparing for, soft skills are hugely important. Many of the students come from backgrounds where these skills might not have been so important, so we've developed several strategies to teach them.
There are penalties for turning in work late, for missing tests and quizzes and for violations of professionalism (cell phones ringing in class is a big issue). At class start, they read the class rules and sign off that they agree to abide by them. Most of those rules address professionalism. Every class day, they get a chance to practice this. If they don't, there is an immediate consequence that they've known about since day 1.
I really like Deanna's approach with the individual daily assessment of professionalism as well as the instructor doing so. By the end of a term, the students should really have a good idea of what they really should look, sound and perform like as future professionals as well as having better interpersonal skills to carry forward from the classroom.
Today's student has a different mindset that lends us to have to "teach" soft skills. Most of us find this rather disturbing however we are dealing with an entirely different generation of student.
I have implemented a procedure in my program where my students must assess their own professionalism on a daily basis as well as the instructor assessing them. At midterm the student and instructor meet with all of their daily assessments and see if there is a "gap" in their ratings of professionalism. They discuss the scores and make any recommendations and meet again at finals. The professionalism grade is 50% student and 50% instructor. This way the student has a stake in their grade as well- it is working out very well.
It is sad that in this day and age, we would have to spend so much time working with students to obtain these skills. Sometimes I get a little sad thinking that so much emphasis is put on doing things for people and not what the person's responsibility is towards others and what he or she does will greatly influence their world. Mindy
My students who are late were enlightened when I brought in a guest speaker- a supervisor from a local hospital- who set them straight- 3 times late to work in 90 days and you are fired. They were never late again.:)
These soft skills are essential in the classroom and the real world. I am shocked when a student lacks these everyday skills and knowledge. It takes time and patience on the instructors part to get these types of students prepared for a professional career.
I agree. Students must realize that, although good grades are important and will look good on their OTR, in the real world, they will be evaluated based on performance AND work attitude. I tell my students that to their employers and patients their As and B+s mean nothing if they are always late or absent, do a lousy job, lack compassion, rude, etc. Employers would rather hire a B or a B- student who has very good soft skills and excellent work habit.
Skills can be improved; but it is difficult to unlearn a habit.
I had three students in this past study module that were habitually late. Additionally, they too were my weakest performing students. I implemented a policy that at the beginning of each class, we would have an exam or quiz. Should the student be late, not able to take the quiz (zero for grade), or 20 points off of their exam grade. For the three hibitually late students, problem fixed. However, the rest of the students in the class feels as though they are being punished.
