Kelly,
You've stated well the commission we all have in career readiness for our students.
Barry Westling
The goal I have set for myself is to provide students with education they will use in their career. Everything section I teach I try to give real life examples of how this applies and why. I think it helps motivates students and build their confidence.
Ralph,
Yep! And the soft skills ought to be called the "essetial skills", as these are just as important as any technical or career training. We can train to get a job, but the soft skills contribute to keeping that job.
Barry Westling
To help them translate classroom information into useful tools in the workplace. It si also to help them develop the soft skills they need to successful in the workplace.
Francine,
Yep! Skills, knowledge, and professional topics for success in the workforce and perhaps, life skills for enjoying life more fully.
Barry Westling
Timothy,
It's amazing what people can do when limitations or barriers are removed. If nothing else, getting students to be able to think for themselves will give them virtually much of what they will need in the workforce.
Barry Westling
The goal of educating students is preparing them to be successful in their careers and life in general.
Qiana,
Yeah, nothing like experience as a teacher. But skills, knowledge and professional attributes should give them a good start. And we are charged with the responsibility to get them to the starting line.
Barry Westling
I believe the goal of educating students is delivering course content in a learning style that will enable students to apply their aquired skills in a meaningful way to contribute to not only their individual success, but to the advancement of society.
I fell the goal is to see them do well in their field they are going into. When they walk out of that class or graduate they should be prepared. Granted they won't know everything but, they should have a good beginning start.
Edward,
So true.Practical application, teaching the material, and active discussion are methods I find students like to do and in the process are learning to think critically.
Barry Westling
The most difficult part is to get the students to start thinking. They can have all the knowledge but if they can't apply that knowledge in a logical methodical manner they will not succeed. I have seen many students when quizzed with information sufficient to solve the problem at hand, fail at the solution because they could not apply rules or solutions out of the order they learned them in. Their comments tend to be the quiz wasn't fair because the question was not asked the same way it had been previously.
My goal of educating students is to see evidence of learned competencies and skills achieved,
for a sucessful transition into post secondary education and employment.
Helping them to achieve their career goals and training them to become gainfully employed.
Joseph,
I read and have heard that the majority of people that are dismissed or terminated from their jobs does not have to do with the technical aspect of the job, but rather the "personnel" component (soft skills). To the degree that's true, we need to emphasize these important keys for sustained successfulness in the workforce.
Barry Westling
December 23, 2011
Undoubtedly, the issue of 'soft skills' should not be minimized. For the industry that I teach in, most people still have the image of everyone that does this for a career as 'rough, tough, rude and uneducated'.
Considering that, the students entering this field through education first, also have this image. It is imperative as educators and academicians that we direct them to realize that they will become a professional in their career field of choice.
With that, specifically if they want to 'climb the ladder' in their particular field, 'soft skills' will make the transition easier and the use of them will be expected.
JFO
Shannon,
Every class has it's set of learning objectives and outcomes. If the teacher achieves these, their goal has been met. Hopefully, those learning objectives include all the needed knowowledge, skills, and attributes to transition students into the workforce. They might also include soft skills such as professionalim that touches on the importance of attendance, language and dress, courtesy, and appropriate ethical behavior in the workplace.
Barry Westling
I think the goal of educating students is to provide those individuals the knowledge they need to pursue their dreams. Education prepares students for the future, especially if they have a specific goal. Also if the instructor has a structured class geared toward the "real world," this will help the students when they go into a job setting.
randy,
Right. And of course, besides the skills, knowledge and behavior appropriate to the particular profession, soft skills such as professionalism, attenadnce and punctuality, common courtesies, and career-specific ethics and workforce standards help assure the student/graduate will land a job and sustain that job, perhaps building a career.
Barry Westling
our goal as instructors is to prepare the students for any as well as all possible situations that might come up in the feild of choice
