Amer SoftSkillsClassroomCareer

7/27/2019 Amer SoftSkillsClassroomCareer

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SOFT SKILLS:

Connecting Classroom to Careers


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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


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What Industry Thinks

Technical skills and computer

literacy are assumed!


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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


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What Our Students Want

Meaningful employment

Competitive advantage in todays

economy

Help with soft skills


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One Solution:

Soft Skills at WorkWorkbook and Video Package

Published by Cengage

Contains practical guidance with videos

and personal reflection callout boxes


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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


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CIS Course Implementation

Course Coverage

Part lecture, part lab (Office 2007)

Soft Skills Integration

Replaced some critical thinking cases

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


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What Did the Students Do?

Completed the in-text personal reflection

boxes

Example:

Watched and critiqued the

accompanying videos

Submitted end-of-chapter

exercises


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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, datacollection and reporting


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Then

Chapter 5

Teams selected and presented one

location to the class

Had to dress the part

Submitted Word, Excel and PPT

documents


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Moment of Truth:

Student Survey

Student majors:Business

Accounting, Finance, Advertising, Marketing,

Management, CIS

Hotel and restaurant management

Elementary education

Forestry, geology

Entrepreneur /own businessHealth professions

Dental, speech, medical, PT


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackStudents were asked to rate topics in

terms ofhow helpful it will be in

the future.Resumes and interviewing skills:

97%(Somewhat to very helpful)


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackOnline persona management, identify

theft and cyberstalking:

88%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackWritten communication skills, e-

mail/cell/text message etiquette:

90%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackTeam dynamics and generational

differences:

89%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackPresentation skills:

94%


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Some of the Comments

Related to the Chapter ContentsI need to clean up my online persona I have picturesout there Id rather not be public!

It helped me fix what was wrong with my resume

I found things when I googled myself that surprisedme!

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 timeIt reminded me how important basic grammar and

etiquette are!


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackStudents were asked to evaluate how

much they learned from each

chapters video episode.

Resumes and interviewing skills:

72%(Moderate to tremendous amount)


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackWhat the recruiter does back at the office:

83%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackPreparing for the first big writing

assignment on the job:

81%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackWorking with a dysfunctional team:

83%


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Moment of Truth:

Student FeedbackMaking an effective presentation:

86%


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Some of the Comments

Related to the VideosI noticed how people acted what worked and whatdidnt. I dont think I would have caught it if I didnt

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.


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Students Enjoyed

The resume and interviewing skills

chapter and videos the most

(but the others received votes as well)


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Would We Do It Again?

Yes! We are!

What we observed (besides what the students said intheir 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


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Career Connection

Students caught on pretty quickly

Recognize need for advantage in

todays competitive job market

Recruiter feedback is positive


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Wrap Up

The workbook and videos are available

now see your sales rep!

Questions?

[email protected]

Documents

Amer SoftSkillsClassroomCareer