86659 - Soft Skills to be Effective at Work - Cesena

Learning outcomes

The training course on soft skills aims to create awareness of the importance of soft skills in working contexts and the most appropriate strategies for their development and/or consolidation in university students. These skills are actually essential means, in combination with the specific knowledge and skills of the disciplines in which participants have chosen to specialize, to deal as effectively as possible with the challenges of their future profession and, even before, the steps functional to the entry into the world of work (for example, selection procedures).

Specific Objectives:

The objectives of the course already described are declined in the following specific objectives:

• Acquire awareness of the value of soft skills for job placement
• Recognize soft skills and their applicability to different contexts and circumstances
• Develop the ability to self-assess their soft skills
• Encourage the acquisition and/or enhancement of soft skills
• Acquire the ability to accurately define an action plan aimed at developing the weakest skills

Course contents

The five classes (18 hours) will be focused on the following three areas:

• Analysing/understanding the situation, which includes the ability to gather information/data, to analyse and interpret circumstances and relationships, and to process this information/data in order to identify a proper solution;

• Addressing/solving the problems, which is the ability to plan, manage and implement a targeted action plan, to make consistent decisions and to effectively manage changes. This area is further developed through the attendance of the MOOC named "Change management";
  
  
• Collaborating/interacting with others, which includes the ability of self-presentation, working within teams, interacting effectively with others, being aware of inter-individual dynamics and conflict management.
  

Moreover, students will be involved in e-learning activities (duration: 6 hours) aimed at encouraging active participation, self-awareness and self-assessment of the soft skills and their importance for job placement.

This e-learning activity will include:

• Videos of some interviews with different figures (e.g., HR Directors of large companies) of the importance of soft skills to achieve in the laboru market;
  
  
• Questionnaires for soft skills self-assessment;
  
  
• Exercise for reflecting on classroom activities, participation in MOOCs and output of online questionnaires;
  
  
• A development plan to fill for describing the soft skills ownened, discussing personal career goals and action plans for strengthening the soft skills emerged as crucial for job placement and/or accessing advanced training courses.

The topics will be analyzed/presented in terms of inclusive industrialization, multiculturality, innovation and diversity management too, as indicated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Readings/Bibliography

The study materials will be available on the e-learning platform before and during the course.

Teaching methods

Blended method (18 hours of taught lessons, 6 hours of distance learning, 24 hours of online MOOCs).

The course consists of five lessons (4 classes of 4 hours each and the final one of 2 hours) based on active teaching methods, which will be mostly team works requiring to using the soft skills to face concrete situations similar to typical job search activity (for example, tackling with job interviews and selection exercises) or daily work-related issues (for example, managing interpersonal interactions).

The classes will be delivered in the second semester. The timetable wil be published on this web page

The classes will be in Aula Europa 1, v.le Europa 115, Cesena.

The calendar is the following:

Thursday 20 April from 2 to 6 pm

Thursday 27 April from 2 to 6 pm

Thursday 4 May from 2 to 6 pm

Thursday 11 May from 2 to 6 pm

Thursday 18 May from 2 to 6 pm

Assessment methods

At the end of the course, the final mark will be based on a written assignment on a "soft skills development plan".

The criteria for the evaluation will be:

1) The knowledge of the skills discussed in the course and their relation with career success (a suitable bibliography will be provided);

2) The consistency between the weaknesses identified thanks to the questionnaires and previous activities and strategies adopted to improve the soft skills in the future

Teaching tools

The teaching activity will be support by e-learning platform.

The platform will allow to download the ppt presentations and exercises.

From the onset of the course, all information related to the course (exercises, questionnaires, deadlines, ...) will be available on the platform.

Office hours

See the website of Rita Chiesa