Overview

 

The idea that people working in technical fields (software development, IT, etc.) lack social skills is a very common stereotype. There can be truth in this assumption, though many in the industry say this is changing or needs to change. Technology companies like Cronofy (Cronofy. 2018) discuss soft skills they have found beneficial in the success of not only their company but also their employees.

 

Some of the common soft skills brought up by professionals in the technology industry are things like empathy, communication (listening and speaking), adaptability. These and other skills are important for giving tech learners a chance to improve their ability to excel in the workforce. Duncan and Dunifon (2012) found that “an orientation toward challenge and a belief that their own actions are effective earn considerably higher wages 20 to 25 years later.” (p. 46). This is the type of success that can be gained through a focus on soft skills.

 

For these skills to be included there is a need to make students engaged in their learning. Learners often enter with a more linear and quantitative perspective, so convincing them the value of these less precise skills and abilities involves showing the value in the result.

 

Design Rationale

 

Canada is facing a shortage of 220,000 tech workers by 2020 according to studies cited in the Globe and Mail (Mahimker, 2018). Early in March 2018 the Alberta government committed $50 million to help create an additional 3,000 seats within technology programs (Bennett, D. 2018). This increase in investment means that with numerous seats opening, the focus on technology programs will be necessary.

 

We can also look at the most popular industries or “hype” industries as reported by Gartner we can see how many new technologies are gaining traction or coming to fruition within the next five to ten years or less (Panetta, 2016). This shows the need for more technology training in schools.

 

To help train stronger learners who will be able to fill this gap there should be a focus on including the soft skills needed for them to be successful. It is important that all educational institutes look at how they can implement these elements while also keeping students engaged.

 

It is through elements of empathetic design that we can look at ways to connect with learners and use design thinking to help encourage their skills. These elements, including the focus on experience driven learning and personal engagement (Mattelmäki, T., Vaajakallio, K., & Koskinen, I. 2014), will ensure that the learners are experiencing these soft skills within the learning environment as well.

 

While working through the development the empathetic focus should fall within the six themes created by Vann (2017). These themes are: “criticality/importance of empathy in instructional design, instructional strategies that should reflect empathy, knowledge of the audience/learners, hindrances to demonstrations of empathy vary, the understanding that online learning requires different considerations, and relevancy” (pg. 1). These elements are necessary to ensure engagement and learner buy-in as well.

 

Problem Scenario

 

You are tasked with launching a new technology-based program at a post-secondary institute. As a team you must determine how you might be best able to implement soft skills into the program. This will involve identifying the relevant soft skills needed in a technology program, while also determining ways to evaluate the student’s competency in these skills. While looking at this evaluation there should be a focus on how you will increase the learner’s ability to make evaluative judgements around their work and how to properly evaluate the quality of their evaluations. By evaluating themselves you will allow learners a deeper look into what they did, why they did it and how they did it to increase learner motivation. To judge themselves and peers they will have to utilize the soft skills they have learned. As is explored by Tai, Ajjiwi, Boud, Dawson and Pandero (2017) the actual evaluations and quality of the evaluation is something that will likely need to be explored further within the implementation of this solution. You will also need to look at future planning on what elements need to be consistently evaluated and how issues are addressed.

 

Success Determinants

 

Success will be determined by the degree to which your design solution:

  • Addresses the issues raised by the overall challenge
  • Identifies the necessary soft skills for technology learners
  • Introduces the identified skills to learners
  • Demonstrates a focus on learner engagement
  • Provides a plan for instructional design
  • Connection between soft skills and relevance to hard skills

 

Parameters

 

  • A connection of soft skills and hard skills must be created
  • A chart listing soft skills and how they can be measured should be created. This will be a simple brainstorming chart created through discussion
  • Unique activities to help teach these skills that create learner engagement
  • Activities created to encourage and enhance learner evaluative judgement

 

References (Design Solution and Video)

 

A Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources-collections/a-virtual-crash-course-in-design-thinking

Addressing Canada’s tech talent shortage with an innovative approach. (2018, January 02). Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/leadership-lab/addressing-canadas-tech-talent-shortage-with-an-innovative-approach/article37432734/

Bennett, D. (2018, March 14). Alberta spends $50 million to boost enrolment in technical education. Retrieved from https://globalnews.ca/news/4083950/alberta-technology-education/

Cable, S. (n.d.). Design Principles – a guide. Retrieved from https://www.cxpartners.co.uk/our-thinking/design-principles/

Cronofy. (2018, January 03). 10 Soft Skills Every Developer Needs [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://hackernoon.com/10-soft-skills-every-developer-needs-66f0cdcfd3f7

Duncan, G. J., & Dunifon, R. (2012). “Soft-Skills” and Long-Run Labor Market Success. Research in Labor Economics 35th Anniversary Retrospective,313-339. doi:10.1108/s0147-9121(2012)0000035036

Mattelmäki, T., Vaajakallio, K., & Koskinen, I. (2014). What Happened to Empathic Design? Design Issues,30(1), 67-77. doi:10.1162/desi_a_00249

Panetta, K. (n.d.). 3 Trends Appear in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/3-trends-appear-in-the-gartner-hype-cycle-for-emerging-technologies-2016/

Tai, J., Ajjawi, R., Boud, D., Dawson, P., & Panadero, E. (2017). Developing evaluative judgement: Enabling students to make decisions about the quality of work. Higher Education,76(3), 467-481. doi:10.1007/s10734-017-0220-3

Vann, L. S. (2017). Demonstrating empathy: A phenomenological study of instructional designers making instructional strategy decisions for adult learners. International Journal Of Teaching & Learning In Higher Education, 29(2), 233-244.