Keywords
soft skills
digital collaboration
higher education
employability
How to Cite
Abstract
The coronavirus pandemic triggered an abrupt change to emergency e-teaching and has accelerated the adoption of digital teaching practices in higher education. This transition from in-person instruction to online-only teaching took place globally and disrupted the conventional lecture format. While the catalyst, namely COVID, was the same throughout the world, a growing body of research confirms that instructors across the educational spectrum are experimenting with, and implementing, a plethora of methodologies based on their digital abilities and experiences.
This paper will critically analyse several online-based methodologies and digital tools developed and introduced at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences within an undergraduate module called Employability. The authors will use the six areas of the European Commission’s DigCompEdu framework as a reference to analyse and summarise digital tool implementations and enhance students' digital collaboration skills, online experience, and learning outcomes.
The methodological focus is on teaching soft digital skills for employability, namely, digital communication, problem-solving, collaboration skills, as well as, digital content creation and media literacy in tandem with the main content of the course. Possible issues when teaching the Employability module in post-COVID offline or hybrid classrooms will be discussed, particularly with regards to ensuring that teaching formats are fit-for-purpose in increasingly digital, and remote, work environments.
References
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R. and Benjamin S. B. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
Burgartz, T. & Krämer, A. (2016). Measures to understand and control customer relationship and loyalty. In Mack O., Khare A., Krämer A. & Burgartz T. Managing in a VUCA World. (pp. 99-114). Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16889-0_6
Cazarez, R. L. U. (2021). Soft skills and Online Higher Education. In Lepeley, T. M., Beutell, J. N., Abarca, N. & Majluf, N. Soft Skills for Human-Centered Management and Global Sustainability. (Part 6.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003094463-6-9
Christ, W.G. (Ed.). (2016). Media Education Assessment Handbook (1st ed.). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003064169
Cranfield, D., Tick, A., Venter, I. M., Blignaut, R. J. & Renaud, K. (2021). Higher Education Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning during COVID-19 – A Comparative Study. Education. Sciences. 11, 403. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080403
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T. & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review 27(1), 1-9.
Larson, L. C. & Miller, T. N. (2011). 21st Century Skills: Prepare Students for the Future. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(3). 121-123. https://doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2011.10516575
Makhachashvili R., Semenist I., Shtaltovna Y. & Bakhtina A. (2021). Soft Skills and ICT Tools for Final Qualification Assessment in Universities of Ukraine and India in COVID-19 Framework. Psychology and Education, 58(2), 849-861. https://doi.org/10.17762/pae.v58i2.1959
Muller, A., Goh, C., Lim, L. & Gao, X. (2021). COVID-19 Emergency eLearning and Beyond: Experiences and Perspectives of University Educators. Education Sciences, 11(1), 19. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11010019
Punie, Y. & Redecker, C. (2017). European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2760/159770
Schilder, E. & Redmond, T. (2019). Measuring Media Literacy Inquiry in Higher Education: Innovation in Assessment. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 11(2), 95-121. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2019-11-2-6
Shtaltovna, Y. (2021). Can a Skill be Measured or Assessed? 6-Level Skills Development Approach to Skill Assessment. GiLE Journal of Skills Development, 1(1), 12-24. https://doi.org/10.52398/gjsd.2021.v1.i1.pp12-24
Shtaltovna, Y. & Muzzu, C. (2021). Enhancing students’ digital competencies within the Employability module of the University of Europe’s skills-based curricula. The Development of Competencies for Employability Proceedings, 70-89.
Stewart B., Khare A. & Schatz R. (2016). Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity in Higher Education. In Mack O., Khare A., Krämer A. & Burgartz T. Managing in a VUCA World. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16889-0_16
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2021 Yuliya Shtaltovna, Christina Muzzu