Slides from a workshop given by Dr. Matthew T. Hora from UW-Madison on how to teach "soft skills" and design internship programs.

1. Illinois Council of Community College Administrators (ICCCA)
Illinois Community College Faculty Association (ICCFA)
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Matthew T. Hora, PhD
Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts & Applied Studies
Research Scientist, Wisconsin Center for Education Research
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Email: matthew.hora@wisc.edu Twitter:@matt_hora @UWMadisonCCWT Web: ccwt.wceruw.org
Slide deck posted on: www.slideshare.net
Strategies for Integrating “Soft Skills”
Training into Internship Programs for
Student Success

2. Background to the Research Program
Institutional/Cultural Factors
Influencing Teaching in
Higher Ed
Education-Work
Dynamics & Skills Gaps
Nature of “Soft
Skills” Across
Professions
Literature (BA) Applied Anthropology
(MAA)
Learning Sciences
(PhD)
Vegetable Farming Food Systems Research
How Structure of
Internships Shapes
Student Outcomes

3. Today’s Workshop
1. Review literature on “soft skills” and internships
2. Consider teaching and design strategies
3. Apply new insights to your own courses/programs
4. Leave workshop with new ideas, strategies & questions

4. Writing exercise #1
What are your goals for this workshop?
What do you hope to get out of the next
1.5 hours together?
2 people share w/room

5. 1. What exactly are “soft skills”?
History of the term
“Important job-related skills that involve little or no interaction with machines and whose
application on the job is quite generalized”
Source: Whitmore & Fry, 1972
Soft skills: Desirable qualities for certain forms of
employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge:
they include common sense, the ability to deal with
people, and a positive flexible attitude
Source: www.dictionary.com
Alternative constructs
Non-cognitive Skills
Labor Economics
Career Readiness
NACE
21st Century Skills
P21
Essential Employability Qualities
QA Commons

6. National Research Council 2012 Report
“21st Century Competencies”
Framework
Built on research from cognitive psych, labor
economics, sociology
Focus on “deeper learning” and teaching for transfer
Key Ideas
Dimensions of expertise specific to and
intertwined with knowledge of particular domain
Term “competency” is superior to skill because it
reflects how skill and knowledge are intertwined
Cognitive: cognitive processes, knowledge, creativity
Inter-personal: Teamwork and collaboration, leadership
Intra-personal: Positive core self-evaluation, work ethic
and conscientiousness, intellectual openness
1
2

7. All educators
(n=49)
Manufacturing
Employers (n=59)
Biotech
Employers (n=7)
Term Salience Term Salience Term Salience
Technical ability 0.381 Work ethic 0.338 Experience on job 0.345
Work ethic 0.257 Technical ability 0.342 Lifelong learning 0.301
Technical
knowledge 0.238
Technical
knowledge 0.302 Technical ability 0.227
Problem solving 0.232 Lifelong learning 0.144 Communication 0.226
Teamwork 0.204 Problem solving 0.132 Problem solving 0.182
Communication 0.183 Adaptable 0.132 Work ethic 0.163
Critical thinking 0.156 Interpersonal 0.112 Detail oriented 0.153
Innovative 0.154 Attitude 0.112 Self motivated 0.150
Detail-oriented 0.145 Teamwork 0.112 Background 0.149
Lifelong learning 0.103 Communication 0.111
Technical
knowledge 0.141
Evidence from the field: Educators and Employers in WI

8. We spend a lot of time here so having people that are just
horses asses for a lack of a better word - we just don't want
them here…
(a) because it's a pain to be around them, and (b) it takes
away the meaningful discussions and the problem solving,
which is basically what we do here.
Manufacturing supervisor, La Crosse, WI
Image Source: https://www.bmwusfactory.com

9. Critiques of the “Soft Skills” Discourse
Soft skills are soft, easy, effeminate
Soft skills are easy to teach and learn
Lacks appreciation of cultural variation/power
Too generic: Lacks disciplinary/professional specificity
Contributes to over-simplified notions of employment
1
2
3
4
5

10. Think about a “soft skill” and how it is
defined, valued, and taught/modeled in
your own family and cultural heritage.
Write - talk w/person next to you -
2 people share w/room
Writing exercise #2

11. 2. A closer look: Communication Skills
Different modes of communication (oral, written, digital) often at top of lists
ABET General Criteria 3: Student Outcomes
(d) an ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams
(g) an ability to communicate effectively
https://www.naceweb.org/about-us/press/2017/the-key-attributes-employers-seek-on-students-resumes/
#1 Problem Solving (82.9%)
#2 Teamwork (82.9%)
#3 Written Communication (80.3%)
#7 Oral Communication (67.5%)

12. Student workshops, faculty PD, communication courses (across or within disciplines)
Common Campus Responses
Communication Skills Program
Com 723: Workplace communication (e.g., business writing)
Com 744: Oral communication in the workplace (for Applied
Science/Tech) (e.g., presentations)
Com 222: Communication for healthcare professionals (e.g.,
perception, feedback, nonverbal)

13. Communication in the Disciplines
Dr. April Kedrowicz, NC State Veterinary Medicine

14. Communication genre
A communication genre is a linguistic and rhetorical convention or action
linked to commonly held goals of a community (Swales, 2009)
Communication as a situated activity
“What these courses do not do is help students understand the
particular, situated communication expectations for your discipline… you
know your discipline. You are the expert in what it means to
communicate competently and coherently for your audiences.”
(Dannels, Palmerton & Gaffney, 2017, p.33)
Key ideas: Genre and Situation
Source: http://photoblog.statesman.com/sweet-home Source: https://www.grc.org/ Source: https://www.thegentlemansjournal.com/a-
gentlemans-guide-to-a-wedding-speech/

15. Evidence from the Field: Disciplinary Genres
Health Care (n=47) Energy (n=49)
Understanding 19 22
Teamwork 18 15
Seeing big picture 11 3
Translating jargon 12 13
Safety 12 10
Teaching 9 7
Source: https://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/working-papers
Source: Darling, A. L., & Dannels, D. P. (2003). Practicing engineers talk about the importance of talk: A report on the role of oral communication in the workplace.
Communication Education, 52(1), 1-16.

16. Think about an important and/or common oral
communication genre in your discipline.
1. Describe it in detail - what tasks, situations,
people, and norms for communication are
involved?
2. How is it taught (if at all) in your program?
Writing exercise #3

17. 1. Articulate specific learning goals: What specifically should students be learning?
How does communication fits into the overall course goals
Source: Dannels, D.P., Palmerton, P.R. & Gaffney, A.L. (2017). Chapter 4: Designing informal communication activities, In Oral communication in
the disciplines: A resource for teacher development and training (pp. 43-64).
Strategies for Teaching Oral Communication
2. Select activities appropriate to achieve goals:
• Structured whole class discussions
• Small group discussions
• Solo presentations
• Classroom debates
3. Prepare students for activity: Some direct instruction is essential -
active listening (acknowledging filters), how to structure oral presentations,
delivery (tone, clarity, gesture)
4. Assessment and Evaluation: Articulate measurable objectives, consider rubrics,
adapt to genre and/or activity, provide feedback

18. Think about a course, lesson or activity in
your department that is/could be a venue
for teaching oral communication.
Write down some ideas on how that could
be improved, thinking of:
Disciplinary genres
Direct instruction
Appropriate activities
Write - talk w/person next to you -
2 people share w/room
Writing exercise #4

19. 3. Internships: A venue for acquiring “soft” skills?
A “win-win-win” situation for students,
colleges, and employers

20. Internships - what do we know
Literature review: few empirical studies, multi-disciplinary
and multi-national, terminological confusion
49% of college seniors took an internship, practicum, coop, or field
experience (NSSE, 2017)
Figure 1. Internship in the Past 12 Months (Yes/No), by Race / Ethnicity
N = 395. Number of observations by category: Asian or Asian-American / Yes Internship= 6; Asian or Asian-American / No Internship
= 25; Black or African American / Yes Internship = 4; Black or African American / No Internship = 15; Hispanic or Latino / Yes Internship
= 7; Hispanic or Latino / No Internship = 11; White or Caucasian / Yes Internship = 83; White or Caucasian / No Internship = 229.
Note: American Indian excluded due to confidentiality restrictions

21. Literature (scholarly and practitioner) points to key structural features:
Supervisor support Task clarity/autonomy Coordination w/academics
Internships: Importance of design and the
problem of access
Figure 19. In the past 12 months, why were you not able to pursue an internship? (N = 151)
53% of students at a WI technical college who hadn’t
taken an internship wanted to, but could not….

22. Engineering students’ experiences w/internships in a
Chinese university
“We walk around and look around most of the time, just like a tourist”
“My internship was at X Motor Factory to see processes of car
production, but the factory is so dangerous we couldn’t actually operate
machines. But I was impressed by the power of the machines.”
“The university should train the workers who teach us since I feel the
workers are not capable of teaching.”
“I am happy with my internship because (at night in the dorm) we can play
together and chat more with each other.”
“It was too noisy to hear what teachers were saying - if the school can
buy wireless headsets every student can learn more efficiently.”
“I think if you want to make the internships more meaningful, the university
should first define “internship.”

23. Internships and learning
The key is to view internships in terms of
instructional design, not unlike designing a
lesson, class or course..
But they are arguably more complex
because now there are more partners
and less control.

24. Theories of Experiential Learning
Vicarious experience
(observation) supports learning
and self-efficacy beliefs
(Bandura, 2005)
The accumulation of embodied cultural capital involves time-
consuming labor… like the acquisition of a suntan or
muscular physique, it cannot be done at second hand
(Bourdieu, 1996)
(Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 1984)

25. 4 Key Conditions for Experiential Learning
in an Internship
Supervisor support and mentoring quality
Task quality and autonomy
Socialization into a profession
Feedback and reflection
1
2
3
4

26. Think of an internship program you’re most
familiar with…
To what degree does it address these 4
conditions for experiential learning?
What is being done well in this respect? What
could be improved?
Talk at your table
3-4 groups share w/room
Exercise #5

27. Parting Thought: What Our Students Need Today…
Non-Routinized Tasks
Complex Problem-Solving
The Human Touch: Empathy, Humor, Rapport

28. Next Steps
Expanding College Internship Study (UW-Oshkosh, Univ Baltimore, FSU, Kyoto)
7-Week Online “Soft” Skills Course for Postsecondary Educators
(Division of Continuing Studies, UW-Madison)
NSF Study on 4 Skills in 4 Professions
Email: matthew.hora@wisc.edu Twitter:@matt_hora @UWMadisonCCWT Web: ccwt.wceruw.org
Slide deck posted on: www.slideshare.net
http://empower.wceruw.org/#/