Connecting Professional Skills to Learning Activities

Flateby, T. L., & Rose, T. A. (2021, July 16). From college to career success: How educators and employers talk about skills. American Association of Colleges and Universities. https://www.aacu.org/liberaleducation/articles/from-college-to-career-success-how-educators-and-employers-talk-about-skills(opens in new window)

Finley, A. (2021). How College Contributes" to" Workforce Success: Employer Views on What Matters Most. Association of American Colleges and Universities. https://www.aacu.org/research/how-college-contributes-to-workforce-success

How college curriculum can speak the labor market’s language 4 ways educators can use skills to engage more learners, employers. Inside Higher Ed. https://narratives.insidehighered.com/how-college-curriculum-can-speak-to-labor-market/index.html(opens in new window)

Warrner, J. (2021). Integrating Soft Skills into an Academic Curriculum. Ball State University. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED611615.pdf (PDF)

Shuman, L. J., Besterfield‐Sacre, M., & McGourty, J. (2005). The ABET “professional skills”—Can they be taught? Can they be assessed? Journal of Engineering Education, 94(1), 41-55. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2005.tb00828.x(opens in new window)

Giordano, A. N., & Styers-Barnett, D. (2022). Training Tomorrow’s Scientists: Embedding Professional Skills in the Physical Chemistry Curriculum with a Guided Grant and Laboratory Project. Journal of Chemical Education, 99(6), 2417–2424. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00817(opens in new window)

Scenario Based Writing or Activities 

Assignments and projects can involve scenario-based writing or activities where students are given specific real-world career focused scenarios and asked to respond. These scenarios promote experiential learning and facilitate connections with the professional field, as well as give students an opportunity to practice and revise their responses. Some examples of this include emotional intelligence scenarios, difficult conversations with colleagues, and research-based inquiries they might receive in their careers.

Campus Resources

It’s easy to connect students with resources outside of class, and one amazing resource that adds connections to the professional field is the Chico State Career Center. The Career Center holds Career Fairs each semester, and if possible, instructors can cancel class to allow students to attend the event. Some students are seriously looking for opportunities to connect with employers, and some go to experience the event and plan for future attendance. They get an opportunity to see the value in events outside of the classroom and practice the skills we have been covering in class! These employers love Chico State students and grads, and this will be time well spent. 

Authentic Assessment

Whenever possible, make your assignments/quizzes/projects authentic for the students. Authentic assessment can show itself as having students respond to or reflect on a real-life career situation as an assignment (example: writing a Cover Letter). This makes learning not only more powerful, but purposeful and useful for their immediate lives and future careers.

Clear Goals

When our students have specific goals outlined, those goals are easier to achieve. Ask students not only to share their goals for the course/future/career field, but a specific plan of achievement in a series of questions.

For each goal, have students respond to the following:

1. What is the goal you have set for this class/future/career field?
2. What are the benefits of achieving that goal?
3. What is your step-by-step plan to achieve this goal?
4. What are the likely obstacles that may prevent you from achieving this goal?
5. What is your specific plan for avoiding/overcoming those obstacles?