Assessment and evaluation of university students' soft skills. (c2014)

Abstract

Stakeholders and accreditation agencies exert pressure on higher education institutions to provide evidence for students’ learning; employers demand in their employees skills other than those learned in certain specialty fields at academic institutions, namely soft skills. Consequently, assessing students’ attainment of soft skills upon graduation is a necessity. This study explores students’ acquisition of four main soft skills: communication, critical thinking, lifelong learning and teamwork skills upon graduation from a NEASC accredited university in Lebanon. It employs mixed methods of questionnaires, focus group interviews and an active learning session to collect quantitative and qualitative data that would address the study purpose. The sample included senior students in their last semester before graduation and alumni from different majors under the School of Arts and Sciences. Analysis of questionnaire and focus group interviews data indicate that students have mainly acquired the skills, but certain sub-skills require extra emphasis implying that faculty need to modify teaching strategies to develop these skills. The active learning approach results indicate that engaging students in the learning process would contribute to attaining communication skills, critical thinking, lifelong learning and team work skills. Assessment of students’ acquisition of these skills is vital for feedback on institutional and teaching effectiveness and to prepare graduates to excel in a dynamic workforce. The study findings shed light on teaching and assessing soft skills, an area that has not been researched in the region.