ED115: Soft Skills
I found a lot of useful information in this course about soft skills. Soft skills are a vital coponent that should be a part of all instructors' personalities. However, the topic within the course that I was most interested in was "Managing Emotions" under the heading about Emotional Intelligence. I tend to get very sensitive and frustrated about some things--especially interpersonal communication. So I would have liked to see more advice about this topic. Better yet--I think an online course about Emotional Intelligence by itself would be very helpful. Not just for me, but for a lot of people that I work with.
In dealing with a diverse group of students maintaining and managing emotions is key with keeping a classroom running smoothly. Any type of advice withy workplace behavior, soft skills and EQ can be helpful.
Soft skills maybe eaier to teach then we think. Alot has to do with how we conduct are own professional lives.g
I belive it is important to get to know your individual student. That helps in knowing how to proceed in teaching them soft skills.
It is not always easy, but I always try and maintain a positive attitute, listen and guide in the right direction. Negative emotions must be checked at the door (which is not always easy as student reactions/events can throw us off balance). But then its when its a good time to step back and breath. I saw this a lot when working in hospitals and dealing with health professionals. Many have an amazing ability to get their emotions under control, and managed. Very interesting course - learnt alot and room for improvement for me.
I think soft skills are really important. A lot of people think having a bunch of degrees makes them smart, but without soft skills the degrees are useless. We need to know how to communicate with people and understand people. The connection with people/students is what is important.
I feel soft skills require constant self monitoring, and personal evaluation to be effective. Granted, over time these skills become second nature to some degree, but must always be at the forefront of your daily interpersonal activities.
I have learned so much about soft skills. They are very effective is used properly. I enjoy using soft skills as ice breakers when new students come to class for the first time and use soft skills in a manner of just simply saying hello. I also have found joy in greeting my students in the morning before class with a smile and high energy. This tends to set the atmosphere for the class.
I've learned that I should evaluate my soft skills more often to perfect my ability to efectively interact with others. The course provided additional knowledge that I can bring to the workplace and classroom. I wasn't aware of all the elements surrounding soft skills. With the help of this course, and am now able to fine tune and properly assess my soft skills.
Prior to taking this course, I understood that soft skills were important, but I didn't realize just how much more important they are than hard skills. The course content, in addition to the discussion comments I read provided some insight regarding ways I could improve my soft skills.
