Students at a South African university are exposed to an annual report project which combines elements of four courses as an integrated teaching strategy. The purpose of this paper is to report students' perspectives as to the extent this integrated teaching strategy addressed the learning outcomes for professional skills as required by the…

Integrating humanities and arts into STEM has been suggested to better prepare students for the workforce. Studies have shown that improvisation (abbreviated as improv), an educational program from humanities and arts, can potentially improve engineering pedagogy and learning. However, little is known about improv's impact on developing…

Reflective practice (RP) is a widely accepted approach for facilitating experiential learning within the professional development of service delivery practitioners. However, a dearth of empirical evidence exists to support the potential efficacy of RP for improving applied practice effectiveness. This study examined whether improving…

Preparing graduates for full-time employment following graduation has become an increasing concern for universities. Student services departments who employ students have been tasked with providing intentional development opportunities for them. At Arizona State University those opportunities have been taken on by professional staff members (PSM)…

Teacher professional diaries are teacher reflections on their own and their colleagues' observed practice. They are effective tools of increasing teacher qualification. Few research studies worldwide, while no such research studies in Georgia have been conducted on the impact of the application of reflective diaries on teachers' reflective,…

In conducting a multi-disciplinary, multi-degree study of all 83 higher education accrediting organizations in the United States and the 605 academic programs associated with them, our goal was to uncover patterns in the presence of leadership and general workforce competencies identified within the stated learning outcomes employed by these…

Qualified teachers are a crucial component of preschool programs for improving young children's social, literacy, cognitive, and academic outcomes. Research shows that children are more sociable, exhibit a more developed use of language, and perform at a higher level of cognitive tasks if their teachers have bachelor's degrees and specialized…

Increasingly, research suggests that successful professional learning communities (PLCs) worldwide need effective principals to strengthen pedagogy and develop skills that facilitate team planning to increase student achievement. Using immersive simulations to help teachers build skills and increase self-efficacy is also supported in research. Few…

Communication is considered a crucial skill set by employers who require universities to develop students' communication skills, to meet their requirements in the workplace. This study focuses on graduates' perceptions of their skill in professional communication; its development during their studies; and its value when making the transition to…

As Biology students prepare to complete their undergraduate degrees and continue into either a career or to another degree, the scientific skills learned in the classroom are not enough to secure their professional path. In this study, the soft skills such as the ability to work in a team and to communicate effectively were emphasized within the…

Self-reflection assignments were used and assessed in an undergraduate kinetics course. The assignments involved essays where students were prompted to evaluate their proficiency in professional, non-technical skills guided by a self-evaluation rubric, which includes a rating scheme for 10 non-technical skills. The students set goals and tracked…

Work-integrated learning (WIL) has attracted considerable attention as an instrument for enhancing professional practice and developing work-readiness in graduates. It is widely considered as a point of difference in developing graduate employability by enhancing skill outcomes through an authentic learning experience. This paper focuses on…

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogy that has attracted attention for many biomedical engineering curricula. The aim of the current study was to address the research question, "Does PBL enable students to develop desirable professional engineering skills?" The desirable skills identified were communication, teamwork, problem…

Successful careers in sustainability are determined by positive real-world change towards sustainability. This success depends heavily on professional skills in effective and compassionate communication, collaborative teamwork, or impactful stakeholder engagement, among others. These professional skills extend beyond content knowledge and…

Readers can explore 13 teaching innovations presented at the 2019 Association for Business Communication annual international conference in Detroit, Michigan. These assignments are designed to add fuel to oral and written persuasion, including the practical use of rhetorical tools. Ideas to advance learners' professional development are presented.…