eLene4Life Dynamic Toolkit – LO

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It is a collection of innovative teaching and training activities and methods to develop soft skills.

To identify the appropriate steps to choose the right training within those suggested, the following guidelines are provided:

  1. Focusing the soft skills curriculum – It’s fundamental to focus it on the target group, to frame the needs and requirements of student’s later professional life.
  2. Learning at the workplace – Simulating or adopting practices that are as similar as possible to the real situations in the daily work practices is extremely useful to improve the students’ soft skills.
  3. Creating teamwork situations – If in large groups, split them into smaller ones in order to create a team that can work in parallel.
  4. Adopting problem-based learning / Learning by Doing – It could be the most useful approach, based on real issues where outcomes could have value for learners.
  5. Making Learners Drive Learning – Explain the benefits of active and experiential learning and involve them in the design of the active learning practices.
  6. Choosing the right methodology according to the context – In order to develop some skills and behavior during studies, it would be necessary to require certain behaviors during them (e.g. in the last two years), showing which methods or particular approaches would work best.
  7. Using Digital Resources – Quick (and often free/open source) apps or softwares are useful to support virtual workgroups training, testing, gaming and more.
  8. Debriefing and providing feedback after any active experience – This is something that is often lacking in the HE context, where the focus is on assessments of knowledge.
  9. Share expectations and allocate time – It is important to dedicate time to explain effectively to students the active learning activities the course foresees, teachers’ expectations, course learning outcomes, and the evaluation criteria students will be faced with.
  10. Re-shaping the role of teachers and moving it to a more mentor/coach style – This can be considered the constant agreement from nearly all the interviewees. Teachers have to become facilitators of knowledge and learning. This is a need of society. Improving their digital skills is also a priority.