'Soft' skills identified by students who peer-led mathematics computing workshops

Abstract

Increasingly, employers are suggesting that 'soft' skills, such as communication and teamwork, are equally important as 'hard' skills, such as discipline specific knowledge. This makes it imperative for university programs to build in opportunities for students to practise and demonstrate such soft skills. For some years, small groups of students in my second-year numerical methods course have acted as peer-leaders, with each student taking a turn to help run the computer workshops. In 2018, I introduced a PebblePad reflection to give the students the opportunity to identify the skills that they had developed, as well as to reflect on the process. In analysing the students' responses, I found that the students were very positive about the experience and that they were able to articulate a range of soft skills that they had practised and developed during the activity.