Undergraduate STEM student communication skills: exploring ways to improve the alignment between academic outcomes and employer needs

Abstract

Undergraduate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) students are graduating with insufficient communication skills, thereby diminishing their employability and upward socio-economic mobility. The purpose of this action research study was to explore ways of improving the alignment between academic outcomes and employer needs related to communication skills for undergraduate STEM students at a large, private university in the northeastern United States. Participants for Cycle 1 of this study included academic advisors and career services/cooperative education (CS/CE) staff members experienced in assisting undergraduate computer science and information technology (CSIT) students at the research site. Based on Cycle 1 findings and a review of the extant literature, an action step was designed, implemented, and evaluated in Cycle 2 to explore potential changes to a required first-year experience (RFE). A Recommendations Working Group (RWG) comprising students, alumni, staff, and faculty convened to achieve these outcomes. Evaluation of the study's results was based on RWG members' feedback on the efficacy of the group's constitution, facilitation, and process as well as College101 administration assessments of the RWG's co-created recommendations. The study concluded that peer modeling and interaction are valuable for strengthening undergraduate student communication skills, high-quality facilitation and instruction are critical for effective cultivation of undergraduate communication skills, and holistic institutional commitment to developing undergraduate student communication skills may improve outcomes. Implications for higher education institutions include that undergraduate STEM student communication skills development can be supported by leveraging peer modeling and interaction; attending to the qualifications, training, and support of associated facilitators and instructors; and ensuring that existing programming and units charged with cultivating these skills are aligned and sufficiently supported.--Author's abstract