Essential Skill Set Research Articles

Knowledge About Basic Life Support Among University Students.

Basic life support (BLS) is an essential skill set for responding to emergencies like cardiac arrest. However, the level of preparedness and interest in BLS among university students remains underexplored, especially in nonmedical populations. This study surveyed 427 University of Beira Interior (UBI) students to assess their knowledge, confidence, and interest in BLS training. A cross-sectional questionnaire was used to gather data on previous BLS exposure, perceived competence, and preferences for further training. This study focused on a sample of 427 students from the UBI, where 246 (57.6%) had BLStraining (group A), predominantly from health-related courses, while 181 (42.4%) had no such training (group B), primarily from non-health-related courses. The study revealed that students with BLS training had significantly higher confidence and preparedness in recognizing and responding to emergencies, such as performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and using defibrillators, compared to those without training. Despite the overall interest in BLS training, particularly through practical sessions, there remains a disparity in access to such education, particularly among students in non-health-related fields. The findings highlight the need for integrating BLS training into the curriculum, potentially starting at the secondary education level, to ensure widespread competence in life- saving skills across the population. The study highlights the critical need for integrating BLS training into earlier stages of education to improve preparedness across the population. The findings suggest that widespread, practical, and accessible BLS training could significantly enhance emergency response outcomes.

Eight ways to support faculty with Entrustable Professional Activities.

Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) is pushing the medical profession to be more accountable in our standards of assessment. This has led us to focus our efforts at the top of Miller's pyramid, where we aim to see what the trainee 'does' in the clinical environment. In Canadian Royal College specialty training, this has come in the form of workplace-based supervision of trainees performing Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). This is unfamiliar territory for many residents and faculty, and implementation of an additional assessment process into already busy clinical practice has been particularly challenging. Because EPA assessments serve as significant contributors in new programs of assessment, failure to collect high quality EPA assessments threaten the validity of this new system. Understanding the barriers to and enablers of EPA acquisition can inform faculty development initiatives to ensure success. Based on our previous work studying early experiences of EPA assessment acquisition in Emergency Medicine, we have identified eight key concepts to guide faculty development initiatives, namely: the rationale for CBME, the 'behind the scenes' of CBME, how to construct rich narrative comments, effective use of supervision scales, the tension of EPA assessments being both formative and summative, the importance of a shared responsibility between residents and faculty for EPA assessment completion, familiarity with the suite of EPAs, and tips and tricks for incorporating EPA assessment completion into busy clinical practice. These key concepts can be integrated into an overall faculty development strategy for building this now essential skill set.

A modular inquiry-based semester theme that integrates data science education and bioinformatics in protein structure function courses.

With an exponential growth in biological data and computing power, familiarity with bioinformatics has become a demanding and popular skill set both in academia and industry. There is a need to increase students' competencies to be able to take on bioinformatic careers, to get them familiarized with scientific professions in data science and the academic training required to pursue them, in a field where demand outweighs the supply. Here we implemented a set of bioinformatic activities into a protein structure and function course of a graduate program. Concisely, students were given hands-on opportunities to explore the bioinformatics-based analyses of biomolecular data and structural biology via a semester-long case study structured as inquiry-based bioinformatics exercises. Towards the end of the term, the students also designed and presented an assignment project that allowed them to document the unknown protein that they identified using bioinformatic knowledge during the term. The post-module survey responses and students' performances in the lab module imply that it furthered an in-depth knowledge of bioinformatics. Despite having not much prior knowledge of bioinformatics prior to taking this module students indicated positive feedback. The students got familiar with cross-indexed databases that interlink important data about proteins, enzymes as well as genes. The essential skillsets honed by this research-based bioinformatic pedagogical approach will empower students to be able to leverage this knowledge for their future endeavours in the bioinformatics field.

The Banker of the Future: Characteristics and Trends

Abstract In the age of technological advancement and ever-changing consumer expectations, banking is undergoing a major metamorphosis. New technologies are mostly related to the digitization of banking activities. As the digitization process deepens, banks will be required to be more agile, to accelerate innovative activity and to focus more on the customer. The basis of these transformations is the labor force employed in the banking sector. The process of implementing new information technologies required new specialties for employees of banking institutions. This article examines the essential roles and skill sets of the future in banking. Likewise, modern trends in the digitalization of banking were examined. To perfect this article, the futurological visions of banking experts placed in open access were examined. The purpose of this publication is to present the basic trends of the professional transformation of the banking worker and the banking industry in general in the horizon up to the year 2030.

Professional Development in Computational Thinking: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper presents a systematic literature review of professional development programs in computational thinking (CT). CT has emerged as an essential set of skills that everyone should develop to participate in a global society. However, there were no pre-service or in-service teacher programs to integrate CT into the K–12 classrooms until very recently. Thus, it is important to identify how educators and researchers address the challenges to prepare the next generation of students and what gaps persist in the current literature. We review existing work in this field from two perspectives: First, we analyze the learning outcomes, assessment methods, pedagogical approaches, and pedagogical tools used in the professional development programs in CT. Second, we examine how these programs assess the teachers’ knowledge and skills as outcomes. We used the technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) framework to characterize existing literature and identify possible gaps in the preparation of pre-service and in-service teachers in CT. Our results suggest that (1) existing evidence is limited to developed countries; (2) many studies are only focusing on teachers understanding the concepts but do not explore how the participants evaluate or create learning activities; (3) no studies look into classroom observations as part of the program, which limits our understanding to how these programs work; and (4) most programs use block-based programming languages as the tool to develop student CT. While block-based programming languages are used for introductory training programs, students are often expected to transfer their learning to more professional programming languages.

Use of a clinical reasoning scaffolding document improves student performance

ObjectiveClinical reasoning is an essential skill set for practicing pharmacists to possess. Given its complex nature, optimal pedagogies for teaching clinical reasoning are largely unknown. The use of scaffolding to expand a student's zone of proximal development and improve clinical reasoning performance was assessed in this study. MethodsThis prospective, observational cohort study of second professional year (P2) students compared performance of those who were exposed to a clinical reasoning scaffolding tool (CRST) to historic control P2 students (No CRST) on FARMR notes in alignment with the Pharmacists' Patient Care Process. Student performance was assessed using an entrustment-like scale for each of 5 sections (Findings, Assessment and goals, Recommendations, Monitoring, and Rationale) of the FARMR to link classroom and experiential education settings. ResultsIn total, 141 CRST students from 28 groups were compared to 77 No CRST students from 13 groups. CRST students performed significantly higher in Assessment and goals of therapy, Recommendations, Monitoring, Rationale sections but no difference in Findings. ConclusionsScaffolding has been utilized successfully in other health professions education. This study provides evidence of it successfully improving student pharmacist clinical reasoning skills, an essential ability for successful pharmacy practitioners.

Critical Thinking and Clinical Reasoning in Undergraduate Medical Course: A Mixed-Methods Study in a Medical College in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Critical thinking is considered as the essential set of skills for medical practice, particularly during emergencies. However, there is lack of conceptual clarity around it and it was not explicitly included in the undergraduate medical curriculum in India. The present study has been planned to assess the critical thinking disposition and clinical reasoning skills among medical undergraduate students in a medical college in West Bengal, India. The perceived definition and attributes of critical thinking in medical education will be explored and the contexts where application of critical thinking skills may be crucial for medical practice will be identified. The content validity index, test-retest agreement; internal consistency and construct validity of the Critical Thinking Disposition Assessment Questionnaire (CTDAQ) will be assessed through step-by-step procedure. CTDAQ and the case-based objective-type questions for the clinical reasoning skills will be applied to around 200 medical undergraduate students. Their perception and experience on critical thinking in medical education will be assessed with structured open-ended questions. In-depth interviews with medical teachers of the second and third phases of undergraduate medical curriculum will be conducted to assess their perception and experiences on critical thinking. The quantitative analysis will be conducted with MS excel and R software using the relevant packages. The qualitative data will be transcribed and translated in English, close to the participants' verbatim. The thematic analysis will be conducted with inductive coding and memoing. The study will be conducted maintaining ethical standards for epidemiological studies. The present study, one of the first a few studies in India, will help to meet the conceptual gap in understanding the attributes of critical thinking, its association with clinical reasoning and the contexts of preferred application in medical practice.

Towards a New Conceptual Model of AI-Enhanced Learning for College Students: The Roles of Artificial Intelligence Capabilities, General Self-Efficacy, Learning Motivation, and Critical Thinking Awareness

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, college students have faced various challenges that could negatively impact their critical thinking abilities due to disruptions to education, increased stress and anxiety, less social interaction, and the advancement of distance learning relying more heavily on digital tools. With the increasing integration of AI technology across sectors, higher education institutions have deployed various AI capabilities for intelligent campuses and modernized teaching. However, how to fully utilize AI capabilities to promote students’ thinking awareness on learning effectiveness is still not clear, as critical thinking is an essential skill set holding significant implications for college students’ development. This research adopts the resource-based theory (RBT) to conceptualize the university as a unified entity of artificial intelligence (AI) resources. It aims to investigate whether AI capabilities can foster critical thinking awareness among students by enhancing general self-efficacy and learning motivation. In particular, it examines the causal relationships between AI capabilities, general self-efficacy, motivation and critical thinking awareness. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire administered to 637 college students. Structural equation modeling was employed to test hypotheses pertaining to causality. The results showed that AI capabilities could indirectly enhance students’ critical thinking awareness by strengthening general self-efficacy and learning motivation, but the effect on critical thinking awareness was not significant. Meanwhile, general self-efficacy significantly affected the formation of learning motivation and critical thinking awareness. This indicates that AI capabilities are able to reshape the cognitive learning process, but its direct influence on thinking awareness needs to be viewed with caution. This study explored the role of AI capabilities in education from the perspective of organizational capabilities. It not only proves how AI facilitates cognition, but also discovered the important mediating role of general self-efficacy and motivation in this process. This finding explains the inherent connections between the mechanism links. Furthermore, the study expands research on AI capabilities research from the technical level to the educational field. It provides a comprehensive and in-depth theoretical explanation theoretically, guiding the practice and application of AI in education. The study is of positive significance for understanding the need for the future development of the cultivation of critical thinking awareness talents needed for future development through AI capabilities in education.

Do we teach critical thinking? A mixed methods study of faculty and student perceptions of teaching and learning critical thinking at three professional schools

Introduction Critical thinking (CT) is an essential set of skills and dispositions for professionals. While viewed as an important part of professional education, approaches to teaching and assessing critical thinking have been siloed within disciplines and there are limited data on whether student perceptions of learning align with faculty perceptions of teaching. Materials and methods The authors used a convergent mixed methods approach in required core courses in schools of education, government, and medicine at one university in the Northeast United States. Faculty surveys and student focus groups (FG) addressed definitions, strategies, and barriers to teaching CT. Results and conclusions Sixty-four (51.6%) faculty completed the survey, and 34 students participated in FGs. Among faculty, 54.0% (34/63) reported explicitly teaching CT; but students suggested teaching CT was predominantly implicit. Faculty-reported strategies differed among schools. Faculty defined CT in process terms such as ‘analyzing’; students defined CT in terms of viewpoints and biases. Our results reveal a lack of explicit, shared CT mental models between faculty and students and across professional schools. Explicit teaching of CT may help develop a shared language and lead to better understanding and application of the skills and dispositions necessary to succeed in professional life.

Critical Thinking Assessment in Engineering Education: A Scopus-Based Literature Review

AbstractCritical Thinking (CT) skills are highly valued by employers, leading to their integration into engineering education through various design- and problem-based approaches. Despite their recognized importance, the varying perceptions of CT present challenges in achieving a unified approach to its development and assessment. This paper reviews CT assessment in engineering education, particularly mapping Facione's CT skills with assessment approaches to discern how CT is evaluated. We conducted a systematic keyword search in the SCOPUS database and identified 462 articles from 2010 to March 2023. These were reviewed and distilled down to 80 articles included in this study. We find that CT has been recognized as an essential skill set, but there are no consistent definitions or means to assess it. Further, while CT is a multifaced skill, we find that very few assessment methods assess CT holistically. We identify three goals for CT assessment: (1) understand and recognize CT, (2) demonstrate CT, and (3) identify if CT has changed due to intervention. We discuss how different assessment approaches, including rubrics, surveys, standardized tests, and customized assessments, have been used and propose recommendations to support reaching a better understanding of CT assessment in engineering education. Further research is needed to understand better how these skills can be taught and assessed as part of engineering education to meet the needs of employers.

A national training course for clinical trainers in family medicine.

Quality vocational training is important to ensure that family physicians can strengthen the district health system. Competent clinical trainers and supervisors, with the necessary educational knowledge and skills, are required for this job. In 2014, a formal Train the Clinical Trainer (TCT) course was introduced in South Africa as a collaborative effort between the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFPs). To make the training relevant, the course was aligned with the National Unit Standards for Family Medicine, as these defined the learning outcomes for registrars. The aim of the TCT course was to equip workplace-based clinical trainers with an essential set of educational skills, which could be further developed through mentoring and support. Accredited trainers present the face-to-face course yearly to two family physicians from each of the nine departments of family medicine in South Africa. The TCT course is built around the educational principles of learner-centredness and andragogy. During these 5 days of training the roles and responsibilities of trainers and learners, the learning environment, alignment with the curriculum, assessment for and of learning, and leadership are covered. Recently online assessment, the e-portfolio and the use of entrustable professional activities were added to the course content. In the future we would like to accredit more clinical trainers through a process of workplace-based self-evaluation and 360-degree feedback from peers and students. Lastly, we want to expand the training course in the African region.Contribution: The Train the Clinical Trainer (TCT) course, established in 2014 through RCGP and SAAFP collaboration in South Africa, ensures family physicians have essential educational skills. Aligned with national standards, the course embraces learner-centered principles. Ongoing enhancements include online assessments and future plans involve accrediting more trainers through self-evaluation and expanding across the African region.

A 10-Step Process to Align Problem-Based Learning With Accreditation Expectations for Self-Directed and Lifelong Learning.

Self-directed and lifelong learning (SDLL) skills are essential skillsets in both undergraduate and graduate medical education (UME and GME). Hence, medical schools' accreditation bodies emphasize the requirements to acquire these skills in their accreditation standards. For example, in the United States, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) clearly defines the components of the SDLL process in Element 6.3 of Accreditation Standard Six. Among the active learning pedagogies, problem-based learning (PBL) provides ample learning opportunities where SDLL skills are effectively applied. The aim of this article is to streamline the process of developing, delivering, and evaluating PBL sessions in line with the SDLL accreditation requirements through a 10-step design and implementation process. Our 10-step process, detailed in the article, starts with developing learning objectives that inform the content of the PBL case and the required embedded learning triggers. The process carefully addresses the components of the SDLL process and other aspects of the accreditation needs within the framework of PBL. The approach to implementation, feedback, assessment, and evaluation is explicitly described to meet the regulatory expectations. In addition to the essential role in UME and GME, SDLL skills are vital requisites for continuing medical education of all physicians. Instilling this skillset early in medical students helps to cultivate their ability to apply these skills in their future professional roles. Using accreditation standards as a foundation for creating learning experiences, for example, PBL, requires careful content development and sequencing. Such a process needs explicit standardized steps that should not only be feasible, but also transferable for usage by different medical schools. Our streamlined 10-step process of designing and delivering an SDLL-oriented PBL experience can easily be adopted by other medical schools to address the SDLL skills acquisition as well as meeting the accreditation requirements.

Developing the digital transformation skills framework: A systematic literature review approach.

Digital transformation (DT) involves integrating digital technologies into organizations to improve productivity, efficiency, and quality. Investing in the workforce's skillsets is essential for successful DT. However, it remains unclear which skillsets are essential. This study aims to identify and define the essential skillsets needed for exploiting the full potential of DT, and to consolidate the identified skills into a comprehensive framework of DT skills. A systematic literature review was conducted using the PRISMA approach for selecting studies. This led to the selection of 36 articles that were examined using thematic analysis for identifying and consolidating skills into a framework. The Digital Transformation Skills Framework (DTSF) was developed, which contains six overarching skillsets and 44 underlying skills. The framework covers key skillsets in the areas of digital work, entrepreneurship, evidence-based work, collaboration, communication, and adaptation. The DTSF offers a comprehensive understanding of essential skills for today's evolving organizations, addressing a critical gap in existing literature. It is valuable for organizations and HR professionals, serving as a foundation for re- and upskilling initiatives. Ongoing research should expand the framework to include domain-specific DT skills and emerging digital technologies.

The Rising Tide of Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) in Medical Education: An Essential Skillset for Undergraduate and Graduate Medical Education.

As point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) becomes an integral component of healthcare, both undergraduate and graduate medical POCUS education is urgently necessary in curricula. Despite the apparent need of POCUS curricula, there remains a lingering question: Are there evidence-based benefits to POCUS training in undergraduate and/or graduate medical education settings? Qualitative review of research was conducted to identify common themes for benefits of POCUS and the requirements and/or characteristics for effective POCUS educational curricula. Results for undergraduate medical education were separated into preclinical and clinical education. In preclinical POCUS education, POCUS education improves anatomy education and physical examination skills for sonographic assessment of abdominal, reproductive, cardiovascular, and renal structures. Further enhancement can be achieved via simulation devices that are generalized ultrasound simulation mannequins, one defined body region such as the abdomen, or local regions of interest such as the femoral triangle. In clinical undergraduate POCUS education, benefits involved greater performance on knowledge tests and general ultrasound competency in emergency medicine, surgical, family medicine, and physical medicine and rehabilitation clerkships. These studies also found improved comprehension of specific POCUS examinations such as those for ultrasound-guided injections, FAST, eFAST, and RUSH. Further integration of POCUS education into graduate medical education was found to successfully improve ultrasound knowledge and competency in both academic and military internal medicine residencies. One limitation of this study is that this article is a review resulting in no specific intervention being introduced. The resultant hypothesis of this systematic review cannot be tested; rather evidence-based recommendations are restricted to the currently available literature within the searched databases. From this review, it was found that the inclusion of a properly integrated POCUS curriculum can result in greater confidence in ultrasound use, increased knowledge of anatomy and basic sciences for various organ systems, improved ultrasound knowledge and performance in clinical clerkships, and offers improved confidence and knowledge in ultrasound during residency.

Effectiveness of Alternative Assessment Tools used in EiS-SULAM Projects for Sustainable Communities in Engineering Programme

Service-Learning Malaysia-University for Society (SULAM) approach integrates theory and practice to expose students to real-world community problems and develop their higher-order thinking skills (HOTs). However, there is a lack of research on alternative assessment tools used to evaluate SULAM projects in engineering programs. This study focuses on the assessment tools used for the Engineers in Society (EIS) course integrated with SULAM (EiS-SULAM) and their effectiveness. A questionnaire survey was administered to 462 civil engineering students who took the EiS-SULAM course during the October 2020, March 2021, and October 2021 semesters. Of the 462 students, 165 responded to the questionnaire, resulting in a response rate of 36%. The students' perspectives were triangulated with the direct attainment of the program outcomes for the course based on the assessments used. The results showed that all students met the 50% cut-off mark for the EiSSULAM course, satisfying the EAC Standard 2020 criterion. The study highlights that the four assessment tools used in the EIS course are effective, but there is a room for improvement. The students suggested the need for financial support from the university, improvements to the assessment tools, facilities such as internet, conducive environment to enhance their learning experience, and additional support from lecturers/advisors highlighting the importance of quality guidance and mentorship for student success. The study's findings could help improve engineering assessment instruments to enhance the students’ skill sets related to sustainable community. However, the use of purposive sampling may limit the generalizability of the results to other engineering programmes or institutions. The results suggest that the EIS-SULAM course is effective in developing students' HOTs and achieving essential skill sets for societal well-being. In conclusion, this study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of assessment tools in SULAM projects for engineering programmes and its potential to develop the essential skill sets required for community and societal well-being. Future research could explore the effectiveness of SULAM in different engineering programmes and institutions using different sampling methods. In addition, promising avenue for future research is the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), such as ChatGPT, in the development of assessment prompts for engineering courses. This research could focus on creating AI-powered prompts aligned with course and program outcomes to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of student evaluation.

Conceptualizing political information literacy among young people: A systematized review of the literature

Political Information Literacy (PIL) is a vital and essential set of skills pre-dominantly discussed in Library and Information Studies disciplines. PIL is necessary to navigate the convoluted political information landscape, including the threats to democracy and the spreading of misinformation, disinformation, and fake news. Having PIL is especially crucial in adolescence and young adulthood as these are prime phases where young people shape their beliefs and attitudes and learn about their political and civic lives. Understanding what it means to have PIL is essential so that educators and practitioners can teach and assess PIL, resulting in young people being able to understand, analyze, critique, and make informed decisions on political information. This systematized review sampled 99 journal articles and conference papers from seven databases in the disciplines affiliated with the social sciences published between 2006 and 2022. The paper discusses how different factors shape and contribute to or hinder young people’s political knowledge, skills, and self-efficacy as they navigate political information. This work sheds light on findings from various countries and a diverse age range of young people in various life stages (13–35). It highlights populations that may have been excluded and provides potential questions that can be further investigated.

Robot-assisted Laparoscopic Excision of Abdominal Wall Endometrioma Utilizing Intraoperative Ultrasound and Transabdominal Needle Placement

In patients with endometriosis, extra pelvic endometriosis is estimated to have an incidence of 11% and a rare subset of extra pelvic lesions include abdominal wall endometriosis with an incidence of 0.03-3.5%1,3. Evaluation for and surgical management of abdominal wall endometriosis is an essential skillset for the advanced gynecologic surgeon. In this video, we demonstrate a surgical technique for robot-assisted laparoscopic excision of abdominal wall endometriosis with intraoperative ultrasound-guided needle placement. Description and demonstration of surgical technique. Patient with previous history of 2 cesarean sections and right lower quadrant cyclic abdominal wall pain. Tertiary care, academic center INTERVENTIONS: Intraoperative ultrasound-guided needle placement to map location and boundaries of the lesion followed by minimally invasive resection of the lesion with the intermittent advancement and withdrawal of needles to confirm clear margins. Minimally invasive resection of abdominal wall endometriosis using intraoperative ultrasound guided needle placement is an effective technique to guide surgical dissection and allow for clear surgical margins and successful treatment of this rare condition.

Defining the Role of Anaortic Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

As the population ages and co-morbidities become more prevalent, the complexity of patients presenting for coronary artery bypass surgery is increasing. Cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamping in these patients carry increased risk and, indeed, in some patients, with ascending aortic disease, the risks are prohibitive. Total-arterial anaortic coronary artery surgery is a technique that provides complete surgical coronary artery revascularization without cardiopulmonary bypass and without manipulating the ascending aorta. The technique essentially eliminates the risk of cerebral embolization of aortic atheroma and aortic injury. Anaortic techniques are an essential skillset for coronary artery surgery centers treating higher-risk patients.

Embedding Digital Fluency in Our Courses: Moving from Theory to Practice

An increasing amount of literature from academic, governmental and non-governmental organizations (Kluzer, Reyna, Hanham, & Meier, 2018; Kluzer & Pujol Priego, 2018, etc.) points to the need for post-secondary institutions to do more to prepare students to be fluent in the consumption, understanding and use of digital media and tools. Digital fluency is increasingly seen as an essential skillset for graduates’ employability and for their citizenship, but while there is strong consensus about the need for students to be more digitally fluent, there is less consensus about what digitally fluency is, or about how to teach it.
 This paper will offer a working definition of digital fluency and describe an approach to fostering student digital fluency development that can be applied to a wide range of courses. Drawing on frameworks by various governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as current scholarship in the field of teaching digital literacy (Ng, 2012.; Caufiled, 2017, Ungerer, 2016, Hinrichsen & Coombs, 2013, etc.), the paper will provide an explanation of the rationale behind the framework tool that the author has developed and the paper will conclude with an explanation of how to use the tool to embed specific and authentic digital fluency skill development at the course level.

A Metainvestigation of Speaking Skills: Practice, Feedback, and Self-Directed Efforts

<bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Background:</b> Fluent and accurate speaking is an essential set of skills that engineering students strive to achieve, as they can lead to better job placement and a promising future. This article documents a speaking assessment carried out among 120 engineering students who have undergone two semesters of Technical English courses in the final year of their study. The students from diverse departments opted for the English for Competitive Exams elective course to improve their English language proficiency. The objective of the elective is to train the learners in essential language components for facing high-stakes competitive exams with an integrated language skills approach. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Literature review:</b> This linguistics-focused study documents a cluster strategy, a pedagogical attempt at speaking, with a culminating self-reflection phase. The strategy cluster was thoughtfully designed and integrated throughout the semester to enhance the students' speaking competency. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Research questions:</b> 1. How do learners perceive the effectiveness of speaking skills practice given to them in the online sessions? 2. What benefits through feedback have learners achieved during these sessions? 3. How do students perceive the role of self-directed efforts toward improving their speaking skills? <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Methods:</b> Students were trained on speaking skills as part of a semester-long online course, and an assessment for speaking skills was designed in which students answered 10 self-reflective questions about their perception and usefulness of practice, feedback from the instructor and peers, and self-directed efforts. Each student's recorded audio file of an average of 11 minutes 24 seconds was uploaded to the learning management system (LMS) as part of the assessment. A qualitative and interpretative investigation of their answers reflecting their learning experiences during the semester, based on the activities and self-regulation, and their self-rating were analyzed thematically. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Results and discussion:</b> The findings of the metainvestigation show significantly valuable insights with potential implications on the language teachers’ perception of teaching speaking skills in the classroom, especially in the current online environment. <bold xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Conclusions:</b> We conclude that using the strategy cluster comprising practice, feedback, and self-directed efforts with a culminating phase of oral self-reflection is highly beneficial in developing speaking skills in engineering courses focusing on technical communication.