Effective Shifting of Software Capstone Demonstrations to an Online Experience

The rapid transition to remote instruction during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created many challenges for students, instructors, and, in the case of a capstone software development course, clients of project teams. We describe an approach for creating and delivering a successful, online culminating event that involved all stakeholders that also addresses learning outcomes such as solving open-ended problems and communicating effectively. We describe the processes and technologies we used and offer feedback that we collected from participants. We conclude with lessons learned in order to improve the experience in future offerings

The Necessity of Nuance in Education: Exploring the Need for the Explicit Teaching of Soft Skills at the High School Level

High school students depend on school to provide the skills needed to attend a post-secondary institution or enter the work force directly upon graduation. However, high school curriculum standards may not align with the skillset demanded of the students post-high school. In prioritizing skills by curriculum standards, schools inevitably privilege certain skills and oppress others, creating hierarchies of importance that are predominantly weighted towards “cognitive/hard” skills as opposed to “non-cognitive/soft” skills. Based on post-high school demand from colleges/universities and professional settings, evidence suggests that the K-12 system, and especially the high school level, may benefit from a shift in the prioritization of hard skills towards soft skills. This descriptive study explored the necessity of the explicit teaching of soft skills at the high school level for the employability and subsequent internal promotability of graduating high school students by analyzing the perceptions of elementary, middle, and high school teachers alongside the perceptions of employers. The perceptions of individual teacher groups at different levels of the K-12 “education chain” allowed for analysis of some of the possible gaps in current prescribed-curriculum skill alignment. The perceptions of employers allowed for an analysis of skill demand post-high school in comparison to the K-12 prescribed-curriculum. In essence, this study provides a clearer picture as to where there might be possible gaps in curriculum for students that affect their employability after graduation