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Assessing the Development of Soft Skills Among HEI Students in the VAKEN Process Preliminary Findings from Three Sprint weeks

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Towards a Hybrid, Flexible and Socially Engaged Higher Education (ICL 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 899))

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Abstract

Soft skills are essential for success in the modern workplace, encompassing interpersonal, problem-solving, and communication abilities necessary for effective collaboration. In the VAKEN project, we developed a process to train and assess soft skills within a real-life context, guided by coaches and in collaboration with companies. Our objective was to enhance soft skills during a five-day sprint focused on a company problem. This paper aims to investigate students’ perceptions of developing creativity, personal leadership, complex problem solving, and critical thinking through the VAKEN process and its sprints. Specifically, we explore how students perceive the development of soft skills before and after the Sprint Week. Data collection involved self- and peer-reviewed assessments, and daily reflective diaries. The first sprint resulted in enhanced problem-solving skills, while critical thinking improved in the second sprint and creativity in the third. Across all sprints, personal leadership exhibited the least improvement according to student perceptions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arcada University of Applied Scienes, Helsinki, Finland

    Christa C. Tigerstedt & Mikael Forsström

  2. TTK University of Applied Sciences, Tallinn, Estonia

    Britt Petjärv & Helen Kiis

  3. UCL University College, Tallinn, Denmark

    Karen Malene Elmann Andreasen

  4. Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Valmiera, Latvia

    Maira Lescevica

  5. Vilnius University of Applied Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Dalia Karlaité

  6. University of Akureyri, Akureyri, Iceland

    Vera K. Vestmann Kristjansdottir & Hafdis Björg Hjalmarsdottir

Authors
  1. Christa C. Tigerstedt
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  2. Britt Petjärv
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  7. Dalia Karlaité
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  9. Hafdis Björg Hjalmarsdottir
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Correspondence to Christa C. Tigerstedt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. CTI Global, Frankfurt, Germany

    Michael E. Auer

  2. UTN—FRBA, Mozart, Argentina

    Uriel R. Cukierman

  3. DISA, Technical University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain

    Eduardo Vendrell Vidal

  4. UPM, ETSII, Madrid, Spain

    Edmundo Tovar Caro

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Tigerstedt, C.C. et al. (2024). Assessing the Development of Soft Skills Among HEI Students in the VAKEN Process Preliminary Findings from Three Sprint weeks. In: Auer, M.E., Cukierman, U.R., Vendrell Vidal, E., Tovar Caro, E. (eds) Towards a Hybrid, Flexible and Socially Engaged Higher Education. ICL 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 899. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51979-6_5

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