What Students Learn and Take Away from a Student-Centered Course on Communication and Professional Skills: Analyzing the Content of Students’ Self-Evaluations

Abstract

This Full Paper in the Research-To-Practice Category illustrates what a qualitative content analysis of students’ online self-evaluations revealed about students’ perceived learning and take-away from a student-centered, technology enhanced course on communication and professional skills. The course was offered in a computer science program as part of the Masters’ program. As there is no doubt that graduates benefit from having developed advanced professional skills, it seems worthwhile to explore the ways to promote such skills effectively. In this paper we aim to share the insights we gained from performing a qualitative content analysis of students’ written self-evaluations. These insights are twofold: getting to know the students’ views about their learning and reflecting on the practice and information revealed by employing a qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that a single student-centered course has the potential to motivate students to become better listeners, extend their perspective, and actively work on improving their interaction, even across cultural boundaries. With these findings in mind, we aim to share engaging and challenging educational practice and inspire, encourage, and call to action educators in the field of mediating professional skills in technically-focused curricula.