Social skills in higher education: how to combine active learning and social skills training program

Abstract

Behaviors, skills, and competences related to the quality of interaction and social relationship between professionals have been increasingly recognized as essential in Higher Education. Studies use and sometimes mix different terminologies such as soft skills, emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationships, soft skills, and social skills. This variety of terminologies suggests a lack of knowledge and leads to a lack of rigor in the use of concepts and terms that have already been defined and have empirical support in Psychology. In addition to aiming at better defining technical terms related to some constructs, Psychology is a science that aims to produce knowledge about assessment instruments, procedures and techniques, and evidence-based practices to change the behavior of human beings.The theoretical-practical field of Social Skills, circumscribed in Psychology, was structured over 50 years ago with production related to interactions and interpersonal relationships (Del Prette & Del Prette, 2019). Among the various definitions of social skills (Caballo, 1993), they are considered as classes of social behaviors that increase the likelihood of favorable consequences for both the individual as well as for others, contributing to the success and effectiveness of social interaction (social competence) (Del Prette & Del Prette, 2010).Social skills are on the 21st century list of skills and competencies (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2019) and teaching them is an acknowledged alternative to improve the quality of social interactions (Rodríguez et al.,

The impact of “Kampus Mengajar MBKM” on students’ social skills

“…Campus Teaching activities are carried out using a team-based project method (KemendikbudRistek, 2021). This proves that project-based learning is effective for developing 21st century student skills, especially social skills (Bani Issa & Khataibeh, 2021;Lopes et al, 2021;Musa et al, 2012).…”