ABSTRACT

In the field of network administration and programming, mastery of technical skills as well as non-technical or soft skills, such as teamwork, problem-solving, self-regulated learning, and communication, are increasingly emphasized both in practice and research. While little research exists concerning the instructional practices of such skills within community colleges, even less is known about community college instructors’ conceptions of these crucial 21st century skills. This paper reports a qualitative, exploratory study examining how community college instructors defined and taught communication and teamwork competencies in their computer technology classrooms. The data was collected from multiple data sources – instructor interviews, observations of classroom teaching, and student focus group discussions about their learning. Main findings include the influence of instructor backgrounds on their teaching practices, the situational nature of how instructors defined and conceptualized communication and teamwork skills, and the prominent use of teacher-centered practices in the teaching of communication and teamwork skills. We conclude that while faculty participants in this study considered teamwork and communication skills to be important, their classroom teaching was insufficiently student-centered to truly cultivate these skills. Thus, we argue that more training, resources, and support structures are needed for community college instructors in order to better cultivate the communication and teamwork skills of their students. This paper adds empirical evidence to the national conversations on the critical issues of skills, student employment, and pedagogy, and also utilizes a triangulating approach to better document faculty teaching practices.

摘要

在网络管理和编程领域，掌握技术技能以及非技术或软在实践和研究中，团队合作、解决问题、自我调节学习和沟通等技能越来越受到重视。虽然关于社区学院内此类技能的教学实践的研究很少，但对于社区学院教师对这些关键的 21 世纪技能的概念知之甚少。本文报告了一项定性的探索性研究，调查社区大学教师如何在其计算机技术教室中定义和教授沟通和团队合作能力。这些数据是从多个数据源收集的——教师访谈、课堂教学观察和学生焦点小组讨论他们的学习。主要发现包括教师背景对其教学实践的影响，教师如何定义和概念化沟通和团队合作技能的情境性质，以及以教师为中心的实践在沟通和团队合作技能教学中的突出使用。我们得出的结论是，虽然本研究的教师参与者认为团队合作和沟通技巧很重要，但他们的课堂教学并没有以学生为中心，无法真正培养这些技能。因此，我们认为社区大学教师需要更多的培训、资源和支持结构，以更好地培养学生的沟通和团队合作技能。本文为关于技能、学生就业和教学法等关键问题的全国性对话添加了实证证据，并利用三角测量方法更好地记录教师教学实践。