By Natalie Grecu, Associate Professor, Public Relations & Strategic Communication
Throughout my academic career, I have frequently observed that students struggle to connect the learned competency-based skills to their personal lives and contexts beyond the classroom. This "Takeaway Skills" activity is the bridge between class curriculum and the application of these class-based skills, with the goal of increasing student confidence in articulating and employing these learned skills! This pedagogical activity could be used in a wide range of courses, encompassing a range of rigors and abstract content. I created this activity in an Introduction to Advertising course, and it would be ideal for any skills-based course. However, if the course concepts are more abstract, this is a fantastic opportunity to think more critically about skills they are developing, which better equips and empowers them to confront potential dilemmas, career experiences, relationships, and communication issues they may encounter in the future and outside of the classroom.
During the semester, I provided students with a simplified breakdown of “Takeaway Skills from the Week.” The goal of this activity is for students to connect our curriculum to real-world experiences to increase their confidence in their knowledge of the content and empower themselves to use this knowledge confidently in various spheres, including a current workplace, a job or internship interview, or in a future career. On the last day of class, students share their reflections to provide an additional opportunity for student-to-student learning and collaborative classroom participation.
Over the course of the semester, I organized a running list of each week’s takeaway skills into three categories that best aligned with the course objectives, which included the following:
- Category 1: Professional Practices and Terminology Skills
- Category 2: Communication Problem-Solving Skills
- Category 3: Creative Strategies Skills
- Category 4: Class Activities
The list also included in-class collaborative activities from the semester that allowed students to learn how to apply these skills. Students could then potentially include these in-class activities in their final creative portfolio.
At the end of the semester, students submit a reflection paper that includes the following components:
- Choose one takeaway from each category
- Reflect on how you can use this skill outside of the classroom
- In what real-world experience(s) can this takeaway elevate you outside of the classroom?
- These may include relationships, current job interactions or responsibilities, your resume skills, future professional or internship interviews
- Choose one collaborative group activity from this semester to refine and include in your final creative portfolio
Assessment recommendations
The assessment for this activity is based on the curriculum categories of the course. I recommend creating a rubric that includes specific details of the categories. For example, rubric criteria included: clarity, relevance, creativity, and detail:
- Clarity: The skill is clearly identified from each of the three categories and explained in detail
- Relevance: Your strategy to apply the chosen skill from each category is relevant and aligns with real-world experience
- Creativity: The thoughtfulness of your strategy for each category empowers you outside of the classroom and is unique to your professional and relational interests
- Detail: Depth and specificity in describing the skills, application, and your creative portfolio includes one revised activity from this semester’s in-class deliverables