Developing Soft Skills for Engineering: Experience with Student Team Projects

摘要

While advanced technologies are entering schools at all levels, we claim that other skills required to deal with them in the complex modern world should not be neglected in the education system. In this article, a promising approach to interdisciplinary postgraduate education is described. The idea of the ?Team project? course is to give the students the opportunity to gain experience in an extensive project where various skills are needed, e.g. teamwork, coordinating work, project management, research, problem solving, public presentations, time management, etc. The course is obligatory and held in the first year of the master study program at the School of Engineering and Management of the University of Nova Gorica. The main advantage of the course is to give the students hands-on experience of work on a project that is very close to reality. Students are forced to gain experience in teamwork and to overcome the uncertainties and obstacles that arise in such projects. Since the launch of the course, several improvements have been made with the aim of improving the performance of the course. Nevertheless, the course remains a challenge for both students and teachers.%Medtem ko si sodobne tehnologije po?asi utirajo pot v izobra?evalne programe na vseh nivojih, ne smemo pozabiti tudi na razvijanje sposobnosti za uspe?no uporabo teh tehnologij za re?evanje kompleksnih problemov v sodobnem svetu. ?lanek predstavlja obetaven na?in pridobivanja kompetenc za delo v interdisciplinarnih projektnih skupinah. V predmetu ?Skupinski projekt? na bolonjskem magistrskem programu Gospodarski in?eniring ?tudentje pridobivajo izku?nje in razvijajo sposobnosti timskega dela, koordiniranja, projektnega vo?enja, raziskovanja, re?evanja konkretnih problemov, predstavitev rezultatov javnosti in upravljanja s ?asom. Predmet je na programu v prvem letniku kot obvezna sestavina ?tudijskega programa. Studentom nudi konkretno izku?njo projektnega dela, podobnega tistemu v realnih poslovnih okoljih. Preizkusijo se v interdisciplinarnem timskem delu, pri ?emer morajo premagovati negotovosti in te?ave, ki se pojavljajo pri tovrstnih projektih. Po prvih izvedbah se je nabralo ?e ve? izku?enj, s ppmo?jo katerih izbolj?ujemo izvajanje predmeta. Kljub temu ?e vedno predstavlja precej?en izziv tako za studente kot za profesorje.