21st Century Life Skills Course by Lori

21st Century Life Skills Course by Lori - August 2017 Scholarship Essay

Content knowledge can only take a person so far. With the information explosion of the past decade and the immediate access we have to the Internet, colleges need to consider new approaches to what it means to be educated. There are plenty of courses that prepare students to work in a specific field, such as “Introduction to Computer-Aided Design” for an engineering major, and there are plenty of courses that appeal to students’ interests such as “What if Harry Potter is Real?” offered at Appalachian State University. However, a course I think would benefit students from a variety of majors would be “21st Century Life Skills.”

21st Century Life Skills would teach students many of the skills that are needed in today’s workplace. Units of instruction would include effective communication skills, collaboration skills, and how to respectfully disagree with others. The course would also provide students, who probably spend a lot of time either behind a cell phone or a computer, with the opportunity to engage in a variety of activities where they would learn how to be patient, relate to other’s experiences, and feel empathy. They would be taught how to listen to others and how to provide effective feedback. Other units of instruction would look at building one’s ability to identify fact, opinion, bias, and elements of persuasion in social media as well as the ability to respond appropriately to different audiences. Finally, the skills of flexibility and perseverance would be woven throughout the course as these skills are paramount to enduring difficulties that are certain to arise. Few people realize that success develops over time, and the challenges and obstacles we face do not have to derail our plans; they can strengthen our ability to remain focused and committed to an end goal.

21st Century Life Skills would be an interactive, engaging course that would help students become proficient in the skills needed to work with others and continue forward growth and momentum. It would evolve each semester to address what is timely and relevant, and it would include teaching the value of self-assessment and reflection, two skills that would prove useful not only in the workplace, but also in one’s personal life.