What is this course about?
As an Engineer or Engineering student, you are of course very skilled when it comes to technical issues. However, when working in a more technical environment, whether you are part of a team or leading a team, work in a large or small company or maybe even as a freelancer – people skills, social skills and communication skills will help you to advance your career, or, if they are lacking, hinder your occupational advancement significantly. (If you do not believe it, just have a look at current job listings and see for yourself how much emphasis is given to soft skills!)
In this course, you will learn the most important soft skills, which are relevant to be successful as an engineer. You will learn how to effectively communicate with others, solve conflicts, hold meetings, present your findings and work successfully as a team.
What do you learn in this course?
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Identify different communication styles and apply various communication models to real life,
- Give constructive feedback, lead conversations in a goal-oriented manner and resolve conflict situations,
- Prepare presentations and design them according to the needs of your audience using fundamental methods and techniques,
- Describe, choose and use various approaches for the moderation of meetings, and
- Recognize the success factors for successful collaboration in a team, identify problems and optimize the cooperation based on appropriate interventions.
How is the course structured?
iThis course provides you with video lectures, supplemented by additional information, self-tests and discussion tasks. In this rhythm, you can deepen your knowledge and use your newly acquired skills to answer the discussion questions jointly with other participants in the forums.
- Week 0: Introduction
- Week 1: The basics of communication
- Week 2: Communication for conflict solving
- Week 3: Presentation techniques
- Week 4: Meeting facilitation
- Week 5: Teamwork