CONFERENCES
E&PDE 2026 - 28th International Conference on Engineering & Product Design Education
The Conference will bring together representatives from education and industry interested in sharing new perspectives on design education.
Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
CHALLENGES OF TEACHING SOFT SKILLS IN DISTANCE LEARNING: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH
Gleed, Fiona; Storey, Karen; Addis, Mark; Eckert, Claudia
Type:
Year:
2026
Editor:
Buck, Lyndon; Brisco. Ross; Bohemia, Erik
Author:
Series:
E&PDE
Institution:
Open University, United Kingdom
Page(s):
233 - 238
DOI number:
ISBN:
978-1-912254-24-8
ISSN:
3005-4753
Abstract:
Soft skills are essential criteria for degree accreditation and individual professional registration. Students are expected to develop and demonstrate these skills in education, alongside technical principles. ‘Soft skills’ is a loosely defined term involving several different but related characterisations, with clusters of abilities covering skills such as problem solving, communicating information, and personal interactions. They depend upon general tacit and explicit knowledge about human interaction, applied in many different fields. and hence may also be termed transferable skills. In engineering degrees, project work in teams plays a significant role in development of soft skills, allowing students to practice various roles. Soft skills therefore pose a particular challenge for distance education in engineering as comprehensive groupwork is difficult to organise. Many students in distance education are mature, bringing soft skills already developed in their personal or professional lives. However, the pattern and development of these skills varies with intersecting dimensions of diversity, such as gender and socio-economic status. Hence, recognition of existing soft skills has potential to boost confidence, whilst development of soft skills supports career progression. This paper reports on a project at a UK-based University, an established provider of distance education, into the development of soft skills. The research engages with the question of whether soft skills can be taught in a generic way for different subjects or through a common approach that is customisable to particular subject contexts. As part of addressing this, there is reflection on how soft skills expectations and teaching differ between Engineering and Nursing.
Keywords:
