Cultivating ICT Students' Interpersonal Soft Skills in Online Learning Environments Using Traditional Active Learning Techniques

Flexible online delivery of tertiary ICT programs is experiencing rapid growth. Creating an online environment that develops team building and interpersonal skills is difficult due to factors such as student isolation and the individual-centric model of online learning that encourages discrete study rather than teamwork. Incorporating teamwork into classes can be problematic due to uneven effort of group members, getting everyone to participate and making sure everyone is actually contributing in the team. Despite this, employers still state that a key learning objective of ICT graduates is the ability to work in team environments as this mirrors work force requirements. This paper presents a discussion of preliminary findings from a pilot study to determine best practices for developing interpersonal skills for students while working in virtual groups using synchronous and asynchronous online technologies.