![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
Critics contend that current college graduates lack necessary skills for the workplace. What are the aptitudes that employers seek? How can classroom instruction and assessment help develop these capacities, particularly in an international relations class? Numerous surveys of employers indicate they value cross-cutting “soft” skills—such as critical thinking, teamwork, and communication. Contrary to the views of critics, these skills are often taught in political science courses. Unfortunately, we are rarely explicit about stating the skills as learning outcomes or linking them directly to assignments. We argue that instructors should be more intentional in proposing learning outcomes and assessments that link academic content to the specific skills that will be useful for students’ future professional lives.
Notes
1 Political science degrees constitute around 29% of social science degrees awarded, with social sciences defined to include political science, history, sociology, and economics. Social sciences degrees have declined in recent years as a proportion of all undergraduate degrees conferred (APSA Citation2017).
2 The survey provided information on about 400 employers, from both the private sector and nonprofit organizations, whose organizations have at least 25 employees and report that 25% or more of their new hires hold either an associate degree from a 2-year college or a bachelor’s degree from a 4-year college.
3 The public debate often revolves around a perceived shortage of STEM majors, but there is some evidence that such a shortage does not exist. For a review of the evidence, see Charette (Citation2013).
4 Some critics who have looked at the “skills gap” literature fault the data and its interpretation. They argue that the real gap is the unrealistic expectations of employers, who are no longer willing to provide the training or salaries that would result in capable employees (Capelli Citation2014; Vanderkam 2013).
5 The PechaKucha format (http://www.pechakucha.org/) was developed by a design firm in Japan to encourage its employees to do more effective presentations.
6 Some instructors also include on the rubric the points scale for these, and weight them differently, with content valued more than organization and delivery.
7 https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/ltc/faculty-services/resources/tips/orals/
8 The value of TED Talks is a subject of controversy, but the presentation techniques can be effective; for more on TED Talks see Anderson (Citation2016).
9 The literature on active learning includes collaboration as an important technique to enhance learning, and the evidence supporting this has been growing. For a practical guide, see Ambrose et al. (Citation2010).
10 Helpful guides include Stein et al. (2010) and (http://www.clemson.edu/OTEI/documents/teamwork-handbook.pdf).
11 These guidelines are based on the components of a critical thinker, as identified by Paul and Elder (Citation2009).
12 Simulations can be conducted in class or online, or in a mixture of both. They can be designed by the instructor, be based on the Model UN conferences many students experience in high school, or use off-the-shelf commercial simulations. The authors have used the ICONS simulations, which were developed at the University of Maryland (icons.umd.edu).
13 It should be noted that internships have a great deal of variation in quality, oversight, and benefit to the student. For a discussion of this, see O’Neill (Citation2010). In addition, the proliferation of unpaid internships has raised important questions about privilege and power in the market for internships (McDermott Citation2013).
14 In some cases, the audience is simply the class. In others, the audience is hypothesized as an external entity, for example, the United Nations Security Council.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Bidisha Biswas
Bidisha Biswas is Professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. She previously served as a Franklin Fellow policy adviser to the United States Department of State. Bidisha works on international security, diaspora, and immigration related issues. Her recent book publications are Managing Conflicts in India: Policies of Coercion and Accommodation (2013, Rowman and Littlefield) and Indian Immigrant Women and Work: The American Experience (2016, Routledge). Her pedagogy has been highlighted at Western’s Innovative Teaching Showcase 2016–2017. Bidisha may be contacted at ([email protected]).
Virginia Haufler
Virginia Haufler is a faculty member in the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland College Park. She is the Director of the Global Communities Living-Learning Program, an Associate of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management, and on the Faculty Advisory Board for the Center for the Study of Business Ethics, Regulation and Crime at the University. She has been a Visiting Fellow at University College London, University of California Irvine, and the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, among others. She was a Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and has advised think tanks, NGOs, and international organizations in the United States and abroad. Her research explores the dynamics of private authority in global governance—including corporate social responsibility, transparency, and transnational regulation. Her publications include: “Producing Global Governance in the Global Factory: Markets, Politics, and Regulation,” Global Policy; “Corporations, Governance Networks, and Conflict in the Developing World,” in The New Power Politics edited Deborah Avant and Oliver Westerwinter; A Public Role for the Private Sector: Industry Self-Regulation in a Global Economy; and Private Authority and International Affairs coedited with Claire Cutler and Tony Porter. Virginia may be contacted at ([email protected]).