Abstract
It is expected that students entering the workforce should have skills to allow them to effectively perform in the workplace. However, there is a gap between expected development of these “soft skills” and their actual attainment by students. Due to this discrepancy, Texas A&M has developed university mandated learning outcomes that address soft skills within course content. The objective of this paper is to present teaching methodology useful for achieving Texas A&M University level learning outcomes as they relate to the “Professional Conduct” learning outcome, as assessed via performance indicators such as working collaboratively, feedback, and conflict management. Additionally, this project aims to help bridge the gap in understanding between current animal science industry practices and public perception. This project titled “Ag-vocating for Animal Science Industry Practices” utilizes methods appropriate for large classes, conducted face-to-face or online, and targets students at the introductory level. Based on criteria from education literature, the semester-long project is broken down into multiple low stakes assignments comprising half of the project points which allows for multiple feedback opportunities from both the group members and the professor. These assignments include a Catme survey to assign groups based on interest and schedule, as well as submitting topic-related articles, a script, a rough-draft video, final video, and peer assessment survey online through eCampus, the university’s learning management system. This utilization of this collaborative project fulfills university undergraduate learning outcome of demonstrating professional conduct measured by attainment performance indicators such as “identify characteristics of a functional team” and “accept objective and constructive criticism.” This is an innovative approach to assessing soft skill development within the context of the animal science discipline. In conclusion, this project is useful in evaluating groupwork skills in undergraduates, as well as providing students with an opportunity to critically analyze industry practices.