On Campus Online

Greetings from the The Australian National University, where I have been helping ANU Careers teach ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science students how to apply for a job. Today we had Benjamin Luton, Technical Principal from Contino talk to the students. Last week it was David Parums, from Black Mountain Construction, and Thomas Griffiths, from Social Pinpoint.

These are computing students at Australia's leading university, undertaking a technical degree in a highly sought after field. But what shocks them after mastering the intricacies of a very technical field is that employers want people who can talk to customers. Students, especially STEM students, find all this "soft skills" stuff, very hard. So me have them practice talking to each other, and talking to real clients.

This semester we have students back on campus, but not all of them. So we are operating in hybrid mode, with most instructors in a classroom, with some students, and others online via video conference. This makes for a high workload for those coordinating presentations, and breakout rooms.