Curriculum for Life Skills

Curriculum for Life Skills (Jeevan Kaushal) is a University Grants Commission (UGC) initiative for providing Life Skills (including soft skills) to students enrolled in Institutions of Higher Education especially at under-graduate level.

Objectives

The objectives of the course are:

1. To enhance one’s ability to be fully self aware by helping oneself to overcome all fears and insecurities and to grow fully from inside out and outside in.
2. To increase one’s knowledge and awareness of emotional competency and emotional intelligence at place of study/work.
3. To provide opportunity for realising one’s potential through practical experience.
4. To develop interpersonal skills and adopt good leadership behaviour for empowerment of self and others.
5. To set appropriate goals, manage stress and time effectively.
6. To manage competency- mix at all levels for achieving excellence with ethics.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the programme learners will be able to:

1. Gain Self Competency and Confidence
2. Practice Emotional Competency
3. Gain Intellectual Competency
4. Gain an edge through Professional Competency
5. Aim for high sense of Social Competency
6. Be an integral Human Being

Courses in the curriculum

• Course 1 : Communication Skills
• Course 2 : Professional Skills
• Course 3 : Leadership Skills
• Course 4 : Universal Human Values

Communication Skills

Communication plays an important role in shaping and individual's life, personal as well as professional.

Objectives

This course has been developed with the following objectives:

1. Identify common communication problems that may be holding learners back
2. Identify what their non-verbal messages are communicating to others
3. Understand role of communication in teaching-learning process
4. Learning to communicate through the digital media
5. Understand the importance of empathetic listening
6. Explore communication beyond language.

Module Outline

Module 1: Listening

• Techniques of effective listening
• Listening and comprehension
• Probing questions
• Barriers to listening

Module 2: Speaking

• Pronunciation
• Enunciation
• Vocabulary
• Fluency
• Common Errors

Module 3: Reading

• Techniques of effective reading
• Gathering ideas and information from a given text
• Identify the main claim of the text
• Identify the purpose of the text
• Identify the context of the text
• Identify the concepts mentioned
• Evaluating these ideas and information
• Identify the arguments employed in the text
• Identify the theories employed or assumed in the text
• Interpret the text
• To understand what a text says
• To understand what a text does
• To understand what a text means

Module 4: Writing and different modes of writing

• Clearly state the claims
• Avoid ambiguity, vagueness, unwanted generalisations and oversimplification of issues
• Provide background information
• Effectively argue the claim
• Provide evidence for the claims
• Use examples to explain concepts
• Follow convention
• Be properly sequenced
• Use proper signposting techniques
• Be well structured
• Well-knit logical sequence
• Narrative sequence
• Category groupings
• Different modes of Writing
• E-mails
• Proposal writing for Higher Studies
• Recording the proceedings of meetings
• Any other mode of writing relevant for learners

Module 5: Digital Literacy

• Role of Digital Literacy in professional life
• Trends and opportunities in using digital technology in workplace
• Internet Basics
• Introduction to MS Office tools
• Paint
• Office
• Excel
• Powerpoint

Module 6: Effective use of Social Media

• Introduction to social media websites
• Advantages of social media
• Ethics and etiquettes of social media
• How to use Google search better
• Effective ways of using Social Media
• Introduction to Digital Marketing

Module 7: Non-verbal communication

• Meaning of non-verbal communication
• Introduction to modes of non-verbal communication
• Breaking the misbeliefs
• Open and Closed Body language
• Eye Contact and Facial Expression
• Hand Gestures
• Do's and Don'ts
• Learning from experts
• Activities-Based Learning

Professional Skills

Besides knowledge and skills required for a particular job/occupation, professional skills are also required for an individual to be gainfully employed for a successful and satsfied life. Professional skills are part of life skills. An individual should be able to demonstrate professional skills involving the use of intuitive, logical and critical thinking, communication and interpersonal skills, not limited to cognitive/creative skills. These skills, behaviour and quality of output enhance employability.

The career skills empower an individual with ability in preparing an appropriate resume, addressing the neccessary gaps for facing interviews and actively and effectively participating in group discussion thereof, etc. It is also of significant importance that students/individuals possess the know-how to explore career opportunities for themselves, considering their innate strengths and weaknesses.

Credit: 02

Duration: 30 Hours

The Course Professional Skills is divided into two parts:

• Career Skills
• Team Skills

Career Skills

Objectives

The Objectives of the course are to help students/candidates:

1. Acquire career skills and fully pursue to partake in a successful career path
2. Prepare good resume, prepare for interviews and group discussions
3. Explore desired career opportunities in the employment market in consideration of individual SWOT.

Expected Outcomes

At the end of this course the students will be able to:

1. Prepare their resume in an appropriate template without grammatical and other errors and using proper syntax
2. Participate in a simulated interview
3. Actively participate in a simulated interview
4. Capture a self-interview simulation video regarding the job role concerned
5. Enlist the common errors generally made by candidates in an interview
6. Perform appropriately and effectively in group discussions
7. Explore sources (Online/offline) of career opportunities
8. Identify career opportunities in consideration of their own potential and aspirations
9. Use the necessary components required to prepare for a career in an identified occupation (as a case study).

Module Outline

Module 1: Resume Skills

Resume Skills : Preparation and Presentation

• Introduction of resume and its importance
• Difference between a CV, Resume and Bio data
• Essential components of a good resume

Resume skills : Common errors

• Common errors people generally make in preparing their resume
• Prepare a good resume of her/his considering all essential components

Module 2: Interview Skills

Interview Skills : Preparation and Presentation

• Meaning and types of interview (F2F, telephonic, video, etc.)
• Dress Code, Background Research, Do's and Don'ts
• Situation, Task, Approach and Response (STAR Approach) for facing an interview
• Interview procedure (Opening, listening skills, closure, etc.)
• Important questions generally asked in a job interview (open and closed ended questions)

Interview Skills : Simulation

• Observation of exemplary interviews
• Comment critically on simulated interviews

Interview Skills : Common Errors

• Discuss the common errors generally candidates make in interview
• Demonstrate an ideal interview

Module 3: Group Discussion Skills

• Meaning and methods of Group Discussion
• Procedure of Group Discussion
• Group Discussion - Simulation
• Group Discussion - Common Errors

Module 4: Exploring Career Opportunities

• Knowing yourself - personal characteristics
• Knowledge about the world of work, requirements of jobs including self-employment.
• Sources of career information
• Preparing for a career based on their potentials and availability of opportunities

Team Skills

Objectives :

The objectives of the course is to make learners:

1. Understand the significance of Team Skills and help them in acquiring them
2. To help them design, develop and adapt to situations as an individual and as a team.

Expected Outcomes:

By the end of this course the learners/candidates will be able to:

• Use common technology messaging tools that are used in enterprises for flow of information and transition from command and control to informal communication during an online/offline team session
• Actively use and operate online team communication tools: Webinar, Skype, Zoom, Google hangout etc
• Appreciate and demonstrate Team Skills
• Participate in a digital lifestyle conversant with computers, applications, Internet and nuances of cyber security
• Explore (online) and identify career opportunities in consideration of their own potential and aspirations.
• Discuss and articulate the key requirements of an entrepreneurial exercise
• Empathise and trust colleagues for improving interpersonal relations
• Engage in effective communication by respecting diversity and embracing good listening skills
• Distinguish the guiding principles for communication in a diverse, smaller internal world
• Practice interpersonal skills for better relations with seniors, juniors, peers and stakeholders
• Project a good personal image and social etiquette so as to have a positive impact on building of one's chosen career
• Generate, share and maximise new ideas with the concept of brainstorming and the documentation of key critical ideas/thoughts articulated and action points to be implemented with timelines in a team discussion (as MOM) in identified applicable templates.

Module Outline:

Module 1 : Presentation Skills

• Types of presentations
• Internal and external presentation
• Knowing the purpose
• Knowing the audience
• Opening and closing a presentation
• Using presentation tools
• Handling questions
• Presentation to heterogenic group
• Ways to improve presentation skills over time

Module 2: Trust and Collaboration

• Explain the importance of trust in creating a collaborative team
• Agree to Disagree and Disagree to Agree -  Spirit of Team work
• Understanding fear of being judged and strategies to overcome fear

Module 3: Listening as a Team Skill

• Advantages of Effective Listening
• Listening as a team member and team leader. Use of active listening strategies to encourage sharing of ideas.

Module 4: Brainstorming

• Use of group and individual brainstorming techniques to promote idea generation
• Learning and showcasing the principles of documentation of team session outcomes

Module 5: Social and Cultural Etiquette

• Need for etiquette
• Aspects of social and cultural/corporate etiquette in promoting teamwork
• Importance of time, place, propriety and adapatability to diverse cultures

Module 6: Internal Communication

• Use of various channels of transmitting information including digital and physical, to team members.

Leadership and Management Skills

In the current times of cut-throat competitions, disbelief in values, techno-centric complex lifestyles, there is a dire need to emphasise the 'human' agency in community living. This can be done by cultivating and nurturing the innate leadership skills of the youth so that they may transform these challenges into opportunities and become torch bearers of the future by developing creative solutions.

Objectives

The Module is designed to :

• Help students to develop essential skills to influence and motivate others
• Inculcate emotional and social intelligence and integrative thinking for effective leadership
• Create and maintain an effective and motivated team to work for the society
• Nurture a creative and entrepreneurial mindset
• Make students understand the personal values and apply ethical principles in professional and social contexts.

Expected Outcomes

Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• Examine various leadership models and understand/assess their skills, strengths and abilities that affect their own leadership style and can create their leadership vision
• Learn and demonstrate a set of practical skills such as time management, self management, handling conflicts, team leadership, etc.
• Understand the  basics of entrepreneurship and develop business plans
• Apply the design thinking approach for leadership
• Appreciate the importance of ethics and moral values for making of a balanced personality.

Universal Human Values

Universal human values are values that human beings cherish and hold in common consciously and otherwise in most of the places and times and practice them.

Truth, Love, Peace, Non-Violence and Righteous Conduct are the Universal Human Values. Renunciation, Compassion and Service are also commonly acceptable human values, which at the operation level have been named differently as sincerity, honesty, righteousness, humility, gratitude, aspiration, prosperity, non-violence, trust, faith, forgiveness, mercy, peace and so on. These are needed for well-being of an individual, society and humanity and ultimately Peace in the world.

This course aims at making learners conscious about universal human values in an integral manner, without ignoring other aspects that are needed for learner's personality development.

Objectives

The present course deals with meaning, purpose, and relevance of universal human values and how to inculcate and practice them consciously to be a good human being and realise one's potentials.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the learners will be able to:

• Know about universal human values and understand the importance of values in individual, social circles, career path, and national life.
• Learn from case studies of lives of great and successful people who followed and practised human values and achieved self-actualisation.
• Become conscious pracitioners of human values.
• Realise their potential as human beings and conduct themselves properly in the ways of the world.

Source: UGC Curriculum for Life Skills (Jeevan Kaushal)