Soft Skills for Science and Technology

General characterization

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites.

Bibliography

- Costa, R., Kullberg, J., Fonseca, J., Martins; N., “Competências Transversais para Ciências e Tecnologia – FCT/UNL” (2013) 

Teaching method

Topics will be presented in 4 theoretical-practical sessions and 18 practical sessions (each lasting 3 hours or 90 min with a total time of 48 hours).

 - in each  2h theoretical-practical session we present the topic’s fundamentals, the most common mistakes to be avoided and the main tools that can be used during the theme’s exploration.

Assessment of this course takes into account both the weekly individual and group work, as well as tests carried out in moodle e-learning platform, in a controlled environment.

Evaluation method

 

CTCT is a mandatory course in the first year of the vast majority of FCT degrees and takes place during the Interim Period. In 2024/25 it will take place with face-to-face classes from January 27 to February 20, 2025.

 

1 - On punctuality:
The first Practical (P) class on January 27 starts, exceptionally, at 11:30 or 15:30, depending on the classes, after the first Theoretical-Practical (TP) class.

On the remaining TP days (February 6, 13 and 20), the P classes take place before the respective TP classes.

The remaining P classes start at 9.30am.
Each student should enter their class between 9:20 and 9:30.

 

Each student must enter the room corresponding to their TP class 15 minutes before the official start time of the class.

 

2 - Attendance is mandatory for a student to pass. A student can only obtain an Attendance if they score at least 15 points in the Participation assessment component (see points 5, 6 and 7).

 

3 - The assessment of knowledge in CTCT is done exclusively through activities that take place during the school term. There are NO exams in this curricular unit (appeal, special or improvement periods).

 

For students with a special status registered on CLIP, or in very special circumstances which are duly justified and who are demonstrably unable to attend classes, an alternative assessment method may be proposed. These students will have to make a request to the SCTC Coordination Office by January 10, 2025, duly justifying their request.

 

4 - Missing a class prevents assessment activities from being carried out, which will not be repeated. A student''s final grade will not be adjusted to compensate for any missed classes, even if the absence is duly justified.

5 - Knowledge is assessed in 3 areas: Participation (with a weight of 20%), Individual Work (30%) and Group Work (50%).

In total, each student will have more than 65 assessment activities in the various P and TP classes.

Individual Work is divided into two components: Individual Face-to-Face (IP) and Individual Homework (NPI).

Group Work is broken down into three components: Group Spokesperson (PVG), Group Work (TG), and Self and Hetero-Assessment (AHA).

75% of the activities are carried out in groups and 25% individually.

91.5% are written activities and 8.5% are oral activities (PVG).

81.6% of the activities are face-to-face and 18.4% are non-face-to-face (homework).

49.3% of the activities will be graded on the 0-1 scale (0 - did not do the minimum; 1 - did at least the minimum); 35.2% of the activities will be graded on the 0-3 scale (0 - did not do the minimum; 1 - poor performance; 2 - average performance; 3 - high performance), 9.9% are graded on the 0-5 scale (0 - did not do the minimum; 1 - very poor performance; 2 - poor performance; 3 - average performance; 4 - good performance; 5 - very good performance) and 5.6% concern the AHA assessment.

In general, the marks awarded for activities will be expressed in whole numbers, according to the respective scale. Exceptionally, activities automatically assessed by the MOODLE platform may be expressed to one decimal place.

The following table outlines the different components of the assessment, their scoring domain and their rating (in values):

 

Assessement Component	Participation (read point 10)	Individual		Group
		EPI	ENPI	PVG	TG	AHA
Marking range  (points)	0¯ to 36+	0 to 12	0 to 14	0 to 14*	0 to 97	3¯ to 12+
Grades range (1-20 scale)	0 to 4,0	0 to 4	0 to 2	0 to 1,5	0 to 7	0 to 1,5

 Obs. (*): The PVG type assessment will be awarded to the group on the basis of the oral presentation by one or more members of the group.

6 - The conversion of the score obtained in a component into a classification is done linearly. Zero points will correspond to zero values and the maximum number of points will correspond to the maximum classification in the assessment component.

In the AHA component, the maximum grad (1.5) is awarded to students with at least 12 points. Students with 3 points or less will be awarded with a grade of zero.

7 - The Participation component will be assessed as follows:

- For each lesson (P or TP) attended with participation, the student will get +1 point.
- For each lesson (P or TP) attended with an unusually positive performance, the student will get +2 points. Note: In each lesson, the number of unusually positive performances highlighted by the teacher may not exceed 10% of the number of students in the class.

- If the student is absent, or if he is present but does not participate or disrupt the lesson, he will not be awarded any points.
- For each P lesson with disruptive behavior, the student will get -1 point.
- For each TP lesson with disruptive behavior, the student will get -2 points.

Thus, each student can have between -26 and 44 Participation points, which will be converted into a scale between 0 and 3. Participation scores below 0 points will correspond to a grade of zero. Above 36 points, the maximum grade, 3, will be awarded.

8 - Once the final grades have been calculated, each P class teacher may, exceptionally and with written justification to the SCTC Coordination, propose that a student''s grade may be inscrease depending on their performance in class. Each teacher may award a maximum of 2 boni per class. The bonus per student is an integer not exceeding 1.

9 - Attendance obtained by a student in a given school year, in the event of a Fail, is only valid in the following school year. However, grades obtained in activities in a given school year are only valid in the school year in which they were obtained.

10 - In a school year, a student will pass if he or she has a valid attendance and has obtained at least  9.5 in the sum of all the  assessed components.

 

 

Subject matter

1 - Curriculum planning for employability:

Curriculum Vitae, its importance and presentation.

Motivation letter.

Interviews and image.

Social networks and employment.

Curriculum planning - aspects to consider to improve your CV.

Psychotechnical testing in the selection and recruitment process.

 

2 - Time Management, Teamwork and Leadership
Time management:

The importance of daily planning.

SMART objectives.

Important vs. Urgent: Stephen-Covey Model.

Time wasters.

Efficiency vs. Effectiveness

Systematic postponements.

Postponements vs. Perfectionism.

Managing e-mails and social networks.

Teamwork:

Collaborative work - Text editing tools.

Team cohesion and disruption factors.

Active Listening.

Leadership:

The Leader and Task Management, Individual Management and Group Management.

Leadership Styles and Values.

Characteristics of a leader.

Positive language.

 

3 - Advanced use of Spreadsheets
Introduction to Excel.

Introduction to the “IF” command.

Introduction to the “AND” and “OR” commands associated with “IF”.

Graphical representation.

Conditional Formatting.

Pivot tables.

Counting commands

Basic Statistics in Excel.

Vertical Information Search (“PROCV”).

Optimizing a function - application to Stock Management. Using the Solver.

Introduction to Excel''s Visual Basic module.

Definition and functions in VB. Introduction to macros in VB/Excel.

 

4 - Bibliographical research. Information analysis. Ethics and Deontology.

Bibliographic research using the Internet.

Objectives of bibliographic research in Science and Technology.

Criteria for optimizing research.

Relevant information and reliable information. Credible sources of information.

Using a specialized search engine for academic purposes.

Open access vs. restricted access.

Using reliable sources on restricted access portals and for open sources.

Existing resources in b-on and RCAAP.

Analysis (and evaluation) of information.

Choosing criteria for evaluating information for carrying out work in Science and Technology.

Summaries versus syntheses.

Anti-plagiarism software.

Ethics and Deontology:

Concept of plagiarism. Common forms of plagiarism, possible reasons and how to avoid it.

Ways of detecting plagiarism.

Detection of passages that constitute plagiarism using Ephorus software.

Concepts of Morals, Ethics and Deontology.

Examples of Ethics in Science and Deontology in professional performance.

Plagiarism and Fraud in the FCT/UNL Assessment Regulations.

Duties and the dilemma in professional performance.

 

5 - Communication in Science and Technology.
The importance of communication.

Types of communication.

Communication through a handwritten document.

Handwritten documents. Presentation of handwritten documents.

Recommendations for an oral presentation.

Preparing a report, oral communication and poster.

Communication through a written document. Recommendations.

Communication using audio-visual aids.

Poster. Recommendations.

Communicating by e-mail.

Communicating on the Internet: Forums, Chats and Social Networks.

Spelling.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: