DEVELOPING SOFT SKILLS IN A B-LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The development of soft skills in students enrolled in higher education courses is recognized as a fundamental element to promote the success of students' integration in real workplace situations. Nevertheless, if we look at nowadays syllabus, we attest that the main effort is made on the contents instead of being made on soft skills. Content-based teaching and learning may not promote the development of higher-order thinking skills considered crucial in Higher Education. This paper presents a reflection on the importance of paradigm shifting concerning the development of learning strategies. Nowadays, the concerns with cognitive goals assume a role in balance with the importance of transversal abilities, e. g. soft skills. This paper adds a practical vision on these concerns, describing some learning activities designed in order to develop students' soft skills. The activities described were carried out on the context of an Information and Communication Technologies course, in a higher education institution. The activities developed were used to help students reaching the cognitive objectives and developing soft skills, so important in today's societies. This paper also presents a reflection on the role of web technologies to improve students' skills. A case study is presented.