Workplace and Communication Skills

Curriculum guideline

Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course code
LIST 0100
Descriptive
Workplace and Communication Skills
Department
Vocational Education and Skills Training
Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Credits
3.00
Start date
End term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
12
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Contact hours

Lecture: 3 hours/week

Lab: 1 hour/week

Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Lab
Learning activities
  • Lecture
  • Lab
  • Role-plays
  • Audiovisual media

 

Course description
This course is designed to provide students who experience barriers to education and employment with the opportunity to develop workplace skills and behaviours that contribute to job success. It emphasizes the importance of the skills needed to enter working situations with improved confidence and to assertively and to handle employment-related interpersonal situations assertively. The focus of the course is to support students to practice job interview skills.
Course content

Topics to be explored include:

  • Effective communication utilizing assertiveness, active listening, paraphrasing, asking questions and awareness of nonverbal communication
  • Giving and receiving positive and constructive feedback
  • Workplace communication and employability skills
  • Problem-solving strategies
  • Time-management tools and strategies
  • Preparing and responding to job interview questions
  • Mindfulness
  • Basic computer skills including formatting Microsoft Word documents and emailing
  • Rights and responsibilities around disclosing a disability 
Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, a successful student will be able to:

  1. Display/use effective communications.
  2. Engage in active listening.
  3. Differentiate between passive, aggressive and assertive communication.
  4. Demonstrate initiative, dependability and reliability on the job.
  5. Employ appropriate conversational skills with fellow students, coworkers and employers.
  6. Demonstrate respectful interactions in a diverse multicultural learning/work environment.
  7. Demonstrate cooperative workplace behaviours.
  8. Identify ways of demonstrating initiative on the job.
  9. Demonstrate problem-solving strategies.
  10. Demonstrate time-management strategies.
  11. Identify and demonstrate safe work practices as per WorkSafeBC guidelines.
  12. Prepare for a job interview.
  13. Present themselves at job interviews in a professional manner.
  14. Respond to interview questions by representing their strengths and specific industry skills.
  15. Ask relevant questions of potential employers.
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course. This is a mastery-graded course.

Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of:

  • Mid-point and final self-assessments
  • Demonstration of skills
  • Regular attendance and participation in class activities

 

Instructors may use a student's record of attendance and/or level of active participation as part of the student's graded performance. Expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the instructor’s course outline/syllabus.

Textbook materials

Relevant material will be provided throughout the course.

Prerequisites

None

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

None