Students' Ability and Desire for Teamwork as a Component of Soft Skills in the Digital Era and its Role in Learning

Bazargan, Kaveh

doi:10.22034/lrsi.2025.506967.1331

Students' Ability and Desire for Teamwork as a Component of Soft Skills in the Digital Era and its Role in Learning

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Kaveh Bazargan

Corresponding author, Assistant Professor in Communication Studies, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: kbazargan@atu.ac.ir

10.22034/lrsi.2025.506967.1331

Abstract

Objectives : In the digital age, the use of emergent technologies, such as Generative Pre-trained Transformer, will significantly transform activities and will unexpectedly create developments in different directions in the future. To be ready for these developments, there is need for empowering students in soft skills. Such a move would increase employability of graduates. Among the components of soft skills, teamwork is of particular importance. The ability of teamwork is significant not only in manufacturing and service institutions but also in teaching-learning processes in educational institutions. The objective of this research was to answer two questions: What is the ability and desire of students to the teamwork? And, is there a relationship between the teamwork ability of students and their achievements of learning outcomes?
Method: To respond to the two questions, a research project was designed and carried out. In doing so, a descriptive-analytical method was used to collect and analyze data. The population and sample studied were undergraduate students in Communication Sciences at one of the country’s research universities. To measure the readiness and desire of students to teamwork, a standardized scale was used and the necessary data was collected and analyzed. In addition, a formative assessment approach was used to measure students’ achievement of learning. It was a continuous assessment of learning and included an end of course test as well.
Findings: Data analysis showed that more than 60% of students, in the sample, had the ability and desire to do teamwork. Also, using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, the relationship between the ability and desire to teamwork and learning outcomes achievement was analyzed which was positive.
Conclusion: The statistical test of significance showed there is a positive relationship between the ability and desire of students to teamwork and the achievement of learning outcomes (P<0.01).Based on this, suggestions for developing the ability of students in teamwork in educational environments have been delineated to promote students learning.

Keywords

Digital Era

Generative Artificial Intelligence

Soft Skills

Employability

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