In education particularly in technological and professional education there is a growing importance for the development of soft skills. Considering the fact that every technology student is an investment made currently for a strong and prosperous future our efforts are to be concentrated for raising the human capital with competency-based skills. Competencies required of technologists / professionals include attainment of technical capabilities, personality development, attitude training to promote work culture etc.

The world all around is looking for persons with adequate knowledge and smart skills to deliver the products / services to the competitive advantage of the society where they live in. Here in this context, learning soft skills along with theory and practical subject by every student of technology is gaining importance not as a desirable but essential requirement. The simple soft skills that every technology students has to learn with objectivity aimed at promoting positive work culture are skills in communication, effective presentation and ability to work with others. Structured classroom instruction may not suffice to provide these abilities in engineering / technology education. Learning through well planned co-curricular methods and practices will definitely help the students. Libraries, Seminars and Project work (LS) have immense potential in developing the soft skills. Systematic utilization of facilities will accelerate the process of learning. Some such aspects are dealt here.

FACTORS OF LEARNING 

In the process of learning, the right attitude that a student has to cultivate are:

· Continuous search for knowledge inputs
· Documentation of the information / knowledge gathered
· Study and analysis of information
· Comprehend the information to suit the presentation
· Make use of the knowledge acquired, assimilated for application utility
· Convert learning into a practical utilizable product / service

Aforesaid attitudes can be developed through practice.... practice and practice alone.

 The learning environment will have to facilitate a student to get right guidance at every stage. General observation of the present technology students and their learning attitudes is that efforts put forth by many students are not adequate enough and much more serious efforts are to be made by them to be competitive to face and sustain the challenging situations in industrial / service sector where they will have to enter and work.

 In order to raise the learning capabilities of students, well-planned programme schedules either as a part of curricular activities or as supportive co curricular activities have to be designed and implemented.

 The focus of these programmes is to provide proper guidance to the students in making them learn through action based, project oriented, experiential learning. With abundant information support, the present day students are having best of the learning environments, which the earlier generation did not have.

 The advancements in computers, communication have brought tremendous changes in knowledge acquisition, sharing knowledge by bringing changes in technologies with electronic technology for the students to improve his / her competencies. Sky is the limit, to which one can grow.

 A simplistic approach which every student can easily follow is to integrate his / her learning making effective and purposive by the use of infrastructure and other facilities available in the institute. This includes

· Use of library
· Systematic collection and processing of information available in print or in electronic media, internet etc.

· Modifying / refining the information and knowledge gathered to make presentations and discussions in seminars and documentation of the valuable materials through publication of papers in professional journals.

· Transfer the learning for practical utility by way of developing products / service that bring confidence to face the challenges and improve creativity in the technology students.

These are achieved through participative learning by every student.

INTEGRATED LEARNING – LSP APPROACH

 Learning takes place through a process of acquisition, assimilation, analysis of knowledge. This has to be practiced through systematic efforts of reading writing and speaking skills and their integration through LSP approach, i.e., by utilizing library. seminars and projects as the firm building blocks for raising the intellectual capabilities of technology students.

 In technology education the use of library, participation in seminars and working on projects play a significant role. Learning plans of students should always be with continuous linkage between these components as illustrated below.

Integrated LSP Learning Model

The LSP integrated learning model as shown in the figure above depicts the inter-relationships that help in developing competencies in ‘Soft Skills’ in every technology student.

What industry / job provider will look for in students is their ability of thinking, linking, and doing the assigned task.

 If a student cultivates the habit of using the library, right from day one into his / her entry into technological / professional education and plans systematically, the learning becomes smooth, hastle free and effective. It is generally observed that seminars and projects become worthy some parts for many engineering / technology students.

GAPS / DEFICIENCIES

Inhibition to give seminars, hesitation to present papers and ignorance of ‘How ?, and where ?’ of the projects’ is generally observed in many students. The industry, time and again is given a feed back to the institutions that these capabilities are to be developed in every engineering / technology student. Despite initiatives taken by the institutions, the seriousness seems to be lacking in students and to some extent in faculty. In conducting the activities / programmes that provide the competencies as are required by the industry.

    ‘Mr. / Ms/ seriousness is wanted, to be searched, caught, counseled, guided and developed’ in every product (student) of the institution. The growth of the institution, its students will largely depend upon how sooner and how effectively this is done.

    It is needless to reiterate that greater efforts will have to be made by the learners / students. A suggestive action plan with focus on learning, making use of available resources, programmes within the institution are as follows:

PREPARATION

To gain competencies in seminar presentation and project work, large amount of time has to be spent in preparation, which includes selection / search processing.

    Library is the heart of the educational activity providing Bank of Learning Resources. Enriching the library with books, journals, both print and digital on a continuous basis is what institutions should do and the students and faculty must make optimum use of it in their efforts to attain academic excellence.

Careful planning for the use of library is to be learnt by every learner. Libraries in modern times equipped with text books and reference journals, videos, CDs, DVDs etc. provide ‘single window service’ to all those who are in the pursuit of acquiring knowledge.

Selection Of Proper Resource Material In The Library

Every learner should have a planned goal before he / she enters, the library i.e., one must have a clear understanding about the subject area in which the search of resource materials is to be made. Apart from the selection of textbooks relating to the curriculum, one has to plan for the utilization of library for gathering information to he / she thinks to be useful for seminars, projects. They should also know the latest trends in the interested areas.

The planning includes the following:

1.  Selection of subject area.

2.  Search for the specific or related information from books, periodicals, journals, internet,  hand books etc.

3.  Cultivate the habit of taking notes, collection of required materials either in the form of  hard of soft copies, while in the library.

4.  Reading and re-reading till the topic chosen is completely understood.

5.  Preparing the notes, papers suitable for use on various occasions, such as 

a.   Class room Seminars.
b.   Paper Presentations various platforms.
c.   Preparation of Project reports.
d.   Preparation of analysis reports of the knowledge gathered.
e.   Synthesis of thoughts emanating from the gathered information

6. Processing the information as per the requirements like.
a.   Preparation of slides for Power Point Presentation
b.   Preparation of papers for Seminars
c.   Publication of Papers in national and international journals
d.   Compilation of Various viewpoints on a  selected topic with proper linkages with the area of project / research in the form of literature survey
e.   Impact analysis of various schemes /  strategies
f.   Preparation of comprehensive reports in various subject related topics of  interest

SUMMING UP: In the knowledge era in which we are now living, learning is an essential component of life. Planned learning though self efforts making effective utilization of library / electronic materials, will go a long way in developing competencies in technology students which provide them with a strong base to build prospective careers. Active & serious participation in classroom and outside seminars, paper presentation, paper publication, projects relevant to the studies useful for the future development will provide tremendous confidence to the students. Systematic efforts of all learners, teacher developers, industries etc. will have a smooth and uninterrupted path for progress and prosperity, which is our ultimate goal.