Some superpowers take on more of an academic form, and some may take on the form of extracurricular achievements and soft skills. Teachers are becoming increasingly adept at capturing and celebrating student growth in multiple facets.
In this blog, you’ll learn more about how soft skills and extracurricular activities can help students hone their superpowers and develop their student profiles.
Your school, and many others, will have the unique characteristics and skills it values most. These are captured in report cards or the TrackOne Studio Learning Analytics Suite. Some examples include:
Extracurricular activities play a crucial role in developing these valued traits in more ways than a spider chart can show! According to Torrens University, extracurricular activities allow students to showcase their abilities, develop new skills, discover a new interest, and enjoy many other benefits that can help them prepare for their careers later in life.
Common extracurricular activities include:
According to the International Review of Education, engaging in activities like volunteering can make a student’s educational experience more enjoyable, active, and relevant. These activities contribute significantly to personal growth and character development, which are essential for success beyond school.
It may be one thing to excel academically, and it may be another to be easy to work with. Soft skills like communication and critical thinking are essential for a successful career and education. Therefore, knowing what drives students means you can help them stay well-connected and enrich the learning and teaching experience.
Let’s say we have an all-rounder student who participates extensively in rugby and music. You can maintain a record of soft skills associated with these, which are logged in the TrackOne Studio Soft Skills module, where you can create a spider chart of your student’s profile and compare it against the cohort.
Capturing these superpowers involves recognising the building blocks of soft skills developed through the extracurricular activities mentioned earlier.
These can help you build data stories. Sports, music, drama, and other activities require discipline, perseverance, teamwork, and creativity.
By tracking and celebrating these contributions, your school can help students understand their strengths and how they can apply them in various contexts. This data will let you determine which students' achievements you want to celebrate through things such as micro-credentials.
What are micro-credentials? These are often shorter, specific certifications that recognise achievements in particular areas, such as a certificate for completing a leadership training program or an award for community service. Micro-credentials add depth to a student’s soft skills profile and share tangible evidence of their abilities and contributions.
Celebrating achievements in extracurricular contributions and soft skills is essential for fostering a sense of accomplishment and motivation. Your school could implement various awards and recognition programs to highlight these achievements, such as:
Schools can use tools like TrackOne Studio’s Learning Analytics Suite to effectively capture and visualise soft skill development. Spider charts visualise student data against the cohort, which can highlight gaps and share insights into their strengths and growth areas.
Incorporating soft skills and extracurricular contributions into the educational framework enhances student profiles and prepares students to thrive in a complex, ever-changing world. By valuing and celebrating these, schools can foster a generation of well-rounded, capable, and confident individuals.
Get in touch with our skilled team who are ready to help you pave the way to celebrate your students’ superpowers through the TrackOne Analytics Studio!