In the Classroom
How have you built this skill in the classroom?
What Are Essential Skills?
The skills outlined below have been identified by MSU Denver faculty and staff and through national surveys of employers as essential for preparedness for any post-graduation opportunity and career.
Essential Skills Are Built in Three Places
Out of the Classroom
How have you built this skill out of the classroom (i.e., job, internship, student organization, volunteering, etc.)?
Beyond the Classroom
How can you continue to build this skill in the future?
Global Learning
Global learning is a critical analysis of and an engagement with complex, interdependent global systems and legacies (such as natural, physical, social, cultural, economic, and political) and their implications for people’s lives and the earth’s sustainability.
Through global learning, students should:
- become informed, open-minded, and responsible people who are attentive to diversity across the spectrum of differences;
- seek to understand how their actions affect both local and global communities; and
- address the world’s most pressing and enduring issues collaboratively and equitably.
Global Learning Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Global Learning skills, you will be able to identify:
- Some connections between an individual’s personal decision-making and certain local and global issues.
- Multiple perspectives while maintaining a value preference for your own positioning.
- Basic ethical dimensions of some local or national decisions that have global impact.
- The basic role of some global and local institutions, ideas, and processes in the human and natural worlds, and define some basic global challenges including a limited number of perspectives and solutions.
As you progress in developing Global Learning skills, you will be able to analyze and evaluate:
- The global impact of one’s own and others’ specific local actions on the natural and human world.
- Connections between the worldviews, power structures, and experiences of multiple cultures.
- The ethical, social, and environmental consequences of global systems, and identify a range of actions informed by one’s sense of personal and civic responsibility.
- The historical and contemporary roles, interconnections, and differential effects of human organizations and actions on global systems within the human and the natural worlds, formulating practical yet elementary solutions to global challenges.
As an emerging expert in Global Learning, you will be able to:
- Understand your own identity, evaluate and apply diverse perspectives, and demonstrate deep understanding of multiple worldviews, experiences, and power structures while initiating meaningful interaction with other cultures to address significant global problems.
- Take informed and responsible action to address ethical, social, and environmental challenges in global systems, and evaluate the local and broader consequences of individual and collective interventions.
- Use deep knowledge of the historic and contemporary role and differential effects of human organizations and actions on global systems to develop and advocate for informed, appropriate action to solve complex problems in the human and natural worlds.
Teamwork & Collaboration
In addition to building relationships, teamwork and collaboration mean navigating and managing conflict that may come up in the workplace by leveraging and valuing those relationships and identifying mutual goals. At any given time, you will be managing many different working relationships in your field. Conflict will inevitably arise; however, these situations can be approached to strengthen relationships and develop creative solutions. To work through conflict, employers want to see their employees develop connections with others and work through their differences to get the job done, or to serve the customer effectively.
Teamwork & Collaboration Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Teamwork & Collaboration skills, you will be able to identify:
- How your strengths, experience and knowledge can contribute to the team’s goals or purpose.
- Shared group norms and how building relationships on a team can help collaborative efforts.
- How to use active listening and inquiry as a member of a team to understand different perspectives.
- How your decisions impact the group’s goals and how the group came to identify these goals.
As you progress in developing Teamwork & Collaboration skills, you will be able to analyze and evaluate:
- Your understanding of how your strengths, experiences, and knowledge can contribute to your team’s goals.
- How well you can handle team challenges, such as uncertainty, disagreement, and setbacks when working on collaborative projects.
- The outcomes, challenges, and milestones you encountered during a difficult project, presentation, or initiative by taking an active role in a post-action debrief or assessment.
- How your identities and personal experiences shape your approach to communication and conflict on a team and with your supervisor, and similarly, how their identities and experiences shape their approach.
As an emerging expert in Teamwork & Collaboration, you will be able to:
- Effectively manage conflict and engage in difficult conversations even when uncomfortable.
- Apply lessons learned from previous conflicts and employ different tools or tactics to help achieve collective goals, such as flexibility, compromise, and asking questions.
- Demonstrate personal and shared accountability to responsibilities and goals.
- Share constructive feedback with colleagues about individual and team performance.
- Identify and engage stakeholders in and outside of your immediate team to partner on a project that mutually benefits the stakeholder group.
- Demonstrate an understanding and respect for diverse worldviews, identities and experiences when working on a team.
Career Development
Career Development is the ability to identify and articulate how your skills, strengths, knowledge, and experiences serve you on your professional journey. Career Development involves learning about yourself, your career interests and options, and the process to achieve your career goals. Understanding all essential skills will help in building Career Development because you will be able to show employers your abilities and it will widen your career options to almost any field.
Career Development Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of Career Development, you will:
- Take General Studies courses and identify a major.
- Take career assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Strong Interest Inventory, CliftonStrengths, or O*Net Interest Profiler to learn more about your personality traits, strengths, and interests.
- Meet with an Exploratory Advisor or Career Counselor to discuss your major or career options.
- Attend an exploratory event with the Classroom to Career Hub to learn about resources.
As you progress in your Career Development, you will:
- Take classes in your major and map the essential skills you are developing onto course content.
- Get academically involved on campus or in the community by taking a Service-Learning course, participating in undergraduate research, or taking an internship for credit.
- Gain hands-on experiences out of the classroom through employment, volunteer work, and joining student organizations or professional associations.
- Seek feedback and mentorship from these opportunities.
- Meet with faculty members, an Academic Advisor, Peer Mentor, Alumni Mentor, or a professional in your field of Ask them about their career path and for career advice.
As an emerging expert in Career Development, you will:
- Network, update your resume, create a LinkedIn account, look for job opportunities, write cover letters, acquire professional attire, and prepare for interviews. Meet with a Career Advisor to review these items.
- Attend events with employers such as career fairs, hiring events, or on-campus interviews.
Professionalism & Work Ethic
Professionalism and Work Ethic are shown by demonstrating personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time workload management, and understanding the impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image. The individual demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and can learn from their mistakes. Professionalism is often used as coded language that can be racist, sexist, ableist, etc. The definition highlighted here focuses on communication, project management, teamwork, and connection to your individual values.
Professionalism & Work Ethic Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Professionalism & Work Ethic skills, you will be able to identify:
- How you worked with a team on a project and your role on that team.
- Awareness of professional codes, workplace cultures and expectations (i.e., dress codes), and means and modes of communication.
- An example of how you utilized communication skills in a group project/at work.
As you progress in developing Professional & Work Ethics skills, you will be able to analyze and evaluate:
- Your effectiveness in your role as a team member on a project.
- How your personal ethics code interplays with your profession’s ethical code, the agreed upon group norms and standards of a team, or a code of conduct.
- Multiple instances of how you utilized communication skills to establish group norms and standards, and to address and resolve conflicts.
- Utilization of project management tools and techniques to facilitate group project/roles such as GANTT chart, waterfall method, developing a plan of operations, etc.
As an emerging expert in Professional & Work Ethics skills, you will be able to:
- Understand your own identity, evaluate and apply diverse perspectives, and demonstrate deep understanding of multiple worldviews, experiences, and power structures in your role as a team member.
- Lead and facilitate conversations on ethical codes and values of your profession or workplace/organization.
- Teach others on how to utilize project management tools and techniques, communication techniques to establish group norms and standards, address and resolve conflict, etc.
- Demonstrate examples of mentoring/coaching others around communication.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is all about asking questions, challenging what you already believe, spotting uncertainties, analyzing and interpreting information, making well-informed decisions, and clearly explaining your viewpoints.
Critical Thinking Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Critical Thinking skills, you will be able to:
- Ask questions and be willing to explore issues.
- Learn to explain and frame problems.
- Explore which kinds of evidence are appropriate and relevant in different areas.
- Recognize the limits of your knowledge.
As you progress in developing Critical Thinking skills, you will be able to:
- Recognize the complexity of the questions you are addressing.
- Learn frameworks for assessing and presenting evidence such as logic, scientific methods, and historical and textual analysis.
- Begin to apply these frameworks to questions you are studying and your own projects.
- Synthesize evidence to reach appropriate conclusions.
- Distinguish what you know from what you don’t.
As an emerging expert in Critical Thinking, you will be able to:
- Identify which skills and tools to use for the question at hand.
- Systematically analyze questions into their fundamental components.
- Know when to accept assumptions and when to question them.
- Evaluate which sorts of evidence are appropriate in different contexts.
- Reflectively assess when and how to deploy your skills.
- Synthesize perspectives to provide the best overall judgment and reasoning.
- Be aware of what you know and what you don’t know.
Leadership
Leadership development allows you to demonstrate problem-solving abilities by applying critical thinking and collaborating with others to achieve a desired outcome. Many people are discouraged from engaging in leadership because they have been presented with an unrealistic and intimidating notion of what it means to be a leader. However, leadership is not about charisma, acts of genius, or one’s position on the organizational chart.
Leadership Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Leadership skills, you will be able to identify:
- Leadership characteristics, styles, and practices.
- One or more approaches for solving the problem at hand, that do not apply within a specific context.
- Conclusions logically tied to information; some related outcomes are identified clearly.
- Strengths of others in relation to common goals of a team, group or an organization.
- Traits of a leader that show empathy, positive attitude, and methods that motivate others.
As you progress in developing Leadership skills, you will be able to analyze and evaluate:
- Different leadership characteristics, styles, and practices; personal leadership competencies.
- Multiple approaches for solving the problem, only some of which apply within a specific context.
- Conclusions logically tied to a range of information, including opposing viewpoints; related outcomes are identified clearly.
- Strengths of others in relation to tasks and outcomes needed to achieve goals in a team, group or an organization.
- Various methods of empathetic leaders, demonstrating a positive attitude, motivating team members.
As an emerging expert in Leadership, you will be able to:
- Create a plan for cultivating additional leadership competencies.
- Propose multiple approaches for solving the problem that apply within a specific context.
- Conclude and provide outcomes that are logical and based on informed evaluation by placing evidence and perspectives in priority order.
- Demonstrate awareness of the strengths of others and uses those strengths to delegate tasks and achieve common goals in a team, group, or an organization.
- Show empathy and a positive attitude to motivate team members.
- Organize and prioritize tasks.
Quantitative Reasoning
Quantitative Reasoning allows you to demonstrate your ability to solve problems using mathematical models. If you are good at arithmetic, algebra, geometry and data analysis, this tells employers that you pay attention to details and are a critical thinker. These skills also demonstrate your ability to be methodical and analytical. These are skills that can be applied to non-math problems and are clues to recruiters and hiring managers that you can understand and interpret other types of information and analyze it to reach the right solution.
Quantitative Reasoning Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Quantitative Reasoning skills, you will be able to:
- Provide accurate explanations of information presented in mathematical forms.
- Make appropriate inferences based on information.
- Begin to communicate the mathematical process in a clear and effective way.
- Describe assumptions made and addresses limitations of analysis.
As you progress in developing Quantitative Reasoning skills, you will be able to:
- Communicate methods of solutions and solutions to problems for the clarity of the receiver.
- Apply effective and efficient mathematical processes to reason and to solve problems.
- Select, construct, and use mathematical models, identifying salient features of particular phenomena and interpreting and justifying the reasonableness of their results.
As an emerging expert in Quantitative Reasoning, you will be able to:
- Describe how mathematics can contribute to the solution of problems in the natural world or human society.
- Employ critical thinking skills, drawing upon prior knowledge when possible, to analyze and explore new and unfamiliar problems.
- Solve problems using algorithms or formulas.
- Analyze and interpret data, including calculating numerical summaries and creating graphical representations, to propose possible implications.
Technology
Students need to understand how to use digital technology effectively for research and problem-solving. This means going beyond learning a specific software; students should understand how technology works to adapt as it evolves. The best researchers use digital tools to handle data efficiently, therefore students must understand the full capabilities of technology to stay ahead.
Technology Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Technology skills, you will be able to:
- Use technology selected for you to complete a task.
- Begin to use technology to work collaboratively.
- Be trained on computer software or a coding language.
- Be proficient in word processing, spreadsheet, email, database, and electronic research applications.
As you progress in developing Technology skills, you will be able to:
- Use technology familiar to you to complete a task.
- Use technology to collaborate with others in strategic ways to problem solve or complete a task.
- Use your computer software training to solve a simple problem.
As an emerging expert in Technology skills, you will:
- Utilize technology to work collaboratively, efficiently, and productively.
- Use technology to evaluate evidence, analyze information, and verify arguments.
- Use the computer software learned in training to solve complex problems and learn to use new or unfamiliar technologies quickly.
- Create products using innovative digital tools to compose, illustrate, and communicate original ideas or research.
- Use technology ethically and legally.
Oral & Written Communication
This skill demonstrates the ability to speak and write clearly and responsively for a variety of audiences and communication contexts and tasks. Students who have strong oral and written communication skills express thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively. Their spee ch and writing demonstrate critical and creative thinking, an understanding of the intersections of identity, culture, power, and language, and an ability to adapt to a variety of situations and technologies. Effective communicators can work both independently and collaborate successfully with others.
Oral & Written Communication Skill Development Stages
In the early stages of developing Oral & Written Communication skills, you will learn to:
- Develop a well-organized message with coherent and effective content.
- Incorporate various and credible supporting material (e.g., examples, anecdotes statistics, analogies, illustrations, quotations).
- Demonstrate awareness of context, audience, purpose, and begin to show awareness of an audience’s perceptions and assumptions.
- Exhibit proficiency with conventions (ex. spellings, grammar, mechanics, and word choice) and an understanding of why the use of conventions is appropriate.
- Practice effective listening and reading strategies that enhance understanding, evaluation, and engagement.
As you progress in developing Oral & Written Communication skills, you will:
- Perform skillful verbal communication (e.g. clear, vivid, and/or compelling language) appropriate to audience and context.
- Perform skillful non-verbal communication (e.g. vocal variety, pace, and physical behavior) appropriate to audience and context.
- Adapt to varied audiences, their beliefs, values, and attitudes, as well as to features of contexts, situations, and interactions.
- Demonstrate a developing understanding of genres and how to determine genre conventions.
- Critically read, evaluate, and use evidence and/or sources in support of a claim.
- Possess public speaking skills.
As an emerging expert in Oral & Written Communication skills, you will:
- Exhibit a thorough understanding of audience, purpose, genre, and context that is responsive to the situation.
- Central message is compelling: precisely stated, appropriate repeated, and strongly supported.
- Language choices are appropriate to audience and are imaginative, memorable, and compelling.
- Apply formal and informal conventions of writing and speaking, including organization, content, presentation, formatting, and stylistic choices, in particular forms and/or fields.
- Synthesize the communicator’s own ideas and the ideas of sources effectively.
The Information on this Page Was Developed by the Essential Skills Workgroup
Maluwa Behringer, Executive Director of Industry Partnerships
Dr. Caleb Cohoe, Chair and Professor in the Department of Philosophy
Dr. Bethany Dillen, Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences
Dr. Christopher Jennings, Chair and Professor of Journalism and Media Production
Lauren Koppel, Director of Scholarship Support & Retention Programs
Elise Krumholz, Program Director for Restorative Justice & Conflict Resolution
Dr. Dan Lair, Associate Dean of Faculty and Student Affairs
Dr. Andrea Maestrejuan, Professor in the Department of History
Dr. Angie Moreno, Student Affairs Assessment & Evaluation Manager
Dr. Jessica Parker, Professor in the Department of English
Dr. Elizabeth Parmelee, Associate Vice President for Undergraduate Studies
Bev Reimer, Office of Curriculum & Academic Effectiveness
Dr. Buffy Ribble, Director of Data & Analytics
Dr. Shaun Schafer, Associate Vice President for Curriculum and Policy Development
Dr. Keah Schuenemann, Professor in the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Content Provided in Partnership with the Classroom to Career Hub (C2 Hub)
Phone: (303) 615-1133
Email: [email protected]