As we are facing new technologies, AI in our changing communities and societies, we are challenged to develop skills to adapt and respond to the developments emerging at global and local contexts[STB1] . These changes have affected the labor market, where employees are required to solve complex problems at a fast pace. (Karaca-Atik et al. 2023).  

The goal of doctoral programs is to develop graduate students as researchers to advance knowledge, ideas, and develop creative solutions. Yet, many follow a very narrow path with little experience outside of academia removing them from the realities and problems faced by new demands. To address this, researchers and employer have identified a set of 21st century skills (P21, 2019) to navigate the current developments and solve the problems of our generation. Over the years, these skills have been known as soft skills (Succi & Canovi, 2019), generic skills (Frenk et al., 2010), or skills for employability (Kearns, 2001). In this study we use the term transferable skills to denote the applicability of these in various contexts (Barnett & Ceci, 2002).

Where do our graduate students acquire these transferable skills in a university environment? Few would be inclined to first look in teaching professional development and pedagogical trainings. Researchers have explored existing literature identifying skills commonly seen as valuable to employers. In this quest, it has become apparent that preparing graduate students to teach provides competencies that go beyond the classroom or laboratory settings. Whereas skills acquired from teaching preparation programs and classroom experiences are often overlooked, research has shown that teaching skills can be transferred to a variety of careers.

This research study was conducted at a large research-intensive public university in the U.S.A. granting Bachelor, Master’s, and Ph.D. to over 50,000 students from all around the world. Annually, approximately 1300 of the 10 000 Graduate students hold instructional roles as part of their graduate assistantship and funding package, and provide 10 % of all classroom instruction at the institution. Their instructional roles include teaching a section or a lab, grading, and leading small discussion groups. These students participate in an intensive Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) Preparation program over multiple days to prepare them for effective instruction. The program focuses on facilitation, assessment and evidence-based pedagogical practices that will foster student learning. Feedback on whether graduate students met learning goals, and if they thought what they learned equipped them to be effective is collected immediately following the program. An initial review of the feedback revealed the utility of the skills and their congruency with transferable skills identified in the literature, among those effective communication skills, socio-emotional skills, leadership skills, and collaborative skills, to name a few (Karaca-Atik, et al., 2013). These skills can be used to mitigate some of the current challenges and positively advance our communities and our society. For example, communication skills to address contentious topics and situations, socio-emotional learning to compassionately listen to the stories of students in crisis can also be applied to working with those affected by humanitarian crises. Using technology to build connections and solve complex problems can translate into creating more equitable and humanizing experiences that challenge our world.  In our attempt to intentionally design programs to prepare graduate students for working with diverse student populations, the classroom serves as a microcosm for the uncertainty experienced in our world, and prepares them to become change agentswho instill hope to solve the problems faced by local and global communities.

For the current study the researchers collected feedback data in response to the GTA Preparation program outcomes associated with the skill and knowledge development. The 21st century skills (P21, 2019) and sustainable careers frameworks (de Vos et al., 2020) were combined into a set of transferable skills. The GTA preparation program evaluation and feedback data collected between 2021 and 2023 included 1200 responses for analysis. The data analysis process consisted of deductive and inductive coding as discussed by Bingham and Witkowsky (2022). First, the researchers analyzed and synthesized research and in a deductive approach identifying the transferable skills most often noted in the literature recognizing those that had most overlap. Fourteen transferable skill codes were initially elicited and entered into an Excel worksheet. These skills served as the basis for the thematic coding of the data. Next, data collected following the Graduate Teaching Assistant Program program feedback surveys via Qualtrics (an approved university survey platform) was elicited and downloaded into an Excel file. This file contained both quantitative data (multiple-choice and other closed-ended questions) and qualitative data (open-ended questions). All quantitative data was deleted so the file only contained qualitative data. A separate file with only qualitative data pertaining to questions about what was learned from the workshops and sessions spread over the entire GTA preparation program were used for the current analysis. After all responses and quotes were entered into the Excel file, two researchers individually coded the responses as these aligned with the pre-identified codes.. The responses which did not align with the pre-determined codes were grouped under the recurring themes and new codes were generated for those quotes and themes based on Corbin and Strauss’s (2015) grounded theory approach. Quotes that did not speak to the topic were excluded from the analysis. After this process was completed, the researchers discussed the codes and calculated interrater reliability.

Initial analyses of the data showed that the knowledge, skills, and competencies gained from the Graduate Teaching Assistant program aligned with the transferable skills and competencies of the 21st century as seen in the literature. Among the skills rising to the top were communication, instruction/facilitation, and socio-emotional intelligence. Furthermore social & cross-cultural understanding and awareness as well as information technology, which are skills highly sought after by employees and essential to the ongoing process of improving communities emerged. Collaboration and teambuilding skills were frequently identified as by-products of teaching professional development. Given that graduate students came from a broad spectrum of disciplines, they recognized the value of diverse disciplinary and demographic voices. It can be inferred that solving complex problems in current realities are best addressed and solved when multiple lenses and inter-disciplinary perspectives and problem-solving skills are applied in collaborative teams. Similarly, leadership and organizational skills are increasingly important in educational spaces that require faculty and academic staff to navigate the intricacies of the in-person, remote, and hybrid learning environments which are also prevalent in the work environments of private and public sectors. Lastly, the dilemma of information overload and the use of new artificial intelligence tools require very intentional planning and self-regulation mindfulness with respect to ethics and integrity to be impactful change agents in solving our current generation’s problems.

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