It’s Monday morning, and you realize that you forgot to do some homework over the weekend. No worries; there’s always activity period to work on it. However, this just so happens to be a video Monday as well, so instead of that homework, you have to watch a video to help develop your soft skills. Not only does this put added stress on the student who normally uses this time to work, but it is also an ineffective method of developing soft skills.

The problem with soft skills is that they can’t really be taught; you have to develop them yourself. According to a 2019 article by Sonya Krakoff of Champlain College Online, the only way to truly build your soft skills is to put them into practice. Not being able to practice these skills can cause future problems, especially when it comes to employment. The article claims that most companies nowadays are looking less at grades and accomplishments and more at attitudes and work ethic, which makes the need for soft skills ever greater.

The best way to develop soft skills would be through hands-on activities. While video learning is a great method in comparison to traditional classroom learning, it isn’t as effective as hands-on learning. Hands-on learning allows the student to learn using all of their senses, not just vision and hearing. This can help them better understand the material and be able to demonstrate it themselves instead of seeing it demonstrated through a screen.

Video Mondays do give us an example to live our lives by, though. They give us suggestions as to what we can do in order to improve ourselves. However, it is simply up to the individual whether they want to accept the suggestion or not. Overall, if one were to develop their soft skills through education, the best way to do this is by hands-on learning.