Workshop Title: The Importance of STEM Soft Skills Development in MA Visual Effects
Duration: 2 hours 15 min.
Settling in, download documents and read Participant Information Sheet – 5 min
A. Individual Activity – 15 min
Task: Complete the Participant Information Form and a short questionnaire.
Objective: Gauge students’ perceptions of soft skills development and whether they have actively engaged with them throughout the term.
B. Group Activity (Groups of 3) – 30 min
Task: Debugging Challenge
Objective: Connect daily VFX work with the soft skills required to solve technical problems.
Instructions:
Students will be given an Unreal Engine project with several technical issues. They must:
1- Identify possible causes.
2- Render one frame to achieve a specified look.
Note: AI tools are not permitted. All group members must participate.
When they open the file in Unreal Engine, the scene is as below:
But they have to troubleshoot the scene and render the image below:
C. Post-Collaboration Reflection Questionnaire – 15 min
Task: Reflect on the group activity by individually responding to the questionnaire on Padlet.
Objective: Identify which soft skills were used and which were lacking.
For activity closure, I will ask the students to speak out loudly which soft skills some of them used that contributed to complete the task.
D. Individual Activity – 20 min
Task: Miracle Question on Padlet
Objective: Use a solution-focused tool to help students define and identify soft skills, fostering ownership of their lifelong learning.
Why this matters:
• Personalized reflection: Encourages authentic, relevant thinking based on real challenges.
• Future-focused: Helps students imagine success and reverse-engineer the soft skills involved.
• Bridges theory and practice: Connects abstract soft skills to concrete project experiences.
• Supports emotional engagement: Promotes introspection and meaningful learning.
Prompt:
“Think of a serious challenge you’ve faced in one of your recent VFX projects (e.g., technical, creative, project or time management). Now imagine you wake up tomorrow and that challenge has been completely resolved.”
Questions:
a) What does success look like?
b) What steps do you think led to that resolution?
c) Which soft skills were involved in solving the problem?
d) How might you develop or strengthen those skills further?
E. Lecture and Class Discussion – 30 min
Objective: Clarify the importance of soft skills and their relevance to the VFX industry.
Topics:
• Which soft skills are crucial, and which are STEM-related.
• How soft skills are evaluated at UAL.
• Why they are essential for employment in VFX and related fields.
F. Final Questionnaire – 15 min
Objective: Assess whether students can connect soft skills development with long-term career success.