Workshop Title: The Importance of STEM Soft Skills Development in MA Visual Effects
Duration: 2 hours 15 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.
Questions:
a) What do you expect to develop by studying MA Visual Effects?
b) How do you think you will be evaluated in the unit assignments?
c) Which do you believe is more important for becoming a successful artist: soft or hard skills? Why?
d) Are soft skills developed passively through work or through active effort? Explain.
e) Have you developed any new soft skills during the first term? If yes, which ones?
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 (e.g., streaming pool low, clipping, optimization for real-time, flipped normals). They must:
1- Identify possible causes.
2- Assign roles (e.g., researcher, tester, communicator).
3- Use online resources or class materials to propose a solution.
4- Render one frame to achieve a specified look.
5- Document their process.
Note: AI tools are not permitted. All group members must participate.
C. Padlet Reflection – 15 min
Task: Reflect on the group activity.
Objective: Identify which soft skills were used and which were lacking.
Questions:
a) What soft skills did you use? (e.g., “We had to adapt when our first idea failed.”)
b) How did your ‘miracle vision’ guide your thinking?
c) What would you do differently next time?
d) How did you handle uncertainty?
e) Who took the lead in communication?
f) What helped you stay motivated?
10-min break
D. Individual Activity – 15 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.
Questions:
a) Did you know before today that VFX is part of the STEM field? (Yes / No / Other)
b) What does VFX being part of STEM mean to you? Explain.
c) Which skills do you think the VFX industry values most?
d) Which competitive soft skills do you possess? How can you demonstrate them?
e) Which soft skills do you lack but consider important? How do you plan to improve them?