UW–Madison’s Matthew Hora discussed the importance of different types of skills on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Central Time” recently, in a segment that is titled, “Soft skills in a world with AI.”
Hora is an associate professor of adult and higher education with the Division of Continuing Studies and with the School of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies. He is also co-director of UW–Madison’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT).
While some argue that so-called “soft skills” — such as communication, teamwork, or critical thinking — are more important in a world where computers can do some tasks, Hora suggests we should avoid thinking about “hard” and “soft” skills separately.
“This binary of hard and soft really is an inaccurate way to think about how humans actually enact skills in the performance of tasks,” says Hora. In fact, Hora says, most tasks require different types of skills, and what specifically is required on the job is context dependent.
To learn more, listen to the full segment.