Enhancing students’ digital competencies within the Employability module of the University of Europe’s skills-based curricula

The onset of the coronavirus has catalyzed an acceleration in the adoption of digital teaching practices that have been trending in Higher Education for over a decade. The most obvious of these has been the abrupt switch to online training. Given the speed at which this transition from in-person instruction has taken place, many instructors' natural first inclination has been to maintain teaching styles as similar as possible to those employed in person, including the traditional lecture format. However, a growing body of research is confirming what instructors across the educational spectrum are observing: namely, that student behaviour, the psychological effect of the medium, participation levels, attention span and learning outcomes online can vary widely from those demonstrated in traditional classroom settings. It is becoming increasingly clear that conditions such as "Zoom fatigue" are very real, and that, if teaching is to be effective, different methodologies based on digital learning experiences should be added to educators' repertoires that take the particular challenges and new opportunities of the online environment into consideration. This paper will examine how some of these new online-based methodologies and digital tools are being developed and introduced at the University of Europe within the undergraduate students' Employability module to enhance the student online experience as well as learning outcomes. The module spans three semesters; here the authors will focus on implementations within the first semester, Employability I: English and the second semester, Employability II: Soft Skills to nurture relevant skills and to ensure that learning environments remain fit-for-purpose for the digital age.冠状病毒（coronavirus）疫情的爆发，加速了十余年来在高等教育领域渐成趋势的数字化教学实践的普及进程。其中最直观的转变便是紧急转向线上教学。鉴于从线下授课转向线上的过渡速度极快，多数授课教师最初的自然倾向便是尽可能保留线下授课时的教学风格，其中便包括传统的讲座授课模式。 然而，越来越多的研究证实了教育界各层级授课教师所观察到的现象：线上教学中学生的行为表现、教学媒介带来的心理影响、参与度、注意力持续时长以及学习成果，与传统课堂场景下的表现存在显著差异。越来越多的证据表明，诸如Zoom疲劳（Zoom Fatigue）这类现象确实存在；若要保障教学成效，教育工作者的常备教学手段库中应当纳入基于数字化学习体验的差异化教学方法，充分考量线上教学环境所特有的挑战与新机遇。 本研究将探讨欧洲大学（University of Europe）如何针对本科生开设的《就业能力》模块课程，开发并引入部分新型线上教学方法与数字化工具，以优化学生的线上学习体验并提升学习成果。该模块课程共计三个学期；本文作者将聚焦于前两个学期的教学实践：第一学期的《就业能力I：英语》与第二学期的《就业能力II：软技能》，旨在培养学生相关技能，并确保学习环境能够适配数字时代的教学需求。