Alumni assessments of soft skill formation in an extended simulation

Existing research indicates that participation in simulations contributes to the development of key soft skills, but has tended to rely on contemporaneous self-evaluations. In this paper, we evaluated the degree to which early career professionals who had previously completed an extended simulation class felt that the experience had contributed to the development of soft skills that they used in their professional lives. Survey, interview, and focus group data all show that working professionals in various fields felt that the dynamic nature of the extended simulation contributed to the development of several categories of soft skills and made a strong impact on their careers.