Warren Allen, a professor in the School of Information, was recently awarded a grant for his research surrounding social media. The grant was awarded by the Council on Research & Creativity for his proposal, “Social Media Pilot System to Represent Soft Skills of Information Technology Students.”

Allen’s research is centered around Information Technology students and their skills. “I.T. students are encouraged to develop soft skills — communication, leadership, creative problem-solving and so on — before entering the workforce,” Warren said. “The classroom, extra-curricular activities, and participation in technology groups and communities outside the university are all great places to practice and develop these skills. However, current systems for presenting the work a student has done to develop these skills — e.g., resumes and academic records — do not represent soft skills well, nor are these systems designed to integrate the outcomes of extra-curricular work with outcomes for classroom-based learning.”

This is where Allen’s research will come in, the grant will support research and development of a Web-based system to supplement resumes and academic records with evidence of soft-skills development within and beyond the classroom. The system will be developed through a collaboration between Dr. Allen and an FSU student software developer.