Most Important Skills for a Professor at Mt San Jacinto College
David, an Associate Professor of Communication Studies, emphasizes that "communication skills are super important" for effectively interacting with students, fostering rapport, and generally succeeding in the role. Furthermore, management and organizational skills, technical skills (especially related to online teaching and emerging technologies like AI), and critical thinking abilities are also crucial for excelling as a professor.
Communication Skills, Organizational Skills, Technology Proficiency, Critical Thinking, Interpersonal Skills
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
David Moss
Associate Professor of Communication Studies
Mt. San Jacinto College
Utah Technical College, BYU, Cal, State, Long Beach
Speech Communication, Cal. State., Long Beach, M.A., Education, Capella University, Ph.D.
Communications
Education
Education
Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans
Video Highlights
1. Communication skills are crucial for interacting with students, lecturing effectively, and building rapport, which is a deeply rewarding aspect of being a professor.
2. Strong management and organizational skills are essential for professors to stay organized and handle various responsibilities effectively.
3. Technical skills, particularly in online teaching and familiarity with new technologies like AI, are increasingly important for educators.
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
What skills are most important? I'm going to go off on a little tangent because I think it's really big, but I don't only teach it, I try to practice it. Communication skills are super important.
You need to be able to interact and communicate with others really well in your job, and as a professor. You need to be able to get in front of a classroom, lecture, and interact with your students. Developing rapport with them is super important. That's one of the things I absolutely love about being in the classroom.
I love my students. A lot of my students still follow me and send me messages all the time, even after they've graduated. I think developing good communication skills is probably one of the first things that's really important.
Management and organizational skills are also really, really important as a professor. You need to be able to keep yourself organized.
Third, technical skills and technology are really important. You need to be able to teach online. There's a lot of training for that. I know we have AI coming into the picture now.
What other skills? Gosh, there are so many. Those are some of the major things. Of course, reading and writing ability are important, but that's part of communication skills. Critical thinking skills are really, really important as well. You need to be able to evaluate and analyze information properly.
Advizer Personal Links
linkedin.com/in/david-moss-ph-d-39171419, www1.msjc.edu/instructor/emoss/