Developing Soft Skills and Personality

By Prof. T. Ravichandran | IIT Kanpur

Learners enrolled: 210

ABOUT THE COURSE :

The course aims to cause a basic awareness about the significance of soft skills in professional and inter-personal communications and facilitate an all-round development of personality. Hard or technical skills help securing a basic position in one's life and career. But only soft skills can ensure a person retain it, climb further, reach a pinnacle, achieve excellence, and derive fulfilment and supreme joy. Soft skills comprise pleasant and appealing personality traits as self-confidence, positive attitude, emotional intelligence, social grace, flexibility, friendliness and effective communication skills.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Students, Teachers, Professionals, Trainers, Leaders, Employers

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : All industry/companies/organisations will recognize and value this course and recommend this for their employees and trainee programs.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	8 weeks
Category :	Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit Points :	2
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	18 Aug 2025
End Date :	10 Oct 2025
Enrollment Ends :	18 Aug 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	29 Aug 2025
Exam Date :	26 Oct 2025 IST
NCrF Level	4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1: Lecture 1: Introduction: A New Approach To Learning

Lecture 2: Planning And Goal-Setting

Lecture 3: Human Perceptions: Understanding People

Lecture 4: Types Of Soft Skills: Self-Management Skills

Lecture 5: Aiming For Excellence: Developing Potential And Self-Actualisation

Lecture 6: Need Achievement And Spiritual Intelligence

Week 2: Lecture 7: Conflict Resolution Skills: Seeking Win-Win Solution

Lecture 8: Inter-Personal Conflicts: Two Examples

Lecture 9: Inter-Personal Conflicts: Two Solutions

Lecture 10: Types Of Conflicts: Becoming A Conflict Resolution Expert

Lecture 11: Types Of Stress: Self-Awareness About Stress

Lecture 12: Regulating Stress: Making The Best Out Of Stress

Week 3: Lecture 13: Habits: Guiding Principles

Lecture 14: Habits: Identifying Good And Bad Habits

Lecture 15: Habits: Habit Cycle

Lecture 16: Breaking Bad Habits

Lecture 17: Using The Zeigarnik Effect For Productivity And Personal Growth

Lecture 18: Forming Habits Of Success

Week 4: Lecture 19: Communication: Significance Of Listening

Lecture 20:Communication: Active Listening

Lecture 21:Communication: Barriers To Active Listening

Lecture 22:Telephone Communication: Basic Telephone Skills

Lecture 23:Telephone Communication: Advanced Telephone Skills

Lecture 24: Telephone Communication: Essential Telephone Skills

Week 5: Lecture 25: Technology And Communication: Technological Personality

Lecture 26: Technology And Communication: Mobile Personality?

Lecture 27: Topic: Technology And Communication: E-Mail Principles

Lecture 28: Technology And Communication: How Not To Send E-Mails!

Lecture 29: Technology And Communication: Netiquette

Lecture 30: Technology And Communication: E-Mail Etiquette

Week 6: Lecture 31: Communication Skills: Effective Communication

Lecture 32: Barriers To Communication: Arising Out Of Sender/Receiver’s Personality

Lecture 33: Barriers To Communication: Interpersonal Transactions

Lecture 34: Barriers To Communication: Miscommunication

Lecture 35: Non-Verbal Communication: Pre-Thinking Assessment-1

Lecture 36: Non-Verbal Communication: Pre-Thinking Assessment-2

Week 7: Lecture 37: Nonverbal Communication: Introduction And Importance

Lecture 38: Non-Verbal Communication: Issues And Types

Lecture 39: Non-Verbal Communication: Basics And Universals

Lecture 40: Non-Verbal Communication: Interpreting Non-Verbal Cues

Lecture 41: Body Language: For Interviews

Lecture 42: Body Language: For Group Discussions

Week 8: Lecture 43: Presentation Skills: Overcoming Fear

Lecture 44: Presentation Skills: Becoming A Professional

Lecture 45: Presentation Skills: The Role Of Body Language

Lecture 46: Presentation Skills: Using Visuals

Lecture 47: Reading Skills: Effective Reading

Lecture 48: Human Relations: Developing Trust And Integrity

Books and references

Dorch, Patricia. What Are Soft Skills? New York: Execu Dress Publisher, 2013.
Kamin, Maxine. Soft Skills Revolution: A Guide for Connecting with Compassion for Trainers, Teams, and Leaders. Washington, DC: Pfeiffer & Company, 2013.
Klaus, Peggy, Jane Rohman & Molly Hamaker. The Hard Truth about Soft Skills. London: HarperCollins E-books, 2007.
Petes S. J., Francis. Soft Skills and Professional Communication. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2011.
Stein, Steven J. & Howard E. Book. The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success. Canada: Wiley & Sons, 2006.

Instructor bio

Prof. T. Ravichandran

IIT Kanpur

Prof. T. RAVICHANDRAN is presently a Professor of English in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. He has written about fifty research articles/book chapters, supervised six doctoral theses, edited a special issue on Cyberpunk Literature for the Creative Forum Journal, and published a book on Postmodern Identity. He is a recipient of the Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship (2014-15) for his research/teaching at Duke University, North Carolina, USA. He is honored with Champa Devi Gangwal Chair Professorship at IIT Kanpur. In his distinguished twenty-five years of teaching career, he has taught various courses in English Language and Literature. His NPTEL Video and Web courses on Communication Skills are well-acclaimed nationally and internationally. His NPTEL MOOC on Developing Soft Skills and Personality became hugely popular and well-received by about fifteen thousand participants from India and abroad.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams : October 26, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 6 assignments out of the total 8 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Kanpur .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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