ExS: An online executive skills development programme

About this initiative

Executive skills are the hidden skills required for self-management: Planning/prioritisation, Organisation, Time management, Sustained attention, Task initiation, Goal-directed persistence, Flexibility, Response inhibition, Working memory, Emotional control, and Metacognition. The ExS App will offer a self-paced personalised programme where students will learn more about their own strengths and weaknesses and how executive skills impact on all facets of their lives. The ExS project will develop an ExS App for students to learn about the brain’s higher executive functioning and how these cognitive processes contribute to success in education, work, and life in general.   Understanding the importance of these executive skills and becoming aware of personal areas of weakness and how to make the most of one’s personal strengths is the key to this unique project. The ExS app will also include an intercultural awareness module because we believe that competency in this area will benefit students in the future. Students will progress through this app at their own pace, exploring a select number of these skills in greater detail. Through various interactive options, students will build their self-awareness and set easy personal goals. We envisage the development of these skills will lead to student success in life, work and education.