Interconnections between active learning methodologies in higher education and the construction of soft skills: a proposal on onthological learning paths for the training of young professionals in the area of information technology

In higher education today, there is an interrelationship between the application of active learning methodologies and the development of human skills (soft skills) in students, found in various educational proposals and institutions. This study consists of exploratory research of quantitative and qualitative nature, having as its theme to study the human, behavioral, interrelational and socio-emotional competencies and skills that can be developed in young students in Information Technology (IT), from universities that align human development with technical learning, enabling new healthy impacts to the integral well-being of these subjects. During the research, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted on the topic of soft skills in the IT area, selecting a group of primary and secondary studies and answering research questions and formalizing a.n ontology (classification and structuring) for the soft skills required for the professional in the period of transformations started with the Covid-19 pandemic. The more than eighty soft skills found in the literature were classified according to seven criteria: interpersonal or intrapersonal; emotional and/or analytical; initial or advanced. Thematic axes in learning paths for the development of such soft skills are also presented here. The classifications produced offer the possibility of formalizing innovative learning activities in higher education for the development of specific soft skills aimed at a holistic education for students, and the creation of development programs and programs for holistic training with an emphasis on soft skills for professionals and continuous updates in companies and organizational settings, such as in corporate universities.