  This Full Paper in the Research-To-Practice Category presents a long-term
study about the effects of a student-centered course on communication and
professional skills on students' thoughts, attitudes, and behavior. The course
is offered at a European university as part of a computer science master's
program. This paper shares the design and challenges of a longitudinal study
that reaches ten years behind and employs a mixed-methods approach. Besides
presenting and interpreting the findings, we shed light on which features tend
to stay on students' minds and impact their way of being and acting in society.
Moreover, we suggest implications for the design and practice in comparable
courses to maximize constructive, sustainable effects, such as improved active
listening, presentation skills, and openness to other perspectives. These are
essential (not only) for computer science professionals. Our findings suggest
that the course provided significant learning for the vast majority of
respondents, including aspects such as presenting while keeping the other side
in mind, managing one's stress, and becoming less shy to speak up. All in all,
we aim to contribute an evidence-based source of motivation for instructors in
technically focused curricula who hold a student-centered stance.
