I was having a discussion with a client about some career services challenges when the conversation turned to projections for the 2014 cohort. “One important thing to remember” I said, “is that new enrollments are down, so many of the graduate employment issues we are discussing today are going to self-solve in the near future.” Read more
Three days per week, I go to the same restaurant, at the same time and order the same thing for breakfast. Three days per week, as I am standing in line, the same young “Millennial Girl” comes in and literally cuts to the front of the line to place her order. I appreciate her tactic; she acts as if she is incredibly hurried and is always talking on her cell phone in an attempt (I believe) to appear as though she is so absorbed in conversation that there is no possible way she could notice the other five people waiting in line in front of her. No one ever corrects her, and the server always takes her order with no questions asked. Bravo Millennial Girl, bravo.
I would never hire her in a million years and I suspect she is not well liked at work. Why? She hasn’t any manners. Read more
We recently attended a fabulous day of faculty development at West Tennessee Business College. Michael Brandwein, an Emmy Award winning author and speaker, entertained and taught a room of eager faculty and staff. The focus of his teaching was on engagement strategies for learners — how to make the classroom as engaging as possible.
The transformation tools were incredible — simple to implement and it was easy to see how these tools will make the classroom more engaging and improve learning outcomes.
The real magic for me, however, was in the simple tools that Michael shared to help students see that a JOB was the desired outcome of their time in school. Simple things, like saying, “we want you to attend class because your employer will want you to attend work — this is preparation for a JOB, not just school.”
How are you working with your faculty to ensure that their language not only engages students, but also sets student expectations and engages them, from day one, in thinking about the end goal — a career!
I’ve been invited to speak at the annual California Association of Private Post-secondary School Conference in Pasadena, CA this week and as I meet with new and old friends one recurring theme keeps striking up; “we’ve got to get these students working”. This reminds me of the old expression that the definition of insanity is repeating the same act over and over expecting a different outcome.
Here’s what I mean; year in and year out we all spend the latter part of our summer and early fall trying to get every last placement for our reporting year. It literally is an “all hands on deck” attitude and approach at every school, which of course is the right thing to do, but is typcially at the expense of our new year’s cohort. What feels different of late is that it used to be we were trying to reach institutional goals that were typically much higher than what our accreditors set. Now, it seems that more and more schools are working into the fall to meet the minimum standards set to remain compliant.
So, that’s a bummer. Here’s the reason to be optimistic! This shift in outcomes and the amount of effort and difficulty around that, has also caused a paradigm shift in our thinking! Gone are the days of waiting until the end of a students tenure to start preparing them for the job search, externship and interview processes. More of our clients are saying to Martha and I are gaining new clients monthly and all of them have the same need- we must get to our students earlier if we want to get higher employment outcomes.
With that in mind, Martha and I are committed to continue to provide all of you with practical, usable, implementable tools that will help you do just that- get in front of the student early and often to prepare them for a postive end result. If you haven’t yet looked into our Passport Series, you should. As we receive more feedback from schools who are implementing them we become more convinced that it should be a part of every career colleges curriculum.
Stay-tuned people!
About a month ago Martha and I were discussing how the end of summer is full of deadlines, to-do lists and the beginning of the process of wrapping things up for the year. It seems funny to think about — that 2012 is nearing an end already — but it is, and with it comes the challenges of doing more with less time to accomplish “it”.
It was through that discussion, along with calls from clients who were looking for last-minute ideas to maximize their placement efforts, that we decided to put together a webinar. We designed it to help schools with accreditation deadlines looming, to get across the finish line with respect to reporting placement statistics.
We know that historically the toughest challenges this time of year have to do with finding all the grads who have gone MIA, turning over every leaf to find a job for that hard to place grad and to make a call for “All Hands On Deck” to get everyone successfully placed. This of course requires team-work from every department.
These are just some of the topics we’ll be covering tomorrow along with some creative, dare I say ” brilliant” ideas we’ve picked up to help you get placements immediately! We call them our “Game Changers” and we are really excited to share them.
So, tune-in tomorrow September 5th, at 2pm EST. To access the web-based portion of the webinar, go to http://lotuslive.readyshow.com/ and follow the prompts for entering your name, company, email, and the pass code 68257640. For the audio portion, call 1-877-366-0711 (In Canada, use 1-866-627-1651) and, when prompted, enter the pass code 68257640# (the “#” must be included for the audio portion). The webinar will last approximately one hour, including time for a question and answer session. This is a free APSCU member benefit and no pre-registration is required.
We educators are like the cobbler’s children — you know the story — even though their father made all the shoes in town, they had the most worn soles and knotted shoelaces in the village.
As educators, we often focus so intently on educating our students, that we fail to implement strong programs to educate our staff and faculty — and likely, we are individually also guilty of failing to make learning a priority.
As I was stuffing school supplies in to my son’s backpack today, I was overcome with the realization that I wished it was me that was going to start 3rd grade next week — the teacher shared that their first unit of inquiry was on “Maps” — how cool would that be to focus on studying maps?
Let’s make ourselves a “back-to-school resolution” (instead of those rapidly-forgotten New Years Resolutions!) — this year, let’s make sure we are putting energy into our own lifelong learning. What would you like to learn next? Comment on this post below and share how you are driving lifelong learning in your own world — and throughout your organization.
I recently attended Pearson’s on-line learning conference, CITE, in Orlando, and was fortunate to have been included in their keynote panel on student services. It was very exciting to hear what colleges around the US are doing to serve students and improve student outcomes in the online learning space.
What really knocked my socks off was the presentations I saw about how traditional “on ground” campuses are creating true blended learning environments that leverage technology and classroom learning formats to meet students where they learn the best.
Among the innovations was a story that Dr. Klaus Woelk, from Missouri University of Science and Technology, who shared a story about a large lecture class that was delivered through live (synchronous) online modes, as well as in the classroom. Students in any location (classroom, or watching online), can send questions through text message systems leveraging Google, classroom clickers were used to facilitate discussion and peer-to-peer learning, and then video and internet were used as well. Read more
We are very excited to have put the final touches on our innovative “Ready 4 Work” program. This program leverages what we’ve learned through our highly successful “Portfolio Project” and the “WOW” incentive program — and creates one comprehensive, two-part program that covers every component of Career Services effectiveness.
From Admissions to Alumni Relations, the Ready 4 Work program ensures that student expectations are set properly, that they become prepared to gain employment when they graduate, and that they communicate with you after graduation. Read more