ExperiencED

Topics discussed in this Episode include:David's origin story as an electrical engineering major (who liked chemistry) but also got interested in people and took an MBA degree at night. He worked in the defense industry in signal processing and then at Humanna analyzing medical issues with predictive outcome analytics. This led to an emphasis on human interactions and even empathy from the medical providers in successfully helping patients on their health care recovery journey.David met Jim first at CUNY and then at SUNY where they worked together on tying together the salary data from the New York State Department of Labor with the enrollment and major data from several SUNY universities about 10 years ago, particularly focusing on the presence of an internship in that program in the university.Discussion of data analytics, AI, and the need for causal inferences from AI and not just outcome measures to improve student graduation success and career success after graduation, possibly involving experiential education.Discussion of causal insights from data analytics, particularly AI and its application to helping students and families choose the right higher education institution for them taking into account a wide range of variables. Ending discussion of how the world is changing and how causal AI can partner with humans to help with decisions (like college selection) that lead to outcomes.Resources discussed in or related to this episode:https://cmlinsight.com/https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universitieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_education

Topics discussed in this Episode include:Jennifer's origin story focusing on how the study of Spanish in college helped lead her into law school for intellectual property and how that led to trademark infringements and cybersecurity.A deeper dive into the development of her interests in volunteering even to learning to knit during COVID and making scarfs for service people.Turning to teaching, a discussion of the importance of education especially to underserved populations such as attend CUNY (The City University of New York). A focus is on building a sense of purpose in this field to which these students respond. That inspires them and even though they have challenging lives, they show up.The field of cybersecurity is important here as it has high relevance to them and to New York city in which they live.The role of taking roles in the classroom in mock companies, which is part of her teaching, allows them to see themselves in those roles and as experts, certainly much beyond what the average person knows about cybersecurity.That translates into an feeling of excellence in themselves such as when she has them make cybersecurity posters and put them up in their neighborhoods to help warn people particularly during cybersecurity month in October. Given the size of the class, there are typically examples right there of student who have been victims of cybersecurity attacks.Finally, she discusses how cybersecurity should be a collaborative field without egos and, importantly, with room for such students. She uses the works “art of protecting” and they resonate, even to the point of protecting themselves not only from cyber-attacks but in general, and that helps to produce a real-world, experiential, motivation that drives their performance.Resources discussed in this episode:https://www.infragard.org/https://www.iq4.com/https://hunter.cuny.edu/https://guttman.cuny.edu/

Topics discussed in this Episode include:Dr. Doscher tells her development story of how she came to direct COIL at FIU and how global learning found her but she found COIL. She also has an interest in systems thinking, but that is for another podcast.A good discussion followed of the COIL methodology of teaching a project-based module in courses in two institutions where one is located outside the US and a project is executed between the two groups of students in separate classes led by two faculty.  The basic framework was developed by Jon Rubin, founder and former director of the SUNY COIL Center as its “godfather.” At FIU, COIL is seen as supporting their initiative to act to improve collective well-being globally while providing global growth benefits to the students and to faculty who teach the courses.While COIL allows students to get an international experience on campus in a class without the financial burden of travel, the main benefit is seen in peer collaboration with diverse populations around the world. That collaboration is transformational and leaves the students with important growth, skills, maturity, and inspiration.In some ways, a COIL experience can be more impactful than study abroad or even cooperative education (co-op) abroad where the student may not have to work closely with peers and likely does not have to navigate online co-working tools.The success of a COIL experience leaves students more mature, able, and experienced and that can turn into motivation as well as lead to employment. Some students seek more language training and often they say they learned not only about others but about themselves. This applies to students who may have a language at home other than English but have not yet applied it to working in that language with other native speakers who are the same basic age.In some ways the collaboration part of COIL can exceed the experience of co-op even though that typically involves being at a workplace. Or it could support co-op and even be combined successively with it.The podcast ended with a discussion of a “mission to help create a world of globally connected learners” at FIU, and how Dr. Doscher's office works with their own faculty and students and those from other institutions domestically and around the world.Resources discussed in this episode:https://www.fiu.edu/https://global.fiu.edu/coil//The Guide to COIL Virtual Exchange Making Global Learning Universal: Promoting Inclusion and Success for All StudentsMaking Global Learning Universal podcastAshokaU Changemaker CampusMusic Credits: C'est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this Episode include:Dr. McRae's development academically and administratively around the idea of experiences outside the classroom as an important part of transformational learning of students, which is part of her research interest, and is part of her current roles at the University of Victoria and as the head of WACE.She reviews some of the aspects of the first move of the WACE secretariate to Waterloo, Canada from its previous home in the USA. And she talks about the special role WACE plays in the world as the only international organization supporting WIL/Co-op that promotes the network-of-network idea with national organizations and individual universities around the world.One of WACE's primary activities is to hold World Conferences alternating with Research Symposia around the world.  The last World Conference last June (2023) was at Waterloo and Dr. McRae reviews what it was like, especially having it at her home University. The next Research Symposium in 2024 will be at Trollhättan in Sweden.In addition to conferences and working with the network-of-networks, WACE is sponsoring a program with a company, Practera, called the Global Challenge Program. It features students from multiple international universities coming together on-line to solve the problem of another entity in a short time, giving them some global experience when they might not be able to travel abroad.We ended on a discussion of how WIL/Co-op and her University at Waterloo must leverage ideas from all over the world to keep fresh and current this form of transformational experiential learning.Resources discussed in this episode:https://uwaterloo.ca/https://waceinc.org/https://waceinc.org/gc-key-dateshttps://practera.com/Music Credits: C'est La Vie by Derek Clegg

EPISODE NOTESTopics discussed in this Episode include:The origin story of Nicole McLean and InStage in building a safe interactive simulation operation where people (e.g. college students) can practice on-line a variety of presentation soft-skills with avatars and get feedback before going out for the first internship or cooperative education experience.The analogy to sports and leveling the playing field is discussed as a metaphor for the importance of practice to proper execution and success at interviews. This is particularly true for young students who lack practice and may come from underserved populations where that practice is less available.The amount of practice is discussed and how much or little time with the avatars is required. Sometimes as little as 15 minutes is all that is needed, but others do more. The key is marrying the technical knowledge from classwork to the soft-skills needed to present the student to an employer for the work-based experience they seek.The power of this approach to uplift students tripped off a conversation about the interviewer's field of practice, Speech Pathology. and how health professions in general rely on experiences and how this could change student progression into this field.Some students report a great advantage in using the InStage system and wish they had had it earlier to boost their careers. The conversation turned back to leveling the field among those with learned skills but who did not have the chance to practice their soft skills like they can in this online system. They noted a joy that comes from helping – from keeping people from missing out so they can pursue their dreams and communicate effectively.Resources discussed in this episode:https://www.instage.io/Tik Tok video illustrating how it works  Music Credits: C'est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The origin of the NSC,  its involvement in the Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR) and potential incorporation into the LER as a broader documentation that is inclusive of workplace and other skills that drive success after college including employment and further schooling. Having built an ecosystem of trust, the NSC is leading in this next phase of learning documentation.The importance of LER documentation in a skills framework in guiding transitions from school to work, and even back to school. The LER recognizes that skills can be learned in many places, including higher education and industry, which invests a great deal in training. An LER would help industry in finding talent and preventing job placement mismatches, especially now in a time of key job placement shortages. Importantly the LER will help with creating inspiration in secondary and higher education students as they see their potential pathways in college study, internships, etc.The power of the LER in inspiring all students, but particularly those of diverse backgrounds, to be aware of opportunities from education. It starts first with the learner but develops around a community of care centered around the student. Then there is the educational institution itself which can help its student commitment through their envisioning a career path. An LER is particularly important when big industries are looking at student skills, as well as degrees, in making hiring decisions. The LER also helps universities as they try to hold on to their freshman and attract back some of the 36 million students who dropped out of college, 4 million after completing 2 years of college.  It offers universities a way to help understand and account for important prior experiences in the military, work, and other life activities that could be properly integrated toward college completion.   When one thinks about an LER, one realizes two things.  First, many people and entities are needed to successfully guide a student and an LER can help. Second, the LER technology, developed for example in the Indiana Achievement Wallet, also requires partners in all sectors, and that is the journey the NSC is currently undertaking with its partners to make the LER happen.Resources Discussed in this Episode:National Student ClearinghouseState Strategies For Skills And Lifelong Learning Systems (National Governors Association)LER — The Learning and Employment Record for a Skills-Based EconomyMusic Credits: C'est La Vie by Derek Clegg 

Topics discussed in this episode include:John's interesting early history holding both science and music in his own heart and leading to the discovery of his singing voice and a career in opera including starting with Pavarotti. Then he went on to blossom in his and his team's inspirational non-profit work with many universities and fortune 500 companies around the world.John's discussion of the two emotional experiences of his youth - reading Einstein while listening to Chopin. Then, a discussion of his development of a service mission under the remarkable long-term mentorship of Vartan Gregorian starting when the two met while Vartan was heading the New York Public library. That work led to his meeting the interviewer and later doing a Renaissance Center pilot project at the University at Albany, again under Vartan's enthusiastic mentoring and funding.A deeper discussion of the non-profit work and the idea of using music and reflective programing to set the heart and mind in motion, i.e.to generate and integrate ideas.  Or as John puts it in the interview, to awaken the “potential that lives in our imagination, in our intuitions and the knowledge which sleeps within us.” Again, it is this inspiration that we also see happening in students who complement their academic learning in college with direct work experiences. John's team uses this inspiration to create a rebalancing or what is sometimes is called a “positive turbulence” to create a new perspective is highly valuable and it begins by playing with thoughts and ideas.In the last major segment, John talks about the ideas of the new Renaissance Center and what it could do after the pilot program that was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of NY.  He stresses the incorporation of a concert of ideas from Creative Leaps International, and discussed the opportunity to work on a project at UAlbany concerned the mission expanding of high-quality creativity in classroom teaching by faculty.Resources Discussed in this Episode:https://www.asoloartists.org/https://creativeleaps.org/https://www.ccl.org/https://www.carnegie.org/ Music Credits: C'est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The relatively young University of Waikato and its recent development as a work-integrated learning (WIL) institution in New Zealand.The recent re-organization of Waikato’s administrative structure that served a university-wide commitment to WIL. A discussion of other institutions who made similar broad-based commitments and how they can be implemented. The task of doing this with the faculty and in a time of a pandemic.  And finally, his having the current administrative positions, including in the Vice Chancellor’s office.The origins of the journal, its growth, and how and why it changed its name to IJWIL and how that reset the impact factor calculations.  Also, the changes over this time in WIL research going from largely practitioner-based to include more theory research-based articles as the field developed.The value of the above changes in WIL research and its role in supporting a modern WIL operation that is based on the classical authenticity for the students but now may be broadened in its definition away from just on work placements, particularly as necessitated by the pandemic.  The current research papers incude challenging topics such as assessment especially where WIL is applied broadly.The publication over years of books and handbooks with a flurry of activity happening just now at the journal and in the handbooks, despite the pandemic.How important WIL is not only to the powerful education of students and their ultimate employability, but also under increasing attention from governments and local communities who want higher education to be relevant to and interactive with their needs and how WIL can help to also achieve those outcomes.Resources Discussed in this Episode:https://www.waikato.ac.nz/https://www.linkedin.com/in/karsten-zegwaard/?originalSubdomain=nzhttps://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3hVLkHkAAAAJ&hl=enhttps://www.ijwil.org/https://www.amazon.com/Advances-Research-Practice-Work-Integrated-Learning/dp/036789775X  Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The dramatic origin of JAG in Delaware, a State that was then in trouble but the Governor found a way to invest in JAG and it became a national model.How the Governors are key to getting a JAG program going by bringing together industry as employers with the high schools which have the students.  The work experience leads not only to jobs but to high graduation rates as stated above. JAG now features project-based learning that involves industry from the beginning in program design.Industry participates not only because they get to see potential future employees, but because many business people have an instinct to help and love teaching.  Students often refer to JAG and their employers as a second family.The high schools are also bought in because JAG works with that troubled segment of the population that often drops out.  So, with their 90%+ graduation rate, they improve the schools reputation and even its budget.This success helps JAG with funding centrally, but the main operation is at the local level where high schools, employers, and JAG folks put in long hours to help these students succeed. JAG is one of the largest and oldest of these programs in the country.Ken points out that this operation is not “rocket science.”  We know what to do.  It is hard work, but it is possible. JAG’s success over the years proves it, even in a pandemic.Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:Dr. Johnson’s introduction into the speech-language field, which was itself experiential, based on mentoring that stemmed from the 1970 Kent State shootings, his undergraduate college.A discussion followed of how he and the field embraced this experiential approach when he first went into academic leadership at the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.  His department partnered with Case Western Reserve University to design a two-year clinical fellowship for its graduate students to develop strong competency in adult medical speech pathology. He also discussed how, before taking his graduate degrees, he worked in a public elementary school where he saw how speech pathology could interfere with learning, and how he took that with him into his later work with adults.Now, as Provost at MGHIHP, Dr. Johnson oversees programs with about 1600 students at all levels, including nursing - the first school to prepare nurse practitioners in the country – and now includes a variety of Certificates, Masters, and PhD programs.In all of these programs, Dr. Johnson emphasizes the comprehensive integration of experience, and not just the “nice option” that is “added on to undergraduate experiences” in some universities. In this way, he points out that while many citizens know about this training superficially from television, the details of a medical education in each program are the key to its success.A currently relevant conversation then developed on how Covid19 caused the shut-down of March 9th, 2020, prompting an rapid expansion of tele-health operations. Developing these experiences includes the hiring of actors to play the roles of patients, and that allows the opportunity to specifically design certain experiences with patients who may be angry or one who interrupt all the time et cettera.  While the use of actors as “standardized patients” has been around for a while, MGHIHP has expanded their use to other relevant patient scenarios, such as the need for the use of an interpreter where the mother of the child does not speak English.In conversation with the interviewer (a practicing speech pathologist herself), the point emerged that not only can we not just wait until the pandemic lifts, but that we must take the forced virtual learning as driving the development of new teaching modalities. One of them may be MGHIHP’s recent work with the Center for Medical Simulation that gives their students a head-start on what will be experienced at a clinical placement. That not only improves the student experience, but it reduces somewhat the instructional and management burden on the hospital or other entity that is supervising the student.Dr. Johnson emphasized the “light bulb” that comes on when the student has a good clinical experience, and he points out that when noticed by the supervisor, it often results in a job offer after graduation.  This benefit of experiential education is to both parties, and that is something that happens in experiential education broadly.  We podcasters agree that this conclusion makes MGHIHP worthy of study in general, beyond its role in the medical field.Resources Discussed in this Episode:MGH Institute of Health ProfessionsHarvard Center for Medical SimulationKent State ShootingsMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The way WIL works in a smaller business environment in which they are located in Sudbury, Ontario, some 400 kilometers to the south. The idea is that this brings a more intimate cooperation between the university and the largely small to medium sized local businesses and provides the students with a greater range of WIL learning opportunities.The structure of the program is to have attached courses that students take online while they are on the WIL placement. Dr. Orozco teaches in this program which she refers to as a putting herself at the “back door” of the student experience to enhance learning.The employers, due to their size, often rely on the coop coordinators to act almost as part of the company like an HR department that sometimes they do not have.  This can build a particularly close relationship that helps with the student placement.The high value that the strong involvement of the Canadian government and professional organizations bring to both the employers and the universities in promoting these student experiences or WIL.  It is really something unusual, helpful to get the word out about the nature of WIL education, and not yet seen in America.The importance of size of both the student body and the city of Sudbury in providing the capacity for what amounts to a high-touch WIL program.  The concern is that if the program is expanded, perhaps from the undergraduate to the Master’s level, that it will not be sustainable.The role of entrepreneurship in executing her job as coop coordinator, but that goes back to an events development business she started at age 17 in her home town of Guadalajara, Mexico.  That business grew to about 20 people.  In her current role, she recently won a 40-under-40 award from the local business council.Extending this role model of entrepreneurship to the question of diversity and its power to teach and drive business, we discussed how her Mexican heritage is an advantage in representing this concept to students, faculty, and employers. We also discussed her work internationally to promote WIL, particularly in Latin America.Finally, we discussed the sudden switch to virtual coops as well as classes under the Covid19 pandemic and how the online course helped her and the team keep track of students and turn challenges into opportunities.  This provides opportunities for WIL management of which Dr. Orozco recently spoke at in a webinar by the Ontario Council for University Lifelong Learning on virtual internships and innovative approaches.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Laurentian UniversityFaculty of Management at LaurentianCEWILMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this podcast include:Some details of how a major cooperative education university operates to combine academic and work-place learning after just celebrating its Centennial anniversary.In addition to taking care of the students, note was taken that Drexel as a co-op school also takes care of its co-op partners by providing them with year-round employees even if the person on co-op changes.Benefits to the students include more than in-depth on-the-job skills that can help them get the job after graduation, especially if they have not worked in high school on summer jobs as some 60% have not.  But they also learn at a more personal level building confidence and maturity – what some are calling essential skills – that allow them to better network, develop opportunities, and really test their intended career choice.We discussed the ongoing issue of integration of the learning from the workplace and learning in classical courses from the academy.  A focus is on using data to inform faculty and creating understanding of opportunities for that integration.  In this regard assessment of the cooperative education experience is critical.Also the Drexel Solutions Institute is a new effort to leverage industry relations, integrate with faculty, and solve business problems.  The new focus on skills is, of course, suited to a Drexel education and involves new federal efforts as well as local Philadelphia job-data-exchange project that piloted last year.Finally, we talked about coping with Covid19 and the alteration that has brought to all walks of life including Drexel’s co-op program.  Here the focus was on the entrepreneurship that co-op schools encourage as well as learning and being flexible, e.g. allowing virtual co-ops for the first time and learning how to manage them well. Even in an ongoing pandemic world, Ian asserts that Drexel students succeed … as they always have.Resources Discussed in this Episode:https://drexel.edu/https://drexel.edu/difference/co-op/https://drexel.edu/scdc/about/contact/https://drexel.edu/solutions-institute/Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The history of Experience Magazine, focusing on the point where he became editor in 2017 and the influences on him that brought that about.The importance of adding to the magazine’s title, the additional tagline of Practice + Theory + Podcast.When asked about a favorite story in Experience Magazine, Michael responded with an article entitled “What you can learn from 2000 sticky notes” about employing participatory action research to study women in engineering.  Another favorite is the currently hot topic of experiential education and entrepreneurship.  These are all integrative and he talks about the magazine as creating that “fuzzy place where people can come and learn from each other.”Michael talks about his personal transition from a struggling college student to becoming on fire through service learning, and then taking on graduate level work and eventually starting to teach.He discusses how he used experiential education to transform his class exercise in communications on speech day from something he dreaded to something that was awesome through involving the students in stories they wanted to tell – another form of experiential education. He goes on to make the point about how service learning is really transformational, perhaps even more purely given its service focus. Co-op experiences can be transformational too but they also can be more transactional, focusing on the job and career.A brief discussion follows on what it is like to be immersed in a co-op school which then turns to how these experiential programs operate in a world with a pandemic unfolding and Michael points out that 2400 planned co-ops at work-sites were cancelled this summer and they, like everyone, are scrambling to find substitute experiences, including in non-profit and service learning.At the end, he discusses the reason for the name of Tapioca radio and again we are not going to tell you, but the time of this conversation is just before the 31st minute prompted by a question from Mary Churchill.  Listen in as we draw to a conclusion and sign off.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Experience Magazine: Practice + Theory + Podcasthttps://www.uc.edu/https://www.ceiainc.org/Tapioca Radio ShowService-Learning at the University of CincinnatiNational Society for Experiential EducationService-Learning Co-op programDivision of Experience-Based Learning and Career EducationCommunication DepartmentService Learning CollaboratoryDean’s Award for Innovative InstructionJack Twyman Award for Service LearningCritical Curriculum and Just Community: Making sense of Service Learning in Cincinnati dissertation of the yearGreater Cincinnati Service-Learning Network Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:We opened with our campuses shut down and rapidly moved to online teaching.Jim discussed teaching his courses which started out as hybrid back in January, giving him and the students an advantage in going fully online.The issue of how younger “digital natives” adapt was discussed and we concluded that people do like online for its convenience, but also love being together for the rich interpersonal interactions that supplements classroom learning – just like experiential education activities supplement academic learning.Adrienne then made some excellent points about her highly experiential work as a speech therapist. It is very hard, she relates, to keep young children engaged as a therapist when you are on a screen and not with them in the real world with your full presence.A recurring theme in our conversation was where see commonality of the impact of hands-on, real-world experiences to supplement our learning at all ages and circumstances from elementary to high school to college, particularly if there is a special need involved.  There is something about the presence of a therapist or a teacher that enhances the learning, even if the student can get there online and even if the health care provider enables telemedicine.That led to a further conversation of what students learn at and need from college that was lost in this unplanned sudden switch to online learning.  While we are not opposed to online learning, this may be a moment for us all to do some learning ourselves about how to deliver the best learning – how best to leverage experiential components from the teacher or the students themselves.We also discussed how this move has really changed the teaching faculty who have never taught online.We three agree we are not going back to the way it was when this is over, maybe it is the time to take some serious lessons now about how to make the future better. Maybe it is time to discover what is important to students who are finding themselves in college.Music Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:The factors that drive high school students to online providers from homeschooling to a desire to accelerate their education to managing fear producing events such news stories about bullying, school shootings, or the corona virus. The focus has always been on being “able to envision where they [the students] could possibly see themselves” with a new focus also on career-ready graduates especially in rural populations.The parallels to college experiential education in the classical observation that supplemental experiences outside the classroom improve a student’s confidence, maturity, and creativity.  Shaun and K12 want to drive these experiential outcomes within its platform by bringing in lessons from technical education, adult learning, etc. One big difference is the role of the parents who make much more of the decisions in levels of schooling below the college level.Why Shaun personally  from higher education into this company after meeting the CEO while he was at Lincoln Tech building bridges to technical training.  Moving to K12 sometime after this first meeting seemed like a next logical step in Shaun’s effort to serve a large segment of the student population that may be missed by classical ivory-tower educational practice.The skills-gap this education tries to bridge with skills that companies could use right after graduation.  Landing a job not only can launch a career but it also helps with student loan debt reduction, particularly in college.Discussion of the new generation of students and workers as reflected though observations of Shaun’s own family and how they move into careers and prefer to work vs. older generations.  Filling this employment pipeline while encouraging personal growth and skill development is already complex in college education and even more interesting at earlier stages in one’s educational career.How K12 is committed to career education through expanded programs, strategic corporate acquisitions, etc.The podcast ends with a return focus on students whether they be our “kids” or others.Resources Discussed in this Episode:K 12, Inc.Shaun McAlmontMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:CEWIL’s history from the 1970s as a passionate volunteer organization of universities and colleges that began with the name CAFCE (Canadian Association for Cooperative Education) but broadened the definition and incorporated Work Integrated Learning (WIL) into its name.The partnership with the government and education starting in western Canada in British Columbia in WIL, but then picking up the attention of the federal government for future talent and future workforce development to start an ecosystem.The current state of serious federal investment from two governments that reaches down to the students and drove the collaboration represented in CEWIL.The members of CEWIL have shared expertise and best practices across all of the pockets of expertise, geographic diversity, types of students to meet the welcome pressure to use the government’s money well.Traditional academic excellence and the importance of quality frameworks of experiential education to develop and sustain excellence in the experiential domain in part through CEWIL accreditation of these programs.Cara’s own history of coming to Brock University, working in the co-op career and experiential center and her leadership with the faculty and the university in getting Brock to adopt definitions of experiential education as the first higher education institution in Canada to do so.Brock now has 100% participation across all university programs and showing what can be done, perhaps even nationally when educational change is led by passionate people like those at Brock and across the nation in CEWIL.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Cara KrezekBrock UniversityCEWIL CanadaMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Resources Discussed:Cara KrezekCooperative Education at Brock UniversityCEWIL Canada  Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning CanadaJillian Kinzie NSSE Institute National Survey of Student EngagementShaun McAlmontK12 IncMichael SharpExperience Magazine at CEIA  

Topics discussed in this episode include:Opening discussion of Experiential Education in general and need from the perspective of higher educationEarly history of iQ4 starting with STEM and moving to cybersecurity in trying to solve the skills-gap problem for students and for employers using technology in a world that is continuing to turning virtual.Realization that iQ4 was building a Learning Management Platform for skills using student teams and project-based learning, but also fitting it for higher education.The iQ4 passport documentation and the underlying skills taxonomy in cybersecurity.  How it acts as a human barcode to synchronize where students are and what is needed for government/industry jobs.Serves applied knowledge and apprenticeship learning in a way that is organized, using virtual mentors for many students and job seekers and partners with academic learning.  The course structure generates “soft-skills” such as teamwork.Now exists inside and outside universities but always focused on employability with a menu of options in a way that is flexible to academia.Going to scale as the technology is automated.  Allows iQ4 to launch the current Virtual Apprenticeship Challenge of putting 10,000 students through cyber training/education in the next 3 years on a global basis.Reduce corporate training time and job security for those who are hired. So, asking the hiring companies to sponsor the students for a small fraction of that cost.Platform model facilitates partnering with universities, working with companies, to bridge the skills gap with technology and solve a big problem for the future in this and other areas.Resources Discussed in this Episode:iQ4 company website  National Standards in CybersecurityUniversity at Albany SUNYQueens College CUNYNortheastern UniversityiQ4’s virtual apprenticeship challengeMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics discussed in this episode include:Johnston’s personal history starting as a co-op student learner before starting a long career in co-op administration at Simon Fraser University.A brief history of WACE with about 4,000 members world-wide.The recent WACE summer conference at the University of Cincinnati, which included the WACE Charter at the President’s Summit designed to engage senior university leaders and to fit with United Nations UNESCO goals.The four Charter challenges start with bridging the strongly perceived knowledge and skill gap complaint about higher education graduates.The three goals of the Charter start with getting more students to do quality work-integrated- learning (WIL) educational activities, like co-op.The value of the many types of experiences outside the classroom with co-op being a “gold-standard”in the field.That Canadian model where the federal and provincial governments are now calling for every college student to have a WIL experience.Student maturity comes from the adversity of going outside one’s comfort zone, but with proper design and support so that the student succeeds.The need for high quality practice as part of the definition and execution of co-op and the broader WIL.Resources Discussed in this Episode:World Association of Cooperative EducationSimon Fraser UniversityWork-Integrated Learning in the 21st Century: Global Perspectives on the Future. by Tracey Bowen and Maureen DrysdaleWACE World Conference 2019UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal 4: EducationGeorge KuhMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg 

Topics Discussed in this Episode:Paul’s choice of labor economics as a field and his starting employment from a working class backgroundLayperson definition of mal-employment in the college labor market vs gig workThe effect of lower literacy and numeracy skills on student’s potential for mal-employment.The effect of college major on pathway to a job.The effect of starting early in college with paid work experiences like cooperative education no matter the choice of major.A third of recent graduates are mal-employed, costing them about half the potential salary earnings, which also has an impact on student debt.There is still a college advantage but students should develop marketable skills and experiences early and figure out how to turn their college major into a job.Experience is particularly helpful in preventing mal-employment in diverse and under-served populations.The differences between apprenticeships, internships, and practicums in fields that require experience before one can practice, e.g. health fields.Story about Professor Harrington having a “simply irresistible” moniker in some other interviews.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Neeta Fogg and Paul Harrington. Rising Mal-Employment and the Great Recession: The Growing Disconnection between Recent College Graduates and the College Labor Market. Continuing Higher Education Review, Vol. 75, 2011 (link here)Paul Harrington at Drexel UniversityMusic Credits: C’est La Vie by Derek Clegg

Topics Discussed in this Episode:The role of experiential education (co-op) in teaching.What experiential ed does for students.How experiential ed makes you a better teacher.Teaching Marx and Foucault to co-op students. Experiential education and your first job interview. Getting faculty involved with experiential education. The importance of post-graduation employment for today's college students.Resources Discussed in this Episode:Northeastern University's Co-op Program