WatPD: Professional Development Program

for Co-op StudentsJudene Pretti, Director

Two QuestionsHow can you

teach students soft

skills – especially in an online course?

How will you know that the

program is making a

difference?

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Outline• Background Information• WatPD Operation and Courses• Supporting Soft Skills Development• Measuring Impacts• Questions/Comments

Background on WatPD program• Feedback from employers• Academic credit for work terms• 2005: Learning from Experience Report• Five Faculties, working with Gary,

determining that needs could be supported through a centrally run unit

• Creation of WatPD under the supervision of the Associate Provost, Academic and Student Affairs

WatPD Logistics• Seven online courses taken by co-op

students during their work terms• Involve approximately 20 hours of

work• Students earn CR/NCR• Began in Fall 2006 with 272 math

students, this term we have 2777 AHS, Arts, ENV, Math and Science students

Course Design• Each course has its own content

developer• Worked closely with Centre for Extended

Learning to put courses online • General Idea– introduce theory on specific topic– provide examples in workplace settings– through assignments, students connect

theory to their experiences

Required PD Courses

PD1: Co-op Fundamentals• Office Politics: Choose Your Own Adventure• Based upon the previous activity, "Avoiding the

pitfalls of office politics," list two things you learned from this exercise that you will remember in dealing with office politics during your work term.

Required PD Courses

• Formatting a report: details are important

• Exercise has students look at two different title pages and identify the differences

Elective PD Courses

Group Assignment “One Minute Briefing”• For an annual company skills workshop, your employer has

asked you to brief your coworkers about a topic you are learning about in PD 3.

• You can choose any topic that could conceivably improve the communication strategies of the particular people in your particular workplace.

• So think about the specific people and communication environment in your workplace. Have you observed any areas of communication weakness?

• Share ideas amongst your assigned PD 3 group. Once group members agree on a topic, together you’ll prepare a One Minute Briefing accompanied by three slides.

Elective PD Courses

Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire• What did you learn from completing the

questionnaire and the electronic report you received?

• How do the results compare with your self-image?

• How will you use this experience to improve your teamwork and relational skills?

Elective PD Courses

• “What the experts say” video clips• Feel a connection to course instructor

• Polled students for types of problems they face in the workplace

Elective PD Courses

• Video skits acting out a workplace scenario that ties content from one week to the next

• Video of an mediation process

Our Program Evaluation Journey

Accountability

Kirkpatrick Model for Evaluation

Kirkpatrick, Donald L. (1998). Evaluating training programs: The four levels (2nd ed.)

Reaction: Student Surveys• Workload– 73% report no concerns with workload (‘too

little’ work to ‘just right’)– Also ask for a self-report on the hours spent

• Value (Examples)– 74% in PD3: “This course has helped me to

identify my communication weaknesses.”– 79% in PD4: “This course has helped me

understand more clearly the elements that go into high-quality teamwork.”

Reaction

Reaction: Student Surveys• Marking/Feedback Example– Strong support for objectivity and

fairness in grading but lower support for feedback received on assignments

Reaction

Rubric Criteria

Poor Satisfactory Good Excellent Specific Comments

... √ For each criteria

comments specific to

that student’s submissio

n

√√

√√

Learning – Success RatesLearning

Course Pass Rates(over last year)

Course Averages(over last year)

PD1: Co-op Fundamentals 84% - 93% N/APD2: Critical Reflection and Report Writing 77% - 87% 65% - 81%PD3: Communication 90% - 98% 67% - 78%PD4: Teamwork 89% - 97% 74% - 79%PD5: Project Management 92% - 97% 73% - 81%PD6: Problem Solving 95% - 99% 77% - 80%PD7: Conflict Resolution 93% - 98% 69% - 81%

Learning – Pre/Post TestsLearning

Pre Test Results(over last year)

Post Test Results(over last year)

PD1: Co-op Fundamentals 41% 67%PD2: Critical Reflection and Report Writing 35% 57%PD3: Communication 25% 64%PD4: Teamwork 17% 39%PD5: Project Management 31% 72%PD6: Problem Solving 47% 75%PD7: Conflict Resolution 35% 75%

Behaviour• Challenge of our context• Our planned direction– Employer evaluations of student

performance–Collect student self-reports of behaviour

change– Interviews with students and employers

• Main idea is to see if there are trends and converging evidence

Behaviour

Results• Challenge of our context• Our planned direction–NSSE–Graduating student survey (with pre-

PD and PD students)– Interviews with employers

R

Questions? Comments?

Thank You