Updated Career Readiness Modules Now Available
Based on feedback and ideas from Minnesota State faculty and students, as well as employers, the Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence is proud to release version 1.2 of our three Career Readiness Modules:
- Oral and Written Communication
- Collaboration and Teamwork
- Initiative and Leadership
Since launching the Career Readiness Modules in 2019, over 120 faculty members have attended lunch-and-learns, webinars, and the New Directions in IT Education conference to hear about the Modules. Additionally, the Modules continue to see increased usage by faculty, and are being used this semester at seven Minnesota State institutions, four of which are part of our digital badging pilot funded by a grant from Education Design Lab.
Overall the feedback on the Modules has been positive, and the Minnesota State IT Center of Excellence is thankful to the faculty, students and employers who have taken the time to study the Modules and offer ideas for improvement. Some of the comments from our cohort of reviewers included:
“I really enjoyed the video and thought it fit the subject well, though a video or article with more explicit examples of the benefits of diverse perspectives may help some students more.”
“Yes, but another Key Point should include no multi-tasking (checking phone, looking at computer, having side conversations) when involved in these meetings.”
“Maybe encourage students not to script it too heavily so they can practice listening rather than remembering what they plan on saying.”
“I would suggest you reinforce the importance of being honest and candid with yourself as a means of personal reflection. Knowing yourself is super important in the business environment.”
“I appreciate what this exercise is trying to do. However, I think if it were to be performed with me and in a class that I've had, I know that there would definitely be a few people who would not take the exercise seriously.”
“I think something on virtual teams would be beneficial. I think with the technology we have, talking about how to interact with teams that are not in the same office or even country would be beneficial.”
“Something about admitting your mistakes may be good for this section. They will happen and we are all better off to acknowledge them, learn from them and move forward.”
Putting that feedback into action, we’ve updated the Modules in numerous places. A summary of those updates is as follows:
- New articles and videos for students to read/view in the “Knowledge” sections of each Learning Objective, as well as some for the “Summary and Additional Resources” pages
- Updates to the “Key Points to Remember” sections of each Learning Objective
- Changes to the “Experience and Reflection” Quizzes
- Addition of the Education Design Lab badge images to each Module’s introduction
- Addition of the Education Design Lab badges as formal “Awards” in each Module
- A new student satisfaction survey at the end of each Module, for faculty to capture feedback in D2L after the student completes the Module
As more faculty put the Modules to the test, and we continue to gather input from students and employers, we expect more enhancements to the Modules in the future. Further, we are planning to add to the library of Modules, to include skills such as Critical Thinking, Empathy, Resilience, Creative Problem Solving and Intercultural Fluency.
These are exciting times for the Career Readiness Modules and the students being exposed to them. As always, we welcome faculty interest and feedback on the Modules, and hope to see their utilization increase each semester.
To learn more about the Modules and request a copy of the Modules, visit www.mnstateitcoe.org/career-readiness-curriculum.