Conference Session

Faculty Set the Preliminary Standards for Co-ops

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Anthony Joseph, Pace University; Mabel Payne, Consultant

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

setting. Tasks have to accurately reflect the workplace environment and encourage students to draw upon their formal learning and use it to interrogate the workplace practices. Assessment that that encourages broad capabilities rather than more narrow learning objectives should be employed by educators to ensure that students actually learn in work place.Experiential learning is an inclusive phrase for many types of work based related learningexperiences8, 13, 38 including cooperative education. The first cooperative education program inthe United States of America dated back to 1906 at the University of Cincinnati9, 39. However

Conference Session

Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Johrendt, University of Windsor; Schantal Hector, University of Windsor; Karen Benzinger, University of Windsor; Geri Salinitri, University of Windsor; Arunita Jaekel, University of Windsor; Derek Northwood, University of Windsor; Michelle Watters, University of Windsor

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

? Professor Karen Roloff, DePaulUniversity Professor of Communication and Director of DePaul’s communication internshipprogram, considers “… the real value is going into an experience with learning outcomes in mind– connecting through reflection and intentionality the world of work and the world oflearning”16. Walsh15 further argues that since learning which arises through experience has notusually been formally assessed, it is therefore necessary to design appropriate assessment for it togain academic recognition. Boud and Tennant17 claim that, in order to effectively support thefull academic recognition of experience-based learning in the workplace, academic colleaguesneed to move “from seeing themselves as persons who induct students into a

Conference Session

Faculty Set the Preliminary Standards for Co-ops

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

R. Mark Schreck, University of Louisville; Angela Cline, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

interviews/hires our students.This information is captured in a common database. An action date for the next step is identifiedand reviewed bi-weekly. Since this process was initiated in 2009, Speed School has added over40 new employers who have hired co-ops; currently there are 92 additional potential employersin the pipeline currently being pursued.FEEDBACK - from the Co-op Work Experience: In order to maximize the educationalcontent of the co-op work experience, thoughtful reflection on the experience and in-depthfeedback is essential. Figure 3 below illustrates how the student upgraded feedback process Page 15.515.6works

Conference Session

Culture, Society, and Co-op

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lindsey Jenkins-Stark, Iridescent; Tara Chklovski, Iridescent

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

design, and how to present the overall concept. Volunteers use an onlinecollaboration site to comment on lesson plans, reflect on their teaching, and post new ideas andmaterial.Volunteer engineers come away from their experience with three main areas of impact. 1) Theyare empowered by inspiring others. “It is really a big deal to be working with students at ayoung age so they can be excited about what they're learning and {so these students can} bereally ambitious for the future." 2) They learn important lessons in management and publicspeaking. One volunteer observed, “This is a really useful skill because I’m sure later on in mycareer I’ll have to explain what I do to an audience that doesn’t necessarily have a background inmy field.” 3) They

Conference Session

Faculty Set the Preliminary Standards for Co-ops

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Emilia Bratschitsch, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

activities and challenges in the previous academic year andaccording to the agenda the participants discuss new topics. Finally, the timetable for the nextsemester is presented and all participants can consult each other about changes and updates.The internal lecturers meet as a group every week and reflects respectively discusses theimpact of changes in the time schedule and curriculum as often as possible. Page 15.967.8Figure 8: Distribution of the internal and external lecturers by semesterSharing the resources – human and machines – of the test beds also requires careful andprecise planning. Students, teachers, engineers and project customers use

Conference Session

Culture, Society, and Co-op

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrian Millward-Sadler, University of Applied Science, Graz; Annette Casey, Joanneum University of Applied Sciences; Frank Newman, University of Graz

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

into Page 15.574.3the subsequent year-group. Flexibility of subject choice is reflected within the projectsundertaken by undergraduates in the 2nd through 6th semesters, the industrial placement (in the7th semester) and finally in the choice of diploma thesis.English in the Department of Vehicle TechnologyAs well as the courses which would be expected in such a degree programme (for example inareas such as mathematics, computer aided design, strength of materials, thermodynamicsetc.) English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes also make up a major component, being amandatory subject in the syllabus, required in six out of the eight total

Conference Session

The Influence of Cooperative Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jim Wojciechowski, Grand Valley State University; Charles Standridge, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

studentsaccept full-time employment with their co-op employers. Page 15.1245.2Curricular education prepares students for the co-op experience and the co-opexperience prepares students for additional curricular education. For example,Grunther et al.2 discuss how students with co-op, or other industrial experience,have greater knowledge of design versus student with no such experience, thoughthis knowledge gap can be reduced by the capstone design course. Further, El-Sayed and Stodola3 discuss the need for a formal way of ensuring that co-op andclassroom education reinforce each other.Documentation of the co-op experience, and the self-reflection required to prepareit, is

Conference Session

Nuts and Bolts of Cooperative Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Alexander Yin, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Cooperative & Experiential Education

involve these things. In reflecting on their classroom experiences, the majority of the students found thecoursework helpful because it enhanced their theoretical knowledge in electrical engineering. Afew talked about how, at the time they took a course, they thought the knowledge taught was Page 15.545.5useless, but also how they eventually found it useful. Problem-solving was one way to ascertainthe value of the knowledge learned in the classroom. As David replied when asked whethersolving well-structured problems helped him with ill-structured problems: “You’re not going tosolve a circuit for the customer or get any of your work done