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Online Technology Career Preparation Course

Paul A. De Nu and Connie Sketch

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College

Cincinnati State Technical and Community College is a comprehensive community college with an enrollment of approximately 8500 students. Students attending Cincinnati State are provided an education that features a combination of theory and practice, delivered via appropriate classroom, laboratory, and cooperative education experiences. Cooperative education is considered an integral part of the learning experience at the college. Cincinnati State’s commitment to co-op is demonstrated in part by the large number of student placements each year. The college places more students on co-op assignments than any other two-year college in the country and typically ranks in the top five among all educational institutions in total co-op placements.

Since its beginning almost 40 years ago, Cincinnati State has emphasized the value of integrating cooperative work experience with academic coursework. The College’s graduate employment rate of 98% speaks directly to Cincinnati State’s commitment to providing quality education enriched by on-the-job learning experiences. Students encounter “real world” job demands, helping to clarify their career choices as well as promoting independence and responsibility in the workplace.

Cooperative education is not an add-on component in program curricula but is embedded into the complete learning experience. Students are prepared for their co-op experience via pre- placement orientations, are visited and evaluated each term they are employed, and are required to submit work assignments that ensure that they take maximum advantage of their time in industry.

The preparation prior to placement on the co-op job has traditionally included a professional practice component. Although some programs have a program-specific orientation course in their curriculum, most of the programs have addressed this topic through a traditional face-to- face course, BT 9200 Professional Practices. The course description for BT 9200 reads, “A course that prepares students for the cooperative education interview process, heightens student awareness of work ethics, and provides skills that ensure professional success.” This year the Information and Engineering Technologies Divisions are piloting an online course to replace the traditional face-to-face course with the intention of enriching the course content, providing more interaction among participating students, addressing specific TAC/ABET accreditation criteria, and making the course available to a broader audience.

The new course, titled ET 9300 Technology Career Preparation, was created to help students inventory their personal attributes, explore technology career opportunities, learn effective job

“Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education”

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DeNu, P., & Sketch, C. (2005, June), Technology Career Preparation Online Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14960