Packing Slip

item	Business and Informational Technology Department
contact	Karen Maish (GateWay Community College) karen.maish@gwmail.maricopa.edu
credits	Roberta Jeffers, Business Outreach Heidi Hutchins Steve May Stephanie Dillard Connie Rainey John Zanazzi Steve Clayden Steve Wetzel
college(s)	GateWay Community College
discipline(s)	Business, Information Technology
summary	The Business and Informational Technology Department designed a career exploration course to encourage high school students interested in a degree in business, to become familiar with GateWay Community College programs and to see their connection with real life careers. Each area of expertise is followed by four hours of lab in which the student becomes an active learner.
details	(This initiative was GateWay's 2003 Innovation of the Year) Early in the 2001-2002 school year, the GateWay Community High School faculty approached Karen Maish and Roberta Jeffers about a large number of 18 to 21 year old students who had indicated a desire for a career in business or computers but had little to no knowledge of what that entailed. As a result Karen Maish and Roberta Jeffers worked together to create a class that would offer three credit hours of exploring different career options taught by career professionals who were college instructors. This was to be graded course based on attendance, participation, a research project and a PowerPoint presentation on the career the student found most interesting. This class was tailor-made to fit the needs of individuals who are not only unfamiliar with a college setting but have little idea of the careers available, the classes to take, and potential job outlooks. Its purpose was also to assist high school students to become more familiar with college instructors and the career paths available upon completion of high school. Each day of 8+ classroom hours was designed to allow the students to see jobs, schooling, earning potential, and career paths and then to spend the afternoons in doing the actual tasks that would become part of the program they would complete. On the first day of the course Steve May spent a morning teaching students about careers in Cisco, jobs they could obtain once they finished, and whether they were certificate programs or Associate Degree programs. He then spent the afternoon showing them how to run cables and “build” blue cables for networks. Every one of the 22 enrolled students carried their cable around to show their friends. Students also spent their time building web pages, writing slot machine programs, learning to work a court reporting machine, etc. These labs not only allowed for first hand knowledge but allowed the student to feel as if they were actually experiencing the career. The long-range consequences have been enormous. The enrollment in the programs has increased. Students’ goals and career aims have been solidified. The comfort level of transitioning from a high school student to a college student has drastically increased. Perhaps the greatest benefit for students has been to know a college instructor to whom they can go to for advise. There are numerous students who return semesters later to take more courses from a certain instructor. There have been no drawbacks. A college instructor in their area of specialty teaches each section of the class. Karen Maish teaches programming, Steve Wetzel and Steve May -Cisco, Heidi Hutchins -General Business, John Zanazzi -A+, Connie Rainey-Web. Developing, Stephanie Dillard-Court Reporting, and Steve Clayden-Auto Cad. Karen Maish has created the syllabus, gathered the teachers, graded the papers, done the intros and the closing and organized the assignments. Roberta Jeffers has done the behind the scenes organizing and mechanics. The high school pays the tuition for each student and the cost to the college is only increased ftse. This class has proven to meet multiple needs of students with no cost to the college; it can easily be incorporated into any type of curriculum and is truly innovative. Student presentations are available for evaluation. This class has met in the spring of 2002, the fall of 2003 and will again in the spring of 2003. Other high school entities are familiar with the program and are also interested in summer sessions. Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback via the comments form below.
web links	http://www.dist.maricopa.edu/marketing/innovation/ Maricopa Community College Innovation of the Year program
supplements	These items are licensed under a Creative Commons License Innovation of the year application (document) GWCC_application.pdf (118.3 kB) Note! As a professional courtesy to the owner of this package, if you use some aspect of this package or have some thoughts about it, please share your feedback below.
shareback [0 shareback(s)]	A "Shareback" cites the places on the web that mention, reference, or use this MLX package, and "shares" that information back here (more about shareback...) Sharebacks can be generated automatically by weblog tools.
extra	Last modified: Aug-06-2003 Date created: Aug-06-2003 Visitor count: 3756 Dublin Core Metadata record This package is included in the Innovation of the Year Awards 2003 special collection.