2016 Annual Conference

Today’s employers expect graduates to be workforce ready when they hire them. Students must prepare for the workforce during their academic programs, not after they graduate. This presentation showcases working models to help students get work experience while they complete their degrees and fulfill their responsibilities to job and family.

This presentation is for deans, directors, administrators and faculty who are interested in learning about successful working models for providing adult and professional studies students valuable experiential learning opportunities while they matriculate through graduate and professional studies programs. This presentation will expose participants to the range of common approaches for providing experiential opportunity for adult learners including co-operative education and internships, project-based learning, and external partnerships. Participants will learn about signature examples of experiential learning opportunities at other institutions. The presenter will also discuss his own first-hand experience with experiential models at his own institution.

This presentation explores today’s emerging landscape of successful models for providing adult learners experiential learning opportunities while they matriculate through graduate and professional studies programs. Employer expectations for graduates have never been higher; most employers expect recent graduates to be workplace ready the day they begin work. Likewise, students are concerned about being properly prepared for job opportunities in their chosen disciplines prior to graduation. Students want to begin curating their professional identity while they are completing degree programs and certificates, not afterwards. Along those lines, this presentation will discuss why it is important for adult and continuing education programs to provide experiential opportunity in light of these emergent student and employer expectations. It will examine the range of common approaches for providing such valuable experiential opportunity for adult learners, including co-operative education and internships, project-based learning, and external partnerships. And this presentation provides examples of working models for experiential learning at other institutions. The presenter will also discuss his own first-hand experience with building and delivering experiential models at his own leading institution. And he will and provide time for questions and answers.