ITC505 ICT Project Management: Employability and Personal Skills

In the past schools have been providing some school-based programs such as internships, youth apprenticeship, working experience as well as service learning which have been very vital in students career development. Taylor, (2017) provides that, it is essential that students in school districts are provided with opportunities to participate in experiences that assess their state of approved competencies. To achieve this, the schools are required to integrate academic content and technical skill development which is very vital for preparing students for industry or work-based experiences (Peck, 2017). Online employability and personal skill program will provide an opportunity through which students can acquire various employability and personal skills as well as receive a state credential for mastery of employability and therefore putting them at the forefront of their career paths.

The Backward Design Process

This is a concept that can be though to be a purposeful analysis of a program and is used to imply that the development/design of a program or project should start with the end in the mind of the developer (Kumar, Shah & Smart, 2017). This means one should have a clear understanding of their destination or their results before starting a program or a project. In most case, various teaching institutions engage in the development of curriculum and learning experiences. The process involves three main stages that will help in the development of the multiple activities for the online employability and personal skills for school districts.

Stage One: Identify desired results

Through establishing the state of youth unemployment in the state, the findings revealed that the 21st-century curriculum had not been designed to offer students with an opportunity to gain employability skills and personal skills which are very critical to personal and career development (Hanapi et al., 2018). The desired results of the program would be;

• Students will gain more insights into the modern employment industry and therefore gain the necessary skills and competencies which will put them at the forefront of a successful career path.
• The students will acquire different positive attitudes towards their careers which is critical in enhancing your employability.
• The program will change the student’s perspectives about schools by making them more relevant since it is connected to the real world.
• Positive feedback from companies in that they will receive or have employees who are competent enough in their work by connecting the school experience with company experiences.
• Students will learn about different networking skills which are essential for enhancing employability.

Using the above standards as the starting point in the development of our standard, I would love to establish what I want the students from the school districts to understand. I would, therefore, want the program to only focus on the crucial aspects or employability and personal skills that are relevant to their career and personal development. It is essential to understand that a lot of resources have been produced with different strategies provided by different people (Wiggins & McTighe, 2016).  I think at the end of the program students would want to gain employability skills such as networking, CV Development, interviewing skills and other skill standards which will enable them to not only get jobs but also to retain them for long-term purposes.

The understanding of different employability skills that will make the students from the schools stand out against their competitors in the job market is very essential. Understanding the misconceptions related to employability in the current job markets will also be vital in enhancing the development of the program (Reynolds & Kearns, 2017). I found out that most students have the misconception that the job market is only comprised of the aged people, with experience and therefore difficult to get a job. Such delusion will be vital in helping in enhancing the scope of the program and touch on various issues related to employability.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence

This involves the provision of evidence that will determine if students have achieved their goal throughout the online employability program or how will anyone measure the student’s proficiency (Jozwik, Lin & Cuenca-Carlino, 2017). Since this program will be conducted online, the skills and competencies acquired by the students will depend on their performance from different activities designed based on the standards identified above which will include, a deterministic tool aimed at determining the student's attitude towards different types of jobs. The students will be required to provide an honest assessment of their opinion against the deterministic tools.

Assessment will be done online of CV Writing, Cover letter and through a 1-minute pitch of telling us more about them. The estimates for these elements will be through establishing whether student’s proficiency in these elements is Excellent, good, fair or poor. This will provide a room the school with an opportunity to assess the different students and help those who encounter challenges or would need help on the same. An example of the assessment task would include;

“Now since you have learned about CV or Resume and Cover Letter writing through our online interactive tools and the examples provided online. The national bank has offered to provide internship opportunities for five members of this group, kindly write prepare a 1page CV and Cover Letter to express your interest in the position and why you think you are a good fit for this position?”

This assessment is critical since it requires the students to illustrate their competencies on the various things that the institution wants them to understand and take away which will enhance their employability and personal skills (Jensen, Bailey, Kummer & Weber, 2017). More assessments will be offered after every learning unit online or after every employability and own skills elements is taught through our online tutor such as getting your job started, interviews, creating the first impression, getting your job done as well as ongoing above and beyond. The assessments will be very engaging to the user and attractive to ensure each student is made to develop their personal and employability skills.

Stage Three; Plan Learning Experiences and Instructions

This is one of my favorite’s parts and involves the planning and deciding on what activities the students will undertake through the developer program as well as the learning materials and resources they will need for the events (Suleman, 2018). Application of the Backward Design process calls for my understanding of what knowledge and skills would the students require to successfully beliefs the critical things that the school and I are after (Scott, Connell, Thomson & Willison, 2017). In this case, the students will be required to learn about networking, CV and Cover letter writing, preparation for interviews, Responding to different interview questions, how to handle their first week at a new job, getting their job done right, team working and developing their attitudes, strengths, and weaknesses.

Learning experiences with is through a rich source or resource materials that have continued to gather and review for many years. These materials will be accessed online on the program website for the students freely just below each activity. The student will be required to go through the documents, read and understand them as well as attempt the quiz before doing the activity assessment test. Every activity will have a small but exciting video and examples that will guide the students in handling the assessment as well as gaining more understanding and skills.

In conclusion, therefore, the backward design process is essential in the development of this online employability and personal skills program as it provides an opportunity to have the results in mind before developing the plan. Such understanding has been critical in developing the program activities and assessments based on the expected results as well as in provision on learning resource materials which are also provided based on the district schools expectations from the program. I believe through this program and the school's district standards, the program will provide an interactive environment for students and develop their employability and personal skills that will prepare them for the world of working in the 21st Century.

References

Hanapi, Z., Mamat, A. B., Zulkifli, R. M., Sharif, M. S., & Hasnan, K. A. (2018). Development of Employability Skills Measurement Model Among Engineering Graduates of Community College Using Delphi Technique and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Advanced Science Letters, 24(4), 2660-2664.

Jensen, J. L., Bailey, E. G., Kummer, T. A., & Weber, K. S. (2017). Using Backward Design in Education Research: A Research Methods Essay. Journal of microbiology & biology education, 18(3).

Jozwik, S., Lin, M., & Cuenca-Carlino, Y. (2017). Using Backward Design to Develop Service-Learning Projects in Teacher Preparation. New Waves, 20(2), 35-49.

Kumar, A., Shah, V., & Smart, K. (2017). Moving Forward by Looking Backward: Using Backward Design to Develop an Innovative MSIS Program.

Peck, A. (Ed.). (2017). Engagement & Employability: Integrating Career Learning Through Cocurricular Experiences in Postsecondary Education. NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education.

Potts, C. (2017). An investigation into postgraduate employability in the UK's small and medium size enterprises (SMEs).

Reynolds, H. L., & Kearns, K. D. (2017). A planning tool for incorporating backward design, active learning, and authentic assessment in the college classroom. College Teaching, 65(1), 17-27.

Scott, F. J., Connell, P., Thomson, L. A., & Willison, D. (2017). Empowering students by enhancing their employability skills. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 1-16.

Suleman, F. (2018). The employability skills of higher education graduates: insights into conceptual frameworks and methodological options. Higher Education, 76(2), 263-278.

Taylor, B. (2017). Embedding ways to enhance employability skills in teaching practice.

Valero, M., Madden, T., & Dell, G. (2018, June). Employability Skills in Curriculum Design: A Hands-on, Multidisciplinary Integration Approach. In 4th Enhancing Student Learning Through Innovative Scholarship Conference.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2016). What is backward design. Understanding by design, 1, 7-19.