WatPD: Professional
Development Program for
Co-op Students
Judene Pretti, Director
Two Questions
How can you
teach students
soft skills –
especially in an
online course?
How will you
know that the
program is
making a
difference?
Outline
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Background Information
WatPD Operation and Courses
Supporting Soft Skills Development
Measuring Impacts
Questions/Comments
Background on WatPD program
Feedback from employers
Academic credit for work terms
2005: Learning from Experience Report
Five Faculties, working with Gary,
determining that needs could be
supported through a centrally run unit
• Creation of WatPD under the
supervision of the Associate Provost,
Academic and Student Affairs
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WatPD Logistics
• Seven online courses taken by co-op
students during their work terms
• Involve approximately 20 hours of work
• Students earn CR/NCR
• Began in Fall 2006 with 272 math
students, this term we have 2777 AHS,
Arts, ENV, Math and Science students
Course Design
• Each course has its own content
developer
• Worked closely with Centre for Extended
Learning to put courses online
• General Idea
– introduce theory on specific topic
– provide examples in workplace settings
– through assignments, students connect
theory to their experiences
Required PD Courses
PD1: Co-op Fundamentals
• Office Politics: Choose Your Own Adventure
• Based upon the previous activity, "Avoiding the
pitfalls of office politics," list two things you learned
from this exercise that you will remember in dealing
with office politics during your work term.
Required PD Courses
• Formatting a report: details are
important
• Exercise has students look at two
different title pages and identify the
differences
Elective PD Courses
Group Assignment “One Minute Briefing”
• For an annual company skills workshop, your employer
has asked you to brief your coworkers about a topic you
are learning about in PD 3.
• You can choose any topic that could conceivably
improve the communication strategies of the particular
people in your particular workplace.
• So think about the specific people and communication
environment in your workplace. Have you observed any
areas of communication weakness?
• Share ideas amongst your assigned PD 3 group. Once
group members agree on a topic, together
you’ll prepare a One Minute Briefing accompanied by
three slides.
Elective PD Courses
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire
• What did you learn from completing the
questionnaire and the electronic report you
received?
• How do the results compare with your selfimage?
• How will you use this experience to improve
your teamwork and relational skills?
Elective PD Courses
• “What the experts say” video clips
• Feel a connection to course instructor
• Polled students for types of problems they face
in the workplace
Elective PD Courses
• Video skits acting out a workplace scenario
that ties content from one week to the next
• Video of an mediation process
Our Program Evaluation Journey
Accountability
Program
Improvement
Kirkpatrick Model for Evaluation
Results
Behaviour
Learning
Reaction
Kirkpatrick, Donald L. (1998). Evaluating training
programs: The four levels (2nd ed.)
Reaction: Student Surveys
Reaction
• Workload
– 73% report no concerns with workload (‘too
little’ work to ‘just right’)
– Also ask for a self-report on the hours spent
• Value (Examples)
– 74% in PD3: “This course has helped me to
identify my communication weaknesses.”
– 79% in PD4: “This course has helped me
understand more clearly the elements that
go into high-quality teamwork.”
Reaction: Student Surveys
Reaction
• Marking/Feedback Example
– Strong support for objectivity and fairness
in grading but lower support for feedback
received on assignments
Rubric
Criteria
...
Poor
Satisfactory
Good
√
√
√
√
√
Excellent
Specific
Comments
For each
criteria
comments
specific to
that
student’s
submission
Learning – Success Rates
Learning
Course Pass Rates
(over last year)
Course Averages
(over last year)
PD1: Co-op Fundamentals
84% - 93%
N/A
PD2: Critical Reflection and Report
Writing
77% - 87%
65% - 81%
PD3: Communication
90% - 98%
67% - 78%
PD4: Teamwork
89% - 97%
74% - 79%
PD5: Project Management
92% - 97%
73% - 81%
PD6: Problem Solving
95% - 99%
77% - 80%
PD7: Conflict Resolution
93% - 98%
69% - 81%
Learning – Pre/Post Tests
Learning
Pre Test Results
(over last year)
Post Test Results
(over last year)
PD1: Co-op Fundamentals
41%
67%
PD2: Critical Reflection and Report
Writing
35%
57%
PD3: Communication
25%
64%
PD4: Teamwork
17%
39%
PD5: Project Management
31%
72%
PD6: Problem Solving
47%
75%
PD7: Conflict Resolution
35%
75%
Behaviour
Behaviour
• Challenge of our context
• Our planned direction
– Employer evaluations of student
performance
– Collect student self-reports of
behaviour change
– Interviews with students and employers
• Main idea is to see if there are trends
and converging evidence
R
Results
• Challenge of our context
• Our planned direction
– NSSE
– Graduating student survey (with pre-PD
and PD students)
– Interviews with employers
Questions? Comments?
Thank You