With more college graduates than ever embarking on
unanticipated career paths, faculty and institutional leaders should be
providing curriculum to students that will serve them beyond their specific
fields of study and allow them to be better prepared for a changing workforce,
according to a new paper published by ACE.
Faculty—the single greatest influence on student success—should
be at the center of this work, states “Beyond
Classroom Borders: Linking Learning and Work Through Career-Relevant
Instruction.”
In an effort to maximize teaching effectiveness, academic
leaders should consider how they support faculty to build their curriculum
around evidence-based teaching practices, including techniques that allow
faculty to embed career-relevant content and experiences into the teaching and
learning environment. “A supportive teaching culture allows faculty to
experiment with new teaching practices and refine their teaching based on
reflection and student and peer feedback,” the paper states.
Steven Taylor, managing director of ED2WORK and co-author of the paper, argues, “Making
the curricular experience more career-relevant is critical to prepare graduates
to adapt and succeed in future work and learning environments yet to be
discovered.” Taylor added, “Students can realize the optimal benefits of
career-relevant instruction when faculty make explicit connections for students
between the classroom experience and its application to civic, community, and
work-based settings.”
This paper approaches the topic of career-relevant
instruction first with a lens toward the aptitudes students need to develop to
succeed in future work and learning, followed by critical elements that faculty
need to enhance the career-relevance of their instruction. Finally, it delves
into how academic leaders can support and position faculty to achieve greater career-relevance
in the classroom.
Catherine Haras, senior director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and
Learning at Cal State LA and co-author of the paper, suggests,
“Institutions play a pivotal role in making classroom instruction more
career-relevant by preparing and supporting faculty as they implement new
techniques that may at times challenge their teaching self-efficacy and
professional identity.”
“Stronger linkages between learning and work can be achieved
through a collaborative approach that engages faculty as influencers of a
discipline’s relevance outside of the classroom and student success professionals
as strategists to integrate career exploration and planning into the student
experience,” says Sherri Lind Hughes, ACE’s assistant vice president for
professional learning.
This paper is part
of ACE’s work to advance
effective teaching
by disseminating research to higher education leaders about practices shown to
improve student and institutional outcomes. As part of ACE’s work to scale the
reach of effective teaching practices, ACE entered into a collaboration with ACUE to advance teaching practice
through a scalable online faculty development solution.