At a Glance
Somerset County Technology Center (SCTC) developed a new Cooperative Education Training Plan that aligns the career objectives and Program of Study with students coop job placements.
Description
When students participate in a cooperative education job placement, it is important for the coop coordinator, students and the employer to communicate about the students progress toward meeting specific objectives. In the past, however, specific program tasks were not tracked nor aligned to students coop job placements which made it challenging to monitor student progress.
To address this challenge, the SCTC coop coordinator created a Cooperative Education Training Plan that was implemented for the 2017-2018 school year. During the development of the plan, the coop coordinator collaborated with instructors and employers to map out what should be included in the plan and to emphasize the importance of aligning program tasks to a students job. The resulting plan provides a more effective method for the coop coordinator to track student progress and for the employer to understand which specific competencies should be incorporated into the students job.
Instructors, students and employers find the training plan to be a useful tool for coordinating and maximizing the effectiveness of coop job placements. The coop coordinator stresses the need for these stakeholders to understand the importance of aligning POS tasks with the job placement responsibilities. He will modify the plan as needed in the future so that it continues to best meet the needs of stakeholders.
Impact
Since SCTC implemented the plan, the coop coordinator reports that student training on the job is more structured which contributes to greater student production and skill development during the coop experience.
Contact
Somerset County Technology Center
http://www.sctc.net
Joseph Smiach, Career Coordinator
jsmiach@sctc.net