Billy Hanisee

The most interesting thing I learned here is the idea of students assessing their own learning at the completion of a program.  As it stands right now, we ask everybody BUT the student how well the student is prepared in terms of "soft skills" when they graduate.  This seems like a pretty large error, even without EWS certification in the mix.  

I think this is the most significant shift for a lot of schools.  This is more than just changing a few words around and adding some activities, it is asking for a change in how learning is approached.  As a career school, we have no shortage of workforce activities being practiced and perfected, but there is an intentionality with this program that reminds students daily why they are there and what kind of progress they are making.  

Culture is massively important but arguably one of the hardest things to pin down.  Culture is more than what you say, it's what you do each day and *what students see each day*.  It is very easy to give lip service to the culture you'd like to have while actually engendering a lesser, more permissible culture.  

Comment on Cynthia Zuno's post: I also thought the habitual self-reflection was very important.  Without that, the rest of this kind of falls by the wayside.  In my experience, the people who go the furthest in a given organization are the people who are constantly reflecting on and correcting their own behaviors.

I think the big takeaway from this is the insight into how these skills are currently thought about by people who do not have a strong concept of what it means to be "employable".  In many cases, these are thought to be "easy skills" that "everyone has" and do not need intentional, focused attention.  I think the focus on baking it into every part of a student's school experience is very important.