Monique Lawrence

Hello, Lirazol! I am responding to your comment, not from a lens of having a requested best go-to method, but to respond in kind regarding the difficulty in finding job shadowing opportunities for students. Whether we're in an urban, rural, or suburban area, there are challenges that accompany finding WBL opportunities for students as a whole. 

In an effort to provide a response, you may want to go with some of the franchises, but equip the students with the knowledge that there may be high turnover rates. Perhaps you can solicit their input on a quest to find the reasons… >>>

As a former WBL student myself, it is imperative to have meaningful engagement with the students, their families, upper management/owners of the company, as well as the students' direct supervisor. When everyone knows what's expected of them, there tend to be fewer issues.

Also, every business may not be a good match for WBL opportunities. Out of desperation students may be placed in a working environment that is not well-suited for them.

The key to successful WBL outcomes is planning. Planning out the training components will help provide navigation for a high-quality WBL program for all stakeholders.

My initial thoughts on the WBL Coordinator role is that they would handle all the required tasks alone. This module helped me to realize that a team can be assembled to assist with some of the different tasks. That gives me energy to move forward!

To have a quality, well-informed WBL program, input needs to come from industry and all other stakeholders that want to see our students succeed. I also loved that suggestion to have students and business people provide feedback on their experiences. Another piece of information that seemed invaluable was the idea of having an orientation workshop for business people, but I would take it a step further and have one for the students as well.

I learned about the basics of WBL and the differences between internships and co-op. I truly appreciate the resources (websites and files) provided. In developing my school's program, I intend to use our state-provided documents as well as the resources from this course.