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Learning Action: Tapping into professionals and recent alumni who are working from home

  • 1.  Learning Action: Tapping into professionals and recent alumni who are working from home

    Posted 08-06-2020 01:02:00 AM
    Before our students begin their careers, they are given opportunities to socialize and associate with professionals to begin to learn what a career in IS is about. Students are normally given these opportunities in club meetings, career fairs, guest lectures, internships, class projects, and recruiting events.

    Many of these events will not be possible during the pandemic. At the same time, record numbers of professionals are working from home and are easily able to join a class virtually. How can we give our students socialization opportunities during the pandemic?

    Each week in March and April, I invited two recent alumni to join my "zoom" Systems Analysis and Design class for a 5-minute Q&A session. During the Q&A session I would ask the alumni about their experience with the lecture topic. Their answers drove home the importance of the topic to the students and helped them draw connections between what we were learning and how it could be used in the workplace.

    By the end of the semester my students had heard briefly from 8 recent alumni as they talked about their work experience, and experience with the lecture topic. As students listened to someone who had been in their very chair a year prior, I'm sure they learned something that I could not have taught them.

    In conclusion there are two broadly applicable points discussed here: 1) Students will likely have fewer opportunities to socialize and associate with professionals during the pandemic 2) Many professionals are working from home and often have the flexibility to join a virtual class.

    Stated another way: The need for socialization opportunities for our students has never been greater and the professional have never been so widely available to join our classrooms. How else can we tap into this great resource?

    While there are many negatives to the pandemic, inviting professionals and recent alumni back into our classroom to "meet with" our students, and provide context for lectures may be a silver-living.

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    Timothy Olsen
    Associate Professor
    Gonzaga University
    Spokane WA
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