October 23, 2008 -- Career Conversations A Pilot Program by Kayla Effertz / ND Department of Commerce

Career Conversations
PILOT PROGRAM
FALL 2008
North Dakota students are reporting a lack of awareness of businesses and career opportunities available in North Dakota. Education about pathways to higher education is readily available; however the connection to North Dakota business and industry to education is not as clear.

I. Program Goal
The overarching goal of a career promotion program is to create awareness of high wage/high demand careers and companies in North Dakota that employ these careers to parents and students in grades nine through twelve.

II. Program Overview
The ND Career Conversations Program provides students in grades nine through twelve direct access to individuals working in North Dakota. Through a webcam, teachers and counselors will be able to have live conversations via telephone or webcam with an individual working in North Dakota from his or her office. The conversations could be broadcast to an individual or classroom, and have the option to be recorded and stored on sites such as youtube.com for future viewing by any interested party, such as parents.

The Department of Commerce (DOC) Career Promotion/Internship Coordinator will be charged with scheduling the conversations between the classrooms and business. The conversations will have up to six online connections, but can be viewed unlimited times after the conversation has occurred on multiple websites.

III. Teacher/Classroom Benefits
Teachers and classrooms will be able to benefit through by relating coursework to “real life” situations. The program is designed to be easy for teachers to coordinate and use in the classroom. Students will be exposed to individuals in the North Dakota workplace and make a school to work connection.

Teachers who complete the program will receive a certificate to be displayed in a public place in the school recognizing their commitment to the future of North Dakota.

IV. School Requirements
Equipment
Participating schools will be required to have an LCD projector, broadband connection and a Macintosh or Windows compatible computer with the below requirements:
Windows:
Pentium 4.1 GHz with 256MB of RAM,
20MB hard disk space,
Broadband connection (cable, dsl,etc.),
Microsoft Windows 2000, XP or Vista;
Macintosh:
Power Mac G5 (1GHz) or Intel Mac with 256MB of RAM
20MB hard disk space,
Tiger, Leopard (OSX 10.4 and up.),

A webcam will be provided on a loan basis for the purpose of the conversation and expected to be returned to the Department of Commerce within one week of the completed conversation. If the participating school has a compatible webcam, it may be used.

Plans of Study/Forms
Participating schools would be required to report the names and email (email optional) of the participants to the DOC. The teacher or counselor will need to review the individual students’ plans of study within one month of the conversation. If the student does not have a pre-existing plan of study, a plan can be created to qualify.

The DOC will use the names of the individuals to track the number of unique individuals the program reaches. The names will also be provided to CTE to understand:
1. The numbers of students participating that had a plan of study previous to the program.
2. Of the students who have a plan of study, how many plans change post conversation.

The teacher will agree to:
1. Notify parents/community of the conversation. (see promotion for materials provided)
2. Facilitate a classroom discussion to develop questions for the speaker based upon the discussion guide provided by the DOC. (discussion guide provided)
3. Administer a pre and post survey to the students. (provided)
4. Completing and submitting the summary sheet which includes: (form provided)
a. Number of classroom participants
b. Satisfaction with program
c. Short summarization of class discussion after the career conversation
d. Number of changes in plans of study

V. Implementation
This program would be implemented from August 15, 2008-December 15, 2008. The high school classes that would be targeted to speak to would be:
1. Math
2. Science
3. Agricultural Education
4. Technology Education/Information Technology
5. 9th Grade Career Development Class

The industries and suggested occupations to be featured in conversations will be:
1. Healthcare
a. Nursing
b. Radiologist Technician
2. Technology
a. Software Engineer
b. Hardware Engineer
3. Technical Trades
a. Welder
b. Electrician
c. Electrical Lineworker
d. Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning
4. Energy
a. Boilermakers
b. Ironworkers,
c. Instrumentation and Control Technicians.
5. Engineering
a. Electrical/Civil/Mechanical Engineering
6. Education
a. Secondary educators in math, science, foreign language

The Career Promotion/Internship Coordinator will either be at the classroom site to oversee the conversation or at a webcam connection to evaluate the conversation as it is occurring.

VI. Training
A site set-up session would be offered via telephone for the participating classroom prior to the conversation to test the webcam and internet connection.

The Career Promotion/Internship Coordinator will be available to attend up to 4 classroom visits outside of the Bismarck/Mandan area to ensure:
1. Technology is connected appropriately
2. Classroom participants are engaged
3. Surveys are administered properly

VII. Resources
The cost to implement this pilot program is estimated to be $1,105.
ITEM COST
1. ooVoo.com Subscription $45
2. 4 webcams ($80 per camera) $160
3. Travel & Expenses for site set-up $900

1. ooVoo.com Subscription
To facilitate the conversations between the classrooms and the businesses, a variety of software applications can be utilized. The preferred choice for video chat provider is oovoo.com. This software will enable up to 6-way live video chats, unlimited 5-minute video messages, the ability to share and send files up to 25MB each, record unlimited video chats, store and stream up to 1,000 minutes of videos remotely (per month), stream video recordings on the web, and priority customer service. The cost of this service is $15 per month, with one month free trial. This software can be purchased on a month-to-month basis and can be cancelled at anytime.

If the professional does not want to use a webcam or be seen on the screen, the conversation can still occur via telephone.

2. Webcams
Four webcams would be purchased to be sent to participating schools and business to be used and returned.

The Workforce Development Division will be responsible for the purchase of the webcams and all participating schools will be required to sign a release stating they will return the webcam or pay for the purchase price of the webcam.

3. Travel & Expenses
The Career Promotion/Internship Coordinator would travel to four scheduled sites to provide assistance in technology connections, monitor classroom participation and ensure that surveys are administered correctly.

Up to 4 site visits will be funded for travel expenses to include up to:
Meals: $100
Mileage: $800*

The Workforce Development Division will be responsible for travel and expenses.
*Mileage is based upon visiting sites Grand Forks, Williston, Minot, Devils Lake. This is a rough estimate.

VIII. Evaluation and Performance Metrics
A pre and post test will be provided to the students and the business to understand if this career promotion strategy will be effective. Both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to determine if this activity should be continued and expanded.

Qualitative Data
The individuals who participate in the conversations would be given a pre test before the conversation to assess the perception of opportunities to work in North Dakota. After the conversation is finished, a post evaluation would be administered to understand if perceptions of have changed. Within one month of the conversation, the plan of study is to be reviewed by the student and teacher/parent/counselor. When the plan of study has been re-filed, a short survey will be given to the student to understand if the career conversation had any effect on their secondary or post secondary decisions.

Quantitative Data
All participating teachers would be required to submit a class roster listing the students’ names who participated for the purpose of knowing the unique users of the program. Email addresses are optional.

Outcomes
Success and continuation of this program will be determined based upon:
1. A minimum of 10 conversations taking place.
2. A minimum of 5 North Dakota businesses involvement.
3. A minimum of 5 North Dakota schools involvement.
4. A minimum of 500 unique participants.
5. Participants have an increased awareness of opportunities available to work in North Dakota. (post survey results)
6. Increase in participation of classes that lead to careers in high demand. (Plan of study reflect change or continuation)
7. Satisfied teachers (post teacher survey)
8. The number of views of the posted videos
9. The number of views from the DOC website that lead to CTE website.

IX. Promotion
To gain school participants for the pilot program, the following networks will be notified:
1. CTE Business Resource Survey Pilot contractors (majority are teachers and counselors)
2. DPI listservs
3. Presentations at teacher/staff development sessions prior to school starting
4. Presentations to school boards
5. CTE Career counselor listerv
6. Career Resource Coordinators seeking suggestions of teachers willing to participate
7. Regional Education Association
To gain business participants for the pilot program the following networks will be notified:
1. ITCND
2. YP State and Local Networks
3. Chamber of Commerce Newsletter (tentative)
4. General Press Release

To gain parent and community awareness, the following tools will be offered to participating teachers/counselors to promote the conversation:
1. ooVoo.com software has the capability to create up to five minute video messages. This application could be used to send a video invite to parents to ask their child about the conversation at school or to log into view it themselves.
2. During parent/teacher conferences, teachers will hand out a hotjobs brochure in addition to a ½ page flier with the website address encouraging parents to view the conversation their classroom had.
3. Program will be provided to career and technical education organizations such as FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America), FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America, DECA (An Association of Marketing Students), FFA (An Association of Agricultural Education Students) and others to encourage coordination at a student level.
4. Conversations can be recorded and uploaded to another site such as youtube or the Workforce Development page.

Teachers are required to notify parents and the community either prior or after the conversation. This can be done through email, posting on the school website, flier, newsletter or any existing method that parents and community members are currently receiving information about school activities. Example materials will be provided to the teacher.


X. Selection Criteria
Teachers/counselors and their respective classrooms that are chosen to participate in this pilot program will be based upon:
1. Students reached are in grades 9-12.
2. Courses in one of the four selected classes.
An application will be made available online at the DOC Workforce Development division website and through paper copy.

Teachers/counselors may double up to meet the required number of students reached per conversation. Participating teachers/classrooms and professionals will be identified for participation no later than September 30, 2008.

This pilot program will be implemented in the fall of 2008 to be evaluated in December 2008 for continuation and/or expansion.