Coming this Fall, BYU Continuing Education (CE) will be introducing a new experiential learning initiative with the goal of helping student employees develop workplace skills. This initiative will be known as the BYU CE Experiential Learning Program, intended to expand BYU’s commitment to experiential learning by integrating professional development directly into students' jobs, but also mentoring and reflection into student jobs.
The program will allow student employees to complete online learning modules and earn a badge in areas that include employment foundations, belonging, growth & resilience, active learning, coaching, communication, high performance, leadership, teamwork, and personal wellness. Each of these modules will be accompanied by mentorship from delegated supervisors to give students immediate opportunities to apply what they learned in their day-to-day work.
According to BYU CE Dean Richard Houseman, the initiative perfectly aligns with BYU President C. Shane Reese's vision for student learning. "President Reese has said on many occasions that he wants every student to have experiential learning experiences while they're at BYU," Houseman explained. “And if they work here in CE, I think this is going to be a great, inspiring learning initiative to deliver those experiential learning opportunities.”
Each module will take approximately two hours to complete, a mix of online classwork and mentor discussions. Students who complete three micro-credentials will receive:
· A Student Employee Professional Development Certificate
· A $100 professional development bonus Students who continue their employment may complete an additional set of three elective badges during a subsequent semester.
Students who complete three additional badges earn the following:
· An Advanced Student Employee Professional Development Certificate
· An additional $100 professional development bonus
· Students are eligible to earn only one Professional Development Certificate and associated bonus per semester.
The initiative will be available to all BYU CE student employees, including those working in FSY, multimedia, customer support, youth programs, and course development. “We have 1000 student employees," Houseman said. “We're a very diverse organization with a wide variety of different students." As a result, the goal of the initiative was to create a program with generalized skills that can benefit just about anyone regardless of where they work in the organization they're working in.
While the program does offer an immediate financial incentive, its long-term goal is to help students develop skills that will help them beyond their time at CE. Each badge is designed not only to teach workplace competencies but also to help students understand how these skills can be used in the future. "The idea of this is it's not just to learn but to transfer it to your next job," said Erin Measom, Director of the Student Success Center.
As the initiative prepares to launch this fall, BYU CE hopes the program will turn student employment into an experiential learning opportunity that reflects its mission to "Inspire lifelong learning to benefit the world."