|
What is Academic/Career Integration?
Integration of academic and career education goes by many names: contextual learning, applications-based learning, multidisciplinary courses, linked or cluster courses or applied academics. No matter which term you use, integrated learning experiences provide students with the opportunity to apply academic and career content in the context of "real world" situations.
Why should we integrate academic and career course content?
Integration of academic and career course content reinforces the shifting paradigm from "teaching" to "learning". By infusing academic content into career courses and vice versa, students are more able to relate content in new ways to make the learning process more meaningful.
What are some examples of Academic/Career Integration?
- Infused Academic/Career Content
Incorporation of academic content into career courses and vice versa (e.g. Technical writing class or having medication calculations as math homework problems or test questions).
- Linked or Cluster Courses
Linking two courses to provide an integrated effort (e.g. The content of a liberal arts class, English composition, is coordinated to complement the content of a career class, Nursing, and culminates in writing a term paper that counts toward a grade in both classes).
- Interdisciplinary or Multidisciplinary Courses
Application of academic subjects and their analytical methods to technological developments (e.g. Medical Ethics class: the difference between this class and other integration efforts is that this approach emphasizes the broader and deeper social, political, philosophical, and ethical questions that surround the workplace).
- Learning Communities
Students move through clusters of courses as a cohort, and faculty teach as a team to offer courses that combine academic and career curricula (e.g. Related courses [communications, computers, mathematics, and electronic classes] are taught to a group of students in an intensive block mode using a central theme and a variety of teaching methods).
- Work-based Learning Experiences
Students are placed in the workplace to apply academic and career context in a "real world" setting to bridge the gap between theory and practice (e.g. clinical practice, apprenticeships, and co-ops).
- Technology-enhanced Integration
The use of technology (computers, multimedia presentations, simulations, etc.) to supplement or enhance the learning process (e.g. PowerPoint presentaitons, computer-aided testing, Internet resources, and electronic libraries).
|
