Description:
Learning Objectives for Conference Participants:
- Objective #1: Understand key elements of a distance-based career resources conference.
- Objective #2: Learn about tools to evaluate the conference.
- Objective #3: Learn about results.
Goal of Virtual Career Resources Conference: Gather UMUC, part-time, working students from all over the globe to virtually discuss career options and opportunities in health care administration and health informatics.
We adapted UMUC's existing online learning system, WebTycho, for a five-day distance-based career resource conference. 152 students living on four continents participated in hosted discussions and interacted with faculty and alumni. Videos, and both synchronous and asynchronous conferencing were used for hosted conversations with industry experts; peer-to-peer networking; and postings for job opportunities and internship resources.
The Details
- All UMUC students enrolled in health care master's degree programs were invited to the conference through e-mail blasts and announcements in their online classrooms.
- The conference was staffed by a facilitator, two faculty members, two industry experts, student advisors, teaching assistants, and Web design support personnel.
- Students were given the opportunity to provide feedback in two ways:
- A "Lessons Learned" classroom, in which they could post what was most meaningful to them in the conference and,
- A "Feedback" classroom in which they could comment on how the conference could be improved.
The Results:
- Participation between and among conference attendees exceeded expectations.
- This conference included 152 UMUC students and alumni, including active-duty military and their spouses, from 18 states and four continents.
- Peer networking and job board sites were the most popular discussion sites and should be continued.
- Student participation was frequent; the most popular discussion had 175 postings.
Lessons Learned:
- The virtual Career Conference can be divided into four stages: pulling students into the conference, pushing out key information, providing relevant content, and gathering feedback.
- Since students dropped in and out of the conference during the week, all discussions, including evaluation and feedback, should be made available near the beginning of the week.
- Student participation was underestimated; there could have been, more flexibility in the timing of synchronous events, and involved additional industry experts.
- Moderated peer-networking conferences work; locating information in a variety of sites of the classroom does not.
- Student knowledge of professional associations was low, as was knowledge of professional job hunting skills.
The conference also provided an opportunity to identify students needing remedial assistance in writing.
- Assessment: Based on student feedback and a survey of web site counts, the event was judged to be a success but future modifications would be made.
Future/Next Steps:
Based on the interest in the Fall 2010 virtual Career Resources Conference for health care and health informatics administration students and alumni, the decision was made to launch a permanent online site to provide the following for our students and alumni:
- host time limited events, such as synchronous chats with industry experts;
- provide a venue for students and alumni to network with each other and with program directors;
- post job and internship opportunities;
- post other career relevant material.
At the time of this writing, the choice of an online site has been narrowed to Linked In. Considerations for a site included ease of use for program directors and students, privacy options, manager/owner privileges, ability to create subgroups, and ability to link to other websites.
