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What are workplace/community learning experiences?

During workplace/community learning experiences (WCL), educators observe and/or engage in activities in business, industry, or service organizations to learn how classroom content and learning strategies will be applied outside the classroom. All WCL experiences expose educators to another context (besides school) where student learning will be used and challenged. Educators have reported that some benefits from observing, interacting, and working beside other professionals who use the same or similar content knowledge in their work gives them a fresh perspective and helps them explain the value of content to students in very concrete ways (Phelps, 1998). These experiences can also help educators answer students when they ask "Why do I have tolearn this?" or parents when they ask "Why is my child learning in this way?"

Workplace/community learning experiences take many forms. The following continuum provides a few descriptions of WCL.

During an internship (or "externship") experience, educators spend considerable time at the workplace and often complete a workplace or service project. An internship may entail an intensive, two-week immersion in a workplace, or time may be divided into several shorter, though gradually more intensive, learning experiences. Visitations and job shadows also expose educators to business/industry, government, or service-oriented workplaces. These experiences are less costly per individual teacher, and therefore more educators can be exposed to workplace issues. These shorter, less intensive experiences are recommended for educators interested in obtaining a general or initial overview of workplace issues and knowledge of the economy (Sargent and Ettinger, 1998). There is no "right" or "wrong" length of time to be exposed to a workplace, but to make WCL experiences more satisfying, all involved will want to see evidence of transfer of knowledge to the classroom.

Most TeachNET participants' experiences will be more intensive-- either a series of job shadows or an internship. RCTs designed the experiences to fit the RCT vision, the contextual teaching and learning action plan (CTLAP), and individual professional development goals. Participants' experiences may be at a for-profit venture, a non-profit community-based organization, a professional organization's office, or at a government agency. Although their experiences will vary, all participants will answer the same guiding questions and complete steps that will provide them with a deeper understanding of an organization, a workplace technology application, and the application of school standards to the work world.

What should educators expect to do during the WCL experience?

The WCL experience is a process that helps educators and/or educator teams to design rigorous and relevant learning experiences for their students. WCL activities help educators answer the following questions:

1. How can the processes, products, and problems of this organization provide a context for a concept to be taught to students?
2. What teaching/learning processes need to be in place to engage students?

To help educators address these questions, the WCL experience is broken into four parts:

	Your personal professional development goals, team goals, and RCT vision will be reflected in the CTLAP. The WCL experience is an opportunity for you to gather information, get questions answered, and develop ideas related to the CTLAP and your content area.
	Prepare for the WCL experience. Before the WCL experience, provide your workplace partner with information about WCL experience goals and your action plan goals. Also, discuss any workplace safety issues and any special accommodations you may need with the workplace partner. Finally, work closely with your workplace partner to set a schedule for the WCL experience.
	During the WCL experience, your role will be to observe, question, and, possibly, complete a work project for the organization. Time at the workplace is short. This orientation guide contains activities that will help you gather information to inform the CTLAP. Get oriented to the workplace by using the All Aspects of Industry wheel (located in the WCL guide, page XX) and interviewing your workplace partner. Use your action plan goals to locate a content-rich issue or problem at the workplace that can be transferred to your classroom and school. Describe your observations in depth. Begin to describe an activity or worthwhile problem that addresses an issue in the CTLAP and RCT vision. Think about how students, teachers, and other observers can tell that they have completed the project or solved the problem satisfactorily. Begin defining the knowledge, skills, and standards to be addressed by students engaged in learning about this issue.
	Journal keeping and meeting with school team members. We recommend that you use a method of ongoing reflection during the WCL experience. The method you choose depends on your learning style and needs. A daily journal is one example of a reflection activity; others are provided on page XX of this guide. During and after the WCL experience, share observations, experiences, and ideas with your school team members, RCT members, and other TeachNET participants. Ongoing conversation will make for easy revision and smooth implementation of the CTLAP.

What have educators learned from these experiences?

Each educator will learn something slightly different from the WCL experience. Educators who have participated in workplace/community learning experiences report that they:

• Felt more confident creating and assigning projects to students based on real-world problems;
• Encouraged students to work in groups and complete joint projects, including cooperative learning and open-ended problem-based assignments;
• Required students to complete more oral reports or presentations at the culmination of projects;
• Emphasized work habits required by employers in their classrooms
• Found applications for content area skills and knowledge;
• Experimented with the use of inquiry and student problem-solving in their classrooms;
• Saw how technological innovations impacted their subject area;
• Saw the need to expand the use of career information in the curriculum

(Ettinger, 1997)