Hello everyone!

Welcome to the makeup orientation for both Work Experience

94 and 95. I’m your professor, Mary Lauffer, and I’m looking forward to getting
to know you in this class. A few words about myself. I have been teaching at
Las Positas College for over 11 years and have taught Work Experience
courses for many of these years. I am a Business Professor and the Work
Based Learning Coordinator. My bachelor’s degree is in English with an
emphasis in journalism. My master’s degree is in Communications with a
specialization in marketing management. I have worked in journalism,
communications, marketing, advertising, and public relations for different types
of organizations, from universities to a Fortune 500 company. I worked
throughout high school and college cleaning houses and offices, working at
fast-food places, and, I am sorry to say, as a phone solicitor. In college, I built
my portfolio and was an editor for the newspaper. This helped me get my
internship at a magazine. And, the internship helped me get my first job as a
newspaper reporter and photographer. I highly recommend finding a way to
work in your planned career, even if it is only volunteer or a short internship.
Any experience will help you launch your career.

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This is our agenda for the orientation. I will cover a number of topics: sections
connected to registration, required forms, Learning Objectives, 21 st century
work skills, and how people achieve success.

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Of course, I am biased, but I know you have made a wise decision by enrolling
in Work Experience. A Stanford University report finds that students in work-
based learning programs complete related coursework at high rates and have
higher attendance and graduation rates than those not enrolled in such
programs. Not only does this course support your academic success, but it
also enhances your career success. Many students have told me that,
because of this course—and the learning objectives and necessary
communication with their supervisors—they have gotten raises and
promotions at work. The course is a win-win for you and your organization.

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I hope you have visited the Work Experience website to learn more about the
course. The Frequently Asked Questions page addresses lots of common
questions. For example: Yes, you need to already have a job or steady
volunteer work to take the course. You can take the class multiple times, up to
a maximum of 16 units. As the homepage says, units are transferrable to the
CSU system and other colleges, but not the UC system. You can use hours
from only one job for the course, unless you have the same employer for your
jobs. If you have a question that is not addressed on this page, please ask me
at the end of this presentation or send me a message via the Canvas Inbox.

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Work Experience is a variable unit course. You can earn one to eight units in
WRKX 94 and one to six units in WRKX 95. One of your first assignments is to
confirm that you are registered in the correct section, or you will need to
change your section. To change your section, you need to email me so I can
give you an add number to register in the correct section. You need to work 75
paid hours or 60 unpaid hours per unit. For a full semester class, for example,
this means that you need to work about five paid hours per week to earn one
unit. Use the conversion chart here to determine your units and section based
on your hours. Sections correspond to the number of units you will earn. If you
qualify for one unit, register for section LD1. If you qualify for two units, register
for section LD2 and so on. You are not required to register for the maximum
number of units for which you qualify. If you have more than one job, please
read the WRKX website FAQ that says that to count all of your hours, they
must come from the same employer. If you work for different employers, you
must choose hours from one job for this class.

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Everything you need for the course in on Canvas. If you want to learn more
about using Canvas, please visit the Online Learning website. You’ll also find
numbers you can call to get help 24/7. You’ll find both the syllabus and
handbook on Canvas. There are two important focuses in this class: Achieving
learning objectives at your workplace and learning 21st century work skills.

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The Learning Objectives Worksheet is one of four forms you must upload on
Canvas in order to pass the class. These are state-required forms for Work
Experience courses and all forms are in the modules in Canvas. They are
fillable pdfs that you will upload in the course. Your application gives me basic
information about you and your job. I need your worksite directions because
I will connect with your supervisor during the semester. Depending upon the
location of your workplace, I will conduct a site visit or call or email your
supervisor. If you work far out of our service district, I most likely will call or
email. I check in to find out how things are going and to see if your supervisor
has any questions about the class. I also thank your supervisor for supporting
you in this class. The crucial employer evaluation and student hours form is
required toward the end of the semester and is a significant portion of your
grade. It is imperative that you submit this and that it is submitted on time. So,
please read the assignment information on Canvas and plan ahead. Your
employer is asked to evaluate you with a number rating on your achievement
of your learning objectives. You also list the number of hours you have worked
during the semester. Because you will submit this before the semester is over,
you will need to estimate your remaining hours.

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In the beginning of the semester, you will write learning objectives that you will
work to achieve before the end of the semester. Directions are on Canvas. You
and your supervisor must agree on these objectives. But first, think about what
you personally would like to achieve at work. What will help you in your
career? What skills would you like to gain? What achievements will make you
more valuable to the organization? Have clear ideas that will benefit you
before you meet with your supervisor. Write one Learning Objective for each
WRKX unit, up to a maximum of three objectives. Students registered for one,
two, and three units, write one, two, and three objectives, respectively. If you
are registered for four to eight units, write three objectives total. After you
submit these on Canvas, I will either approve them or ask you to resubmit with
changes. Knowing how to write learning objectives is a valuable skill. Many
organizations use these for their employee performance reviews.

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The handbook has many pages of information devoted to helping you write
SMART learning objectives. What does SMART stand for? You want to
describe a specific outcome for your objective and the specific way you will
achieve it. You also need to indicate how you will measure whether or not you
achieved it. Your objective must be achievable; finding a cure for cancer does
not work, but working toward finding a cure for cancer is better. It must be
relevant, or important to your work. Finally, it must be time based. For the
purposes of this class, you need to achieve your objective by around
December 1st. You can just leave the default on the form for the end of the
semester.

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In the handbook, you will see many examples of learning objectives. These are
typically brief statements. To write one, follow the steps on this slide. Begin
with action words, describe what you will do and how you will do it, say how
you will measure the accomplishment, and when it will be completed. You can
stick with the default statement for the end of the semester or write a date—
but it must be accomplished this semester. If it will actually be accomplished
later, make sure you use action words such as, work toward… or show
progress on…. I typically ask students to rewrite their objectives because they
are not specific enough or they do no indicate how they will accomplish the
objective. So, a well-written learning objective would read as follows: To
become familiar with PowerPoint by taking a class on lynda.com so I can
create a presentation for our next sales meeting. This will be measured by
producing a completed presentation which I will send to my boss for her
approval. The completion date is end of the semester.

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Here are examples of a good and bad objective writing. Is anyone familiar with
the Adobe Creative Suite or Creative Cloud? If you are, you will know
immediately what is wrong with the Bad objective. The suite contains about
seven apps, all of them with steep learning curves. Many people can learn one
in a semester, but it is doubtful if it can be mastered in one semester. It is
probably impossible to master all of the apps without years of practice. The
second Good objective example works. Photoshop is one of the apps and it is
achievable to learn it enough to edit a photo during one semester. Another bad
example would be, To improve communication. This is not specific enough.
It does not describe the specific type of communication and it does not indicate
how it will be improved. A possible way to write this correctly would be: To
improve my communication with customers by observing experienced sales
people at the store and practicing. I will measure this by asking my co-workers
or supervisor to observe me. It is critical to your success that you review the
handbook before you write your learning objectives so you can set yourself up
for success when your supervisor evaluates your work toward the end of the
semester.

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In addition to achieving learning objectives, the other major focus of this class
is learning work skills. Employers across the country were asked which work
skills they value the most. Here are their top 12. It is often said that people are
hired for hard skills and fired for soft skills. In other words, if you have the hard
skills or industry-related skills to get hired, you also need soft skills to keep the
job. These soft skills are transferable and highly valued in any career. In this
class, you will learn highlights of each soft skill. Students have told me that
they can directly apply what they learn to their current jobs. And they have said
they have improved many of their skills after taking this class.

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Ultimately, this class is about your success. We often know what success
looks like, but do we know how to get there? Is it enough to think to ourselves:
I’m great! I’ll succeed! I’ll try hard! If we look at the research, we will find that
more is needed than these simple positive affirmations. I greatly admire the
work and books of Heidi Grant-Halvorson, a social psychologist and best-
selling author, who has researched and written about success. One of her
books is Nine Things Successful People Do Differently. In it, she has distilled
the research and written findings in lay terms that anyone can understand.
Please watch the short video, under eight minutes, that hits the highlights of
the book.

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Did this video resonate with you? Did you get some new ideas? I know it takes
a while to process this material that has reduced a large book to a short video.
To summarize, here are Dr. Halvorson’s findings for actions that support
success. Do you see parallels that are built in to the learning objectives you
will write for this class? They are there. For example: You will be specific about
your goal. You will decide when you will work to reach your goals. You will
focus on getting better, rather than aspiring to master something in one
semester.

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You will not tempt fate by taking on too much in a learning objective. And, I
hope you will have grit, which is another word for determination or
perseverance. I also hope you are excited about embarking on your new work
experience in this class!

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I want to leave you with a tip about our college internship and job board.
Employers are posting jobs and internships all the time. Register and sign up
for alerts about opportunities specifically for you. You’ll also get career tips and
notices about campus job and internship fairs. You can find the link at the
bottom of the college homepage.

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Thank you for viewing this orientation. Please email me with any questions or
to schedule a phone conversation or meeting. Also, please note my office
hours on the syllabus. I look forward to getting to know you this semester!

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