I found this article and found it to be very interesting. The article is located at eschoolnews.com and the article is called Survey: It College grads not ready to go. The article is so short so I'll copy and paste it here for you.
"Many companies and college IT departments are ready to hire as the economy thaws, but more than nine in 10 college graduates who majored in information technology (IT) aren’t prepared for life in the workforce, according to a national survey.Eight percent of new IT hires are “well trained” and “ready to go,” while 44 percent are “well trained” but have “gaps” in their skill set, according to respondents to a survey conducted by SHARE, an association of IT industry professionals, including colleges and universities.Three in 10 IT companies said new hires were “severely deficient” business skills and are often in need of remedial training from superiors.IT know-how wasn’t the problem for many recent IT college graduates, according to the report and a SHARE official, but rather interpersonal skills that proved lacking."
I was a little surprised when I read this article. I know that being great at your career comes with time and experience but still the recent grads don't sound NEAR ready for their new field! It's kind of scary and makes you wonder why they're not ready. Are the courses not teaching what they should be? Or is it just that they aren't getting enough hands on learning with what they need to know.
I went on to read the full article on another website and it kind of answered my question. It said that colleges needed to provide a learning environment where students can practice and be coached. They also mentioned that it doesn't come with standing up and lecturing to your students. I totally agree and that was exactly what I was thinking was happening before I even read the rest of the article.
There are certain majors and fields where you can't just lecture. You must have a lot of hands on in order for students to feel ready for graduation! They aren't going to feel confident after they graduate and people won't be impressed or eager to hire them if they don't know what they should know after going to school for 4-10 years.
Hands-on learning! You are so right about students need an environment where they can do and not just watch. It is easier to learn when you are practicing. Isn't that what we do in this class? Nice blog!
ReplyDeleteI think that there are so many tools that are job specific. A technical degree in general will not prepare people for job programs in specific. I agree with the hands on learning in technology. The digital natives are to do something to learn it. I think this is true of all people we need to apply our knowledge to really learn.
ReplyDeleteI think what is important to point out in this survey is the IT does not equate Educational Technology. This is a whole different degree and they are handling more of the hardware and programming and not training users on how to improve education through technology.
ReplyDeleteI see this a lot of campus where the IT do not relate to the end user, they know computers but not necessarily how they are used for educational purposes. Many times, as far as they are concerned, if the computer turns on and is working then there job is complete. They also get so caught up in the security side, that they render the computer applications inoperable. There has to be a balance between the programers and the end users so there is compatibility. Many times it is an inability to understand what each needs to be operational. I believe cross training goes a long way to help bridge that gap and I believe it is unrealistic for companies to expect graduates to just walk into a position and be ready to work without first learning what the company needs and wants.
This is an important topic though, how prepared are college graduates, are they also getting the "people skills" they need. Why they may be well informed and knowledgeable about their discipline, they also need more training in troubleshooting and critical thinking. That sometimes is developed through work experience, which can't be translated into a college course necessarily. More real world collaboration would be beneficial and by real world, I don't mean everyone contributing, but actually assigning team member to specific job assignments. For examples a team scenario for our degree would be a principle, an IT director, and a couple of teachers to design a project that would meet the needs of everyone involved. Too often collaborations are linear, meaning everyone has the same task and then it is just brought together, that is not necessarily real world.
Just a thought.
I deal with this all the time...I laugh when new hires say "but I got an A in that class". I really feel like more professors need to have projects ...like in this class. You have to interact with all the students, you have to figure things out...and ask for help when you need it. Most "new grads" come into the office and sit at their desk and think if they send one email about an issue they are having they can play on the computer until it gets answered. I have to have a "new hire...new grad" training session just to address the smallest of things...like why you need to have face to face "chats" for financial direction.Seems simplest to me...I mean if you had to tell a department head that they are over budget and to get approvals for expenditures wouldn't you want to tell them in person or at least orally? If you send a email that has that info you may/will get backlash and cause unnecessary anger. I have seen it before .., my friends it is not a good thing ... most department heads have a "issue" with being told what to do...lol I think business etiquette should be a standard course for every grad.
ReplyDeletesimple...typo
ReplyDeleteI was in IT. I wasn't hired because of my skills but my personality. I had some skills but a lot of things I knew at my old job I learned from training. I knew I wasn't that great and one day I asked my supervisor why they hired me and they told me that you can learn skills but you can learn a personality. I learned a lot and got really good at the job but it was definitely not what I got an A in that got me that position.
ReplyDeleteNow that I'm teaching what I see amongst many of the undergrad students are lack of discipline. Yes they can whip out a paper and yes they understand the topic but I could tell that the work was rushed. There's a huge contrast between students in this class and the traditional kids.
Hands on is important but depending on what IT field it is, it's not necessarily the most important. Having the skills is a plus but being able to communicate and be a team player is crucial. In IT there are many many departments and each person do certain tasks.