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Empathy intervieiwng of both working learners and superviors is a vital part of the design thinking process.  This video provides a brief overview and guidance for conducting empathy interviews.  

So what is Work+ and what are we hoping to accomplish? Check out this quick overview shared with our partners at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) by Brandee Popaden-Smith, Director of Work+Learn at ASU.  A clear vision of what we hope student employment will be for every working learner at every institution across the US and beyond.

Follow along with our partners from University of Central Florida as they share some of the work the team completed to define the opportunities,scope and impact of the solutions they hope to test.

This video highlights the work of the University of Central Florida (UCF) during their two-day design thinking sprint.  In this short video, the process of testing solutions to their "what if" questions is showcased.  After completing empathy interviews with both working learners and supervisors of student employees, the team identified barriers and from those developed "what if" questions they wanted to solve for.  In this particular instance, the UCF team is presenting to working learners about  their solution to improve and streamline the hiring process for student employment roles on-campus.  Working learners then provide feedback that will help the team iterate on their solution.

Check out this quick video that touches on the importance of equity and some questions to consider in guiding the work that you do. 

Empathy mapping is important in understanding, organizing, and analyzing your empathy interviewing notes. This video provides a demonstration of empathy mapping. 

There are several things to keep in mind to conduct a successful empathy interview. Check out this quick video for some "do's and don't's" of empathy interviewing. 

Check out this quick video that highlights the benefits of on-campus employment and it's connection to student success. 

This video introduces and discusses the working learner dilemma. It highlights the challenges that working learners are facing both during their time in college and what they face in the post-graduation job market. The issues and challenges that working learners face is important in understanding and guiding the work that we do. 

This resource outlines how to create and use "How Might We" questions as part of the design thinking process. Particularly, it will define How Might We questions, discuss how to gather themes from empathy interviews and produce problem statements that then become How Might We statements that drive your design thinking process forward. 

This resource outlines the empathy mapping process by overviewing what empathy mapping is, the steps to conduct empathy mapping, sharing tips and tricks to mapping, an overview of benefits, how to use the data from empathy mapping, and some differing templates of empathy maps.

Northern Arizona University (NAU) is focused on their 100% career ready initiative. A large part of this effort focuses around the NACE Career Competencies and how the university engages students in the development of these skills through a variety of experiences across the institution.  Since this framework serves as the foundation for this career readiness work, NAU has developed this informative presentation that they regularly facilitate to staff across the institution.  The intended outcomes of this presentation are to educate the campus community about the NACE career competencies and support them in identifying how their experiences are already facilitating students' professional growth. 

Discussing the NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers) career competencies is crucial for students' career readiness and success. These competencies provide a framework for students to develop and demonstrate essential skills that employers value. By discussing these competencies, students can gain a better understanding of the skills and attributes they need to succeed in the workplace. This discussion can also help students identify areas where they may need to improve and take proactive steps to develop these skills. Northern Arizona University has created the following tool to help their student employees to think more deeply and reflect on their current experience with each of the competencies.  Their supervisor then uses this as a discussion tool and an opportunity to identify action items, opportunities for growth and experiences that can support the student within their student employment role.

Performance appraisals for student employees working on a college campus are crucial for a number of reasons. They provide a structured way to provide feedback, helping students understand their strengths and areas for improvement. This feedback is essential for their personal and professional growth. Secondly, performance appraisals allow supervisors to set clear expectations and goals, which can improve the student's focus and motivation. Northern Arizona University (NAU) has implemented a structured performance appraisal process, centered around the evaluation of the NACE Career Competencies to ensure that students receive the necessary feedback and support to enhance their skills. NAU understands performance appraisals play a vital role in managing student employee performance, promoting their development, and ensuring their engagement and success on campus.

Reflection can be a valuable exercise to engage working learners and support them in making the connection between their student employment role and their career interests post-completion.  This presentation, shared by Virginia Commonwealth University, provides an example of how you might engage working learners in more deeply understanding the value of reflection and how that connects to them learning from their experiences.  The deck provides a variety of activities and content, based in the practice of reflection, that can serve as a starting point or example for other institutions wanting to engage their working learners in this opportunity for professional and personal growth.