Keen to boost your students’ employability skills and confidence?
If you’re finding that internship employers and graduate recruiters in your area are asking for students to be ‘work ready’ for today’s business environment, then you’re not alone.
Recently Dr Paula Kenny, of Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University (PNU), found herself looking for course material that would address concerns from industry that students needed sharper fundamental skills (including English language, keyboard skills and IT fluency) to be ready to engage in the workplace with confidence.
She says “We wanted to design a program that gave our Business Communications students a competitive advantage in the market and the skills to add value to a business.” And she found exactly what she was looking for in our MyLab IT, Student Success and Career Success online tools.
To begin, Dr Kenny found that the faculty didn’t have the culture (or skills) for working with online learning, teaching and assessment tools. But with practical demonstrations, support from Pearson and in-house teams and clear evidence of the benefits of the programs, PNU’s instructors quickly became enthusiastic adopters. Their teaching approaches also developed, and grading is now more consistent.
Parents also got fully behind the initiative when Dr Kenny showed them course plans and demonstrated how the online programs would benefit the students’ learning.
Within one semester, students became confident in using the online modules and working independently. They responded really well to the encouraging, supportive and positive way the digital tools were delivered and soon reported that they felt more involved, creative and innovative.
One student said “The Student Success program is a ‘Perfect fit’ for my needs in Business school. It has very useful topics that will help me in my personal and professional life.”, while another commented “The Student Success program topics give me steps to follow and apply what I’ve learned. It is practical, easily applied learning.”
"The Student Success program is a ‘Perfect fit’ for my needs in Business school. It has very useful topics that will help me in my personal and professional life."
- Student, PNU
“Employers from PNU’s internship programs
are very impressed.”
– Dr Paula Kenny, Associate Professor, PNU
From the beginning, Dr Kenny wanted programs that would prepare students to apply for internships during their degree course and better equip them to get their first job after graduation. So, she’s been delighted with the response, saying; “Employers from PNU’s internship programs are very impressed with what they see in the students’ attitude, the high standard of their CVs, their level of communication and how they conduct themselves."
As Dr Kenny concludes, “The sky is the limit in terms of the potential of MyLab IT, Student Success and Career Success!”
Want to learn more about the positive outcomes that PNU achieved using these programs? Read the full case study.