Bringing the Industry to the Classroom

Some of the biggest complaints I remember my friends and I talking about back in high school were how we weren't actually feeling prepared for finding jobs or knowing what career we really wanted (filing taxes and getting a car loan are a whole different story). The question "Yeah, but are we ever gonna use this in the real world?" was something you could expect to hear as we studied for a test. One way I hope to show the link between not just the content taught in school, but also the critical thinking, and the social and leadership skills, such as responsibility, teamwork, and integrity, is used everyday in the industry. My idea on how to do this would be to bring a professional in my students' career interests into the classroom via a video call for an informational interview. My students would have to research the professional, create a learning goal, prepare questions to ask them, and write up a follow up note within 24 hours of the interview. This would not be possible without technology to be able to video call anyone in the world and talk to them about what they do in their profession and how they apply the content and the social skills that they have learned over the years. Without the internet, they would not be able to do as indepth research about the career entails, nor find out information about the professional they will interview and about the business they work for. In addition, when preparing interview question, they would be able to work together on an online document. (Not to mention how emails are instant and perfect for thank you's and follow up questions.) Through the use of technology, I could redefine math or CS classes by bringing the industry world to the classroom.