Active learning
experience in a year-long
placement program
Rocky K. C. Chang,
Fred Liu, and Eddie Chan
Department of Computing
11 May, 2005
1
Outline
The current status
The continuous process
Fred’s and Eddie’s experience
Rocky’s experience
Concluding remarks
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 2
The Current Status
What does our placement
program look like today?
3
Overall
Organized at the dept. level, and optional
Students from BAC and BScIT (~80-90)
Placement duration: 48 weeks (after the
second year of study)
Placement opportunities:
• Local companies
• Overseas companies (European, USA, UK, Japan)
Placement reports and visits
Seymour Cray Outstanding Placement Award
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 4
Sources of opportunities
Established industrial partners
Science Park
IASTE (AECO and SAO)
Alumni, part-time MSc students, staff’s
connection, Advisory Committee
members
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 5
Equipping the students
Nov: The first briefing with students
Nov-Jan: workshops on resume writing
and interview techniques
Jan: Assessing the students for job
matching
Feb-July: Coaching
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 6
Assessment
A early-placement employer survey
Placement visits by staff
A final placement report
• A one-page write-up
• An updated CV
• Employers’ feedback
• Students’ feedback
• Nomination for the Placement Award
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 7
The Continuous Process
How did we get from there
to here?
8
Advertising and evaluating
Placement pamphlets (98/99)
Student feedback (99/00)
Placement website (00/01)
Early-placement survey (02/03)
Employers’ feedback (02/03)
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 9
Making the procedure flexible,
transparent, and useful
A clear workflow and working schedule
(98/99)
Frequent communication (98/99)
Allowed exiting at any point (00/01)
Allowed application withdrawal after the
interview (00/01)
Streamlined the report-writing (03/04)
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 10
Equipping and coaching the
students
Briefing sessions (99/00)
Group and individual coaching (99/00)
Workshops (00/01)
Overseas placement (00/01)
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 11
Others
Seymour Cray Outstanding Placement
Award (02/03)
A new job-matching scheme (05/06)
• Grading of resumes
• Group interview performance
Early-placement survey for students
(05/06)
A placement portal (06/07)
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 12
Fred’s and Eddie’s
experience
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Rocky’s experience
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How did I end-up to be the
placement officer?
I volunteered!
Regretted?
Very rewarding!!
• Students become more mature.
• Students have done much better at work than
at school.
• Students have found what they love to do.
• Students’ destiny is forever changed.
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 15
I once reflected …
Kate stepped in my office, bringing me
a bottle of Schloss Johannisberger.
Although I do not drink, I was really
happy to receive it from her. Kate
“looked” very different after her one-
year placement in England. She
seemed to have all the rest of her life
figured out. I still recall the time when
she was struggling whether to go
overseas. She was the last student
confirming her going.
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 16
What is this WIE all about?
Expanding ...
Extending ...
Enriching ...
Engaging ...
Equipping ...
Exchanging ...
Exciting ...
Active learning experience in a year-long placement program 17
That’s all, folks
Thanks!
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