MN State and the University of Minnesota partnered together to assist Upsher-Smith and their employees in assessment and delivery of an Occupational English training program. CTE at Hennepin Technical College leveraged MJSP grant funding to employ PhD students in the College of Education & Development (CEHD) at the University of MN on this project. The process included recruitment of potential students interested in improving their practical training skills through CEHD’s Workforce Development and Research Lab. Next, under the supervision of a faculty member, the students conducted a needs analysis at Upsher-Smith followed by the development of a training outline, inventory for employees to take so they would be placed in the proper course, and finally onsite course delivery.
The project helped develop training skills for academic practitioners at the University of MN, but ultimately delivered valuable professional development for entry level employees whose first language was not English to increase their value at work. Through this experience, we propose a model of three partners: government, organization, and university. The collaborative model brought up some unique challenges and presents an opportunity for future partnerships.
After this session, you will be able to:- Articulate a model for collaboration and how this could be utilized in their work.
- Identify their own potential partnerships in leveraging resources.
- Visualize how university graduate students can be employed in practical ways on technical education projects.
