The Day features Career Informed Learning
The Day, New London's newspaper of record, today featured Career Informed Learning, Connecticut College's innovative initiative that is energizing students, faculty and alumni across the campus. Developed as part of Connections, the College’s reinvention of the liberal arts, Career Informed Learning is a project-based learning approach to education that brings real-life work challenges into the classroom for students to research, analyze and develop solutions. The challenges are proposed by Connecticut College alumni and parents who have expertise in the areas the students are studying in class.
The program, a collaboration between faculty, the Academic Resource Center, the Office of Career and Professional Development, and the Office of Alumni Engagement, is a prime example of how Connections distinctly integrates career preparation into the academic experience. With Career Informed Learning, students can take the content they are learning in the classroom, apply it to the problem posed by the career expert and immediately see that what they are learning in the classroom is highly applicable to what they are going to be doing once they graduate.
“The students benefit from a sustained interaction with a career expert, who is someone at the top of her/his field,” said Noel Garrett, dean of academic support and director of the College’s Academic Resource Center. “This behind-the-scenes examination of how a business works, or how professionals solve real-world challenges, is unique to Connecticut College.”