Middle school students in Alabama will use virtual reality to experience what occupations such as construction and transportation are like in a pilot program from Jefferson State Community College, according to an article in K-12 Dive. The goal is to bridge the gap between schooling and high-demand careers.
The two-year pilot program is expected to launch this spring and serve 500 learners in Alabama school districts and nonprofit partners like the Boys and Girls Club. Workforce on Wheels offers heavy equipment and truck driving mobile career exploration simulators, funded by a $150,000 grant from Catalyze Birmingham.
Workforce on Wheels intends to remove some of the stigma around skilled trades. “These are not ‘dirty’ jobs. These are valuable careers,” Leah Bigbee, dean of workforce education at Jefferson State Community College, says.
“Unless you know a welder or a truck driver or someone in the construction industry, it’s often that you don’t know that these are high-demand, high-paying jobs,” Bigbee says.
Some experts believe it is important to get middle school students to think earlier about careers so they can make decisions about the pathways they want to enter. Introducing career exploration in middle school gives students more time to research and find a good match instead of scrambling in 9th grade.
Jefferson State utilizes VR simulators not just for college courses but for outside company professional training. The Workforce on Wheels program for middle school students has been a goal for the past few years but wasn’t possible until funding from Catalyze Birmingham came through.
The program’s effectiveness will be evaluated through learning survey outcomes. The long-term impact will be tracked by following if students end up in their chosen field.
The focus on construction and transportation industries is due to the current talent shortage in these fields.
“We know that not everyone is going to go into the construction industry or the trucking industry, but what a great way to get people, get students exposed, and get their brains thinking about just the diversity of careers,” Bigbee says.
K-12 Dive
