Leading the way
As if I didn’t already have enough commitments, I’ve been wangled into contributing to yet another blog. This time, it’s the turn of my employers, the University of Reading Careers Advisory Service. They are moving into the 21st century with a slew of brand new technology, including the use of blogs, podcasts, screencasts and wikis as well as encouraging staff creativity by allowing them to dynamically update the website.
Many of the longstanding practices of the service, including the use of presentations, are being completely overhauled. They are right in saying that current students have very different needs and expectations to students of a couple of decades ago, and the service needs to change in order to remain competitive and relevant. Student participation in CAS activities has been steadily declining over the years and now it’s time to do something about it.
Leading the way is student interaction with the service. This includes getting students more involved with what the service does and see inside it, into the minds of the advisers. The blogs will go some way to helping with this, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. There is much more to do and the only way to do it is to engage with the students and see what they like. In due course, this will hopefully lead to a leading Careers Advisory Service who can show others just how it’s done!