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NET Gain No. 25:
Work-Based Learning
(March 1999)
Career and technical educators nationwide subscribe to the
concept of work-based learning. Not only has the cooperative education
version of WBL been in operation for decades, but WBL is a major
component of education programs supported by the School-to-Work
Opportunities Act. This "Net Gain" features some of the most up-to-date WBL
resources.
What Is Work-Based Learning?
WBL's place in school-to-work is outlined in Elements of
the School-to-Work Opportunities Act: Work-Based Learning at
www.stw.ed.gov/FACTSHT/fact4.htm.
Another useful summary is ERIC Digest
No. 187, Work-Based Learning, from the ERIC Clearinghouse on
Adult, Career and Vocational Education at
http://ericacve.org/docs/dig187.htm.
The digest includes references to
17 other publications for further information--at least four are
available online. Visit the linked version of this reference list on the
NCRVE's site at http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/WBL/ERIC187refs.html.
The inaugural issue of NCRVE's CenterPoint series, "Work-Based
Learning for Students in High Schools and Community Colleges" at
http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/CenterPoint/CP1.html,
devotes its three main
sections to numerous goals WBL can help students achieve, the various
ways of structuring WBL in relation to these goals and how to assess the
quality of teaching and learning in a work context. It also includes 33
references, some of which are available online.
WBL in Practice
Washington's Work-based Learning Resource Center at
www.wa-wbl.com has a page of links to resources for educators, employers
and students, as well as links to schools that advocate WBL. The site
also has information on job shadowing, mentoring, structured work
experience, cooperative education, internships, apprenticeships, service
learning and school-based enterprises.
An NCRVE project on WBL at two-year colleges that comprises more than
550 programs has a searchable database at http://hre.ed.uiuc.edu/wbl/.
The programs are categorized by WBL examples, such as clinical
experiences, cooperative education and youth apprenticeship and state
and program models, including agriculture, hospitality and the trades.
Results include contact information and program details. Two reports
synthesize this data: Work-Based Learning in Two-Year Colleges in the
United States at http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/MDS-721/
and Linking
College and Work: Exemplary Practices in Two-Year College Work-Based
Learning Programs at http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/MDS-795/.
Additional Resources
A search of the ERIC/ACVE full-text archive for "work-based
learning" at http://ericacve.org/search.htm
retrieves more than a dozen digests and other short items
[NOTE: This link is not currently working!].
NCRVE has a page of links to WBL resources at http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/WBL/.
A customized search of NCRVE materials on that page yields about 20
publications, 12 of which are available online. And a "subject area"
search of the School-to-Work Learning Center's database for work-based
learning at www.stw.ed.gov/database/products.cfm
retrieves 175 items.
This "NET Gain" was compiled by David Carlson and Peter Seidman
(NCRVE, University of California at Berkeley). An online version of this column is
available on the NCRVE World Wide Web server
(http://ncrve.berkeley.edu/NetGain/).
Readers are encouraged to let the authors know about any changes in the resources
listed, as well as about others they find useful.
David Carlson: 800-(old phone deleted); -->
Peter Seidman: 800-(old phone deleted); -->
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