Matthew T. Hora's presentation at the 2023 AAC&U Meeting on General Education in New Orleans, LA on career readiness. The talk introduces the new Career Readiness across the Curriculum framework.

1. DR. MATTHEW T. HORA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ADULT/HIGHER EDUCATION
CO-DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR RESEARCH ON COLLEGE-WORKFORCE TRANSITIONS
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
HORA@WISC.EDU @MATT_HORA HTTPS://CCWT.WISC.EDU/
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CAREER READINESS ACROSS THE
CURRICULUM (CRXC):
TRANSFORMING HOW OUR CAMPUSES EMBED SKILLS &
CAREER INFORMATION INTO THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

2. OUTLINE & GOALS OF THE SESSION
CONSIDER
Limitations w/the
career readiness
discourse
ANALYZE
Cultural nature of
skills, why active
learning and
curricular mapping
are key
EVALUATE
The CrxC
framework: faculty
engagement and
cross-unit planning
phases
APPLY
The 7 steps of
the CRxC
framework to
your own campus
situation
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3. THE PROBLEMS
Imagine the eager but over-whelmed student new to campus,
w/messages about “career readiness” ringing in their ears. Where
do they go? What courses or experiences do they pursue, and when?
Consider a typical academic program. Do all courses feature key skills
or career-related information? Do all students have equal access to
work-related learning? Does anyone know?
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4. BACKGROUND
TO THESE
QUESTIONS
GROWING, OVERDUE EMPHASIS ON
CAREER READINESS, BUT ...
WORK-BASED LEARNING
(WBL) & OTHER HIPS ARE
NOT EQUITABLE
THE CONSTRUCT HAS
SIMILAR PROBLEMS TO
“EMPLOYABILITY” IN THE
1990S- MERE POSSESSION
OF SKILLS
CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION
IS THUS KEY, BUT NOT ALL
FACULTY ARE TRAINED IN
WORK-INTEGRATED
LEARNING (WIL)
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CAREER SERVICES TEND TO
BE SILOED ACROSS CAMPUS
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2
3
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5. INSPIRATIONS: RESEARCH
& IDEAS FROM ACROSS
THE DISCIPLINES
COMMUNICATION ACROSS
THE DISCIPLINES
Skills are “oral genres” and
situation specific
EMPLOYABILITY RESEARCH
Multi-dimensional
Largely problem of cultural
gatekeeping
GUIDED PATHWAYS
Correcting the ”cafeteria”
model of higher ed that
confuses students
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HIGHER ED CHANGE: ROLE OF
DISCIPLINARY CULTURE &
MIDDLE-OUT STRATEGIES

6. CAREER READINESS ACROSS THE
CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
Three key guiding principles to
institutional change around career
readiness
1
Career readiness is partly a
problem of acquiring discipline-
specific cultural scripts
2
The classroom is the key venue
for acculturation into the
professions via active learning
3
Faculty and then cross-unit
curricular mapping is key – for
internal planning and to help advise
students
PITCH DECK 6

7. SKILLS ARE BEST THOUGHT OF AS
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE
But dominant terms (e.g., soft)
also imply skills are easy to
teach/learn, while others (e.g.,
NACE) are de-contextualized
Students must master these
profession-specific notions of
skill to enter the “gates” of the
profession
A community’s conceptions of skills
encode beliefs and ideologies of value
and appropriate behavior
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1

8. SKILLS AS CULTURAL SCRIPTS
Routinized sequences of actions tied to performance in specific
situations considered normal and acceptable to particular communities
ORDERING
IN A
RESTAURANT
Enter restaurant, be seated,
receive menu, take time to
peruse, tell server
BREAKING
BAD NEWS
IN HEALTH
CARE
Find quiet location, inquire about
well-being in kind voice, ask
about supports, tell news,
comfort
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GIVING A
POSTER AT
AN
ACADEMIC
MEETING
Dress nicely, stand off to side,
make eye contact, provide quick
overview, allow for questions

9. THE SKILL SEQUENCE
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Hora, M. T., Smolarek, B. B., Martin, K. N., & Scrivener, L. (2019). Exploring the situated and cultural
aspects of communication in the professions: Implications for teaching, student employability, and equity
in higher education. American Educational Research Journal, 56(6), 2221-2261.
HOW COMMUNICATION
SKILLS ARE EMBEDDED
IN SPECIFIC SITUATIONS:
NOVICES
Emphasis on establishing inter-
subjectivity (via Q&A/listening)
among patient care team members
from different role groups
(specialists, nurses, etc) to ensure
safety at the bedside

10. THE SKILL SEQUENCE
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HOW COMMUNICATION
SKILLS ARE EMBEDDED IN
SPECIFIC SITUATIONS
AND CONTEXTS: EXPERTS
Emphasis on: (1) establishing inter-
subjectivity (via Q&A/listening, jargon
translation, standardized
terminology) among patient care team
members from different role groups
(specialists, nurses, etc) to ensure
safety at the bedside and nurse
station, (2) conveying awareness of
the big picture, and (3) advocating for
patients while expressing empathy

11. THE QUESTION
How can we guide our students from
novice to expert communication
behaviors in our academic programs?
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Image source: Wright State University
Image source: The New York Times, Nicole Bengiveno

12. ACTIVITY #1
THINK-PAIR-
SHARE
(1) Write down a skill-related cultural script from your own
profession – note the situation, the skill, and sequence of
actions.
(2) Are there ways that race/ethnicity, class, gender, or other
identities or experiences influence these scripts?
20XX PITCH DECK 12

13. WIDELY PROMOTED WBL/HIPS ARE UNAVAILABLE OR
INACCESSIBLE
CAREER SERVICES
UTILIZATION REMAINS LOW
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2
THE CLASSROOM
SHOULD BE THE
FOCI FOR SKILLS &
CAREER-RELATED
LEARNING
The 2018 Strada/Gallup survey only 22% visited career services “often”
or “very often” and faculty/staff provided most valued information
Our National Survey of College Internships (n=12,130, 17
campuses) in 2021 found only 1 in 5 students took an internship.

14. 14
WORK-INTEGRATED LEARNING
SHIFTS THE FOCUS FROM OFF-
CAMPUS LEARNING TO THE
CLASSROOM

15. THE OPPORTUNITY:
WIL ALIGNS PERFECTLY
WITH ACTIVE
LEARNING
INSIGHTS FROM COMMUNICATION
ACROSS THE DISCIPLINES
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THE CHALLENGE: MOST FACULTY
HAVEN’T BEEN TRAINED TO
HIGHLIGHT SKILLS IN THEIR
TEACHING PRACTICES – MUCH LESS
A CULTURAL VIEW
Respect disciplinary expertise
Backwards design from the skill – here,
the “oral genre”

16. TEACHING SKILLS AS CULTURAL SCRIPTS APPROACH
1
Identify skill
2
Connect to
material
3
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4
Explain/lecture
5
Model Provide
opportunities
for practice
Give
feedback
Identify basic
principles and
cultural aspects of
skill from profession
to highlight
Link the skill to
syllabus or
content
Tell students
what the skill is
and why it’s
important – this
is where career
implications
can be
emphasized
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Demonstrate
how to use
(and not) the
skill in
practice
Create active
learning
opportunities
for students
to practice
the skill
Provide clear,
specific and
honest
feedback

17. SPECIFIC EXAMPLES OF TEACHING METHODS
ROLE PLAY &
SIMULATIONS
Students observe and
then practice various
cultural script in
simulated situations
SMALL GROUP
DISCUSSIONS
Scripts for teamwork,
oral communication,
and reasoning can be
embedded in SGD
PROBLEM-BASED
LEARNING
PROJECTS
Scripts for team-
based problem
solving can be
embedded in PBL
STUDENT
PRESENTATIONS
Cultural scripts for
oral communication
and professional
expectations taught
via poster, paper, or
project presentations
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KEY: PROMPT OR SITUATION IS BASED ON AUTHENTIC, REAL-
WORLD SCENARIO

18. ACTIVITY #2
THINK-PAIR-
SHARE
(1) Write down an active learning method you have used or
seen that explicitly features a disciplinary cultural script and/or
career-related information.
(2) Are there instances of active learning you have used or seen
that could easily be “transformed” to emphasize disciplinary
scripts and/or career-related information?
20XX PITCH DECK 18

19. CROSS-UNIT
TEAMS MAP
EXISTING
LEARNING OPPS
FOR SKILLS &
CAREERS
CURRICULAR MAPPING CAN
BE USED BY DEPARTMENT
AND/OR STUDENTS
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3
Results can inform existing
change efforts, spark new
ones, be shared w/students
as “pathway” for skills and
career development
MANY DEPARTMENTS DON’T
HAVE A BIG PICTURE VIEW OF
SKILLS/CAREER PROGRAMMING
This state of affairs is not unlike
CC’s before Guided Pathways – the
goal is to inventory current (and
missing) courses & programs that
highlight skills or careers
THIS EXERCISE SHOULD BE
FACULTY-LED AT FIRST, THEN
W/CAREER SERVICES, BUT..
This represents yet another change
effort and we must acknowledge
the HE workforce is exhausted and
often tired of reforms

20. FACULTY ENGAGEMENT PHASE: IDENTIFYING KEY
SKILLS & LOCAL EFFORTS
1 2 3
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4
Specify which skills
are desired for
program graduates
and future
professionals
Identify key
skills for
program
Document courses or
programs that emphasize
skills/careers
Review syllabi for
skills/career foci,
and document dept
career programs
Identify and
fill gaps
Identify gaps in
courses or programs
– could be faculty
PD
Create “maps” of learning
opportunities from
matriculation to graduation
Develop inventories of
these opportunities
across program timelines

21. CROSS-UNIT PLANNING PHASE: WORKING W/CAREER
SERVICES & CAMPUS PARTNERS
5 6 7
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Expand inventory to include
additional programs in
career services or across
campus
Document
opportunities across
units/campus
Fill gaps, network,
collaborate
Identify gaps and tap
into existing
opportunities, create
new ones, etc.
Expand previous
“maps” to include
cross-campus opps
Update dept-specific
maps w/new info and
use as planning or
advising tools

22. 20XX PITCH DECK 22
(1) How do you think some aspects of the CRxC framework
could be applied on your campus?
(2) What are some local adaptations you would make to
the framework and why?
ACTIVITY #3
THINK-PAIR-
SHARE

23. 20XX 23
This is a new framework being developed at CCWT to
help foster institutional transformation around career
readiness, and we invite: (a) suggestions and critiques
(b) campuses willing to test out these ideas.
This workshop will be provided for free via Zoom as
part of CCWT’s ongoing outreach and education
activities: https://ccwt.wisc.edu

24. MEET SOME OF THE CCWT TEAM
DR. NIDIA BAÑUELOS
Assistant Professor
Focus: Career-related
community cultural wealth
for students of color
DR. MINDI THOMPSON
Professor, Counseling
Psychology
Focus: Career
development and student
psychosocial resources
DR. ROSS BENBOW
Research Scientist
Focus: College student
veterans, career-related
social networks
DR. PA HER
Clinical Professor of
Counseling Psychology
Focus: Student
psychosocial resources
for students of color
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25. THANK YOU!
Dr. Matthew T. Hora
UW-Madison
hora@wisc.edu
@matt_hora
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Slides available on Slideshare.net
2023, Matthew T. Hora, all rights reserved