Parkview Education has had the pleasure of assisting the Louisiana Department of Education with conceptualizing and authoring the Virtual Workplace Experience II (VWE II) curriculum, and we thank you for your interest in offering this course. VWE II will be one of your student’s most memorable high school experiences and will help them prepare to succeed in the 21st century world of work.
What are Virtual Workplace Experiences (VWE) Courses?
Virtual Workplace Experience (VWE) II uses virtual guest speaker interactions and project-based learning exercises to help students master key workplace behaviors and communication skills.
This course is meant to be taught in a student-centered environment, where students are responsible for researching and presenting what they learn about different job sectors and career paths to their classmates.
Why VWE II is Important
Virtual Workplace Experience II is a workplace-based learning (WBL) course that provides a guided tour of Louisiana’s best-paying careers.
High school students often only name two careers in the healthcare sector, doctor and nurse. However, in one building alone, we house over 450 job titles. More work needs to be done to expose students to careers.
-Vice President of Human Resources, Touro Hospital
Why Project-Based Learning?
The central component of VWE II is the student work portfolio. Over the course of the school year students choose different projects to complete from a set of pre-designed options. In addition to giving students choice in their learning directions, PBL options make differentiating for diverse learners easier for the teacher and improve student engagement and outcomes.
By empowering students to exercise a degree of autonomous decision making, student choice makes students active participants in their educations, thereby increasing levels of engagement. Notably, researchers highlight the fact that such autonomy is generally associated with greater personal well‐being and satisfaction in educational environments, as well as in terms of academic performance. Studies have found that students given a degree of choice about their learning showed improvement on standardized tests.
– Impact of Student Choice and Personalized Learning (pp. 3-27, 2014). Hanover Research.
Virtual Guest Speakers
Virtual engagement with industry experts across high-wage, high-demand sectors is a core component of this course. Using the Nepris platform, or other teacher or school-directed resources, students meet and talk with industry professionals who are able to help students understand the range of jobs and career paths available in each sector, the aligned education pathways and opportunities they can pursue, and ultimately open students’ eyes to the wide range of job and career opportunities awaiting them post-graduation.
To learn more about VWE II and how Parkview Education can help your school implement it and create an ongoing MFP revenue stream, please fill out the form below.