Career-Starting Tips: Turning School Learnings and Experiences into Job-Ready Expertise Insights from a Career Services Podcast

By Brandon Swenson January 30, 2020

At Grantham University, we believe in going the extra mile to help our graduates prepare for long-term career success. Recently, our Career Services team met with Dr. Nancy Miller, Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, to talk about how the coursework her college offers translates into expertise students can use on the job.

How relevant are classroom exercises to what I’ll encounter on the job? Does college coursework really translate into work experience? I want to be successful in a real-world tech career—can an online degree program actually help me do that?

Good questions.

Better than good. They demonstrate that, although a well-rounded education is valuable and necessary, being able to use that education to pursue career prosperity is more than essential—it’s the bottom line. Fortunately, with career-preparing simulations, virtual environments and lessons built on real issues that happen in the real world, online education has come a long way.

Today, Nancy Miller, Dean of Grantham’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, shares her insights on how the University is helping students prepare for success in tech careers and beyond.

How Does an Academic Education Translate into Real-world Application?

“We tend to go to more hands-on experiences with our assignments and labs,” says Miller. “I think that’s really how it’s more real-world, we tried to have things that are a scaled-down version of something you might be doing at work.

“We don’t want a paper on disaster-recovery plans. We want a disaster-recovery plan.”

From simulations to virtual environments, the coursework in the Engineering and Computer Science college offers a number of work-relevant experiences. For example, coding.

“There are starting to be some fairly decent web-based, browser type environments that you can work with for early coding,” says Miller.

It’s a Balancing Act

Ensuring students have the tools and the time needed to get the theoretical knowledge required by the class along with the hands-on experiences they’ll use on the job takes some doing, according to Miller: “We try to balance ease and access for the student, realizing at the same time what they are going to have to do in a work environment.”

On the one hand, the school offers eight-week courses—fast paced to accommodate the lives and needs of students—and strives to provide students with the support needed to get complete and comprehend their coursework.

Fortunately, Grantham University is a leading online educator and not merely a career college. Along with the hard skills students need for a career, Grantham gives students skills for life-long learning, critical thinking and communicating effectively. It’s a well-rounded education designed to do more than help graduates succeed in a job—it will set them up for success in life.

Speaking of Careers, What Skills Should Students Develop to Make a Career Move?

Often students will, through the Career Services department, provide resumes for review and evaluation that will land on Miller’s desk. It’s what she doesn’t see in those resumes that most concerns her. Experience, she shares, is the key—relevant, career-applicable experience.

“I think you really need that,” she says. “If you’re doing programming, go find an organization that needs a mobile app or a better web site. Get on Fiber or Upwork. You may wind up doing these projects for practically nothing, but you’re building a portfolio. You’re building experience. And you talk to that in your resume: ‘Contract work: developed a mobile app.’”

Certifications are another attention-grabber for recruiters. If the students have them, they should list them. And coursework at Grantham offers them.

“We have certifications available in several courses,” says Miller. “Get those certifications. They’re free for you in the class. Get those certifications to add to your resume.”

According to Miller, students might find transitioning into a tech career starts sooner than expected. Once they earn those certifications, they might be able to start pursuing job opportunities in those career fields, from network technicians on up.

What Else Sets Grantham Apart from Similar Universities?

In addition to certifications, Grantham is putting resources toward earning employer-appreciated accreditations. For example, the Bachelor of Science in Electronics Engineering Technology is one of the few online programs anywhere to have earned programmatic accreditation from the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ABET).

Programmatic accreditation—whether from ABET or some other prestigious nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring excellence in education—is testament to the academic rigor of a program. It shows students, industry professionals and potential employers that this degree is of the highest quality, and that graduates of the program are fully prepared to excel in the workforce.

“There are only a couple of other universities that have ABET accreditation,” says Miller. “One has zero hands-on requirements for their online programming. In contrast, we have at least two courses with a hands-on component and we’re probably going to be rolling out some more of that.”

“I think that’s our advantage,” says Miller, “we do have some hands-on component, and we have a substantial capstone experience. Those were the things that were impressive overall to the people that looked at us for the ABET accreditation.”

Integrity is Key Part I—Don’t Cheat

Every educator understands; students lead busy lives. It’s hard to fit in time to study with all the other responsibilities they take on. They feel they don’t have the time to look up the lectures or watch the videos, and they get stuck. So, rather than do the work themselves, they take a shortcut and cheat.

In the end, it’s a huge risk to them and it’s a huge risk to the program.

“Cheating is very serious to me,” Miller says. “Integrity is very serious to me. I consider it very important to me that our graduates graduate having done the work themselves. If they’ve done that, I know what they are capable of when they walk out the door.”

If students haven’t been doing the work, that impacts more than job performance, it can damage the reputation of the university. And that can diminish the value of a Grantham University degree.

“At the end of the day,” she adds, “it’s all about looking at this as a value. When we maintain the integrity of the student work, we maintain the value of the degree that you’re investing in.”

Integrity is Key Part II—Don’t Allow Others to Cheat

Her resolve can also extend to work done by students that somehow makes its way to Chegg, Course Hero or some other shared site that helps cheaters.

“Your course work,” she says, “you are responsible for it and you are responsible for protecting it. My recommendation is that if you have stuff on Course Hero, you write them a letter and ask them to remove it.”

In the meantime, Miller outlines plans to move more and more coursework toward timed exams with problems in the test bank that won’t be tied to Chegg. It will give students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge so Grantham test assessors can be reasonably certain the student is doing the work.

“It’s important to the value of your degree,” says Miller. “We are not a diploma mill. I’m serious about this education. I’m serious about the value to you.”

Integrity is Key Part III—Academic Support to Stop Cheating from Happening

Sometimes the subject matter is hard. It’s tempting to take a shortcut. Instead, get help.

“This is why I wanted embedded tutoring,” says Miller. “I wanted it where students can quickly get to a tutor.” The link to a live tutor can be easily found in the left navigation panel of the learning system.

In addition to help from the school-provided tutor (or a private one, if necessary), Miller points out that online channels, such as Kahn Academy and YouTube, often offer helpful resources and can provide additional support. She also offers some advice on how to make the most of these resources:

First, read the book.

“Students often don’t read the book,” says Miller. “They don’t use the materials provided in the course and they come back with questions. It’s right there in that video, in that lecture, right there on (the) page in that text.”

Be precise with your questions.

“Ask yourself,” Miller adds, “what am I struggling with? Where am I having a problem? From there, I can create specific questions that I can send my instructor.” She says it’s difficult to address specific student needs if she only gets vague, non-detailed questions asking for assistance.

“It takes time,” she continues, “but that’s what you have to sow to reap a solid knowledge of the field.”

Download Our Podcast

Speaking of time, take some time out of your day to listen in as Miller shares what Grantham’s College of Engineering and Computer Science is doing to preserve the integrity of your education while preparing you for the workplace.