Please note that this transcript was auto-generated. We apologize for any minor errors in spelling or grammar.

Jennifer Bento: [00:00:00] All right, great. Hello and good morning. Welcome. Uh, thank you for joining today’s webinar Learning About Me Pathways work-based Learning tool. Uh, my name is Jennifer Bento Pinion. I’m director of K 12 Services at nefa. And during this session we will hear from Joe Wyman, uh, liaison with districts in Western Mass for the Office of College and Career Technical Education with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

And Joe will speak to the adoption of MEFA Pathways work base. New work-based learning tools. And then we will hear from APLU Joseph, director of MEFA Pathway, who will give us a thorough demonstration of the work-based learning features in MEFA Pathway. Uh, going through this, the counselor, student and employer portals.

Um, so just a few logistics before we start. We are recording this session, so if you have to leave early, no worries. Uh, and as a follow up, you’ll [00:01:00] receive an email with a link to a page on MEFA.org, uh, where you’ll find the recording and the slides. Um, additionally, this session is part of our MEFA Institute, so it’s eligible for one PDP, uh, professional development point, and you’ll find the link to the evidence of learning form, uh, on that, uh, MEFA.org page as well.

So the chat is disabled. If you have any questions that pop up, uh, just put them in the QA and those will be addressed. Okay. So, uh, let’s get started. Uh, take it away, Joe.

Joseph Wyman: Great. Good morning everybody. Uh, thank you for being here. I’m excited to be a part of this webinar. Um, just to sort of kick things off, uh, no, go ahead to the next one.

Uh, yeah. Sort of to kick things off, um, we ground all our work here at DSI in our educational vision. We work very hard to develop that and, um, we use it to guide all our work. Um, the principles of our, our vision is that all students in Massachusetts, particularly students from historically underserved groups and [00:02:00] communities are valued.

Culturally, linguistically sustained classroom and school practices and high expectations with targeted support. So what does that look like? Uh, it means that all students are known and valued. Learning experiences are relevant, real world and interactive and individualized supports enable students to excel at grade level and beyond.

Uh, this webinar is focused on work-based learning and, uh, you can see how that is particularly relevant for us learning experience, learning experiences being relevant, real world and interactive. But I also think it provides opportunities for students to be known and valued, um, and to receive the kinds of individualized supports that will help them be successful after high school.

Go to the next one.

Uh, here’s a graphic we use to describe our college and career ready, uh, initiatives. Um, sort of helping us distinguish between some of the programs we have and also. See how they’re sort of all tied together. [00:03:00] So you can see, uh, on one end of the, the sort of left end of the, of the graph, uh, career outcomes with college readiness.

So these are programs more focused on co career outcomes, even as they prepare students to be successful in college. And that includes, uh, the state approved CTE, including after dark programs, uh, commonly known as chapter 74, uh, as well as career connections program, what used to be known as non chapter 74.

On the right hand where you see, uh, a larger focus on college outcomes. But with career exploration, you have early college designation and innovation career pathways, and in the middle you have continued exploration with students regardless of the pathway they may be in, uh, could participate in and should participate in, in at least some of these.

Learning more about academic and career opportunities. Underpinning all of this is my cap in comprehensive counseling to help students make informed decisions. Their secondary experience and what they wanna do after high school as well. Um, including coursework that prepares students for post-secondary education.

Math core is what we’re talking [00:04:00] about there. High quality curriculum and instruction for math, english, and science. Okay, next one.

Here is our Massachusetts career development model. This is a sort of a guide for, for our work and for schools and districts to think about the sort of career experiences or career development experiences students should have, uh, as they move through, uh, secondary school starting, uh, in middle school.

Uh, thinking about, you know, what are for students, thinking about what are the interests and, and talents and skills. I have, and then think beginning to shift into the thinking about career potentials or career opportunities. How do those help me, um, identify specific careers I might be interested in? How can I learn more about those careers?

How can I explore them? And then ultimately, through an experience like white work-based learning, as you move further into high school, how do I have more, uh, have deeper, more immersive experiences to understand better what it’s like to work in that specific [00:05:00] field.

Yep. Next one. Uh, here are, when we talk about work-based learning, uh, in Massachusetts, here are the kinds of, uh, experiences we’re talking about, talking about pre-apprenticeship programs, which is a program that has a documented partnership with at least one registered apprenticeship program, an internship or a clinical experience for students that is a paid or credit bearing work experience of a hundred hours or more.

A work-based learning capstone. Um, and I would distinguish that from other capstones by the, uh, by that experience being including an industry engaged, uh, partner. So it would be a capstone where you’re, where students are working with an industry partner, uh, on a project or, uh, on some kind of work, uh, work-based learning simulations that engages, um, employers and or, or clients or customers, either external, uh, external to the school or district.

So, you know, that would be, um, opportunities [00:06:00] in, you know, healthcare, working in simulations, for example. Um, but also partnering with an industry, um, organization. Somebody that, an industry that’s part of that, uh, field. And then cooperative education is an alternating paid work and classroom experience as part of a CT program,

work, learning and Pathways. Um. Work-based learning is a required component of designated career pathways and Perkins funded program programs, including, um, career Connections chapter 74, and Innovation Career Pathways. Um, students will engage in work-based learning through state funded connecting activities with the workforce boards, through youth works and other, and other initiatives.

Um, and in addition to that, schools may have local initiatives that they, uh, include that students can participate in, um, as a part of their work-based learning experience.

[00:07:00] Here. I just, I wanted to make the connection between work-based learning, the coursework students participate in, and uh, my cap experiences students may be having in the district. And the essential takeaway here is that each of these should be working together and informing the other. So as students participate in my cap, they’re thinking about the kinds of work-based learning experiences they may be interested in and thinking about the kinds of courses they’re interested in as they sort of develop their career, um, plan or their post-secondary plan.

But as those experiences, as they go through those experiences, their, uh, goals and, and plans may change. So as they. Take specific courses, they may decide that they enjoy a different field than they thought they did, or they don’t enjoy as much the field they thought they would. Um, and, or, and similarly, as they go through work-based learning, they may just make decisions about, actually I wanna have a different post-secondary plan, um, than what I thought I was, uh, interested in when I, when I began this experience.

So these are all interconnected and each, depending on the student’s experience and each part [00:08:00] of this can, can inform the other parts.

So, you know, uh, Jennifer was talking before about Desi’s adoption of MEFA Pathway is our new work-based learning tool. Um, if you, if you’re familiar with the skills library, this is replacing skills library. Skills library, I think does exist as a website, but we are not actively using that. And this is the resource we’ll be using to track student participation in work-based learning.

Um, we will support the adoption, uh, of this tool for districts. Uh, our goal is, is that by 27, 28, uh, 27, 28 school year, all high schools will adopted, will have adopted MEFA Pathway as their work-based learning tool. Um, so we’re gonna support that adoption through, uh, grant and grant funding and technical assistance and partnership with MEFA.

So we had a grant this spring. That’s wrapping up and we intend to, uh, post another grant similarly to support, um, sort of a pilot group of districts as they work [00:09:00] towards adoption of, uh, MEFA pathway and expansion of work-based learning opportunities. Um, you, we all, you can also get, uh, support through your liaisons, uh, for, uh, for that adoption.

We have had multiple webinars now, uh, supporting this adoption. I imagine we will continue to have more next year. Um. Uh, we are developing a community of practice, uh, for schools that are, that are trying to move, um, these sort of early adopters. Um, in addition to all that NIFA’s continuous improvement approach to this partnership, uh, means they’re learning with us and are regularly integrating feedback into their updates.

Next one.

So MEFA Pathway is the college and career planning tool that DESI has adopted for work-based learning. So what does that mean? What are, what are sort of the expectations? By 27, 28, uh, that school year, uh, all high schools will be using it to provide a list of activities students can choose. Uh, [00:10:00] an op, uh, the op opportunity for students to create a work-based learning plan.

Uh. That includes what the students will do and their goals for work-based learning and opportunities for student reflection and employer feedback based on that work-based learning experience. Uh, there are more, you can do more with the tool than those, but that’s sort of, um, the minimum, uh, where, where, uh, expectation or the minimum level for our goals by the end of the 27 28 school year.

Um, just some other information to make sure we’re all on the same page. The, our, the grants from our office, the will not be able, you can’t use those to fund alternative pro uh, platforms. So if you get an innovation career pathway program or a My CAP grant, those can’t be used to pay for alternative platforms.

Um, but that doesn’t mean you have to get rid of those students or get rid of other platforms if you choose to continue using other platforms for other parts of my CAP or, or, um, college and career planning. [00:11:00] Um, that’s, you certainly can, you can do, certainly can do that. But the expectation for work-based learning specifically, uh, will be MEFA pathway.

Okay. And just some other, uh, resources. Um, on our website, uh, there we have information resources for work based learning. Um, you can see the website there. Uh, and then we also have. Mass Career Connected Learning website that has information about our CTE programs, um, and the frameworks that are certainly useful, useful for Chapter 74, career Connections, but also for ICP programs that may be, uh, aligned with those.

Um, there’s also information there about, um, industry demand, uh, for PE for, uh, graduates in specific fields. And other information that you may find useful for your pathway programs or part as a part of a My Cap experience.

And I think with that I [00:12:00] will hand it over to a.

Apelila Joseph: Good morning. Thank you Joe. Uh, so before I dive into the demo portion, I just wanna do sort of high level, um, what MEFA Pathway is. Uh, so MEFA Pathway is a free college and career planning. Tool available to schools and districts. Um, really anyone can create a MEFA Pathway account. So if you have never experienced MEFA pathway, feel free to create your own test student account by going to MEFA pathway.org.

Um. Following, uh, my demo. Um, we’ll share information for schools that want more information or if you just wanna set up a meeting, um, to have some more in-depth time to view the site and get some of your questions answered. So with that being said, uh, for the purposes of this morning’s demo, we are gonna take a look at.

Building out your work-based learning database and where you would do that and how that works within MEFA pathway, we will go into the student [00:13:00] portal and sort of show you what students would experience as they’re browsing work-based learning opportunities and building out their work-based learning plan.

Uh, we will also show you from the employer perspective, uh, what their role is and how that works on the employer side. And then we will spend a little bit of time looking at our new reporting and of course, additional resources to support work-based learning implementation. Um. As we go in, I will say this has been our build year, so it’s been a really exciting year for us.

Um, we’ve done, you know, to Joe’s point, we’ve done a couple webinar webinars, we’ve done some demos, we’ve gotten lots of great feedback, um, from you all. So I can’t stress this enough. Everything that’s within me a pathway really is based off of our users and our school’s direct feedback. Um, and I will.

Encourage that as I go through my demo this morning and as we roll into the fall. Um, if folks have feedback questions, um, please feel free to share it with us. ’cause again, we [00:14:00] change and improve the tool based off of your direct feedback. So, um, we’re gonna start with building out the work-based learning database.

And so Jennifer is in our counselor portal where we have a work-based learning page. Uh, so right on the counselor portal dashboard, under the tool section, you’ll see a link for work-based learning. You can also access this under the admin tab if you click on admin and then work-based learning. So we’re gonna go to that page.

And so as that’s loading, I will add, uh, for districts that are working with their mass hire workforce board, or if there’s another sort of CBO in your building that is helping to support work-based learning, we do have a work-based learning user role. So if you wanna grant folks access to help you build out your database, but you wanna limit sort of their view and what they’re able to touch and do within the counselor portal, we do have that user role available.

Uh, so here on our work-based learning page, this is where folks will build out their database. Um, so you [00:15:00] see the list of all the opportunities that are added into your work-based learning database. You can, there’s a little search bar at the top if you wanna search and edit one particular opportunity, but at the bottom of the page there is an add new button.

So you would click that to add a new opportunity. And so when the page loads you, there’s a handful of required fields that you have to fill out. So what’s the opportunity name, the description, the eligibility criteria, the type of opportunity, so is this a guest speaker, an internship, uh, you know, youth employment experience.

Uh, there’s also a career category field. Um, location is another required field. So is this opportunity. In person, is it remote, is it hybrid? Um, and there is an accompanying remote video link. If it is a remote opportunity, maybe you’re having a guest speaker come in and you wanna provide that zoom link for students.

Um, and then of course, the company or organization name is required. [00:16:00] Um, and then of course the status field, the rest of the fields are completely optional. So the more information you provide, the more information students will have to view on their side. Um, but if there are pieces that you say, huh, this doesn’t really apply for this opportunity, or it’s not necessary for our students to see, then you do not have to fill those fields out and they will not display to students.

Once you click submit to add the opportunity to the database, you’ll have an opportunity to add an attachment. So if this is a guest speaker and there’s an accompanying flyer that you want to add, uh, you have the option to add an attachment. And so students will be able to view those flyers on their side in the student portal.

And so in a really quick nutshell, that is how you add opportunities to the work-based learning database. I will say, again, this has been our build year, and so the number one piece that has sort of come out of this year is an upload tool for building out the database. And so [00:17:00] that is something that we’ve already brought back to the development team and it’ll work into our, uh, coming roadmap.

And Jennifer, if, if I miss anything as I’m going through, please stop me. So with that, we are going to transition over to the student side to view what students see after you build out that database. So we are in Alice’s account. So our student, Alice, she’s an 11th grader at MEFA Academy. Um, and so when students log into the student portal, they’re greeted with their dashboard.

On their dashboard. There’s some suggested activities, uh, but to find work learning students will just click on Discover Careers. Right on the Discover Careers landing page, there’s a a little icon for work-based learning that they can click on, or you can use the sub navigation at the top. So when you pull up the work-based learning page, uh, students will see all [00:18:00] the opportunities that you have marked.

As active in your database. So if you have opportunities that change from year to year, maybe you have an employer partner and it’s available in the fall, but not in the spring, you might mark that opportunity as active in the fall and then change it to inactive for the spring. Changing it to inactive will hide it from a student’s view.

And so that’s why we have 15 opportunities available for Alice to browse through. So as students are browsing, this is where they’re gonna come to. See, hey, I met with my counselor. They said there’s some great work-based learning opportunities. I’m in 11th grade, it’s time for me to, you know, get this show on the road.

Uh, so students can come here and they can browse by opportunity type. So we have some filters on the left hand side, so maybe you’re only looking for an internship. So you can select internship as a filter. You can filter based on career category. You can filter based on location. Or if an opportunity is paid or not.

So some of our students, [00:19:00] they’re like, yeah, it sounds like a great idea, but I really only want something if it’s paid. They’re able to filter based off of that. Um, on the broader side, students can click on any opportunities to view more information. So on that browse screen, they just get some quick high level information, but when they click on the opportunity, they’re greeted with the information card up front, which is just high level the type career category.

Start and end dates if there’s a specific deadline to apply. And then as they scroll down, they can read the full description for the opportunity, any eligibility criteria, and then how to access the opportunity. So if there’s an application link, um, company’s website, if that was provided, again, those optional fields that you see as you’re building out your database, if you fill them in, they will appear to the student.

If you do not, then those fields will not appear. Then of course if there’s any attachments, so you can, students can click on the attachments that are included at the bottom as well. So let’s say students are [00:20:00] browsing, they’re like, you know what, this um, opportunity seems really interesting to me. They can go ahead and click save.

And so Alice has already saved this specific opportunity to her, my opportunities list. But students are able to do that as they’re browsing. They can save multiple opportunities. Maybe you’re just giving them time to look through and they’re like, wow, these three things seem really appealing to me and they wanna save all three of them to their my opportunities list.

Once they do that, if you click on my opportunities, this is where students can manage those opportunities. So maybe they saved three of them from that. They only actually applied to two of them, and then maybe only one of them actually hired them. So using that status field, students can update the status of where they’re at with that specific opportunity.

Clicking the favorite icon, the little heart will pin the opportunity to the top of their list. Uh, and then of course, selecting Will attend or hired will prompt the my plan column to populate with an open [00:21:00] button. I. Once students launch their My plan, this is their work-based learning plan, so this is where students are doing their self evaluations, and then of course, inviting their work site supervisor and viewing those employer evaluations as well.

Uh, so at the top, uh, students have the option to add a school-based supervisor. Uh, so if there’s a certain career teacher who’s in charge of work-based learning in your school, they can add them to, uh, the school supervisor spot by clicking edit. Students can also add their work site supervisor to the employer evaluation section.

So clicking edit, they can add in their work site supervisor’s name and email address, and then there’s an invite button. That will appear where students can click, invite and invite their work site supervisor to our employer portal, which we’ll look at in just a moment. So back at the top for the student evaluation, we have three [00:22:00] different types of evaluations.

The initial self-evaluation really is about goal setting, getting the students to think about their work-based learning opportunity, what skills do they want to, uh, work on as they’re going through this opportunity, any goals that they might have. Uh, so that’s really the point of the initial evaluation.

And so students can edit this form and save it until they’re. Completed. So sometimes students don’t finish everything in one sitting. Once they click submit, that will lock the form from any further editing.

The midpoint and the final evaluation are really carbon copies of each other, and so this is where students are tracking their skill growth. They’re able to go through, read each of the personal and social mindsets and characteristics. There’s some examples of how they might do that. Um, and then they can rate themselves.

You know, I’m just starting out. Maybe I see myself as a two [00:23:00] with collaboration. That’s something that I can work on. And then there’s also a space for them to reflect. Um. So, as you know, a huge part of my cap is reflection. So as students are going through these experiences, we want them to stop and reflect on how they are exhibiting some of these characteristics and skills, uh, and their work-based learning opportunities.

There is that little, uh, info icon if students need help with their reflections, framing them. Um, so that’s just another help aid. And again, the midpoint and the final evaluations work the same way as the initial, where students can click edit, they can save the opportunity, come back as many times as they need to in order to finish it.

I will also add, uh, the industry skill sections at the bottom. So there’s space for two industry skills, uh, on those midpoint and final evaluations. Uh, we do have it in our roadmap for that to be a pick list of skills for students to select from. Uh, currently it’s written as a write in, but [00:24:00] that will change to a pick list that students are selecting from.

So as students are going through doing their initial midpoint final evaluations, they’ll see their status update. So if it’s in progress, as they’re continuing to edit, the status will change to completed once they submit it, and they can always come back and view those forms. With the employer evaluation, they have sent their invite to their work site supervisor.

The work site supervisor will receive an email saying, Hey, you’ve been invited to Mefa Pathways employer portal. Uh, within that email, there will be a link and direction saying, Hey, click this link and create your account for the employer portal. Creating the account is pretty straightforward. Uh, we’re looking for really minimal information.

So email address, first name, last name, job title. Um, so it’s pretty straightforward to create the account. Quick and simple. [00:25:00] Um, if anyone needs assistance as they’re creating their employer portal account, we do have our contact information right, um, on the homepage. So employers will log into the employer portal.

I. Upon logging in, they will see all the students that have added them, um, as the their work site supervisor. So some employers might be working with multiple schools or multiple districts. So they will see the student’s name, the school that the student is from, and then the initial midpoint and final evaluations, uh, by clicking on the evaluation status that will launch the evaluation form.

The initial evaluation really is like a job description, uh, something that the employer can work with the student on as they’re filling it out. So what are your general tasks and responsibilities? Any skills or software that you have to learn, and then any projects that you might be working on. Uh, the forms work the same way as the [00:26:00] student forms, uh, where the employer can edit and come back to it as many times as they need to.

And then clicking submit will lock the form from further editing.

The midpoint and the final evaluations work, you know, very similarly to how the student evaluations work, where again, it’s presenting those, uh, personal and social mindsets and characteristics, and the employer is rating the student’s achievement level for each, and then providing some comments back to the student.

So as employers go through and complete all of these evaluations, students are able to see the completed evaluation within the student portal. And I will add from the educator standpoint, within our counselor portal, you can see both the student and the employer evaluations, uh, within the student’s record on the counselor portal.

So from a school perspective, you have total oversight of what students are saying, what employers are saying, so [00:27:00] that way you can keep track of that. Um, I will add within the employer portal if you click on the Chevron next to the employer’s name. Oh, if you wanna jump back to the employer portal. Thank you.

If you click on the Chevron, uh, there is a link to our resource library. This is something that we are continuously, um, adding to. So we’ve sort of gone through our build year. Um, right now there’s just a handful of instructional guides included within the resource library. Um, but we will continue to add videos and, and just helpful guides, um, for folks as they are using this tool.

Uh, so we are gonna jump back over to the counselor portal. And we’re gonna take a look at reporting so you can access our reporting two different ways. Again, similar to how you access work-based learning under the tools section, right on the dashboard. Um, or if you click on the admin tab and then click on [00:28:00] reports.

You can access the reports page. So on the left hand side of the reports page are our standard reports. These are reports based on, you know, various activities that exist within the student portal. On the right hand side are, um, our custom reports. So as a school or an individual user, if you create your own reports, you can see them here, um, as well as our work-based learning reports.

So the reports are brand new. They just came out, you know, I don’t know, three weeks ago maybe. Um, and there’s some additional reports and filter options that will be added, um, as we move throughout the month of June. So let’s just click on our saved opportunities. Um, so this report is, you know, the broadest sense.

Has a student saved any work-based learning opportunity to their list? Um, so to edit this, um, you have to select a report window. So the start date [00:29:00] and the end date. So let’s say you wanna see students that have saved opportunities beginning September 1st, um, to, let’s use yesterday’s date as our window.

And so if you click view report. You’ll be brought up with a list of schools and the student count to see how how many students at each school has saved an opportunity to their list. Um, so as an individual school using this tool, you’ll be able to drill in and see specifically for your school, your student level data.

Um, let’s say, you know, you wanna look at students that have saved opportunities and you wanna parse it out by a year of graduation, um, you’ll be able to do that. But with our reporting, we wanted to provide very broad students that have saved opportunities all the way to very narrow, um, students that have both their, all of their self evaluations and employer evaluations completed.

Um, in addition to tracking the skill growth, there’s reports on, you know, you [00:30:00] wanna see. What the skill growth was at their midpoint versus their final evaluation. Um, so all of that sort of detailed reporting is available. Um, and then in the coming weeks you’ll be able to change and add different filters on some of those reports.

Um, in terms of, um, sort of additional things coming, as I’ve mentioned, this really has been our bill year. Um, so we have. Really spent the bulk of the year building out the tool, um, but also taking in lots of feedback. Um, and so we’re working that feedback into our roadmap, not only for the fall. So there’ll be some tweaks and changes to the work-based learning tool coming this fall.

Um, but as we sort of continue on, this is an iterative process. Um, let’s just jump over to MEFA.org. So on MEFA.org, um, on our resource center page, we have a couple of work-based learning [00:31:00] videos. So this is great. Um, obviously you can share this webinar with folks, um, but if you are meeting with. You know, different populations and you just wanna show a short video of what the tool does, how it works.

Um, we have these short two or three minute videos available on MEFA.org and we’ll be adding these to our resource library and MEFA pathway. Um, so the first one is about students. So students exploring work-based learning and what that experience looks like in a short two minute vi. Two minute video. So it’s great if you have a group of students that are going to be using nefa Pathway for this purpose and you wanna share a video with them.

Like, Hey, this is just sort of a quick tutorial. It’s a short two minute video that you can share with students. We have a video on the employer portal, and then we have a video on building out your work-based learning database. Um, so all these pieces, um, are available and we will continue to provide additional resources as we, um, make changes with, with the site.

[00:32:00] Okay. Jennifer, did I miss anything?

Jennifer Bento: No, you didn’t. That was great. We flew through that. That was good. Uh, we do have a handful of questions. Should we take some questions?

Apelila Joseph: Um, yes. And do you wanna pull up the, um, slide deck just in case folks wanna, um, request a demo or anything?

Jennifer Bento: Mm-hmm.

Apelila Joseph: They’ll have access to that while we go through questions.

Jennifer Bento: Alright, let’s see. Lemme get, okay, close your eyes, everyone flying through. Let’s see. We got this and, all right, can you see the requested demo? Yes. Okay. Super. All right. So let’s, um, let’s take a few questions here. Uh, this would probably be rapidly, how many user roles can you assign?

Apelila Joseph: So within MEFA Pathway we have, um, a couple different user roles.

So we created a work-based learning specific user role just to [00:33:00] limit. What folks with that user role can see. So that user role is really about building out that work-based learning database, um, and preventing that anyone with that user role from having access to any other areas of the site. Um, that being said, we have.

You know, a community admin user role where you can sort of see everything in the site. Um, we have an educator user role, you know, where you can see, you know, your students and their, um, information and their, on their student record within the site. So we have a variety of user roles. Um, that being said, whoever you need to have access to your site.

So as a school, it’s totally up to the school. Um, who gets what user role? Um. And so that’s something that you can discuss with your account manager during onboarding or if you’re a current, um, MEFA Pathway school. Um, you can discuss that with your account manager and we can change edit user roles. So let’s say, you know, you wanna give someone the work-based learning user role to start.[00:34:00]

But they are more integrated and ingrained with your school as the year goes on and you wanna change their user role over time. Um, that is an option as well. So you’re never sort of married or stuck with one user role. Um, if the school wants to change user roles as time goes on, we can accommodate that as well.

Jennifer Bento: That’s great. Thanks Alila. And this kind of goes along the same lines. Um, the user rules, um, can mass hire staff, see saved activities for each student? So based on their user role? Yeah.

Apelila Joseph: So with the current work-based learning user role, um, mass hire staff cannot see saved activities that students have.

That being said, um, it is totally up to the school in terms of what sort of access like a mass hire member might have to a school’s mefa pathway account. So if you work very closely with the school and the school says, oh yes, you should be able to see. Um, student level data and they, they want to grant you that [00:35:00] type of user role.

We can absolutely accommodate that, but the school has to be the one to initiate that.

Jennifer Bento: Okay, great. And we got this question kind of twice. So this is, this might be, this is a good one more, maybe more feedback. Um, if I coordinate all internships, is there a way to add my contact information to all students rather than have each put it in?

Apelila Joseph: For the, I’m assuming that, is that for the school supervisor? It, it

Jennifer Bento: sounds like it. Uh, Patricia, I don’t know if you wanna, um, so it sounds like they’d be the, the work site supervisor, but I’m, it’s not clear. Let’s see. Maybe Patricia pops back in. Yes. She says yes.

Apelila Joseph: So, um, they, well, potentially. So what. What’s coming, what’s included in, in our roadmap and coming.

So some of the feedback that we’ve gotten throughout the year is, you know, [00:36:00] educators being able to sort of manage and, and edit, um, student statuses for their work-based learning opportunities. Let’s say there was a big career fair, you know, a hundred of the seniors attended, but only 25 of them updated there.

Um, oppor my opportunity status to attend. Um, so we are building out a report so that way you can go in and mass update some of those fields. So there is potential, um, to have a report to en mass update that information. Um, so it’s not available currently, but it is in the works. We didn’t think about that, that particular field as an option.

Um, but that’s something that I’ll take back to the, to the development team. I.

Jennifer Bento: Great, thank you. Um, and this next one might be one to take back as well. So we have two ICPs. Some of these opportunities will only be available to ICP students. How can we designate this?

Apelila Joseph: Oh yeah, [00:37:00] that is a great one. I mean, Hmm.

Currently with the work-based learning opportunities, there’s no, um, sort of blocker in terms of what students. Different populations of students being able to view different types of opportunities. Um, we can potentially add a filter if you want to students to be able to see, to filter out, um, ICP opportunities.

Um, but in terms of blocking or barring students from seeing things, um, not something that we’ll have to take back to the development team, um, and discuss a little bit further.

Jennifer Bento: Yeah, that’s good. Okay. Um, let’s see. So I coordinate our school’s internship program. Is there an option for me to create this for the students in my program?

Or does it need to be generated from the student side? So maybe a little explanation on the opportunities. Adding the opportunities on the,

Apelila Joseph: [00:38:00] yeah. So, um, I will say one thing that we. Have received as feedback is, you know, the educator being able to add an opportunity to a student’s my opportunities list.

Um, but I will say at the onset of building out this work-based learning feature, the idea was, um, that students were more so in the driver’s seat with this. We want students to be a very active participant in their work-based learning opportunities. That was sort of the. The thought process behind it.

But I, we do have, we have received feedback and we’re working to figure out where within the roadmap will be. So an educator can add an opportunity to a student’s. My opportunities list, ultimately it’s up to the student to go on and do their, you know, their self evaluations, um, and invite their work site supervisor.

But we. Are trying to accommodate for some educator oversight, um, and potential intervention within that, that area. [00:39:00]

Jennifer Bento: All right, great. Uh, next, uh, will the evaluations be available in other languages? I.

Apelila Joseph: So the Mefa Pathway has a full site translation, and I’m sorry, I should have called it out when we were going through.

Um, so on the student dashboard, um, you can select the site translation and it should translate everything on the page with a few static images. Um, so if there are other languages that we need to accommodate for, um, please let us know. We’re always updating and adding languages based off of, uh, the direct needs of schools.

Jennifer Bento: Okay, great. Um, next question we have, um, I have students enroll in a Chapter 74 pathway. Many enroll into six career connection pathways, but I also have students school-wide who are not in Pathways, do internships. Can I use this database for those students as well? [00:40:00]

Apelila Joseph: Yes, a hundred percent. If, you know, if you, I mean, it’s great.

All students should, I wish I did a work-based learning opportunity when I was in high school. I didn’t engage in that, unfortunately. Um, but yes, all students can, um, whether you wanna list, you know, co-op opportunities within the database, if there are other. Sort of, as Joe mentioned, sort of localized opportunities, um, that your school is cultivating partnerships with various employers outside of, um, those, um, structured programs.

And you wanna add those opportunities in for. Other students to browse and participate and you know, as you’re meeting with them, Hey, we met with a great person at the local animal shelter and they wanna do an internship with our students, or just a volunteer day. Um, go and meet a pathway and sign up for the volunteer day.

Um, you certainly can be flexible with how you want to, um, add in those opportunities. [00:41:00]

Jennifer Bento: Perfect. Thank you Aila. Uh, couple more, couple more questions. Uh, so, uh, here’s one. We currently use MEFA Pathway for some activities. If we plan to implement it fully in our work-based learning next year, do we need to sign an agreement?

I.

Apelila Joseph: Ye yes. Uh, Jennifer, do you wanna take that one? It’s sure.

Jennifer Bento: Yes. Yes. So all, all schools, in order to have access to the counselor portal would need to sign an agreement. So what we typically do is we ask, uh, schools that they request a demo from us. Uh, we meet with you and then following that meeting we send you our agreement.

And in doing so, you then have access to the counselor portal, any of those educators that you would like to have access to. The counselor portal. You just, we work with you to onboard your school. So that’s, you know, setting up your, um, you know, if we do have access. To our integration with Clever and Google Single sign on.

So you make that, [00:42:00] um, you know, you establish that and then yeah, we just work with you to, to get you up and running. Um, so yeah, so certainly use the QR code to, uh, request a demo and, um, yeah, we’ll talk to you then and

Apelila Joseph: I’ll, I’ll just add, um, we have a district agreement as well. Um, so for any districts with multiple schools where, you know, you’ll be using Nephi Pathway for work-based learning or.

You know, if you wanna use this for other things, totally up to you. But, um, we do have a district agreement where the district can sign and grant permission for, you know, all of the schools. So it’s through one agreement versus each school receiving an individual agreement. So I just wanna put that out there.

Um, I’m from Springfield Public Schools before joining MEFA, so I know what it is to, if there’s multiple schools in a district and it’s just a more streamlined process if the district just signs the agreement versus individual schools. So I just wanna share that as an, as an option.

Jennifer Bento: Yep, that’s good. Uh, [00:43:00] all right, so next we will be tracking if students are part of certain programs such as I-C-P-C-C-T-E, et cetera, as well as paid or unpaid roles.

So will we be tracking?

They’re asking

Apelila Joseph: as I’m gonna, I don’t kind of wanna punt this one to Joe. Is this about like reporting requirements?

Joseph Wyman: I mean, I don’t, I, correct me if I’m wrong, Aila, but they do have the option for students to choose that they are in one of those programs. So that’s an option in terms of our tracking of whether Stu, how many students are enrolled in particular pathways.

I don’t think we’ll use this tool for that. Um, that will come from our Sims data collection as it’s has been coming in recent years. I don’t know even know how many years. Um, but when we look at reports about how many students are engaged in work-based learning, if you have students, um, sort of designate which pathway they’re in, or if they’re in a [00:44:00] pathway, then we’ll be able to see how that, uh, work-based learning experiences break down by, uh, pathway type.

Does that make sense?

Apelila Joseph: And I’ll, I’ll also add, um, within MEFA Pathway, we do have a space if you wanted to upload your Sims data file. And so if students are within, you know, innovation career pathways or, um, I. Another one of those programs and you wanted to add that as a layer, just as a school, as your own reporting.

Um, within those work-based learning reports, there are filters if you want to look at those specific student populations. So as long as you upload that data into the system, you can look at that within the available work-based learning reports.

Jennifer Bento: And speaking of the reports, maybe we’ll we can address this question here. Um, will we be able to see more detail in the reports such as student names?

Apelila Joseph: Yes. So as a school, if your [00:45:00] school’s participating in MEFA Pathway and you wanna look at your work based learning reports, you can see the student level detail.

Um, you know, if you wanna see, you know, Johnny. Johnny was involved in, you know, an one internship and, you know, three guest speakers. You can see that sort of student level detail? Yes.

Jennifer Bento: Okay. Um, and then this is a, this is a good question. So, uh, this, um, gentleman is a, from a non non-for-profit and asking, is the tool only open for schools or would our organization be able to use the tool as well?

So I would say reach out to us. And, and, um, so Paul, reach out. Do use that QR code and connect with us and we can see what we can do.

All right. Let’s see. Oh, this is a good question about districts. So, so for larger districts, is there a way to enter district-wide opportunities versus a specific [00:46:00] school only opportunity.

Apelila Joseph: So that is feedback that we have received as we’ve gone through this build year for some of the larger districts that we’ve met with.

Uh, so it is something that we’ve taken back to our development team, um, and it’s something that we are looking into. So whether doing, so one way we’re looking to address this potentially is an upload feature. Um, and so is there a way to link all the schools within the district and just do one upload?

So that’s something that our development team is looking into.

Jennifer Bento: Okay, great. Uh, and then who has access to the employer evaluations of each student?

Apelila Joseph: So again, going back to, um, user access. So as the educator, um, you know, depending on how you assign some of those user roles. Um, you can see everything. So you can see the student’s evaluations.

You can [00:47:00] see the evaluations the employer is submitting. Um, and so the employer is only invited to the employer portal from the student. So the student is saying, oh, yes, um, Mr. Smith is my work site supervisor at Ben and Jerry’s. I’m gonna send him an invite to the employer portal. Mr. Smith will create his account.

He can. Add in all of his evaluations, the student can see those evaluations within their student portal. Um, and then as the educator, you can see those evaluations on the student’s record. Um, and so that access to view those is dependent on your user role for the, um, counselor portal. And so that’s something that we can assist with, um, during onboarding just to make sure, um, the right, um, educators have the right level of access to see what they need to see.

Jennifer Bento: That ties right into the next question, which is how do you assign the work-based learning role? So when you’re setting up, when you’re onboarding, or even if you’re a [00:48:00] current Mefa Pathway school, if you have any, uh, any folks that you want to have that work-based learning role, just send, send to us their first name, last name, and email address, and the school that you are affiliated with, and we can create those accounts for you.

And just be clear like that you want them to have just strictly that work-based learning user role.

Uh, let’s see. Will the employer dashboard and evaluations be available in an other language? The, the employer dashboard?

Apelila Joseph: Um, that is something that we can, we not can, we will take back. Um, we have them available for students. I don’t see why we couldn’t expand the access to, um, the employer portal, but I’ll take that back to the development team.

Jennifer Bento: Great feedback today. Good stuff. Uh, alright, so one, let’s see. Uh, are agreements signed by school, uh, by school or by counselor? Um, that is completely up to the school. Uh, we have some schools [00:49:00] that have their superintendent side of the agreement, other schools that have the, the, the primary contact or the, the, uh, school counselor.

So it, it, it definitely is, uh, depends on, on, on the school. So it varies. Uh, this is a question for Joe. Joe. Uh, under what work-based learning category would you classify in school activities like working in running the school store, school restaurant, uh, run by the CTE program, working on customer’s cars and the CTE auto shop, et cetera?

Could they still be counted as simulated work experiences, though they are in school? No, you might wanna read that one. That was a long one.

Joseph Wyman: Yeah. Uh, hold on, let me, so yeah, I would say that each of those can be, certainly, could be an example of work-based learning. I think the store is, uh, it sort of depends how it’s set up, but, uh, but if it’s, you know, working with people external to the school, for sure, it can be, um, which one it gets [00:50:00] counted at, counted as, um, I don’t, do we collect that in the MEFA pathway tool?

Can you remind me, Jennifer Oliva?

Apelila Joseph: Um,

well, um, I, I guess it depends on how we are classifying those. So technically, like, yes, you can list them as opportunities within MEFA Pathway, whether you’re not, you wanna call it. Co-op or youth employment or, um, I, I think that’s more so the, the defining factor,

Joseph Wyman: right? Um,

I’m not sure. So I would say each of those can be in the tool. Um, how you categorize them depends a little bit on exactly how they’re set up. Um, and, uh, but what’s most important is that we recognize that they are work-based [00:51:00] learning opportunities and that that data be captured in this tool in some way.

And, um, so that when we see, when we look to see how many students are engaged in these activities, we can, um, we will have that data as a part of it.

Jennifer Bento: Great. Thank you. And we have one more. One more question. Will educators be able to see or verify the contact information that the students send their evaluations to?

Apelila Joseph: Yes. So within the student’s record on the work-based learning page, educators can go there and view all the information, um, regarding, uh, a student’s work-based learning opportunity. So let’s say I have an internship at Ben and Jerry’s. I invited Joe as my work site supervisor. Um, as the educator, you can go in, look at that opportunity and verify the employer’s name and email address that was entered.

And so if you need to edit that, [00:52:00] um, you’ll have edit capabilities. If you’re like, oh goodness, they misspelled the email. This is not right, let me correct it. You, you can do that.

Jennifer Bento: Okay. And just, I, I said one more, one. That was the last one we have a follow up to, to. Previous question. Uh, so Jojo said, working with people external to the school.

So if students only serve internal staff such as a c the cafe, school Cafe, it wouldn’t, the question is, would it count as work-based learning?

Joseph Wyman: I mean, I think that’s a good question. And usually I’ve seen that set up that other PE that it’s available for people outside the school to participate, like the, the cafe in the Chapter seven four program. Typically it’s open to the public. Um, on a given day. It doesn’t necessarily mean anyone from the public is, is present, but that those are, uh, those are available similarly for like autobody.

Um, again, it may be that there are internal [00:53:00] staff that are having their school that, uh. Cars worked on, but the, um, at least in theory, it could be people outside and the school store, school’s a little, little tougher. Um, but it kind of depends how it’s set up. If it’s a store in your lobby and people that come in the store can participate, then I would say that is a simulation where you’re engaging or potentially engaging with externals.

But if it’s really set up exclusively for internal, um, I think I would suggest at least. Trying to think about ways where that opportunity there you could create opportunities for students to, um, work with or, or, um, you know, sort of serve, uh, others outside the the school community.

Jennifer Bento: Okay. Thank you. One more. I keep coming in. That’s good. For students who are currently using other work-based learning systems, uh, will the data from those schools districts be collected until adopted? [00:54:00] That might be for you.

Joseph Wyman: Can you say that again? I’m sorry.

Jennifer Bento: Yeah. For schools, or I

Joseph Wyman: think

Jennifer Bento: Yep. Nope. For schools who are currently using other work-based learning systems, is work-based learning data from those school or districts being collected until adopted.

Joseph Wyman: So, um. For specific grants or programs. We do collect that data in a variety of ways. Um, you know, for example, in connecting activities, there are ways in which we’ll collect data or, uh, from workforce boards on, um, work-based learning as well as some other activities that they, they participate in. ICP collects data in a variety of ways.

Um, but as we’re, but we are in a bit of a transition right now as we move from say, skills library to this. Where, um, ultimately the goal would be that all of that data ends up in this resource. Um, but uh, right now we’re sort of transitioning, so I could imagine there might be some of that that’s not captured.

Uh, but that’s okay. [00:55:00] ’cause we know, we know we’re transitioning.

Jennifer Bento: Okay, great. Thank you. And I think that’s been a common question as we’ve kind of gone through this process, so thank you for clarifying that. Uh, we, here’s another. We have a district-wide ICP program that involves six sending schools in the district.

Could our ICP program be set up as its own school to manage student work-based learning opportunities for our students? I.

Apelila Joseph: Um, I would say that is one that we should meet and talk about further, just to get a clearer picture of what’s going on and then what the best setup for that would be.

Jennifer Bento: Kelsey, reach out. We’ve connected already, so reach out Kelsey, and we can, we can ha we can chat.

All right. Any other [00:56:00] questions? So you have our contact information, so if any questions pop up after we conclude this webinar, do not hesitate to reach out. Um, and we’d be happy to, to meet, to chat, uh, to give you a demo. Uh, so don’t, don’t hesitate to reach out. Anything, anything else, APLI or Joe that you wanna.

Apelila Joseph: Uh, no, I, I guess stay tuned. We’ll be coming at you more this fall with probably more webinars and additional resources. Um, again, this has been our build year. Any feedback that you have, we want to tweak and change the tool, um, in a way that is most beneficial for the schools and students as users. Um, so please feel free to send us, um, any comments or feedbacks, um, you know, via email.

Joseph Wyman: I’ll just say as, um, next steps for schools and districts would be, uh, my suggestion would be scheduling a [00:57:00] demo with the MEFA Pathway team, uh, as they mentioned earlier and beginning the process of thinking about how you, um, how in your school or district, how you would adopt this pathway, or, sorry, MEFA Pathway as your work-based learning tool.

Who has to sign the agreement or, or what does that look like?

Jennifer Bento: Okay, great. Yes, you can send, um, any feedback to, uh, the question is do, do we have your email to send feedback? So send any feedback to K12 [email protected]. Um, it’s right down there on the bottom of the screen. All right, great. Well, thank you all for joining this morning. We had a great group. Good way to start the day.

And, uh, we’ll follow up with that email that will have the, the slides and, uh, the, a link to the recording and the page on MEFA Institute. Take advantage of, uh, getting your, uh, one, your one PDP. All right. Thanks Joe. Thanks, Aila. Thank you. [00:58:00] Thank.