SB

The

Mad Hatter

A Douglas College Newsletter.

August 24, 1

CO-OP EDUCATION PROGRAM

hen Mike Collett reached his

early thirties, he began to ques- tion his career choice. He had a background in marketing and was working in restaurant management, but he wanted a change. He began studying computer programming at Douglas College, hoping that he could one day build a career in the computer field. Still, he was slightly unsure he could really do it.

Then something happened that changed Mike’s life faster than he expected. He was offered a place in the Co-op Education Program, a program that uses an innovative ap- proach combining classroom study

. on-the-job training.

ere he found the confidence-build- ing skills he needed to break into a new field. Co-op Placement Officer Barbara Franck says that even bright, motivated students like Mike often need to learn resume and in- terview skills in order to get the job they're after. She tells them, “Having the ability isn’t enough -- you have to be able to convey your ability to the employer.”

Soon Collett was working at Head- work, a small Burnaby business of- fering vocational counselling and career monitoring services to victims of brain injury. His job was to design a computer program to aid in the assessment of job skills and detect problem areas.

Mike says, "What they were finding

was that the employability assess-

ments they were doing were not

giving them all the information they anted. So they came up with the

©: of computer-based assess- ents."

J. Lynne Mann, Psychologist and owner of Headwork, explains that the company decided to hire a co-op student because, "Our main busi- ness isn’t computers. | talked to the college, and we submitted a descrip- tion of our proposal to the co-op program. When Mike was inter- viewed, he had the opportunity to talk with the originators of the project.”

It was a challenging job for Collett. Mann says that although Mike had computer training before he came on staff, "He had no experience in the field of rehabilitation, psychology or evaluation, all key areas of the project he worked on. He did a lot of meeting with the staff that repre- sent those different disciplines."

Mike developed a system based on the manual system they had been using. "The program," he says, "is something called an expert system -- the computer has the knowledge of a psychologist or employment coun- sellor in its data base, adds informa- tion it gets from interaction with the professional operator and comes to a conclusion based on all the infor- mation."

"It helps professionals go about their job more efficiently and gives a much more detailed account of the information than the manual system. It gives us the ability to identify specific problem areas and direct the rehabilitation where it can do the most good.”

Throughout the project, Douglas Col- lege provided him with back-up sup- port in the form of a faculty advisor in computer programming, a place- ment officer and the use of college facilities, such as the computers and library materials.

The project was so successful that Mike was selected to present a paper on his work at the Pacific Coast Brain Injury Conference to be held in Vancouver in October.

Mike Collett says he isn't a typical Co-op Education student. His situa- tion is unique in several ways. Most students alternate two terms of class work with two separate place- ments with different employers; Mike took evening classes while working his two four-month terms back to back at Head-

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

IN THE HAT

Fear of Public Presentations Increase in ABE Financial Aid Co-op - continued from pg. 1 Bookstore Hours

A-V Booking Lists

Health & Welfare Packages Union Bulletin Board

Welcome Cathy Hart

Mad Hatter Insertions

ACCC Reminder

Congratulations Walmsleys Library Staff Changes

New Co-ordinator HSW

Happy Birthday H.C.

Women's Centre Workshops Group Advising Sessions Co-op Supporters

UBC Higher Education Courses The Teaching Professor