1. Reflections on Building University/Industry Partnerships: An Experiential Learning Approach Michele Summers, Purdue College of Technology at Lafayette Sue Ann Ford, Wabash National Corporation

2. Reflections on building university/industry partnerships: An experiential learning approach  What?  Why?  How?

3.  Productivity Enhancement  Success Yields Pride and Sense of Ownership  Succession Planning  Recruiting Tool  Retention Tool Why Employers Provide Education Programs: The Research

4. Investment  2012  Reinstituted Tuition Reimbursement  Updated Policy: $4,200/year - $30,000/lifetime  Education Fair  >$100,000 Tuition

5. WIIF WABASH ?  Started 2005 to fill supervisory bench  Standard of “What Good Looks Like” to home-grown leadership  Internationally-known  Locally revered  Network with other student professionals

6. Strategy for ROI  Workplace-related  Specific if possible  Appeal to instructor  Instructor selection criteria includes work experience  Teach multiple times when possible = business familiarity  Presentation to management

7. Letter to Instructor  Dear Instructor,   Welcome to the Learning Center! We are excited that you are here to help us further our training/educational endeavors. We want to make sure that you have all you need to make your experience here pleasant and successful.   As an instructor of our associates, you have the unique ability to tie their education to their work, and we would ask that you make every effort to do so. As activities and projects are introduced, please give strong consideration to making those experiential opportunities as true to their work as possible. We will be happy to assist!   Please call upon me (765-771-5806) or Sarah Canarsky, Learning Center Administrator (765-771-5406), should you have any questions.   Again, welcome and thank you.  Sue Ann Ford  Manager, Organizational Development 

8. WIIF STUDENTS ?  Increased student learning and retention  Andragogy (Knowles, 1980) assumes the following about the design of learning:  Adults have the need to know why they are learning something  Adults learn through doing  Adults are problem-solvers  Adults learn best when the subject is of immediate use

9. WIIF WABASH ?  Immediate application:  Solve problems  Create, improve processes  Ownership in results  Removing waste = better work environment, more profit!

10. Gaining Knowledge: Learner Requirements  Willing to be actively involved in the experience  Able to reflect on the experience  Possess and use analytical skills to conceptualize the experience  Possess decision making and problem solving skills in order to use the new ideas

11. Design  Two objectives:  one for the experience  one for the debrief discussion

12. Development  Goals  Instructions  Roles  Tasks  Materials

13. Reverse-engineered characteristics  Who is it for? Describe the audience.  How many participants per session?  How long should it last?  What experience/dynamic should it mirror?  What group dynamics or constraints should be represented in the experience?  What skills/knowledge should it engage?  What factors should make the task easier/more difficult?  How should it feel?  What other characteristics can you describe ? whole-system.com

14. Panelists  Bud Smart  24 yrs at Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc.  Production Manager, Camry Trim and Final Assembly; 16 yrs in management  Started Purdue OLS 2008  Senior - graduate May 2014  Joe Hancock  28 year employee of Wabash National Corporation  Plant Manager of the Dry Van business unit of the Commercial Trailer Group  Spent 7 years in the Purdue OLS program: OLS Certificate 2007 Associate Degree in OLS 2009 Bachelor degree in OLS May 2012

15. Training Methods Course  Select work-related job  Identify tasks, skills  Understand:  Adult Learning Principles  Varying learning styles  Appropriate, effective formats  Develop training manual

16. Coaching & Developing Employees  No longer are technical skills enough to sustain you in your role. You now have employees with those skills. Therefore, it is time to learn how to coach & develop employees so you can motivate them to complete the necessary work. The skills that made you a great team player won’t necessarily make you a great supervisor. It’s not enough to keep yourself motivated — you have to be a coach & a cheerleader, & you have to deal with people who have bad days, interpersonal conflicts, & skill deficiencies.

17. Course Content Coaching & Developing people Communication How to communicate with people How to read peoples expressions

18. “Where the Rubber meets the Road”  Joe’s examples:  Statistics class  Interviewing  Budgets

19. The Best Results

21. Questions?