Corporate Advisory Council Conference:Student Presentations
As a culmination of our Corporate Track, students are required to answer an e-learning request for proposal (RFP), create a prototype of the proposed solution and give a 20 minute sales presentation to a group of representatives from various positons within the field of e-learning.
This year we had two teams (seven students total) presenting their solutions to the Corporate Advisory Council during the student portion of the event. We had two great presentations with everyone doing a professional and top-notch presentation. This year the Request for Proposal was a fictious request to create training for Traffic Enforcement Officers for the city of Pittsburgh. The students were asked to create a blended approach of online, on-the-job and classroom instruction. The students are then required to provide a 20 minute sales presentation highlighting portions of the 40 page proposal they have written.
Then the 48 members of our Corporate Advisory Council asked them questions for 15 minutes. At the end the teams are judged based on Best Written Proposal, Best Prototype, Best Presentation and then Best Overall. But regardless of which team actually “wins” all the students are trully winners as they presented top-notch solutions and they all particpated in interviews with 9 different companies looking to hire the gradautes.
The first team to present was E-ssential Solutions. Who provided an innovative solution of using Second Life to develop the instruction.
They also included a large portion of on-the-job instruction. They group of three provided a good presentation with insightful information and ideas of how to use Second Life within the classroom.
The second team was named E-Tegrity and had four team members. They provided a working prototype using a combination of Flash and Trivantis’s Lectora Version 8. The solution included on-the-job training, e-learning and classroom instruction. 
The team provided a description of their instructional solution and a discusson of how the planned on implementing the e-learning within the existing structure. 
John and Robyn of DishingDesign served as the hosts of the event giving students both positive and not-as-positive feedback on their presentations. All done in the spirit of continous improvement as the entire exercise is a learning experience.
Both teams did well and each team captured different awards. Winning written, prototype and overall was E-Tegrity and winning the sales presentation portion was E-ssential Solutions.
Another great CAC and we hope to have 48 attendees next semester as well. Thanks everyone!
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Leave a Comment (9) ↓
This is a big opportunity for the students to have and present their own presentations. To show to all that after a long time of studying they can do it after a long sacrifice. For the students keep up the good you are a metaphor of the new generations.
Nice blog~
women.daai007.org
Wow, to now take a step back and see RFP as an educational experience is amazing. I loved the whole process and am so grateful for the challenge. It was certainly the highlight of my time in this masters program. I am a big believer in experiential learning and this was an unparalleled experience, working with professionals on a small ambitious team, Thank you to all who were involved!
As a student presenter, I have to say that CAC was a hectic yet rewarding experience. The experience alone of presenting at CAC was well worth it. The most valuable experience for me would have to be the opportunity CAC gave to interact with professionals in the field. The people that I had the opportunity to speak with following the presentations were very helpful and gave lots of great feedback for me and my team. Thanks to Dr. Kapp and to all of the CAC members for making this learning experience invaluable.
A student perspective,
Some of us visited Russells’… I was one of the students presenting, and I have to admit; by the time dinner was served at the Pine Barn Inn, I was ready to hit the hay! What a day Thursday was!
The corporate presentations are wonderful way for us, students and new professionals entering the field, to see what different companies are doing. Unfortunately I was only able to catch glimpses here and there as I was running in and out preparing for our presentation. The glimpses I saw were very interesting! So, on behalf of all the students who came to listen, I’d like to thank all the presenters who shared their knowledge and insights!
When it finally came time for us to present (I was the instructional designer for E-Tegrity) I was glad to finally get it done and over with. A whole semesters worth of preparation culminated in the 35 minutes of presenting and answering questions in front of the CAC members.
This was not my first time performing, presenting, competing or being evaluated in front of a large and captive audience, but the fact that I was evaluated as a professional made presenting at CAC a unique experience for me. Getting the feedback as a team from the CAC member was appreciated, but even more so I valued the direct feedback from individuals during informal conversations. I appreciate greatly the time the professionals took to talk to us, students, one-on-one.
The RFP exercise can be extremely consuming and frustrating at times through out the semester, but I think that through it I was able to get my foot in some doors which would otherwise not have even been narrowly cracked open for me. With this said I’d like to thank everyone involved in the CAC this semester!
Moyey (Louis),
We missed you too, hope you enjoyed your “around the world cruise” see you in the Spring. We visited Russell’s for you.
Karl
I was so sorry not to have been there. But it is wonderful to be able to read about it. Thank you for posting it.
Louis
Clark,
Thanks, it is a great exercise which I inherited about 10 years ago(so I can’t take credit for the creation of it). In fact, this exercise is one of the things that drew me to this program as an instructor…the tie with the industry through this exercise.
Karl
Karl, love the RFP approach; used it myself. Congrats to your students and all involved!