Online Course Development: Strengths & Personal Branding

Well, it was time to tackle the first workshop in the online class - Strengths Exploration and Personal Branding. As I wrote earlier, I put this one off for a while since I had already developed some of the materials for the other workshops. In fact, this particular workshop will be new for me this fall in my "in person" class. So I had to figure out exactly what I wanted to cover and then how I wanted to cover it.

In my previous class, we used CareerLeader-College as the required assessment. I am switching to StrengthsQuest this year. The Career Services office is expanding and we now have dedicated staff for our students. Some of the previous class work that was "career development-related" is being funneled out to them. This allows a more unique "professional development" focus for my class.

I was pretty blown away when I took the StrengthsFinder assessment a few years ago. I have rarely taken an assessment that provided so much "ah ha!" I am hoping my students will get a lot out of it as well. I have not enjoyed sending out all of the customized access codes and instructions, however. I will need to find a better way to distribute those in the future!

Students will start out by taking the SQ and reading the online reports. They will then watch a very brief William Arruda video explaining the importance of branding. I also wanted to emphasize how importantly the accounting firms view the strengths exploration/development and personal branding. I emailed my recruiting contact at Ernst & Young for a quote to use. I was thrilled to get back a perfect quote within 20 minutes! PwC gave permission for me to use their Personal Branding eBook as proof of their commitment. I will make that available for ongoing student use.

I finished up a prezi that explains the StrengthsQuest, and I am pretty proud of it. It is quick but hard-hitting. They get to self-click through it, so that hopefully will increase their engagement.

I then alternate reflections with links to some additional Personal Branding videos, including ones on combining StrengthsQuest with branding and 360Reach. William Arruda does such a fabulous job with his videos that there is no reason for me to try and top them! Now that I am certified as a 360Reach Analyst, I am offering to work individually on that with any student who chooses to "go further".

The final assignment will require planning the investment students will make in developing the themes they uncovered in SQ, as well as ways to document their evidence of success. This also forms the basis of their interviews and the required presentation.

Whew, I was glad to get this one behind me!