Golden Path Newsletter – November 2024

by | Nov 8, 2024 | Blog, News | 0 comments

More than 100 North Dakota school professionals trained in Compass/RUReady

Happy fall from Golden Path!

One of the best ways we can improve our software and services is by hearing from all of you – and that’s exactly what we did at recent trainings in North Dakota.

More than 100 North Dakota school professionals attended our advanced RUReady.ND.gov and Compass training sessions last month across the state. During our sessions, we heard several repeated messages from educators as to how we can best support them in their use of Compass and RUReady for student career exploration.

First, communication is key. School professionals recognize the importance of informing all audiences (parents, students, employers, community leadership, and school professionals themselves) about Compass, RUReady, and the opportunities available. We couldn’t agree more and have recently added a new email campaign to reach students, school professionals, and parents, and are regularly connecting with employers.

Second, time is a valuable resource and everyone feels a little short of it. It’s essential to make our processes intuitive and easy to complete. It would also help to involve more school professionals in work-based learning, employer connections, and career exploration to help connect more students with opportunities. We’re regularly updating Compass to smooth out processes and add time-saving features.

Third, they shared some feedback on Compass features, including ways to make the Four-Year Rolling Plan easier to manage. Other feedback included ideas for reporting, helping drive scheduling, and using Compass to help better connect employers with career fairs with employers. We’ve already responded to some of that feedback with Four-Year Rolling Plan guidelines and frequently asked questions (FAQs) in the latest newsletter from the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (ND DPI). Similarly, we’ve already added new Compass features, including the ability to archive classes that are no longer offered, but still needed for student profiles.

Keep letting us know how Golden Path can serve you better!

Here’s what else is new for November 2024:

Golden Path presenting at national ACTE conference

One of the ways we foster connections and expand our benefits to more students and employers is to present or serve as an exhibitor at conferences, such as the upcoming ACTE’s CareerTech VISION 2024 conference Dec. 4-7 in San Antonio, TX. This prominent career and technical education conference will be attended by thought leaders from across the country. Golden Path Founder and CEO Patrick Mineer will speak on “Driving State Alignment of K-12, Postsecondary, and Careers Through WBL” with Dawn Ulmer from NDCTE and Gwen Marsh from XAP Corporation. The session will explore how NDCTE, educators, employers, and local communities have collaborated to create a robust, state-based, WBL ecosystem that is driving student success.

Mineer will also present at an event prior to the conference when Grand Forks (ND) Public Schools is honored as a finalist with the Career Z Challenge, a national competition that recognizes innovative ways organizations are helping students prepare for the future. He will share how Golden Path’s work is used by the Grand Forks team for work-based learning.

Golden Path will also serve as an exhibitor during the Minnesota State 2024 Career and Technical Education Summit Nov. 19-20 in Plymouth. We’re looking forward to connecting with more Minnesota school professionals. If you’re going to be at either event, please be sure to say hello.

School professionals trained in Compass, RUReady

Golden Path and North Dakota Career and Technical Education (NDCTE) partnered this fall to host advanced RUReady.ND.gov and Compass trainings in North Dakota.

Training session topics included how Compass can support the Four-Year Rolling Plan, the many ways students can learn about and connect with employers, how Compass helps drive future workforce development, and how various stakeholders all benefit from connecting through Compass. An organization or two also presented to educators during the training sessions, sharing information about their companies, student opportunities, and what they are looking for in their future workforce.

Thank you to Laura Glasser with North Dakota Career and Technical Education (NDCTE) for helping schedule the sessions, and for all of our hosts, including ND Job Service in Grand Forks, the Bakken Area Skills Center in Watford City, the capital building in Bismarck, the Southwest Area Career and Technical Education Academy in Dickinson, the Minot Area Workforce Academy, and North Dakota State College of Science in Fargo.

Fostering more ways to make student connections

Students can take their career exploration to the next level by opting into our connections process. When they enable this feature in Compass, one of our professional staff will contact them to visit in-depth about their career and WBL interests and, if desired, connect them with employers and opportunities that are a good fit. We’ve visited with students who are interested in everything from childcare to diesel technology to architecture and have introduced them to employers across the state. We’ve even started working with students who are showing interest in specific college programs featured in Compass. The connections process is thriving and with the ND DPI’s support for using Compass to manage students’ Four-Year Rolling Plans, it will be even easier to make these connections.

Time tracking, other features released in Compass

The latest release of Compass includes features that support WBL time tracking, agreement management, and student reflection questions. We’re releasing this for our Compass stand-alone users first, with plans to roll out some of the features in North Dakota at a future date. The WBL time tracking option enables students to log their time at their WBL experiences, schools and employers to approve timesheets, students to take screenshots of the timecards for submission, and other elements to streamline timekeeping. The updated WBL agreement management in Compass makes it easier for schools and employers to keep WBL digital documents in one location and reduces the need for paper copies. Finally, the new student reflection question option allows schools to create question sets to share with students to gather information and insight about their WBL experiences. For North Dakota schools, we’ve improved managing class lists by now providing a way to archive a class. Contact us if you’d like more information about these new features.

Industries, associations soon included in Compass

Inspired by the success of our community feature in Compass, we’re designing options to include industries and associations in a similar manner. By creating a customized profile, these organizations will be able to highlight what they do, their opportunities for students, incentives such as scholarships or Sponsorships, and connections or partnerships with employers and colleges. We’re looking for a few organizations to help pilot this new feature, which would provide value for both your organization and your members. Contact us to get involved or learn more.

New employers and Career Profiles added to Compass

Compass continues to grow and expand with new organizations and Career Profiles in Compass. We’re excited to welcome WE Ortho and Thrifty White Pharmacy to Compass, highlighting careers in the orthodontics and pharmacy fields. Other new organizations include Thales, Mobile Pro, Prairie Barns Construction, and Magic City Garage Door, just to name a few. We’ve also have more work-based learning opportunities published across the state, including a refresh of opportunities from RDO Equipment, Titan Machinery, Leon’s Building Center, C&W Services, and a new work-study program from Thrifty White Pharmacy.

Share your events with us

Be sure to add your events to our new events calendar. Please submit your events to events@goldenpath.net. Watch future communications for when and where the events calendar will be available.

Important dates

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More information

Contact Patrick for more information or to connect about opportunities with Golden Path Solutions.