Professional Work Habits and Attitudes

Students are asked to reflect on the behaviours they are expected to demonstrate in the classroom and/or computer lab, and compare these to the expectations and requirements of an office environment. Include expectations on the proper care and use of computer equipment.

This process can begin with students creating a list of classroom/lab expectations. Beside each item, students list comparable skills that are expected in the work place. This information could come from the people who were interviewed previously.

Online Resources: Essential Skills | Conference Board of Canada

Performance Appraisals

Have students contact various businesses to request a copy of their performance appraisal template or form and information on how their business conducts these evaluations. Sample appraisals can also be found on the internet. Remind students to keep track of the source of the appraisals they select.

Invite a human resources professional to the classroom to speak to the class. This person should be able to speak about his or her role in creating or conducting performance appraisals, as well as punctuality, dress codes, and dealing with harassment issues and other work-related situations. It would be useful if they could provide a copy of some of the organization's performance appraisals.

ASSIGNMENT

Students develop a performance appraisal form suitable for this course and are then given the opportunity to conduct self-assessments and peer-assessments.

You may find Sask Learning's Business Attitude Survey (page 2 of pdf file) useful (pdf | rtf | doc ).

Other Work-related Skills and Attitudes

Determine student skill level in file management and using information processing software by periodically observing and recording their performance as they work on various tasks.

How do students address environmental concerns as they work, particularly in terms of paper use and energy use? What ideas do students have in reducing paper waste or energy waste? Selected ideas can be made into posters and displayed in the computer lab as reminders.

How do students manage their time, from the start of class, during class to maintaining focus on a task or to change tasks efficiently, and at the end of the class period? This can be self-monitored by students as well as by the teacher.

What health-enhancing practices are students aware of, such as dealing with stress, eating healthy, regular exercise? How do these affect people's productivity in the workplace? How well do they feel they are doing personally? Their responses could be emailed to the instructor, the school guidance councillor, or kept as a personal journal record.