Exploring the opportunities, challenges, and the processes for designing and delivering degree apprenticeships as perceived by key stakeholders of a community college

Driven by the forces of globalization and technology innovation, the 21st-century workplace has become much more complex, marked by the closely related trends of automation, digitalization, and robotification (CEDEFOP, 2018). This requires more skills and education for young adults to be successful in the workplace. For these reasons, young people spend most of their time in school preparing for their future (Larson, 2002) and pursue higher education, expecting that more academic achievement will enhance career preparedness (Lerman, 2013). However, employers often find it difficult to hire suitable candidates with the right soft and technical skills (Hart Research Associates, 2015; SHRM, 2019). In the midst of this, apprenticeships have re-emerged as an effective means of preparing young people for work, and especially, community colleges have been actively implementing apprenticeships within their degree programs by offering degree apprenticeships (DAs). The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the opportunities and challenges of DAs perceived by three primary stakeholder groups -- a community college, employers, and students. Additionally, this study explores the processes for designing and delivering DAs from four inter-connected dimensions of apprenticeships – occupational, pedagogical, relational, and aligned. By doing so, this study provides practical insights into designing and delivering such programs for the interested higher education institution. It also raises awareness among scholars and policy-makers about the recent movement to design better career pathways through DAs and suggests implications for apprenticeship research and policy. Harper College was chosen as the research site for this qualitative case study due to its well-established DA programs in modern occupations, such as insurance, banking, nursing, and IT. A total of twelve people participated in interviews, including initial members of the Harper apprenticeship team, faculty members, program coordinator, workplace mentors, and graduates. The study findings indicate that DAs present a win-win-win opportunity for all the stakeholder groups: DAs serve as a better tool for Harper to fulfill its core mission as a vocational education provider, while enabling employers to develop their own long-term talent acclimated to their own culture. For students, DAs provide real-world work experience, especially offering a tangible opportunity for those who do not thrive in academic schooling. However, implementing DAs comes with challenges since they require a paradigm shift for all stakeholders to participate in this non-traditional degree pathway. Designing and delivering DAs is summarized as the process of reconfiguration and coordination. A community college needs to reconfigure their existing resources to fulfill the apprenticeship framework and coordinates with various stakeholders to design and deliver the occupational, pedagogical, relational, and aligned dimensions of DAs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ed.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Educ Policy, Orgzn & Leadrshp

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2022

Author dc:creator

• Voeller, Jooyoung

Contributors dc:contributor

• Witt, Allison
• Jacobs, Ron
• Kuchinke, Peter
• Hamilton, Setephen

• Education

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Jooyoung Voeller

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/113900

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F113900