Job Ads and Applicants: Elementary Discussion - Remix
Design Guide
Designers for Learning - Adult Learning Zone
Part 1: Lesson Description
Lesson Title
Job Ads and Applicants: Critical Evaluation
Abstract
This is a self-paced lesson designed for students with low-intermediate to intermediate communication skills. The purpose of this lesson is to familiarize learners with basic elements of job ads (such as Job Title, Role and Responsibilities, Minimum Qualifications, and Company Description), and compare the same with target job applicants. Through this lesson, learners will analyze different job advertisements and match them to the appropriate job applicants. It will also help them improve their critical thinking skills.
This lesson is meant for mobile learning, implying that the learners can study this lesson from any location outside classroom using their mobile devices, more commonly their mobile phones.
Learner Audience / Primary Users
This lesson is intended for asynchronous individualized learning. It is targeted at adult learners who are interested in entering the job market as freshers or experienced, and who need to build confidence navigating and evaluating online job advertisements quickly and effectively.
Educational Use
- Curriculum / Instruction
- Professional Development
College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) Alignment
- Level: Adult Education
- Grade Level: B
- Subject: English Language Arts / Literacy
- Strand: Reading
- Sub-strand: Reading of Informational Text
- Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. (RI.2.5)
- Understanding the various elements of job advertisements
- Strand: Critical Thinking and Written Communication
- Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. (SL.3.1)
- Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail. (SL.3.3)
Language
English
Material Type
- Instructional Material
Learning Goals
In this lesson ABE ESL learners will:
- Identify and describe the elements of a typical online job ad
- Recognize and locate keywords in typical online job ad
- Summarize a job applicant’s key skills and qualifications
- Appraise and compare appropriate job applicants with target job ad
Keywords
- Designers for Learning
- Adult Education
- Mobile Learning
- Job
- Employment
- Ads
- Discussion
- Applicant
- Experience
- Preferred
- Required
Time Required for Lesson
30 minutes
Prior Knowledge
The learners must be able to read at an elementary level. Although work experience or experience applying for jobs would be valuable for the discussion, it is not essential.
Required Resources
Lesson Author & License
- Lesson Author: Sheetal Parekar
- License: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license
Part 2: Lesson
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the learner will:
- Identify and describe the elements of a typical online job ad
- Summarize a job applicant’s key skills and qualifications
- Appraise and compare appropriate job applicants with target job ad
Lesson Topics
Key topics covered in this lesson include:
- Online job ads
- Ideal job applicants
- Employability discussion
- Job skills
- Job qualifications
Context Summary
A common goal of many Adult Basic Education learners is upward mobility, whether it is attaining their first job, or changing careers based on new skills or qualifications achieved, learning to find and apply to an appropriate job can be daunting. This lesson aims to support learners with low levels of English communication skills develop confidence in understanding elements of online job ads and what employers are looking for and how they express that in their job ads. This lesson also helps point learners at possible valuable skills and qualifications that they themselves may already have or are near to achieving by examining some example descriptions of job applicants. Finally, it helps to develop communication language skills by providing opportunities for discussion.
Relevance to Practice
This lesson seeks to serve as a bridge for learners to move from their own individual employment goals to identifying appropriate online job advertisements and confidently apply for these jobs in the future. This can be achieved by developing an understanding of what job skills are needed in several Adult Basic Education common target fields of employment, how to identify any gaps in the job roles, responsibilities and qualifications described in the online job advertisement and their own current abilities and experience. Finally, they can set meaningful goals to chart a course to bridging these gaps in the future.
Key Terms and Concepts
- Job Title
- Job Duties
- Qualifications
- Required / Preferred Experience
- Job Applicant
Instructional Strategies and Activities
Since my learners are from a deprived group or unprivileged in contrast to the usual well-do students in general, I don't think they would be confident enough to mingle with the rest of the coworkers in their class, and therefore, I am incorporating only a student-instructor channel of communication, and not encouraging student-student communication channel. Besides, all my student group is already working, and therefore I would like to design the instructions in such a way that will be self-sufficient to a lot of extent, and only in case of any doubt, difficulty or more guidance, the students can contact the instructor via a communication app named 'Remind'.
All the instructional strategies are presented adopting the WIPPEA Lesson Framework and are based on Merrill's First Principles of Learning.
Warm-Up
Time: 3 minutes
1) Since it's going to be a mobile learning experience where students will be learning the lesson mostly by their own in an isolation, I would like to start the lesson with an Instructor's brief video introducing himself/herself to the students, and also justifying the need for learning this lesson, followed by what learners will be able to do after learning this lesson and finally, telling them about the overall structure of the lesson. The instructor needs to encourage learners to participate in all learning activities designed in the lesson. Learners need to click Next to proceed to the next screen.
2) On the next screen, learners will be prompted to answer the given question - "Write about any interesting job ad/s and related details you have come across so far". Learners will have to type in their response in the textbox provided, keeping in mind the specified word limit. Once the learner clicks the Submit button, let them view responses of other learners as well as their own. Learners will have to click the Next button to move to the next screen.
Introduction
Time: 5 minutes
1) Video Lecture - Tell the students that the purpose of this video is to become familiar with how different kinds of jobs are described in job ads and what qualities jobs applicants need to get these kinds of jobs. Discuss with examples different job positions your learners might be interested in, what qualities the job applicants must possess to acquire such jobs, and hence, how such job ads should be worded. Inform learners about the next activity designed on the next screen.
2) Give a small activity (containing 5 examples) of match the pairs where in one group, there will be a list of varied job positions and in the other group, the crucial skills needed to perform a corresponding job. Learners will have to touch the respective pairs to get the feedback. Give learners 3 attempts for each of the option before showing the right answer. Learners to click the 'Next' button to proceed.
3) A brief instructor's video explaining the right answers will conclude the activity.
Presentation / Modeling / Demonstration
Time: 5 minutes
1) Instructor's video about what they are going to learn in this unit - Job Ads Elements and ask the learners to attend the next activity.
2) Match the pair activity - one group having the job ad elements and the other group having the descriptions for a particular job position. Learners will have to match the details to the corresponding job element.
3) An instructor's video explaining the job ad elements by giving an example of a typical nursing position - job title, job roles/responsibilities, qualifications, experience (required, preferred), and company description. Also, explain the difference between the required and preferred skills.
Guided Practice
Time: 5 Minutes
In this part of the video, the Instructor will discuss the skill sets of 4 candidates and ask the students if they can choose a right candidate out of the given list for the job position discussed. Pause the video and insert a question, when the learner types-in the answer, and clicks the 'Next' button, continue the video to discuss the right answer.
Evaluation
Time: 10 minutes
Learners will be presented with the Multiple Choice Single Select activity with 80% mastery required to complete the lesson successfully. There will be 10 questions in total. Each question will be focused on a particular Job Position and the corresponding 5 job applicants' brief profiles. Learners will have to analyse the job description and choose the best candidate for the position. Learners to get one chance to give the right answer.
Through this the teacher can determine if the students understand the various elements of a job ad, and the information included in the description of each job applicant.
Application
Time: 2 minutes
1) Start with a short learner activity - 'Write about your dream job and list down the job description, roles,qualification and skills needed to perform the same, including required and preferred skill sets'. Once the learners click the Submit button, show them the responses submitted by rest of the learners. Learners to click the 'Next' button to proceed to the next screen.
2) Instructor's video - Discuss with learners about the dream job which all of us aspires for. Then ask them to review their response and circle which part of job elements they think they already have such as qualification, skills and so on. Underline the ones they don’t have and think about how they can get these. Direct the learners to the online job search engines and try to find an ad they are interested in and message about it with their response and questions to the Instructor using the 'Remind' app.
Part 3: Supplementary Resources & References
Supplementary Resources
Newspaper Job Ad Reading Practice:
http://www.oercommons.org/courses/classifieds-tutorial/view
Online Job Search Engines:
Online Job Search tips:
https://www.pace.edu/career-services/sites/pace.edu.career-services/files/PDF/OnlineJobSearch.pdf
References
None
Attribution Statements
None
This course content is offered by Designers for Learning under a CC Attribution license.
Content in this course can be considered under this license unless otherwise noted. Page
(Design Guide effective March 29, 2016)