Learning in the Real World: The Next Phase of Learn and Earn

One of the college's top priorities is ensuring students receive an education that extends beyond the classroom—an academic experience enriched with hands-on experiences that help them apply their skills, navigate teamwork challenges, and build professional communication abilities. This past semester, we launched a pilot program designed to do just that, and the results were positive.

In this first pilot class (IS&T Professional Development) we partnered with four organizations—FNBO, Physicians Mutual, Nebraska Enterprise Fund, and Appsky—on diverse, real-world projects. Students work on diverse projects such as developing an internal monitoring dashboard, creating a volunteer tracking system, building a tool for deciphering acronyms, and designing a data visualization dashboard to help one of our partners measure impact.

Beyond technical skills, the class emphasized professional development. Students refined their résumés, improved their LinkedIn and Handshake profiles, practiced technical interviews, and made project presentations to our partners. These activities helped prepare them for the workforce, and to develop confidence and competencies in professional settings.

Given the success of the pilot, we are excited to offer the class again this spring, with the goal of making this opportunity available to all students in the college in the future. This initiative underscores our commitment to providing our students with not only academic knowledge but also the tools to thrive in their future careers.