WIP: Developing Career Adaptability Skills Through Teaching: Undergraduate Student Development for Transforming Careers

This work-in-progress (WIP) innovative practice paper focuses on skills developed by student instructional team members working in peer instruction in computing. Research has shown that peer instruction models such as supplemental instruction (SI) support computer science student learning and peer community building while extending the reach of the instructional team. SI participants achieve higher grades and experience greater retention rates in the STEM majors than their non-participating peers, an impact that can extend beyond the initial supplemental instruction semester. While benefits for Supplemental Instruction learners are well documented, the program's effect on the leaders is not well documented. Supplemental Instruction leaders receive training, mentoring, and peer guidance in developing teaching practices that meet students' needs. Unlike lecture-based instruction, supplemental instruction at Kean University involves modeling, guided problem-solving, and interaction with learners in small groups. Students who attend supplemental instruction may arrive with specific questions or academic needs that must be addressed to support further learning of the subject matter, making SI sessions spaces for improvisation and adaptive teaching. The authors contend that leading supplemental instruction sessions for computer science first and second-semester coursework allows leaders to develop flexible communication practices and career adaptability skills, which are vital” soft skills” for career development. Research indicates that career adaptability leads to stronger employment outcomes, such as wages, job satisfaction, and workplace engagement. This work-in-progress paper draws on career development, entrepreneurial mindset research, and social science research on improvisation. The paper makes inferences regarding the apprenticeship and guidance practices that support adaptive thinking and improvisation in SI at Kean University, and develops recommendations for faculty and staff who lead peer instruction efforts in engineering and/or computing departments. Innovations in this paper include considering how SI leaders develop career adaptability in their work, which can support leader recruitment and lead to new mechanisms for improving SI leader performance.