Inspire Madison Region is a talent-development initiative that provides tools and support for educators to engage students in thinking about their careers, find relevance in what they are learning in the classroom and increase students’ career readiness.
Inspire helps students and career-seekers meet their future career goals by bridging the gap between school and the work world. One aspect of this initiative is the Xello platform that provides a central hub in which area students and educators can actively interact with area employers and career coaches with the goal of:
- Helping students find relevance in what they are learning in the classroom
- Engaging students early in thinking about their careers
- Making a positive impact our region’s career readiness
How does Inspire work?
Inspire Madison Region is a whole-community approach to career-readiness that enhances the academic and career planning tools available to school districts utilizing Xello for their ACP platform. The system provides a customized information sharing and resource gathering environment where educators and their students can easily:
- Learn about area companies that offer jobs and careers in their area of interest
- Participate in career discussions with an online mentor/career coach from that company
- Further interact with that company by participating in other Real-world Experiences, such as job-shadowing, internships, company tours, and summer employment
Beyond Xello, Inspire Madison Region is also offering Future Talent Services to employers and schools in our region.
These support services inlude:
1. Virtual job shadows – MadREP coordinates with employers to present a subject of their choice to students in our region and across the state via an online format. This format was highly successful over Spring semester 2020 with thousands of students and educators grades 6-college signed up and viewed the sessions.
2. Help creating post-virtual job shadow events – We help businesses and schools make the most of the virtual events by creating follow up opportunities with interested students (possibly other virtual events)
3. Support connecting with employers – We facilitate connections with businesses of your choice for Career-based Learning Experiences, Guest Speaking Engagements, curriculum support and more. We can target specific industries and career clusters.
4. Direct messaging to students – We work with schools in our region to deliver meaningful content about your company and opportunities to students.
5. Advanced support for Inspire profile – We help businesses develop the most impactful Inspire profile to speak meaningfully to your students.
6. Social media promotions – We promote businesses, schools and opportunities in key career areas to students, educators and the general public via our social media platforms.
7. Expert advice on creating Career-based Learning Experiences – We help your education team develop meaningful CBLEs to your school and students.
How can educators take part?
- Make sure your school is licensed with Xello. If you or your school are interested in participating in Inspire Madison Region, please contact us.
- Access the Inspire Madison Region features and lesson plans through your Xello educator account. Help students learn about local businesses in the career clusters of they are interested in, connect with experiential learning opportunities and get advice from local online career coach mentors.
- Contact us at acrabb@madisonregion.org for more information.