How can today's kids learn about career choices?
Online, of course, but CareerViewXR lets them get an up-close look at dozens of career options without leaving home or the classroom.
Now, two Maine businesses are being added to the dozens of choices.
CareerView is based in North Dakota, and uses special 360-degree cameras and virtual reality technology to take viewers into the middle of a work space for a virtual field trip. The company already has a library of well over 50 career choices from seven states, ranging from bakers to diesel mechanics and everything in between.
Now, that library will include high-end steel fabrication work and lobster fishing, both recorded last month in midcoast Maine.
"What CareerView does for students is it demystifies the world of work," Matt Chaussee, CEO and co-founder of the business, explained.
He says the videos let students see and learn about a wide range of career options in a way that's almost like being inside the workplace. He said they get to see and hear what goes on and learn about the details of the particular career they watch.
"The last thing you want is have a student make a choice on a career because they have limited options. We're opening up those opportunities to make sure every student has the opportunity to pursue a dream job because they're able to be exposed to all of them."
CareerView came to Maine because of a unique school project in the small town of St. George, where the entire school is now using hands-on learning techniques for all students, grades Pre-K through 12.
"Kids learn better when they get to build and create, use their hands and their minds," Superintendent Mike Felton, who is leading the effort to expand the focus of learning at the school, said.
That includes building a new CTE (Career and Technical Education) center beside the elementary school, to house technical work space that Felton calls the "21st Century Shop."
"The new building will have a shop, for boat building, woodworking, and metalwork. And a maker space with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC routers, robotics, and sewing machines."
All those tools, he says, will become part of the curriculum to help students create projects to solve problems or explore ideas beyond the textbooks.
Felton says the goal of the project is to also encourage students to explore technical career options. He says businesses in the area and Maine in general already struggle to find enough workers in technical fields.
The St. George project has attracted national attention and some financial support, which is how Felton met Chaussee. Both were at a national conference, and began talking about their shared goal of expanding the career horizons for young people.
CareerView, Chaussee says, offered to come to Maine and produce two videos for free, to both expand their library and help the St. George effort.
He says it should also help attract new users.
"I've not spoken to a single student or person when they found we are filming a lobster fishing experience, [who didn't say] 'Oh my gosh I want to watch that.' And creating a culture of excitement around career exploration is what the CareerView platform is all about."
At Steel Pro, which fabricates stainless steel components for use around the world, company President Steve Ladd said he is a believer in the St. George project, and was eager to use his company for one of the CareerView videos.
"To use Mike Felton's phrase, hands-on-minds-on learning, I like that idea… He used that phrase and it really struck a chord with me."
The Steel Pro video will show a fabricator transforming a piece of stainless steel into a pipe section for a special connector to be used at a natural gas plant in India.
On Cushman's lobster boat, viewers will see the full process of preparing, setting, and hauling traps to bring lobsters to market, as well as the business aspect of the work.
"It's traditional trade like fishing, along with advanced manufacturing at steel Pro," Felton said. "So for our kids to see that and be part of that, and know it is part of their community, and see all these possibilities, is powerful for our kids and for kids around the country."
The videos should be added to the CareerViewXR library this fall. Meanwhile, even as the new CTE school building goes up, students and teachers at the school are already using the hands-on learning techniques they believe will help all the students to more eagerly pursue education and skills.
"Ultimately, what this is about is rural economic development," Felton said. "We want to diversify and strengthen our local economy and so we have a year-round community in perpetuity."