Here is the "Short" version...
Working at the Memorial Union is not just a "job." You are a member of a fun and caring community of students and staff committed to making the Memorial Union a great place to live, learn and grow, not just for those who work here, but for all who use our programs and services. Most importantly, we want your employment to be a learning experience and hope that your time with us becomes a rewarding part of your University life. This is our vision of the workplace; we invite you to share in the journey.
What is the Memorial Union's Employment Philosophy?
Easy...for everyone to care about the work we do and who we do it for (those we serve); to care about and respect one another; and to have fun doing it!
Our philosophy also includes intentionally helping you learn something from your work experience. This can be a skill or behavior (or several of each) that you feel you can use to enhance your personal and future professional life.
- For example, a skill may be learning to use different types of office equipment (fax machines, copiers, laminators, binding machines, etc.).
- A behavior may refer to learning team skills, improving your communication skills, developing greater self-confidence, etc.
One way we can help you get the most from working at the Memorial Union is to establish organizational goals that move beyond job satisfaction to goals which support student learning. What this means is that we would like the Memorial Union to be more than just a great place to work, we want it to be a place where learning takes place.
What Are Learning Goals?
When we talk about “learning goals,” we are referring to more than developing competency on an assortment of “tasks.” Learning goals refer to the behavior you learn as a result of accomplishing the practical aspects of the job.
In general, these goals are referred to as “learning outcomes.” Learning outcomes are behaviors that student employees will learn when a job is done correctly; it’s about what you will learn (take away) from your work experience
Besides saying: “Here’s what you are expected to do” (task )… we can also say: “Here’s what you can expect to learn”… the focus is on both!
What Are the Learning Outcomes Established for the Memorial Union?
It’s really hard to try and list all the learning possibilities at the Memorial Union; each one of us will learn differently, based on the job we have.
However, regardless of where you work, employment at the Memorial Union should help you become better prepared to:
- Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
- Think critically and creatively.
- Access & use information to make informed choices.
- Understand how conclusions are reached.
- Acquire knowledge over a broad spectrum of subject areas.
- Enhance your cultural awareness.
- Use technology.
- Use ethics and values in decision-making.
- Use time management skills to prioritize work tasks and meet deadlines.
- Enhance your interpersonal skills as you work as a team with co-workers.
- Enhance your customer service skills through your service to others.
- Demonstrate your understanding of standards and expectations, and use them to manage an efficient and professional work environment.
This is not be the complete list of learning outcomes for the Memorial Union, as each job will also bring different experiences. The point is that as an employee, you will have the opportunity to learn a variety of skills.
You may also recognize some of these as UND’s General Education requirements. By using General Education outcomes as learning goals, the Memorial Union is able to connect what you are learning on the job directly to academic outcomes (and optimistically your academic success). It also helps us integrate the work experience with the education and preparation of the whole student, as it relates to your total collegiate experience.
Click here to see our Learning Outcomes Goals for 2007-2008.
How Will We Know if Learning is Taking Place?
Hopefully, you will tell us.
At the end of each school year, we send out a Student Employee Workplace Survey to all our student employees. Your responses provide a wealth of information on job satisfaction, workplace communications, student/staff relations, likes/dislikes, training, etc. The survey also provides excellent data on what student employees feel they are learning. As a result, this survey is one way we assess how well learning is taking place throughout the Union.
In addition, supervisors will also conduct performance evaluations at the end of each semester. This is more of an individual assessment of how well you are doing with your job tasks. This time also allows you and your supervisor to reflect on your learning experience.
But don’t wait for these times to let us know what’s on your mind. Your comments are welcome anytime, so please let the staff know anytime you have ideas or comments to share about your work experience.
This is Our Vision for the Workplace
As you can see, our vision is to create an environment that helps student employees benefit from their work experience, in terms of both what they are doing (tasks) and what they are learning.
So if you ask any of our student employees “What’s it like working at the Memorial Union?”, we hope they say:
- It’s fun
- People care about me
- It fits my schedule
- I make a lot of friends
- I learned something
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