At the end of last month, two years following the launch of our video library, the 127 Career Journeys interviews we recorded have logged an astounding 30,323 views! Students, educators, and others drawn to learning how different professionals charted their career courses have collectively put in nearly 1,200 hours watching our interviewees tell their stories.
“We’re thrilled that this experiment proved so incredibly useful to students,” said Program Director Debbie Pixton. “We started the series because the pandemic closed off opportunities for in-person career exploration, but even after schools and businesses began reopening, video viewings and watch time just continued to grow. Our Snack & Learn videos, which we launched once the Career Journeys series was really catching on, also have begun gaining an audience.”
“I think what it tells us is that students want to learn about jobs from people who are actually doing them. Given that, and all the limitations to in-person access, video may well be the best option for beginning to explore careers,” Pixton added.
Educators also have told us that the videos, along with teaching resources available on our Career Journeys web page, have been an invaluable resource. In numerous districts, for example, students have been able to use their written reflections on the interviews among “artifacts” they must collect to document career learning for the state. They’ve also used them as a means of deciding on fields they’d like to explore more, possibly through job-shadowing or in-person mentoring.
Our library of Snack & Learn videos, which focuses more on companies and industries than on individual career paths, also is building an audience. The collection is newer than Career Journeys and began with virtual learning opportunities that students and educators could attend. We later turned recordings of those sessions into 28 videos and continue to add more. So far, the 28 have enjoyed 426 views and nearly 23 hours of watch-time.
