SOAR masthead with logo and competency icons

SOAR

SOAR Through Experiential Learning: Elevate Learning Beyond Boundaries!

Pathway 1:

Experiential Learning

DISCOVER, DESIGN, LAUNCH and SOAR

In your first year at UW, SOAR will guide you through the college experience, unveiling diverse focuses like campus involvement, community engagement, and self-care. As you wrap up your final year, capitalize on leadership opportunities, join honor societies, and tap into faculty mentorship for a well-rounded culmination of hard work, shaping your career competency to confidently soar into your next journey.

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SOAR is a competency based program at UW made up of experiences that will shape, engage and prepare students to meet unpredictable and complex challenges for the future. As a participant, you will participate in high impact learning experiences in research, cross-cultural and international perspectives, internships, entrepreneurship, leadership and community service.

Experiential learning is an educational approach that emphasizes the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and understanding through direct engagement with real-world experiences. In this learning model, individuals actively participate in activities, experiments, or hands-on tasks, allowing them to apply theoretical concepts to practical situations. Experiential learning often involves reflection on the experience, encouraging learners to analyze and derive insights from their hands-on encounters, fostering a deeper and more lasting understanding of the subject matter. This approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice, promoting active learning and personal development.

1. Discover Your Options: During your first year at UW, SOAR will introduce you to the college experience. You’ll learn about areas of focus that will help you discover extracurricular pursuits.

2. Design Your Journey: Your second year is when you begin to focus in on opportunities and pursuits that will meet the goals of your college journey as well as continue to develop your college self and help design the rest of your SOAR experience.

3. Launch Yourself in the Experience: Launch yourself even more into those experiences that energize you and provide opportunities to develop competencies that will be needed in your future career.

4. SOAR Into Your Next Journey: Your final year at UW is the culmination of all your hard work. So take advantage of the leadership opportunities in your clubs and organizations, participate in honor societies, enroll in a capstone course, or pursue global travel opportunities. Gain all you can from your faculty mentors, advisors, and career specialists as you finalize your career competency development to SOAR into your next journey.

 

 

Pathway 2:

 

 

 

Career readiness competencies are the skills, behaviors, and attributes that employers want in new employees. In order to land the first job you are seeking after college, it is important you know what employers want and develop those qualities throughout your academic journey.

Badging or microcredentialing in the context of career competencies refers to the practice of awarding digital badges or small, specialized credentials to individuals who demonstrate specific skills, knowledge, or accomplishments related to their professional development. These badges or microcredentials serve as tangible and verifiable representations of an individual's competence in a particular area or skill set within their career.

In this system, learners typically engage in targeted learning experiences, such as workshops, courses, or projects, to acquire specific competencies. Upon successful completion, they are awarded a digital badge or microcredential that can be displayed on online platforms, such as social media profiles or professional networking sites. These digital representations enable individuals to showcase their mastery of specific career-related skills in a more granular and easily shareable format, offering a more nuanced and detailed overview of their capabilities to potential employers or collaborators. Badging and microcredentialing contribute to a more agile and personalized approach to skill development and recognition within the evolving landscape of professional competencies.

  1. Badging or microcredentialing in career competencies provides students with a distinct advantage in the competitive job market by offering verifiable evidence of their specialized skills and achievements, allowing them to stand out among other candidates.

  2. These digital badges or microcredentials serve as a targeted and concise representation of a student's capabilities, enabling employers to quickly identify and recognize the specific competencies that align with their organization's needs, streamlining the hiring process.

  3. By showcasing a diverse array of badges representing various career-related skills and accomplishments, students can create a comprehensive and dynamic online portfolio that not only demonstrates their academic qualifications but also highlights their practical abilities, significantly enhancing their appeal to potential employers and increasing their chances of securing a rewarding career after college.

Career Competencies

Empower Your Journey: Building Career Competencies for Success:

Build the skills, behaviors, and attributes that employers want in new employees. In order to land that first job you are seeking after college, it's important you know what employers want and develop those qualities throughout your academic journey.

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Pathway 3:

Targeted Badges

Your Skills, Your Success:

Individual Badges at UW offer tailored experiences for distinct student groups and classes, providing a personalized journey within our diverse community. Each badge unlocks unique activities meticulously designed to cater to the specific needs and interests of its recipients, fostering a sense of belonging and empowerment. Elevate your student experience with Targeted Badges, where every achievement is a step toward a personalized and enriched educational adventure.

 

Specialized badges within the SOAR program have been crafted by various campus colleges and departments. These badges offer tailored experiences and activities specifically geared towards preparing individuals for careers within the respective industries.

There are over 25+ targeted badges in SOAR:

  1. CASM Tutor Professional Development: 1st Year
  2. Peace Corps Prep
  3. Green Dot Bystander Training
  4. Restorative Communities Leadership Workshop Series
  5. Cowboy Coaching
  6. (WORTH) Laramie Certified Destination Expert Program
  7. Pre-Nursing Success Badge
  8. Living Learning Community Badge
  9. SPPAIS Badge
  10. COJO Badge
  11. Exploratory Studies Badge
  12. Acclimation: Explore Your Community
  13. Summer Bridge 2023
  14. CASM Tutor Professional Development: Advanced Tutor
  15. First Year Experience
  16. Outdoor Leadership
  17. SSS Academic Year 2023-2024
  18. RMAL Practice Awareness and Reflection
  19. RMAL Think Critically
  20. RMAL Utilize Data
  21. RMAL Lead Others
  22. RMAL Communicate Effectively
  23. ERMD Beginner
  24. ERMD Intermediate
  25. ERMD Elite
  26. ERMD Legend
  27. Cowboy Leadership Certificate

A specialized badge can demonstrate to employers in your chosen industry that you've gone the extra mile to attain readiness for a career in that particular field.

These badges can also:

  1. Badging or microcredentialing in career competencies provides students with a distinct advantage in the competitive job market by offering verifiable evidence of their specialized skills and achievements, allowing them to stand out among other candidates.

  2. These digital badges or microcredentials serve as a targeted and concise representation of a student's capabilities, enabling employers to quickly identify and recognize the specific competencies that align with their organization's needs, streamlining the hiring process.

  3. By showcasing a diverse array of badges representing various career-related skills and accomplishments, students can create a comprehensive and dynamic online portfolio that not only demonstrates their academic qualifications but also highlights their practical abilities, significantly enhancing their appeal to potential employers and increasing their chances of securing a rewarding career after college.

Utilizing a targeted badge can not only guide your students through a specific set of experiences created by you and/or your department, it can also provide a mechanism to track attendance and participation in those experiences.  The SOAR platform can be embedded into WyoCourses so you can now make experiences outside of the classroom part of your class and part of your gradebook if you so choose.  

sample targeted badge

 

Submit a Proposal for a Targeted Badge

Contact Us

SOAR | Becky Despain
222 Knight Hall Dept. 3195 1000 E. University Ave.
Laramie, WY 82071
Phone: (307) 766-2398
Email: bdespain@uwyo.edu