The course is packed into a week of 6 workshops (9am to 5pm) and a few additional evenings. Each workshop covers a specific module.
The first 4 modules (described below) are taught by the teacher, the last 2 are taught by speakers from the career center.
Module 1 (leadership): Students are pushed to introspection and define their 5 major qualities. To do so, they fill out a self-assessment (StrenghtsFinder) that attests to their qualities and strengthens their self-confidence. They are also invited to project themselves in the long term by writing an essay on their life project.
Module 2 (spontaneous speech): In the morning, students focus on the skills and strategies necessary for public communication. Learning through experience, they practice by speaking for a few minutes on selected topics. In the afternoon, they work in groups on a prepared speech related to a specific topic, giving them the opportunity to receive feedback from their peers. At the end of the day, they must have filmed a video of their oral performance to be delivered at the end of the week to have time to edit the video.
Module 3 (Teamwork): Students complete a questionnaire to determine their preferred role in a team (Belbin team role assessment). They then participate in a team building simulation - Team Builder - in which they are given a deck of cards (like poker cards) and must put the cards in order as quickly as possible. This exercise forces them to communicate and work together. At the beginning, they are often frustrated because they do not collaborate enough, they will repeat this exercise 4 times during the day to explore different techniques. On average, the cards are put away in 3 minutes at the beginning of the day and in 20 seconds at the end of the day (evolution of teamwork). They also experiment with 6 thinking hats, a teamwork approach where each hat color represents a defined role (e.g., white = focus on facts), and take turns wearing these different hats.
Module 4 (Planning and Management): Students learn how to conduct their wider activities (professional and private) to become more efficient in their work by doing it in a systematic way. The teacher shows them, for example, how to use the "zero inbox" technique to ensure that all emails are processed.
The last 2 modules, led by the career center, deal with concrete topics such as how to find a job. Through an assessment activity, students identify, for example, their qualities, skills, and knowledge as well as their strengths and limitations. They also use tests to explore their interests, values, and personality at work. These elements allow them to identify their future professional target and to clarify their choice of orientation. They also learn to develop their networking skills, an essential exercise in any job search.
For the assessment, the teacher observes students in their practice as they are taught applied skills and knowledge. Students also write a working paper on their own progress to date in terms of personal development (based on the Strengthsfinder assessment), their public communication development, their team role development (based on the Belbin assessment), and their personal effectiveness (based on the Getting To Inbox Zero assessment).
