This study started from the practical need for a career experience program in the fashion major that is creative and responds to current methodologies. The purpose of this study is to propose a fashion work experience program that combines digital technology and practical experience. The research methods and procedures were as follows: fashion items and wearable devices were selected, the LED smart bag program was developed, and it was executed. A total of 123 students participated in the program, and a satisfaction survey was conducted after observation and oral evaluation. All of the participants completed the LED smart bag processes of design ideation, material selection, production, and styling using an eco-bag (one of the fashion items and as an LED wearable device). As a result of the participants’ satisfaction (on a 5-point scale), most items showed a high level of satisfaction of 4.39 points or more. The smart bag program was evaluated to increase interest based on the time allotted and the students’ level and to bolster their understanding of, and interest in, the fashion major. Therefore, this study is expected to be baseline to explore diversification of the fashion major work experience program, in order to create interest in the fashion major based on creative convergence competency.
Since a free-learning semester has been introduced to middle school curriculum, interest in career experience programs has increased. To respond to this new demand, we developed a continuous agriculture-related career experience program linked with STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education, and we examined the program’s effects on the job awareness of middle school students. The program was conducted from April 8, 2015 to June 24, 2015, and consisted of 12 classes. The direct experience subprogram was based on 13 different horticultural activities that reflect producing (nine programs), cooking (two programs), and sales (two programs) of horticultural produces. For the indirect experience subprogram, we preliminarily selected 10 representative agricultural jobs, and based on the keywords analyzed from 7 direct experience programs, we chose to introduce seven jobs to the students by videos and the three others by written material. We then investigated the effect of introductory videos on job interest, understanding, and preference by the students. We found that the student’s interest, understanding, and preference regarding each job were significantly improved when direct experience and video watching were combined. Career awareness was improved for gardener (47.0%), nursery grower (42.0%), rural extension official (31.1%), eco-friendly farm material developer (30.9%), agricultural research official (23.4%), plant doctor (19.8%), and agricultural wholesale distribution experts (9.3%). Conclusively, it is expected that career experience programs have the greatest effect on students when both interest in the job and participation on direct experiences are encouraged.
In recent years, the globalization has raised the interest in the overseas experiential learning. Overseas experiential learning has been playing an important role by learning from various cultures which enables the students to achieve the global insights and leadership. However, the regulations have not been properly established, and Ministry of Education tend to recommend not to travel abroad without a special purpose. The results were found that teachers seek the exchange program with the local students in the partner country, and, overall, the cost-effectiveness was relatively low. Also, with the fact that the revisit was not recommendable, the satisfaction of the previous activities has been questioned. Teachers agreed with the critical points on career development of middle school and high school students, and positively rated the suggested prototype of oversea experiential learning based on career education.