360-degree Virtual Workplace Empowers and Engages Students with Career Exploration Activities

“I feel like we should get to explore the careers and find out what you would do in the careers and how you need to get there,” mused Lexi, an 8th grader, when asked about her career plans. “I feel like we don’t really do that a lot. And we need more of that.”  

But in today’s high stakes testing and limited resource environment, it’s challenging for communities, education and business leaders, and parents to create high-quality and engaging opportunities for career exploration. That’s why American Student Assistance® (ASA) developed the EvolveMe® platform. 

EvolveMe is a free, award-winning, skill-building and career experimentation platform that engages students in valuable career experimentation activities or “tasks” to better prepare them for their futures. It incentivizes teens to complete tasks by giving them points they can redeem for gift cards to their favorite retail, restaurant, and entertainment brands. They can also track their progress and accomplishments through fun and dynamic visuals to keep them engaged.  

The platform features tasks from over 50 mission-aligned, innovative partners, like Worktour, to empower students with the information and experience they need to make good decisions about their education and career pathways.    

Imagine being able to walk through the office of a real company, shadow one of their employees, discover in-demand jobs that you didn’t know existed, and learn about career pathways and required skills, all from your laptop or mobile device. It’s now possible through Worktour’s activity on the EvolveMe platform. The activity provides students with  360-degree virtual workplace experiences along with interactive games and tools to help kids learn career vocabulary and critical concepts, all without VR equipment. 

Since joining the EvolveMe platform, thousands of students assigned a voluntary 30-minute task on Worktour have become immersed in the environment. Their completion rate of 65%+ exceeded expectations for a non-mandatory assignment (required in-class assignments average 90%+- completion rate) and even better, students voluntarily spent an average of 21 hours exploring virtual workplaces, way beyond the amount of time needed to complete the initial assignment.  

Through the Worktour activity, EvolveMe students have been introduced to more than 20,000 in-demand careers. It was an eye-opening experience for many participants. In the words of one student, “I truly believe that I learned more about careers with these activities. I thought I knew all about them, but it turns out I didn’t.” And he’s not alone. After completing the activity, almost a third of students reported they realized they didn’t know as much as they thought they did about careers.  

Students also said the virtual workplace experiences were very helpful. “Before I felt like I didn’t know much, but now that I’ve seen actual people working and how they do their job I feel more confident,” a student shared. 

Another student added, “I was unsure how to learn about jobs [before]. Now, I feel that I have a better understanding of how to explore the jobs I’m interested in and am more prepared for my career search.”    

To learn more about the Worktour experience on EvolveMe, read the case study.