South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation – Division of Workforce Development

The Challenge

Many teachers and students in grades 7-12 are unaware of Registered Apprenticeships (RAs) or the benefits they offer. Registered Apprenticeships provide trainees with a paycheck while delivering On-the-Job Training in a variety of industries and occupations. The South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation Division of Workforce Development’s mission is to help meet the skilled workforce needs of business and industry across South Dakota. Informing teachers and students about RA opportunities helps to create a foundational understanding of apprenticeships available within their community. Registered Apprenticeships are a valuable training opportunity for workers to prepare for a high skill, high demand, high wage occupations.

Vivayic’s Solution

The creation of an Educator and Student “Playbook” outlined context and instructions needed to carry out instructional activities to help students better understand the role and availability of RAs. The Student Playbook is the counterpart to the Educators Playbook. Together, these two resources included ten activities related to Registered Apprenticeships. These activities are “plug and play” so teachers can lead them in order or individually to best fit their curriculum. Concepts can be built off each other, but do not have to be. The main goal of the playbooks was to inform students and teachers about what a Registered Apprenticeship is, and how they can impact their long-term career goals.

Creating a solution that would work for a variety of educators with a wide range of experience was a key need; so, the plug and play nature of the lesson plans was a necessary solution. Vivayic has vast experience in developing classroom experiences for Career Technical Education, helping teachers contextualize the world of work in their classrooms as we have numerous subject matter experts in workforce programs and youth Work-based Learning experiences on our team.

The Outcome
A cohort of local educators across the state were engaged to generate ideas, provide feedback and test the resources. This helped ensure the activities were well written and applicable in their classroom. The resources were piloted in classrooms across the state to ensure accuracy and effectiveness before the final Playbooks were provided. The Playbooks were so well received that a Phase 2 of the project was secured to include resources about how to create Registered Apprenticeship opportunities.
Educator apprenticeship graphic
Registered Apprenticeship Educator Playbook
Student apprenticeship graphic
Registered Apprenticeship Student Learnbook
Scroll to Top