Digital Programs

We have been developing our digital capabilities since 2019 with the aim of increasing program accessibility and scaling student and mentor impact. We fast-tracked this work during the COVID-19 pandemic when most school excursions to member company workplaces were postponed.

Creating digital versions of our traditional face-to-face programs will also allow ABCN to bring our programs to students in regional and remote areas in 2021. Our digital programs also remove barriers to mentor participation since they can join from their home, office or wherever they happen to be at the time.

The aim is to provide a new path forward in how ABCN programs are experienced and delivered.

Core ABCN programs

In 2019, supported by Accenture and Fjord, we ran two successful pilots for a digital version of our GOALS program. As with the original face-to-face program, digital GOALS aims to widen the life choices and aspirations of students in their middle years of high school, encouraging them to complete their schooling by focusing on goal-setting, self-management and critical thinking. We ran our first 2020 digital GOALS pilot in South Australia, and have since run pilots in a number of other states.

Digital GOALS was the first in a suite of ABCN digital programs rolled out over the second half of 2020. Other digital pilots included Focus  (leadership skills for girls), Future Thinkers  (innovative problem-solving through design thinking) and Aspirations  (awareness of post-school career pathways). We also launched a new core digital program, Empower, which builds students’ confidence, skills and mindsets such as resilience and adaptability to equip students to adapt to a rapidly changing workplace and world.

See examples of how we’re being very flexible with our delivery – using a safe mix of digital and face-to-face formats depending on the needs of our schools and member companies.

The next digital programs we intend to pilot are Innovate  (encouraging the uptake of STEM jobs) and Interview 2 Impress  (equips students for successful job interviews).

We delivered about 150 digital programs in 2020 and we have big plans to ramp up this figure in 2021.

See a snapshot of all our core programs here.

Collaborative programs

In addition to our core programs, we have also co-created digital versions of specialised programs with our member companies. Examples include:

• SolveIT, in partnership with EY, that aims to create authentic learning experiences linked to the Year 9 mathematics curriculum,
• Full STEAM Ahead, a collaboration with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences to engage students in Years 7-8 with STEAM-based activities,
• My Career Rules, an initiative supported by Accenture to connect Year 10-11 students with a panel of professionals telling their career stories in an interactive video conference environment.