When setting up the participant teams there are many different strategies that can be used: use a prepared list to assign pairs based on subjects taught or experience; draw names of businesses randomly from a hat and distribute to participants, separate colleagues; etc. You may want to avoid having people who teach in the same discipline going together; or you may want to do that intentionally. Some like the element of surprise – others may not. Again, your knowledge here of your own group’s culture should be the determiner. Your choice will in large part be based in your organization’s larger goals for the Workshop (to build a community, to strengthen ties between academic and applied instructors, to highlight commonalities across subject areas, etc.).
One strategy is to hold a preliminary meeting with all of the participants to be involved before the Workshop and introduce AWAL to them. Then send them a detailed follow-up letter with the agenda so they will know what kind of a day it will be. You might ask them to prioritize two or three choices for their workplace visit. You could also ask them to find a partner with similar interests so doing the interviews would be easier. Alternately, it is not critical to have educators going to where they think the students they see will end up. (For example, rather than send English teachers to the local newspaper, send them to ABC Telesystems where they will learn that everyone needs to be able to write a coherent report.)
Another approach used is pairing individuals (from different disciplines) up before the AWAL day. That way they can contact each other in advance to discuss strategies and expectations. It is important to also leave time at the end of the morning session, before the participants head out, for them to finalize their approach to the interviews.
When choosing workplaces for site visits many planning teams go with who they know and/or who the major employers in the community are. Starting with employers already supporting your co-op, entrepreneurship, and apprenticeship programs may generate good results. You may also approach employers based on where the learners in your organization are likely to end up. Making a brief presentation about AWAL to a meeting of your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary is also a good way to generate employer interest. (They may even agree to sponsor the coffee break or lunch during the Workshop!)