Ontario’s largest professional-learning event for Cooperative Education and Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) teachers returns on April 27–29, 2025, and this year the agenda shines a bright light on artificial intelligence. At that intersection of education and emerging tech is Resso.ai, the Burlington-based company behind a browser-based interview simulator now used by more than 100,000 students and job-seekers worldwide.

A Quick Look at the Conference

For more than three decades, the Ontario Co-operative Education Association (OCEA) Spring Conference has given educators a forum to share the best ideas in experiential learning. The 2025 theme—“Where tomorrow begins: Empowering future-ready students”—frames sixty workshops, two industry tours, and an exhibitor fair at the Sheraton & Best Western Parkway Toronto North hotel in Richmond Hill. Among those sessions, Workshop B8—“AI-Powered Interview Preparation: Building Confident, Career-Ready Students”—puts Resso.ai’s technology front and centre.

What Resso.ai Does

Resso.ai turns any webcam-equipped laptop into a real-time mock-interview studio. A student selects a job family—finance, IT, skilled trades, hospitality—and answers questions delivered by an adaptive virtual interviewer. Each response is transcribed and analysed for pace, decisiveness, filler-word use, sentiment, and content relevance. Seconds after the interview ends, the platform produces a Hire Chance Score™, plus colour-coded feedback bars that pinpoint next-step improvements.

Because the tool runs entirely in the browser, no extra software or high-end hardware is required. Data are processed and stored on Canadian servers, helping boards meet provincial privacy guidelines for student information.

Inside Workshop B8

The Sunday-afternoon session will be led by Martin Borowski (Founder, Resso.ai), Bronagh O’Rourke (Co-op & SHSM Lead, Halton District School Board), and Rory Mackenzie (Career Readiness & Experiential-Learning Consultant). Over seventy-five minutes they plan to:

• Conduct a live simulation that shows the Hire Chance Score updating in real time,
• Unpack the way the platform measures specific skills—such as filler-word frequency, speaking pace, and sentiment—and why those indicators matter to employers.
• Interactive component where teachers create their own interviews
• Classroom uses, such as: Presentation practice, subject tutor, ESL and more

Workshop B8 is tagged Orange/Blue in the program, marking it as an exhibitor session suitable for educators at any experience level.

👉 Workshop time is 3:15-4:30pm, Sunday, April 27th.

Why Interview Analytics Matter

Although Co-operative Education and SHSM credits are elective, they attract tens of thousands of Ontario students each year. Interview readiness often becomes the deciding factor in whether those students secure their ideal placements. Traditional mock interviews help, but they are labour-intensive to schedule and rely on subjective human notes.

Resso.ai addresses both issues. The AI interviewer is available 24/7, and the scoring rubric is identical for every learner, producing consistent data teachers can trust. That continuity allows educators to focus on higher-order coaching—storytelling, professional ethics, industry-specific terminology—rather than repeating baseline advice like “slow down” or “give a concrete example.”

Early Classroom Results

During a winter-term pilot at a Halton District School Board high school, students who completed at least three practice sessions increased their median Hire Chance Score by 25%  and cut filler-word use by roughly 40% between first and final attempts. Teachers reported that the visual feedback encouraged learners to practise independently instead of waiting for the next in-person coaching slot.

Aligning With Curriculum Expectations

Ontario’s 2018 Co-operative Education curriculum stresses evidence-based reflection. Each Resso.ai interview generates report that students can upload to Brightspace or Google Classroom as proof of progress. For Specialist High Skills Major pathways, the software offers question libraries organised by sector—business, health and wellness, information technology, construction—so practice remains aligned with industry terminology.

Equity and Accessibility

A cloud-based interviewer helps rural and urban boards in different ways. Students in remote regions gain structured practice without travelling long distances, while high-enrolment schools can handle large cohorts without overburdening guidance departments. All that’s required is a Chromebook and a modest internet connection.

Looking Beyond April

Resso.ai’s immediate focus is one-to-one interview simulation, but the company is testing scenario-based approaches for sector-specific competencies: presentation practice, ESL, or teacher extension to help student have direct access to teacher 24/7.  Feedback from Workshop B8 will help the team decide which scenarios to move to public release first.

Boards interested in broader pilots can request educator dashboards that aggregate anonymized class data, making it easier to spot common skill gaps and build targeted instruction around them.

Final Word

For educators attending OCEA 2025, Workshop B8 offers a hands-on look at AI-driven interview analytics and a chance to ask practical questions about privacy, curriculum fit, and technical setup. For Resso.ai, the session is an opportunity to show that consistent, data-rich feedback can be delivered at scale without replacing the human touch that makes Cooperative Education valuable.

However anyone measures success—student confidence, employer satisfaction, or placement rates—reliable, instantaneous feedback is poised to become a cornerstone of career readiness. Resso.ai’s appearance at the Spring Conference is a tangible step in that direction.