Volume 32, No. 5: Conference Session Highlights
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Welcome to Vol. 32, No. 5, of Connections, the newsletter of the National Career Pathways Network. This special post-conference issue provides access to articles stemming from sessions presented at NCPN CONNECT 2022. Many thanks to the outstanding presenters, keynote speakers, exhibitors, and attendees who made the event a success!
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How XPRIZE Is Driving Technologies to Uplift the Global Workforce
Monica Groves, Program Director, XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling
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The world of work is rapidly changing. The pandemic, emerging technology, automation, and artificial intelligence, among a myriad of other factors, are underscoring the urgent need to rapidly reskill our workforce to keep up with new ways of working. The finalist teams of XPRIZE Rapid Reskilling are reimagining the future of work and skills training so that all workers can rapidly, easily, and cost-effectively attain new skills that allow them to unlock their potential and ensure longevity in their chosen careers.
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Employer Strategies for Managing Successful Employer Councils
Ann Beheler and Mark Dempsey, National Convergence Technology Center, Collin College
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Everyone can agree that two major goals for all technical programs are to help students complete certificates and degrees that will make them highly employable and to engage with local employers in a way that inspires ongoing support and involvement. Many institutions rely on traditional business advisory councils, which often feature annual meetings in which faculty present courses they want to teach and the employers smile and provide a rubber stamp approval. Even business advisory councils that are more substantive meet only twice a year and talk about industry needs through winding conversations and debates that provide limited actionable results. But there is a process that creates deeper connections between educators and employers and provides more useful feedback on workforce needs in an efficient manner. That process—developed by the National Convergence Technology Center (funded by a National Science Foundation grant) at Collin College—is called the Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT) model.
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Crossroads: Classroom to Career in Biotechnology
Chander Arora, Biotech Faculty, Los Angeles Mission College, Sylmar, CA
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In creating a cohesive culture that encourages the development of important skills bridging college to career readiness, project-based learning (PBL) can be tremendously useful. The pedagogy of PBL encourages students to learn and apply knowledge and skills through a guided and engaging experience. |
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Adults for Industrial Development: Getting Adults Ready for Manufacturing and Skilled Trades
Bettina Akukwe, Department Head, Workforce Programs, and Apprenticeship Implementer at Alamance Community College, Graham, NC
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Career exploration plays a major role in career and technical education. Students who were not able to experience different career opportunities in high school often come to postsecondary education institutions with a lack of understanding of the programs being offered. This often leads to students being registered for programs that are not the best fit, possibly changing programs one or more times, or even ending up in careers they do not like. To bridge that gap, in June 2022 Alamance Community College offered a four-week career exploration pre-apprenticeship for interested individuals with a high school diploma or GED. |
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Blend Intangible Employability Skills into Current Technical Programs
Darren Morris, Instructional Designer, CTECS (Career and Technical Education Consortium of States), Decatur, GA
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The Career and Technical Education Consortium of States (CTECS) offers a full credential package backed by our nationally recognized and research-based workplace readiness skills curriculum, assessment, and digital badge. Forward-thinking organizations, such as NCPN and ACTE, have been our main channel for bringing awareness of this solution to CTE classrooms, and we hope to further diversify our reach and the student populations we serve in the coming months.
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Understanding the Benefits of Performance-Based Learning
Yvonne Blackshear, Professor, Texas State Technical College, Brownwood, TX
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“Performance-based learning (PBL) is an approach to teaching and learning that emphasizes students being able to do, or perform, specific skills as a result of instruction. In this framework, students demonstrate the ability to apply or use knowledge, rather than simply knowing the information” (Schoolcraft). So what exactly does this mean for learners? What does this mean for instructors? Let’s take a quick look at some of the benefits PBL offers both stakeholders.
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The Changing Face of Apprenticeships: New Opportunities for Employers and STARs
Opportunity @ Work / Lightcast, 2022
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From the introduction: "Apprenticeships have long offered employers a means to build a reliable pipeline of workers with specific job skills, but they remain underutilized in the U.S. compared to other countries. Approximately 600,000 workers were enrolled in apprenticeship programs in 2021, a fraction of the nearly 11 million students attending bachelor’s degree programs full-time, and the vast majority of these apprenticeships are in the trades. Our original analysis of data from the Department of Labor on registered apprenticeships, supplemented by proprietary data from Lightcast on employer job postings, reveals a significant expansion in apprenticeships since 2010. Apprenticeships—both registered and informal—are emerging across a wide range of job roles and industries. These new apprenticeships demonstrate the broad utility of the apprenticeship model and its potential for meeting labor market challenges."
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How Attaining Industry-Recognized Credentials in High School Shapes Education and Employment Outcomes
Matt Giani, Thomas Fordham Institute, Aug 24, 2022
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"Conferred by businesses, industry groups, and state certifying entities, industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are intended to signal that students have mastered specific workplace knowledge and skills. This first-of-its-kind study assesses the impact of specific IRCs earned in high school on various employment and postsecondary outcomes for students who do and do not attend college. The findings can help education leaders and policymakers improve CTE and IRC opportunities in order to boost student success in the labor market."
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U.S. Department of Education, Nov 14, 2022. "Today, the U.S. Department of Education announced the launch of Raise the Bar: Unlocking Career Success, a new Biden-Harris Administration initiative supported by the Departments of Commerce and Labor to increase and expand access to high-quality training programs to help young Americans pursue jobs in today’s in-demand fields, and be prepared for careers of the future."
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K-12 DIVE, Sept 13, 2022. "There is increasing agreement among educators that a four-year college degree needn’t be the goal for all students, and in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, high-schoolers’ interest in career and technical education has grown."
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Mila Koumpilova, Washington Post, Aug 19, 2022. "When Chef Samantha Jones arrived at Juarez High School in Chicago six years ago, she discovered a shell of a culinary program. Jones set about to change that: She created a curriculum, arranged regular produce deliveries, and sought opportunities for students to show off their skills outside the school’s kitchen. When the pandemic shuttered the school building, she crisscrossed the predominantly Latino neighborhoods on the city’s Southwest Side to drop off ingredient kits at students’ homes."
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©2022 CORD. Connections is published by the National Career Pathways Network (ncpn.info), an organization of CORD (cord.org). NCPN assists educators, employers, and other stakeholders in planning, implementing, evaluating, and improving workforce education programs. Questions? Mark Whitney, mwhitney@cord.org
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