Abstract
The gap between higher education and industry is often discussed, but mitigating solutions lag behind and contribute to its widening. This chapter explores the root causes of this gap and examines the establishment of common frameworks based on skills and approaches to assessing those skills as the path forward. The perspective and needs of the industry, the learners, and higher education are discussed. Data silos to inform the educational product on skills in need by industry exist. Tools to support communicating skills in various technology solutions in the spirit of a holistic learning and employment record are emerging. Skills and competencies that populate those records must be relevant, appropriately validated, and communicated using an agreed-upon language. Selected examples of current and emerging approaches in the skills-first approach to establishing common frameworks for communication and assessment are provided to illustrate possibilities.
TopBackground
Learners are looking for alternative, quicker, just-in-time opportunities to demonstrate competencies and skills that are readily applicable. Skills have become labor market currency, and job seekers, employers, and learners need better, faster, more efficient ways to develop skills to use as currency (Pulsipher, 2020). Learner-workers need opportunities to demonstrate and receive credit for their skills, no matter where they gained them. They seek educational programming options and the ability to identify potential career pathways based on their goals and current skill set. These learner-workers want access to educational options that match their goals and allow for the ability to skill and reskill to stay ahead of the obsolescence curve. Learner-workers want to tell a compelling story about the skills they have gained throughout a lifetime of work and learning.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Nanodegree: A certified online educational program that helps students develop specialized skills that target professionals who want to learn new advanced skills or develop their current abilities, which will allow them to work with the latest technological developments.
Rubric: A set of criteria used for assessment.
Learning and Employment Record: A transcript of an individual’s past leaning and assessed skills.
Skills First Design: The instruction and assessment strategy that is founded in workforce high-demand skills, which guide the design and development of assessment artifacts, learning outcomes, and learning experience design.
Competency: Behaviors that successful performers can demonstrate.
Skill: Learned activities that an individual can execute.
Performance Assessment: An assessment that measures attainment of competencies via learner-constructed responses.
Backward Design: An approach in assessment design that starts with the learning outcomes a learner should attain to create tasks that both enable and assess this learning.
Objective Assessment: An assessment that measures attainment of competencies via single correct responses; typically using multiple-choice questions.