College and industry collaboration benefit both learners and employers. This presentation focuses on the collaboration between a small, liberal arts college and industry partners. Self-paced online modules designed in the spirit of CBE, leverage gamification, badging, and workplace competencies to bring students, intern candidates, employees and employers together.
Four years ago, Denison University reached out to Collegis Education for collaboration on a project that would benefit their students as well as the employers of their surrounding cities. The University was looking for ways to give their graduates a leg up in the job search.
The team surveyed some of the largest employers in the Columbus area to see what competencies were in demand. The survey specifically asked, “What competencies do you wish your new hires had?” Employers listed 42 competencies as helpful to new employees in their entry-level roles.
These competencies were then used to create online learning modules within the Moodle LMS. Each module used interactive content, video, game-based learning, as well as pre and post assessments to shepherd the learner toward the competency. The assessment was used to determine mastery and, (“if mastered”), a badge would be awarded. Ideally students would select various modules that they felt would augment their skill sets, making interviewing and job searching easier.
As time went on, expertise was leveraged to create a micro-credential (Workforce Certificate) that students could employ over the summer. Essentially, the university and their partner collaborated to curate their educational experience.
Concurrently, the same modules were used for industry training. The modules were made available to employees of various companies to, either, augment an existing training program, or be adopted as the companies’ primary training program. The results showed that employees who partook in the module consumption were more likely to be promoted and retained.
This presentation will go over the results of the project and there will be a discussion of learns and applications with the audience.