A little over a year ago, I
spoke at the 2015 NACEP’s Reaching New
Heights Conference in Denver, Colorado, about bridging the gap between secondary
education, high school grades 9 - 12, and a post-secondary education, and
using industry certification to do that. It was an eye opening experience for
me. I was able to communicate with others in both realms of academia on the
secondary and post-secondary level, but also with leaders of industry, those
who need those students coming out of school, on whatever level, to fill in
jobs and work positions in their organizations. I came to the conclusion that there
is a disconnect between what academia thinks skills students need to possess
when they leave school and businesses and organizations think when they
encounter these individuals that are supposed to have these skills. In the fall
of 2016, according to The Center for Digital Education, there were 20.5 million
students enrolled in post-secondary American institutions, an increase of about
5.2 million people from the fall of 2000. In an effort to learn employable
skills that would be viable in a competitive job market, more people have to go
back to school. However, post-secondary institutions believed that 72% of the
students coming in were ready for the workload that was expected. When employers
looked at the people coming out of those institutions of higher learning, only
42% agreed that those people were ready to enter the workforce (National Center
for Educational Statistics, 2013). Today’s employers should be collaborating with these colleges
so that their graduates have the skills, knowledge and personal responsibility
to contribute to a workplace that is dynamic and constantly changing and help companies
and organizations thrive and be successful.
Why is there such a large
disconnect between schools and businesses that think these people are not ready?
Why are the concepts they are learning in schools not translating to the
workforce? I think that we have to look at how we are preparing the students
coming out of high school for either post-secondary education or the workforce.
Are
students not prepared because they have poor academics (reading, writing, and
arithmetic?) or because they do not know how to use the digital tools to do the
work? I believe that it is the later, that people are expected, coming in to
post-secondary education, to use the digital technologies that have been
developed with out practice. This should not be the case. 21st
Century skills that are common of communicating, collaborating, critical
thinking, and being creative are all concepts that take time to develop and
master that I think high school takes for granted. Just because someone was
born in years close to the millennial, does not mean they know how to be productive
in digital work environment. Web 2.0 tools that are common place in the
corporate world and how business and companies operate have to be more than
introduced in academia. There needs to be courses that develop a student’s
digital literacy at an early age so that those skills, technical in nature, can
be instincts.
High
school is supposed to prepare students for college or university workloads, and
college and universities are supposed to prepare students for the workforce. These
three institutions are not always on the same page when it comes to identifying
skills that are viable in the workforce for all skill levels. I have been
fortunate in my career to see how college and universities, post-secondary
educational institutions, see themselves in the development of the workforce. I
have also seen how digital technologies play a role in training people to enter
the workforce. Industries are telling educators what skills students need to
master in order to be successful and prepared for the workforce, why don’t they
listen?
Companies
are developing assessment tools for academia to use and giving students the
opportunity to prove their skills without question. Software companies are
providing assessments of their products to use to provide students training and
proof that they can use in a real-life setting. For example, software companies
that are titans of industry and are some of the most popular productivity tools
in their fields use certification exams to give students the proof they can use
it in a corporate setting. Companies like Microsoft, Adobe, and Intuit have
developed certification exams that demonstrate mastery of a tool used in the
work place. This is the most authentic learning opportunity there is possible.
Educators talk about the application of concept is the real test if a student
has mastered the content. Because of how companies and organizations value
their tools, they have to accept the tool builders’ assessment of a person
proving they can use it, right? I believe that this question has lead me on my
journey to the art of instructional design and its connection to technology.
Instructional
design paired with technology is how we are going to train our workforce for
future opportunities. Because of the increase in access of connection to the
Internet with the development of wireless technologies, there are opportunities
presenting themselves that have never been there in the past (Honebin & Sink,
2012). Online learning or e-learning is creating opportunities for education
and training in cost effective and a timely manner. Digital technologies give
students access to curriculums around the world and can be reproduced cheaply,
in mass quantity, after the initial creation. Also, learning can happen almost anywhere,
anytime due to the Internet. As the amount of access point’s increase in
different areas of the world, the closing of the Digital Divide is happening at
a rapid pace.
Instructional
design also benefits from the medium of technology because now the creation of
engaging course curriculums and learning experiences are easier than ever.
Mixing content with multimedia technology creates opportunities for engaging in
innovative ways that utilize video, audio, and interactive tools. Trends in
technology like virtual reality paired gamification gives content a world in
which communication and collaboration can happen in places that might be
realistic to get to. Different points in history and geographical locations are
possible with technology. Instructional designer are able to create worlds with
this type of interaction.
Instructional
design has the opportunity to connect local business and organizations to
secondary or post-secondary educational institutions with the use of
technology. High schools communicating with community colleges, communicating
with universities and local businesses to improve employability in the citizens
in the area need instructional designers to design course offerings and
curriculums to mimic authentic learning and improve the digital literacy and 21st
century skills that is sought after.
Conclusion
The connections between academia and professional
organizations have to be strengthened in order to obtain a competent and
skilled workforce. The collaboration between school and business has to go back
to the drawing board in order to find out why the big gap between what skills schools
are teaching and what skills business needs to thrive. The thought about what
skills schools think a student has and what skills businesses think they do are
not in the same place. This is where the opportunities for instructional
designers to come in and help bridge that gap is. Access to resources and
creating learning experiences and assessments for authentic learning is at the
most accessible point it has been so far in history. Also using assessment
created by captains of industry, certification exams, can also connect school
with corporate environments can prove to be good for both parties.
References
National Center
for Education Statistics. (2013). School Statistics. Retrieved from :http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Honebein, P. C.,
& Sink, D. L. (2012). The practice of eclectic instructional design. Performance
Improvement, 51(10), 26-31.
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