As online learning continues to play a significant role in the lives of today’s college students, instructors and researchers have been exploring new strategies to foster engagement and promote self-directed learning (SDL) skill development in virtual settings.
As workplaces change rapidly due to new technologies and shifting global economics, employers are calling on community college career and technical education (CTE) instructors to ensure their graduates have not only technical skills, but also the professional capabilities to communicate, collaborate, persist through challenges, and engage in lifelong learning.
When a group of West Virginia educators set a goal of doubling the number of STEM college graduates statewide in a decade, they faced long odds.
Over the past 2 decades, the United States has seen enormous growth in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This growth has been particularly strong for high skill technician jobs in technology and computer science, which offer a promising path to the middle class for many Americans.
Needs for early-career employees entering technical fields, focusing on the high-priority employability skills most in demand in technical fields, what makes employability skills so important in today’s employment marketplace, how employability skills develop, and what strategies are used by community college educators and employers of early-career technicians to support employability skills growth
Fostering cybersecurity learning by offering concise “microlesson” content on smartphones. This project develops and tests a prototype approach to engaging adult learners in exploring, developing, and refreshing their cybersecurity skills. Designed to fit into convenient 5-minute increments, the microlessons feature interactive simulations of key procedures and concepts in cybersecurity defense and attacks. This work advances … Continue reading Microlessons to Build Readiness in the Cybersecurity Workforce
Through an evaluation of career and technical education programs in Texas, SRI is determining what makes high-quality programs sustainable and scalable. SRI examined the characteristics and quality of career and technical education (CTE) programs in Texas. The study team described CTE programs in the state, including programs offered, students served, and student attainment and developed … Continue reading Statewide Evaluation of Career and Technical Education Programs
Our College and Career Pathways researcher team, within SRI’s Education Division, includes staff with diverse and broad experiences. Leadership Miya Warner, Ph.D., evaluates the effects of education policies and reforms on student learning and educational equity. She is dedicated to understanding the causes and contexts of the current racial and socioeconomic disparities in educational outcomes … Continue reading Team
SRI Education and partners conducted a 6-year study of community college-employer collaboration to improve the design and delivery of workforce education programming. In the United States, headlines regularly describe the “skills gap” between what employers want and what workers can do. Historically, closing this gap has relied on an informal system of community college workforce … Continue reading Community College Partnership’s Instructional Impacts
Since the 1990s, federal programs for workforce training have aimed to transform the role of community colleges from narrow contract training to a broader role that encompasses strategic instructional program planning and innovation to support lifelong learning for a changing workforce and economic development. Yet, to date, there has been no study of how this … Continue reading Meeting 2020 Workforce Goals: The Role of Industry–College Collaboration and Goals for Instructional Design