1. Exploration of the Skills Gap: Hype, Perceptions, Problem?
- Author
-
Dolce, Justin Salvatore
- Abstract
Providing students with verifiable 21st-century skills and competencies has become increasingly more challenging for Higher Education Institutions (HEI). This study sought to investigate why institutional data from a college in the northeast reported lower levels of acquiring job- or work-related skills compared to other colleges in the system's Carnegie class. The study's goal is to help understand and meet local industry demands by providing students with an "employable education." Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of the participating college's students, faculty, and regional employers to focus on the identified skills gap. Action steps were designed, implemented, and evaluated, along with data collection from the college's alumni, students, and regional employees, in Cycle 2 to provide the college with the creation of a co-curricular microcredential policy, along with the development of the college's first co-curricular microcredential offering. The college's co-curricular microcredential policy was refined through a series of meetings held with a college-wide microcredential committee. Evaluating the results of this Action Research study included Guba and Lincoln's (1989) evaluation framework. This study concluded that the skills gap is currently going through a new transformation as it is being shaped by an ever-growing millennial workforce. Implications for the organization included rethinking larger domains of knowledge by using microcredentials to verify industry demanded skills often hidden on college transcripts. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
- Published
- 2022