Community Colleges and Employers Develop Online Course Content To Address High-Need Skills Gap
CorpU, a social learning platform, and
Jobs for the Future, a national nonprofit
that focuses on addressing workforce demands, have assembled the College
Employer Collaborative (CEC), a group of community colleges and employers that
will work with CorpU to develop college curricula and credentials intended to
meet the needs of high-growth industries.
According to a recent Gallup
survey, approximately one third of business leaders think college and
university graduates don't have the skills that meet their business needs. The
CEC aims to help rectify the situation by developing online courses geared
toward the skills employers are looking for in employees.
"Community colleges have always been a critical pipeline of
talent," said Brian Inbody, president of Neosho County Community College,
in a prepared statement. "By working with employers to actually develop
course content, we are able to help students develop high-demand skills in the
context of a meaningful academic environment."
The CEC will meet in mid-June to begin designing the courses. Employers and
CorpU learning designers will work together to develop the courses using
CorpU's social learning platform. Colleges will integrate the online course
content into their on-campus courses beginning in the Fall 2015 semester.
According to information from CorpU and Jobs for the Future, "students who
successfully complete the courses will earn a credential recognized by
employers in the Collaborative, which signals their mastery of these critical
skills."
Community college members of the CEC include Neosho County Community College in Kansas, Everett Community College in Washington
State, LaGuardia Community College
in New York and Alamo Colleges in Texas.
Employer members include AGCO, Boeing, MetLife Premier Client Group, The
Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, Waddell & Reed and Securian
Financial Group.
GAMA International, a professional
development association for leadership and management professionals in the
insurance, investment and financial services industry, helped to convene the
employers that have joined the CEC.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].