Providing Jobs Skills ‘Badges’ Next Effort By Educators

|Photo by Joselyn King| Stephanie Hockenberry, growth and retention manager for the Ohio County Development Authority, addresses those attending a meeting of the Ohio Valley Workforce Collective Wednesday at Wheeling Park High School.

WHEELING – Students soon may seek to obtain “badges” denoting specific job skills they’ve achieved and display them as part of an electronic portfolio when they apply for jobs in the future.

The concept of colleges – and maybe even high schools – awarding badges for certified skills learned was discussed during a meeting of the Ohio Valley Workforce Collective Wednesday morning at Wheeling Park High Schools. Representatives from local colleges and high schools, as well as local employers, came together for a meeting to discuss what skills are lacking in today’s workplaces, and what educators can do to help students obtain these.

The event was organized by West Liberty University President Tim Borchers with assistance from Stephanie Hockenberry, growth and retention manager for the Ohio County Development Authority.

The Workforce Collective has been surveying both students and employers to find the gaps between education and employment.

“We know from survey results that a lot of students in the area are not going to college because they don’t know what they want to do, so they don’t have that clear career pathway and aren’t excited about a major,” Borchers said at the start of the meeting. “In the state of West Virginia, fewer than half of high school seniors go on to college. It’s a little higher in Ohio County.

“Cost is a major factor, but they’re just not excited about their future.”

He suggested educators need to start working with high school students during their sophomore year to help them find a career path.

Hockenberry touched on what skills and competencies employers said are lacking in the job applicants they see today.

“Some of the skills said to be lacking are work ethic, communication, punctuality, professionalism, technical skills, computer skills and teamwork,” she said. “These are some of the things people are struggling with when they are looking for people to work for them.

“Maybe it’s an opportunity for us to look at how our students are communicating. Maybe they need some tools, and are not very social.”

Mike Young, educator and head football coach at Wheeling Central Catholic High School, suggested educators need to use “an icebreaker” with students to get them to communicate.

“For as much communication that they have access to, they don’t communicate verbally,” he explained. “They don’t communicate with eye contact. You have to break the ice and get them to open up to see what their qualifications are, and what skills they don’t have.

“If you don’t have the communication with them you can’t observe, and you can’t come up with decisions as to how this person can improve and how you are going to raise their level of skills to be employed.”

WLU Provost Cathy Monteroso then discussed the concept of students obtaining “microcredentials,” or badges to designated specific job skills achieved. The badges can be achieved by a student in a shorter time-frame than a semester, according to Monteroso. The time frame may be only a few weeks, and often instruction will take place on line

“They are not committing to a full semester, and they are not committing to four years or two years,” she continued. “It might be a particular skill they need at that particular time that is in high demand.”

Some of these offerings might involve education in soft skills that are needed. As an example, WLU plans to offer classes to obtain a badge in leadership abilities. Other educators explained badges could be awarded for learning a specific type of welding, or a culinary degree could be boosted by a cake-decorating badge.

Will Turani, director of global operations and sustainability at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, suggested specialized knowledge in artificial intelligence is going to be needed in the future.

“I would say get that AI certification now, because it is changing everybody’s workforce,” Turani said. “I know we’re trying to get ready and stay ahead of the curve, but that is the best skill set to have.”

Borchers noted that going forward, the Ohio Valley Workforce Collective will be known as Ohio Valley RISE (Reshaping Impact for Students and Employers).