apprenticeships

Students Speak Out: How to Make High Schools Places Where They Want to Learn — from the74million.org by Beth Fertig
Too many high school students complain that school is boring. Students share what makes school enjoyable.

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Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

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Solving chronic absenteeism involves tackling big structural problems like transportation and infrastructure. But we also have to make our schools places where young people want to learn. Too many teens, in particular, had negative feelings about school even before the pandemic. Yale researchers conducting a national survey of high school students found most teens spent their days “tired,” “stressed,” and “bored.” Fewer than 3 in 100 reported feeling interested while in school.

Decades of research prove that students learn more when they experience high levels of academic engagement and social belonging in school.

Students at all four schools experience internships, work-based learning and partnerships with community organizations, which they said make classwork feel more relevant.

Career and Technical Education Clears New Pathways to Opportunity [Manno]

On 06/29/2024, in adult learning, apprenticeships, career development, higher education, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, pathways, society, sociology, student-related, vocational / trades, by Daniel Christian

Career and Technical Education Clears New Pathways to Opportunity — from educationnext.org by Bruno V. Manno; via Ryan Craig
A student’s post-secondary options need not be binary

Many Americans, including the last wave of Gen Z-ers now entering high schools, want schools to offer more education and training options for young people like career and technical education, or CTE. They broadly agree that the K–12 goal of “college for all” over the last several decades has not served all students well. It should be replaced with “opportunity pluralism,” or the recognition that a college degree is one of many pathways to post-secondary success.

School-based CTE programs (there are also programs for adults) typically prepare middle and high school students for a range of high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand careers. These include fields like advanced manufacturing, health sciences, and information technology which often do not require a two- or four-year college degree. CTE programs award students recognized credentials like industry certifications and licenses.

“There are many reasons undergrad enrollment is down, but they all come down to two interrelated trends: jobs and affordability.” + We need to “reposition higher ed for a different future of competitors.” [Selingo]

On 06/29/2024, in adjunct faculty, Adobe, apprenticeships, business side of he, career development, colleges, community colleges, cost of getting a degree, credentialing, culture, curriculum, faculty, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, ideas, innovation, IT in HE, leadership, learning ecosystem, liberal arts, parents/guardians, reinvent, skills, society, sociology, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, trends, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
As I can’t embed his posting, I’m copying/pasting Jeff’s posting on LinkedIn:

According to Flighty, I logged more than 2,220 flight miles in the last 5 days traveling to three conferences to give keynotes and spend time with housing officers in Milwaukee, college presidents in Mackinac Island, MI, and enrollment and marketing leaders in Raleigh.

Before I rest, I wanted to post some quick thoughts about what I learned. Thank you to everyone who shared their wisdom these past few days:

We need to think about the “why” and “how” of AI in higher ed. The “why” shouldn’t be just because everyone else is doing it. Rather, the “why” is to reposition higher ed for a different future of competitors. The “how” shouldn’t be to just seek efficiency and cut jobs. Rather we should use AI to learn from its users to create a better experience going forward.
Residence halls are not just infrastructure. They are part and parcel of the student experience and critical to student success. Almost half of students living on campus say it increases their sense of belonging, according to research by the Association of College & University Housing Officers.
How do we extend the “residential experience”? More than half of traditional undergraduates who live on campus now take at least once course online. As students increasingly spend time off campus – or move off campus as early as their second year in college – we need to help continue to make the connections for them that they would in a dorm. Why? 47% of college students believe living in a college residence hall enhanced their ability to resolve conflicts.
Career must be at the core of the student experience for colleges to thrive in the future, says Andy Chan. Yes, some people might see that as too narrow of a view of higher ed or might not want to provide cogs for the wheel of the workforce, but without the job, none of the other benefits of college follow–citizenship, health, engagement.
A “triple threat grad”–someone who has an internship, a semester-long project, and an industry credential (think Salesforce or Adobe in addition to their degree–matters more in the job market than major or institution, says Brandon Busteed.
Every faculty member should think of themselves as an ambassador for the institution. Yes, care about their discipline/department, but that doesn’t survive if the rest of the institution falls down around them.
Presidents need to place bigger bets rather than spend pennies and dimes on a bunch of new strategies. That means to free up resources they need to stop doing things.
Higher ed needs a new business model. Institutions can’t make money just from tuition, and new products like certificates, are pennies on the dollars of degrees.
Boards aren’t ready for the future. They are over-indexed on philanthropy and alumni and not enough on the expertise needed for leading higher ed.

From DSC:
As I can’t embed his posting, I’m copying/pasting Jeff’s posting on LinkedIn:

It’s the stat that still gnaws at me: 62%.

That’s the percentage of high school graduates going right on to college. A decade ago it was around 70%. So for all the bellyaching about the demographic cliff in higher ed, just imagine if today we were close to that 70% number? We’d be talking a few hundred thousand more students in the system.

As I told a gathering of presidents of small colleges and universities last night on Mackinac Island — the first time I had to take [numerous modes of transportation] to get to a conference — being small isn’t distinctive anymore.

There are many reasons undergrad enrollment is down, but they all come down to two interrelated trends: jobs and affordability.

The job has become so central to what students want out of the experience. It’s almost as if colleges now need to guarantee a job.

These institutions will need to rethink the learner relationship with work. Instead of college with work on the side, we might need to move to more of a mindset of work with college on the side by:

Making campus jobs more meaningful. Why can’t we have accounting and finance majors work in the CFO office, liberal arts majors work in IT on platforms such as Salesforce and Workday, which are skills needed in the workplace, etc.?
Apprenticeships are not just for the trades anymore. Integrate work-based learning into the undergrad experience in a much bigger way than internships and even co-ops.
Credentials within the degree. Every graduate should leave college with more than just a BA but also a certified credential in things like data viz, project management, the Adobe suite, Alteryx, etc.
The curriculum needs to be more flexible for students to combine work and learning — not only for the experience but also money for college — so more availability of online courses, hybrid courses, and flexible semesters.

How else can we think about learning and earning?

Learning to Work, Or Working to Learn? [Crisp]

On 05/12/2024, in apprenticeships, business, career development, corporate / business world, Design Thinking, education, education reform, ideas, innovation, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, participation, passions, project-based learning, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Learning to Work, Or Working to Learn? — from insidehighered.com by Erin Crisp; via Melanie Booth, Ed.D. on LinkedIn
We need a systems approach to making work-to-learn models just as accessible as traditional learn-to-work pathways, Erin Crisp writes.

Over the past two years, I have had the unique experience of scaling support for a statewide registered teacher-apprenticeship program while also parenting three college-aged sons. The declining appeal of postsecondary education, especially among young men, is evident at my dinner table, in my office, and in my dreams (literally).
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Scaling a statewide apprenticeship program for the preparation of teachers has meant that I am consistently hearing from four stakeholder groups—K-12 school district leaders, college and university leaders, aspiring young educators, and local workforce development leaders.

A theme has emerged from my professional life, one that echoes the dinner table conversations happening in my personal life: Society needs systematic work-to-learn pathways in addition to the current learn-to-work ecosystem. This is not an either/or. What we need is a systematic expansion of effort.

In a work-to-learn model, the traditional college sequence is flipped. Instead of starting with general education coursework or survey courses, the working learner is actively engaged in practicing the skills they are interested in acquiring. A workplace supervisor often helps him make connections between the coursework and the job. The learner’s attention is piqued. The learning is relevant. The learner gains confidence, and seeing their influence in the workplace (and paycheck) is satisfying. All of the ARCS model elements are easily achieved.

Career-Connected Learning: Preparing Students for a Dynamic Future [Vander Ark & Andrews]

On 02/28/2024, in apprenticeships, career development, collaboration, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, project-based learning, real-world assignments, skills, student-related, teachers, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Career-Connected Learning: Preparing Students for a Dynamic Future — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Victoria Andrews

Key Points

Connecting young people with career awareness needs to start at an early age to provide them with the necessary landscape view of opportunity and skills.
Whether young people engage client-focused opportunities, internships, or endure academically challenging coursework, career-connected learning is an environment to cultivate a sense of self-awareness, determination, and direction, essential for their success in both education and life.

Also from Getting Smart, see:

CHILD: A Microschool Unlocking the Potential for Unique Learners — by Maureen O’Shaughnessy

Key Points

The success of adaptive learning is not solely based on the program, but rather on the people behind it.
Clarity on “who you serve” is critical to success.

Four Disruptive Trends For Higher Ed In 2024 — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn

More colleges will close or merge.
Online learning will continue to have its moment, but a shakeout is beginning.
Big colleges and universities will get bigger.
Apprenticeships will gain more traction outside of the trades.

Speaking of higher education and disruptions, also see the following item — via Ray Schroeder on LinkedIn:

Experts predicted dozens of colleges would close in 2023 – and they were right — from hechingerreport.org by Olivia Sanchez
Even more colleges will likely close in coming years as enrollment problems worsen

Though college enrollment seems to be stabilizing after the pandemic disruptions, predictions for the next 15 years are grim. Colleges will be hurt financially by fewer tuition-paying students, and many will have to merge with other institutions or make significant changes to the way they operate if they want to keep their doors open.

At least 30 colleges closed their only or final campus in the first 10 months of 2023, including 14 nonprofit colleges and 16 for-profit colleges, according to an analysis of federal data by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. Among nonprofits, this came on the heels of 2022, when 23 of them closed, along with 25 for-profit institutions. Before 2022, the greatest number of nonprofit colleges that closed in a single year was 13.

AI University for UK? [Clark]

On 01/05/2024, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, apprenticeships, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, assessment, change, changing business models, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, credentialing, culture, curriculum, Design Thinking, digital learning, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, higher education, ideas, innovation, instructional design, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, lifelong learning, multimedia, online learning, open courseware and systems, personalized/customized learning, strategy, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, teaching online, tools, UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

AI University for UK? — from donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com by Donald Clark

Tertiary Education in the UK needs a fresh idea. What we need is an initiative on the same scale as The Open University, kicked off over 50 years ago.
…
It is clear that an educational vision is needed and I think the best starting point is that outlined and executed by Paul LeBlanc at SNHU. It is substantial, well articulated and has worked in what has become the largest University in the US.

It would be based on the competence model, with a focus on skills shortages. Here’s a starter with 25 ideas, a manifesto of sorts, based on lessons learnt from other successful models:

Non-traditional students in terms of age and background
Quick and easy application process
Personalised learning using AI
Multimodal from the start
Full range of summarisation, create self-assessment, dialogue tools
Focus on generative learning using AI
…and Donald lists many more (ending at #25)

The Evolution of Collaboration: Unveiling the EDUCAUSE Corporate Engagement Program — from er.educause.edu

The program is designed to strengthen the collaboration between private industry and higher education institutions—and evolve the higher education technology market. The new program will do so by taking the following actions:

Giving higher education professionals better access to corporate thought leaders who can help create change at their institutions
Educating corporate partners on the nuances of higher education and the major challenges it faces so that they can help provide meaningful solutions
Giving the EDUCAUSE staff and leadership better access to corporate change-makers in order to advocate for change on behalf of our institutional community
Providing the institutional community with higher-quality content and services from companies that are deeply invested in the success of higher education
Providing the corporate community with custom-built packages that allow more meaningful connections with the institutional community—not only at our in-person events but also through online opportunities year-round

By building better bridges between our corporate and institutional communities, we can help accelerate our shared mission of furthering the promise of higher education.

Speaking of collaborations, also see:

Could the U.S. become an “Apprentice Nation?” — from Michael B. Horn and Ryan Craig

Intermediaries do the heavy lifting for the employers.

Bottom line: As I discussed with Michael later in the show, we already have the varied system that Leonhardt imagines—it’s just that it’s often by chaos and neglect. Just like we didn’t say to 8th graders a century ago, “go find your own high school,” we need to design a post-high school system with clear and well-designed pathways that include:

Apprenticeships outside of the building trades so students can learn a variety of jobs by doing the job.
Short-term certificates that lead to jobs without necessarily having the college degree immediately, but having the option to return for a college degree later on.
Transfer pathways where credits earned in high school really count in college and the move from two-year college to any four-year institution is seamless.

Listen to the complete episode here and subscribe to the podcast.

Learning Ecosystems

“Four Disruptive Trends For Higher Ed In 2024” [Horn] + other items re: higher education

DSC: Always nice to see efforts to break down the barriers between our silos –> Unveiling the EDUCAUSE Corporate Engagement Program

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