Workforce Development Experts to Train Educators on 21st Century Skills & Digital Badges

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - July 26, 2016 - PRLog -- New World of Work, a program funded through the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office under the Doing What Matters for Jobs and the Economy framework, will co-host a training session with the Foundation for California Community Colleges for educators and workforce development coordinators on August 1 and 2 in Sacramento.

The two-day seminar, 21st Century Skills: Aligning Education with Employer Needs, will be attended by educators from 14 colleges from throughout the state. "These are existing and new partner colleges that are implementing 21^st Century Skills lessons across multiple disciplines and are collecting data on the impact of the program," said Rajinder Gill, 21^st Century Skills director for New World of Work.

21^st Century Skills Addresses 'Soft Skills Gap' Identified by Employers

The program, which was formed in 2012 at Feather River College in Quincy, was originally developed by convening skills panels to align their socioeconomic research with real time feedback from employers, HR representatives, entrepreneurs and students. Now, Gill said, "We have a top 10 list of essential employability skills that are required of workers in the emerging global economy – dubbed the 'knowledge' or 'human' economy. These are the emotional intelligence skills that are indispensable to employers in the 21^st century – skills that can't be automated, like empathy, communication and adaptability.

Digital Badges for 21^st Century Skills

As proponents of the digital badging movement in higher education and workforce training, New World of Work partnered with the Foundation for California Community Colleges to develop digital badges to show students' acquisition of 21^st Century Skills. "These act as micro-credentials," said badging lead Shannon Wells. "Students can display career readiness in a visual way on job applications and on social networking websites. Employers can also verify that the individual has displayed those skills in a real work setting."

21^st Century Skills badges will be awarded through LaunchPath, an online tool matching students with employers developed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges and the Linked Learning Alliance. Digital Badges were developed under the Mozilla Open Badging platform. "These digital badges will be unveiled at the event," Gill said. "This group of educators from throughout the California community college system will be seeing them for the very first time.

Free, Downloadable Resources and Video Assessments

New World of Work's curriculum teaches ten 21^st Century Skills: Adaptability, Analysis/Solution Mindset, Collaboration, Communication, Digital Fluency, Empathy, Entrepreneurial Mindset, Resilience, Self-Awareness and Social/Diversity Awareness. Educators not affiliated with New World of Work can download a series of training modules at no cost from www.NewWorldofWork.org. Each module contains two lessons for each of the top ten 21st Century Skills, including full lesson plans for instructors, PowerPoint presentations, handouts and workplace scenario videos. "These videos illustrate 'what not to do' in the workplace and how to assess the best versions of each skill in professional interactions," Gill said. "People can actually test themselves on each skill. A lot of educators have fun with it, and it can help them prepare to teach the skills to their students."

Top Ten 21^st Century Skills and Event Information

New World of Work's top ten 21^st Century Skills are:

• Adaptability
• Analysis/Solution Mindset
• Collaboration
• Communication
• Digital Fluency
• Empathy
• E-ship Mindset
• Resilience
• Self-Awareness
• Social/Diversity Awareness

Educator Training Event Information

21st Century Skills: Aligning Education with Employer Needs will be held in the Capitol Conference Room at the Marriott Residence Inn at Capitol Park, 1121 15th Street in Sacramento. Media is invited to attend. For more information, contact Rajinder Gill at (415) 509-2419.

About New World of Work

New World of Work is translating tomorrow's work trends into real opportunities for today's learners. The group designs lessons and curriculum that teach critical 21st Century Skills through innovative methods, including experiential learning, gamification and more. Based in the California community college system, NWOW specializes in career technical education, entrepreneurship education and economic workforce development | www.newworldofwork.org

About the Foundation for California Community Colleges

The Foundation for California Community Colleges is the official nonprofit foundation to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors and Chancellor's Office. The Foundation's mission is to benefit, support, and enhance the missions of the California Community Colleges system, the largest higher education system in the nation. Incorporated in 1998, the Foundation works with community colleges and partner organizations to manage donations, grants, programs, and services that drive excellence in education. Since inception, the Foundation has provided over $250 million in direct grants, support, and cost savings to California Community Colleges. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit corporation and receives no direct state or public support. | www.foundationccc.org