Being Explicit about Skills will Help Solve Canada’s Productivity Problem

Originally posted here.

Concerns over Canada’s low productivity have grown louder with many writers positing paths to improved productivity and innovation performance. Canada has lagged other advanced economies for decades. To fix this long-standing problem we need to simplify the discussion. The root cause of our productivity challenges can be traced to how we teach–and learn–new skills. It’s convocation season: do new graduates know what skills they have learned in their programs? Do employers know how to make use of these skills? Making tacit knowledge explicit will help new graduates–and their employers–improve Canadian productivity.

The Three-Legged Stool of Productivity: Investment not a Cost

One challenge with the productivity discussion is that it is opaque. It seems possible that most business owners, if they think about productivity at all, have only a vague notion of what it means to their bottom lines. We need to reframe the issue in ways that are meaningful.

To simplify things, imagine productivity as a three-legged stool. The three legs represent Canada’s investments in:

• Research and Development (R&D);
• New equipment/technology; and
• Education and Training.

Canadian firms under-invest in all three compared to international averages. Canada has a short stool, but other countries (and their firms) have a highchair. Raising the legs of our stool will help us compete internationally. The most important leg of the stool? Education and training. Firms cannot effectively perform R&D or adopt new technology without properly trained people.

Think about AI: its use depends on the three legs of the stool. AI is both a subject and a product of R&D. It is also a new technology that we need to adopt at scale in the economy. Figuring out how to leverage new technology like AI requires education and training. Skills in product design, project management, and presentations, alongside the human skill of adaptability, are at the heart of successful R&D. These same skills underlie the ability to integrate new technologies into workplaces.

Teaching these skills is imperative. Upskilling the workforce through targeted education and training will support businesses to investigate new technologies, create products and services and uncover innovations in sales and marketing to help Canadian companies compete.

Skills are at the Root of Productivity

Even more important is ensuring learners recognize when they practice and acquire these skills. This means being explicit about the specific skills people gain from any program or curricula. Some programs already do this; colleges in particular are good at ensuring program outcomes are clearly stated. Indigenous institutes excel at infusing competencies with cultural context. But exit outcomes from an undergraduate program are entry level in the field of study. This means employers need to invest to ensure employees continue to develop their skills in situ.

When learners are clear about the skills they have acquired they are better able to quickly put these into action. Transforming tacit knowledge about acquired skills into explicit awareness helps career entrants make better use of the skills they’ve gained. It will help them put these skills to use more effectively, and more rapidly. Skills are at the root of productivity. Ensuring graduates can more rapidly enact the skills and competencies they have learned is central to solving our productivity problems.

Supporting Risk-Taking, Innovation and Entrepreneurship with Private+Public Partnerships

Canada’s Indigenous institutes, colleges and universities are teaching our next generation of skilled citizens. These institutions have access to cutting edge equipment and can make this available to companies. Businesses that partner with postsecondary institutions gain access to new technology, and to those who learn with it. Research partnerships–across the spectrum from basic and applied research to experimental development–let businesses take calculated risks, and learn by doing with students and professors who are doing exactly the same thing.

Business-higher education partnerships help foster a culture of supported risk-taking, innovation and entrepreneurship. These partnerships create incentives for collaboration and commercialization; they support the growth and scaling of Canadian firms. When students engage in research partnerships through work integrated learning they gain crucial innovation literacy, while helping businesses to grow and thrive. From intrapreneurship to entrepreneurship, the skills for innovation are best gained in an applied context. These students graduate and become job takers and job makers.

From Digital Transformation to Derisking Innovation

eCampusOntario helps our members embrace Digital Transformation to meet the challenges of education in the 21st century. Our AI-driven micro-credentials and R&D partnership platforms enable Indigenous institutes, colleges and universities to help employers derisk all three legs of the stool. Learn more at digitalcampus.ca.

Canada has strengths and opportunities in emerging sectors, such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum computing, and clean energy. These sectors have the potential to create jobs, solve societal challenges, and drive economic growth.

We need to be explicit about the skills that will get us there. Doing so will help Canadian firms address longstanding productivity problems and compete more effectively in the global economy. Helping Canadian firms to invest in the three-legged stool of productivity will enhance innovation.

“Your talent strategy is your business strategy.” Notes from the D2L Executive Summit

Originally posted here.

The D2L Executive Summit, held last week in Toronto, was an excellent series of discussions on the future of education and work.

The day kicked off with a fireside chat with D2L CEO John Baker and Chief Strategy Officer Jeremy Auger.  John mentioned that at the Business Council of Canada  learning one of the top three priorities: “If we are not sharpening skills of employees each year we are holding back our companies. And our people.”

This really set the tone for the day’s discussions. The keynote speaker was David Autor, Ford Professor of Economics at MIT who spoke on “Expertise, Artificial Intelligence, and the Work of the Future” David provided many insights, including stating that “we’re not running out of jobs. We are running out of workers.” This is an important point to think in terms of the supply and demand of the workforce that fuels our economy. David also had some really great pull quotes in his deck, including from “We know more than we can tell”, from Michal Poyani on rules versus tacit knowledge and the nature of competencies that are used to guide work. I subscribe to the need to make tacit knowledge explicit, including in supporting skills development as I wrote recently.

Another useful quote was this: “The future is not a forecasting problem. It is a design problem” attributed to Josh Cohen of Apple University. I like this because it gives us agency – in determining the future – of education, work, AI disruption. It was also a good segue into the panel of presidents, which included Humber College President and CEO, and eCampusOntario Board Chair Ann Marie Vaughan, Ed.D..

On the development of the Humber Strategic Vision, Ann Marie quipped that “Strategic planning is like trying to nail the fog to the wall.” What is important, she reminded us, is that we advocate for the value of public education and the inherent value to society that public education provides.

On this topic, in the next panel Soulaymane Kachani, Senior Vice Provost, Columbia University's Columbia Plus: lifelong learning at Columbia for all graduates for the rest of their lives. This is an excellent model that aligns well to some of the initiatives eCampusOntario is supporting around subscription models to higher education as part of alumni and industry engagement. This is all part of supporting the three-legged stool of productivity in Canada.

Fundamentally, providing faster routes to credentials is a productivity issue and challenge. Rethinking – and intentionally designing – how higher education can support our society and economy is imperative. Extensible learning that leverages the application of new knowledge into the workplace such as through work integrated learning is even more important today to future proof our economy for tomorrow. As Malika Asthana, Senior Manager, Strategy and Public Affairs at D2L reminded all: “Your talent strategy is your business strategy.”

A big shoutout to Malika Asthana, Jeremy Auger and John Baker and the D2L team for putting together an excellent agenda.

As an added bonus it was great to see many friends and colleagues at the Summit, including Saskatchewan Polytechnic President Dr. Larry Rosia, Fanshawe College President Peter J Devlin, CMM, MSC, CD, ICD.D, GCB.D, Laura Jo Gunter, President and CEO of the NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology).  And in the photos below: Business + Higher Education Roundtable Valerie Walker and Matthew McKean and University of Waterloo President and Vice Chancellor Vivek Goel.

Thanks to D2L for providing the space for thought leadership.

A Lightbulb Moment for Microcredentials

Originally published here.

The eCampusOntario Micro-Credentials Forum 2024 convened over 1200 people online and in person from across Ontario, Canada and the world to participate in discussions on Developing Tomorrow’s Workforce.

The focus of discussion was on how we can work together to build a more responsive postsecondary education system. One that helps everyone see themselves into the future. This is important for preparing people for careers and upskilling and reskilling, as much as it is about preparing tertiary education to change to meet the demands of the 21st century.

For today we know that education is more important than ever. Today we also know that education as we know it is changing rapidly.

There are two important things about micro-credentials that are worth pointing out.

The first is that Micro-credentials represent increased access to education.

As of November 2020, micro-credentials in Ontario are eligible for student loans (OSAP). For the first time in Canada, in Ontario learners can get a student loan for part time study. This acknowledges that not everyone can afford to leave the workforce to gain new skills. More than any change to postsecondary education this alone will have the largest long-term effect on access.

The second point is that Micro-credentials represent a signal of change.

We have always had micro credentials – we call them courses and continuing education certificates. The main difference now is that these types of courses are constructed as more consequential components of lifelong learning. And most importantly, micro-credentials focus on competencies learned, not just learned content.

In the online program of the Forum we heard about the importance of industry-academic partnerships in creating micro-credentials that are responsive to the labour market. And about global perspective on micro-credential development, including in Australia, where expansive definitions of what is a micro-credential enable more people – and more institutions – to see themselves into the future of education. This is instructive.

The point here is that micro-credentials represent a key indicator of change; a shift in the mindset about how we offer education to all of us that now stream movies and music, rather than buy DVDs and records.

The in-person component of the Micro-Credential Forum was (somewhat appropriately) held on Digital Learning Day – 29 February 2024, and included hundreds on the livestream who gathered to dive deeper into the change represented by micro-credentials.

The day was started by Elder Whabagoon who opened the circle of conversation, reminding us to reflect on the value of community and inclusion. The Honourable Jill Dunlop, Minister of Colleges and Universities, spoke about how micro-credentials are essential for ensuring access and upskilling in a rapidly changing world. There were inspiring words that were emphasized by eCampusOntario Board Co-Chairs Steven Murphy, PhD, ICD.D and Ann Marie Vaughan, Ed.D., who reminded us that we are all active participants in the midst of change to postsecondary education. We may not see this change when we are in the midst of it, and it is important for us to be aware of our role as agents of change. There were many highlights from the day:

Rhonda Barnet from Palette Skills spoke of the work that Upskill Canada is doing to incentivize broad changes in preparing the workforce of tomorrow with a key measurement of people hired through education and training they fund.

Adrienne Madden from the Canadian Colleges for a Resilient Recovery (C2R2) at Mohawk College, Kiley Bolton and Sherrie-Lee Neill from Seneca Polytechnic shared Seneca Polytechnic and Quick Train: The Impact of Micro-credentials from a Learner, Educator, and Organizer Perspective.

Graham 📊 Dobbs Senior Economist from The Dais at Toronto Metropolitan University discussed Who’s Using Micro-credentials in Canada?

Michael Burt from The Conference Board of Canada spoke about Better Decision Making: Using Labour Market Information to Inform Training Choices. The Conference Board tool Opportunext is excellent and powers the eCampusOntario Micro-Credentials Portal.

Kelly Archer spoke eloquently about Connecting People with Jobs: Training and Canada’s National Job Bank. This was an excellent overview about the importance of providing people who leverage Canada’s Job Bank with relevant, empirical information on program outcomes – check out their School to Work Transition tool – a real game changer for informing people about outcomes associated with specific programs.

Kelvin Bentley, Ph.D. from the University of Texas System provided key insights about the importance of helping to “unpack the suitcase of degrees” and to empower students to tell a better story about what they know how to do. The goal being people that are “broadly educated and specifically skilled.”

Deschamps Lorrie and Kim Falcigno presented their use of a holistic, culturally and trauma informed pedagogy while balancing best practices in online and face to face education. This was particularly instructive. Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute is a real leader in digital by design education that supports competencies and cultural context with engaging learning.

Partha Roy from the NAIT (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) discussed an important theme of the day: Employer and Employee Perceptions of Micro-credentials.

Sarah Stokes and Fiona McArthur from Ontario Tech University provided an overview of Core Skills Across the Campus via micro-credentials.

Susan Boehnke, PhD from Queen's University and Saurabh Bhaskar Shaw, PhD from Western University discussed the Development and Deployment of the Neurotech Micro-credential Program at Queen’s University, emphasizing the importance of micro-credentials to support medical advances and practice change.

We heard about the IM4 Lab Indigenous Storyteller Micro-credential Virtual Production Training Program: An Overview of the Achievements and Challenges from Loretta Sarah Todd, Founder/Creative Director, IM4 Media Lab and Shenaz Baksh from the Screen Industry Training Hub (SITHub).

Victoria Jackson, PhD from the FNTI First Nations Technical Institute and Jeanine George from Aboriginal Shelters of Ontario (ASOO) spoke about Micro-credentials in Collaboration: FNTI and ASOO Micro-credential Partnership.

The day ended with a panel discussion with three thought leaders - Dr. Marilyn Herie (Centennial College), Darian Kovacs (Jelly Academy) and Jake Hirsch-Allen (LinkedIn and Lighthouse Labs) – who discussed the importance of industry-academic partnerships, the importance of iteration is designing micro-credentials, translating learner interests and passions, access and the importance of providing learners with wrap around supports while providing learner-centred approaches to tertiary education. Education is changing and micro-credentials represent one way that learning providers – public and private – can work together to help navigate these changes.

And speaking of change, eCampusOntario released a new prototype for how people can interact with the Ontario Micro-Credentials Portal. This proof of principle tool is available now at SkillsFinder.ai.  It uses a custom GPT powered by OpenAI to help learners to better understand their skills gaps. You can even upload your resume to find out what skills you have, and what skills you need and which micro-credentials best suit your learning journey today. By enabling people to test the new SkillsFinder.ai we will be able to learn how people interact with and use AI in supporting their personal learning journey.

This is part of the eCampusOntario mission to support change management in tertiary education while helping learners access the programs they need for the careers they want. Fundamentally we want to make explicit the tacit assumptions inherent in education:

We are helping people understand the competencies inferred by the credentials that are conferred.

And that brings me to the lightbulb moment for micro-credentials.

Back in April 2022 I wrote about how “Micro-Credentials are having their Napster moment.” The point of that piece was to articulate the current moment education is in as analogous to the disruption faced by the music industry with the advent of streaming.

The motif for the eCampusOntario Micro-Credentials Forum 2024 is a lightbulb. It reminded me of something I heard once that emphasizes the importance of recognizing change and the importance of innovation – incremental and disruptive – that helps us see outside of the change process itself:

The lightbulb was not created by continuous improvement of the candle.*

Stylized image of a lightbulb made up of gears and components: the Logo for the eCampusOntario Credentials Forum 2024

eCampusOntario: Where Education meets Innovation.

*I’m not sure where I heard this but I googled it for attribution. It is attributed to Oren Harari.