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Jun 13, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElisa Villanueva Beard |Michael Crow |byElyse Ashburn
As the NSF invests big in high-tech business clusters and workforces outside of superstar cities, it’s looking to build up adjacent skills so locals don’t have to wait for new jobs. Also, a New York-based nonprofit uses AI tools as a jumping off point to help students build real-life networks. The U.S. National Science Foundation is known for launching the careers of Nobel Prize Winners and science rockstars.
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May 29, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
Young adults without four-year degrees have seen significant wage gains in the past decade—a reversal of the preceding decades of decline, fueled in part by one of the tightest labor markets in history. Those gains, however, haven’t been large enough to narrow either the income or wealth gap, as young workers with bachelor’s degrees have also seen their income rise, albeit more slowly.
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May 1, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn |Paul Fain
As more students, employers, and states look to non-degree credentials to prepare people for in-demand jobs, a common concern among educators and policymakers is a lack of information about outcomes. The dearth of information is indeed profound at the national level, according to new research out of Rutgers University, but states are an increasing bright spot.
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Apr 28, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |Paul Fain |byElyse Ashburn
Leaders in education and tech dish on AI and skills-based hiring. Also, we’ve launched a podcast, The Cusp, about AI and economic mobility, and the American Council on Education announces plans for a Global Data Consortium focused on improving the student experience. San Diego—The ed-tech world made its annual pilgrimage here this week for one of the biggest networking and deal-making events of the year. Artificial intelligence, of course, was all the talk.
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Apr 25, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |Paul Fain |byElyse Ashburn
The governor of Illinois announced last week that the state will direct $200M in federal funds to additional training, mentorships, and education scholarships for the childcare workforce over the next two years. As the federal infrastructure bill advances largely without funding for the caregiving and training “infrastructure” that President Biden wanted, it’s a sign that states are nevertheless feeling a pressing need and willing to get creative.
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Apr 24, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
Google Cloud last week launched a new set of certificates and courses built for the world of generative AI—and for the first time including custom, hands-on labs built alongside employers. The labs feature on-the-job scenarios and are specifically designed to help learners move more quickly through the first stage of the job interview process. Employers like the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Rackspace, and Jack Henry helped develop the labs and have signed on to hire completers.
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Apr 17, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
The American Council on Education announced plans this week to launch a Global Data Consortium in 2025. The nonprofit initiative aims to pool data across institutions worldwide and use AI to make sense of that data in a way that drives student success. “We suffer from both too much data and too little access to those data,” Ted Mitchell, president of ACE, said in announcing the consortium.
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Feb 28, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
Apprenticeships continued to grow last fiscal year—hitting a new high of 646K active apprentices and bolstered by big increases in western and sunbelt states like Texas, Colorado, and Alabama. But the overall growth rate, at 6%, fell short of what would be needed to reach the kind of scale policymakers of all stripes say they hope for. The Biden Administration has set a goal of serving 1M apprentices each year by 2026, and California alone is aiming for 141K by then.
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Feb 22, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
Research seeking to answer the question of whether college “pays off” continues to pile up. And the answers remain nuanced, even as the debate around it can be maddeningly simplistic. Three new reports add to that picture. In turn, they look at:Underemployment among bachelor’s degree holders, which is large and “sticky.”The 1K colleges that provide little financial boost. And the shortcomings of both the “college for all” and the “don’t bother” narratives.
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Feb 12, 2024 | 
workshift.opencampusmedia.org | Elyse Ashburn |byElyse Ashburn
The U.S. Department of Labor has proposed substantial changes to the registered apprenticeship system to provide better outcomes data, streamline aspects of the application process, and make apprenticeship more compatible with K-12 andcollege education. The almost 800 pages of proposed rule revisions would touch just about every aspect of apprenticeship—making a host of changes experts have been calling for for years. It would be the first regulatory update to the system since 2008.
