Successful Avenues for Workforce Education: Developing Efficient Workforce Programs Through Stackable Credentials
Session Abstract
In this session we will discuss some of the successful recruitment and retention practices carried out by the workforce departments at a large community college. Specifically, we will discuss how the incorporation of stackable credentials in areas such as welding and machining have increased workforce completion and student retention rates.
Target Audience
This session is relevant to adult educators, advisors, directors, program developers, campus recruiters, and administrators working at institutions of higher or continuing education with existing workforce and trade programs who may have difficulty retaining students and increasing completion rates. This session will also be helpful to educators who are required to or wish to track cohort data, such as contact information, program completion progression, one-on-one interactions, group sessions, and overall success rates for workforce and academic programs.
Session Description
As workforce programs continue to be a common and growing trend in higher and continuing education institutions, the attention with which these programs are planned, formulated, and executed must be carefully considered. New and innovative approaches must be considered and enacted to help increase the positive impact that such programs have both on students and their local communities.
In this session, we will look at how creating workforce programs with market-driven and industry-approved stackable credentials not only help to increase the completion and success rates of adult learners in these programs, but also help to increases the recruitment and retention rates of said programs.
Specifically, we will present some of the important and innovative approaches that Lone Star College has taken in the development of its workforce programs, which include fields such as welding, machining, drafting, petro data, and field service. We will then present new approaches and tools that have been enacted to help bridge the growing gap that can sometimes exist between industry demands and the ever changing landscape of workforce education programs in higher and continuing education.