It’s been a long time since so many of us can come together — in person — for a professional conference.
Seven Labbies will travel to Atlanta for the 2022 IMS Digital Credentials Summit from Feb. 28 to March 2.
The summit brings together leaders in higher ed, workforce development, K-12, business, and philanthropy to share progress around this simple concept: Digital credentials can provide better ways to reward credit and link to opportunities than current paper transcripts, certificates, and resumes.
Our team is participating in five sessions, ranging from a design-thinking workshop … to a sneak peek at the Lab’s next Big Idea. (More on that in the weeks ahead!)
While all five sessions will be presented in person, two sessions will available to watch online during this hybrid conference.
The presentations are listed below in chronological order (with the two virtual sessions noted with ? ).
1.
Workshop: Badge, Pitch, and Plan—Design a Digital Credentialing Strategy
Feb. 28, 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST
(Separate registration required; registration available on-site)
Engage in design thinking by prototyping a badge, a pitch, and an implementation plan for launching your own micro-credentialing strategy. Workshop session led by Tara Laughlin and Matthew Aranda, both Education Designers at the Lab.
2. ?
Visibility: The Path to Equity in our Skills Based Economy
Feb. 28, 5 to 5:30 p.m. EST
Lab Founder and CEO Kathleen deLaski presents this general session about our next big idea. This will be a sneak peek and dialogue about the Lab’s visibility framework. We are on the cusp of a set of capabilities that can solve for economic mobility IF we engage learners, earners, employers and colleges in ways that demonstrate the value proposition of a skills-based ecosystem. Who needs to do what and how do we get there?
3. ?
Stories of Scale: Microcredential Strategies Revisited
March 1, 9 to 9:45 a.m. EST
Lisa Larson, Head of the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund, joins this panel discussion about community colleges pursuing strategies to stack skills-based training and micro-credentials into degree programs. Also includes Luke Dowden (Chief Online Learning Officer / Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Success, Alamo Colleges District); Amber O’Casey (Instructional Designer, Alamo Colleges District); Lesley Voigt (Director of the Digital Credentials Institute, Digital Credentials Institute, Madison College).
4.
Bootcamp to Education Practitioner: Meeting Maine’s Need for Paraeducators
March 1, 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST
Miriam Swords Kalk, a Senior Education Designer at the Lab, joins this session to outline an innovative delivery model that uses micro-credentials to educate individuals with limited classroom experience and helps them gain skills necessary to be effective paraprofessionals in the classroom. In addition to program components, participants will learn about effective recruitment strategies discovered during the pandemic, year-one program results, and how, with the support of the BRIDGES Rural project, they used learner-centered design to improve the program for the 2021 school year. The session also includes Emily Doughty (Educator Effectiveness Coordinator, Maine Department of Education); Megan London (Education Co-Chair, Eastern Maine Community College); and Jane Loxterkamp (Education Co-Chair, Eastern Maine Community College).
5.
Wellspring Participant Roundtable: Meet Institutional and Workforce Pioneers
March 1, 3:15 to 4:30 p.m. EST
Naomi Boyer, the Lab’s Executive Director of Digital Transformation, joins this roundtable discussion about Wellspring, a multi-year initiative of the 1EdTech Foundation and IMS Global to accelerate the adoption of an education-to-work ecosystem based on open standards. Institutional, employer, and workforce representatives will discuss the development of an outcomes-focused, skills-based curriculum. What planning and preparations were necessary, what challenges did they encounter, what opportunities do they see and what are the implications for future program design and development? Also includes Scott Chadwick (Chief of Corporate Partnership Acquisitions, Maryville University); Katie McKenzie (Director, Professional Skills Development, Rung for Women); Kim Moore (Executive Director, Wichita State University); Michelle Navarre Cleary (Director, Learning in Public, College Unbound); Dee Nighswonger (Director, Sedgwick County Developmental Disability Organization); Bethany Toledo (Executive Director, Ohio Association for Direct Support Professionals).
The full agenda and registration information is available on the conference website.