The Montana University System partners with Education Design Lab to develop and scale skills-forward, short-term credentials in high-demand fields. SEPT. 20, 2023 – HELENA, MT – Education Design Lab (the Lab), the Montana Office of…
View Story Skills look to be the currency of the future. Creating wallets to hold them will mean breaking down a “labyrinth of silos,” writes Dr. Naomi Boyer of Education Design Lab. Aug. 16, 2023.
View Story Education Design Lab will establish the center to enable skills validation at scale.WASHINGTON, D.C. (Aug. 23, 2023) — Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs, implements, and scales new models which increase equitable access…
View Story Dr. Naomi Boyer, the Lab's Senior Vice President of Digital Transformation, joined a panel of experts for The Chronicle of Higher Education's virtual forum, “The Transcript of the Future,” on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. Watch…
View Story Mary Stephenson of the College of Eastern Idaho talks about their branded Jeep, why being visual is so important, and more marketing tips for community colleges. In the summer of 2022, just as our BRIDGES…
View Story The Designers in Residence 2.0 cohort practiced equity-centered design during a visit to the Northern Virginia high school in June 2023. By Bryana Ellis, Associate Education Designer Do you remember being in high school?…
View Story On Aug. 10, 2023, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET, Education Design Lab will host a virtual XCredit Phase 2 Showcase, a celebration and demonstration of the incredible work and partnership that happened during the…
View Story Did you miss the Experience You Demonstration at the T3 Innovation Network's Mid-Year Meeting in Washington, D.C.? The July 18, 2023, session featured Colin Reynolds, a Senior Education Designer at the Lab, and Bill Hughes,…
View Story What is the Innovator Network? It’s what we like to call our email newsletter. How do I sign up for the Innovator Network? Sign up here How often will the Lab send out emails? Usually every…
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The Education Design Lab hosted the BRIDGES Rural Institution Impact Showcase on June 26, 2023. What: A virtual Zoom showcase of learnings from the Building Rural Innovation, Designing Educational Strategies (BRIDGES) project. Why: Through the…
View Story “Tech is an enabler … but humans are essential. We can't look to AI to solve these issues that we are confronted with. We have to look to the people who are close to the…
View Story The Lab is excited to announce the second cohort of our Designers in Residence program! Expanding on the work of our first Designers in Residence cohort and Accelerate ED, Cohort 2.0 will build regional ecosystems…
View Story This is part of an ongoing Transformation Profile series spotlighting innovative partners in the Community College Growth Engine (CCGE) initiative at the Education Design Lab.More profiles: Kingsborough Community College | Queensborough Community College | Borough…
View Story Once described as the "Davos of Education," the ASU+GSV Summit returned to San Diego April 17-19, 2023, ... and the Lab was there, too. Lab President + CEO Bill Hughes joined the panel, LEGO Towers,…
View Story Two new resources from the XCredit Skills Validation Network will help strengthen the skills-based ecosystem and promote greater collaboration among stakeholders. WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 12, 2023) — Education Design Lab (the Lab), a national nonprofit…
View Story The Lab’s XCredit initiative was honored in the world’s largest edtech recognition program. WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 7, 2023) — Education Design Lab (the Lab), a national nonprofit helping colleges and employers design equity-based education solutions toward…
View Story This is part of an ongoing Transformation Profile series spotlighting innovative partners in the Community College Growth Engine (CCGE) initiative at the Education Design Lab.More profiles: Kingsborough Community College | LaGuardia Community College | Queensborough…
View Story This is part of an ongoing Transformation Profile series spotlighting innovative partners in the Community College Growth Engine (CCGE) initiative at the Education Design Lab.More profiles: Kingsborough Community College | LaGuardia Community College | Borough…
View Story In his March 23, 2023, column, Mordecai I. Brownlee, president of the Community College of Aurora (Colorado), explains how micro-credentials co-designed with employers and the Education Design Lab are creating more affordable academic options.
View Story This is part of an ongoing Transformation Profile series spotlighting innovative partners in the Community College Growth Engine (CCGE) initiative at the Education Design Lab.More profiles: Queensborough Community College | LaGuardia Community College | Borough…
View Story Welcome to Episode 2 of the Education Design Lab's video podcast, where host Ayanna Conway interviews Lab President Bill Hughes, who added CEO to his title in summer 2022. He has 25 years of experience…
View Story ‘Year to Career Through Micro-pathways’ will grow accelerated career pathways in healthcare and IT sectors WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 8, 2023) — Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs new learning models for higher education…
View Story The Lab traveled to Dallas, Texas, for 1EdTech's annual Digital Credentials Summit Feb. 27-March 1, 2023. Labbies including Dr. Lisa Larson, Dr. Naomi Boyer, and Dr. Tara Laughlin joined many of our innovative partners to present…
View Story We agree with the organizers of #SXSWEDU: Society’s true rock stars are educators! The 2023 conference + festival will bring learners, practitioners, and entrepreneurs together March 6 through 9 in Austin, Texas. And once again,…
View Story By Dr. Jessica Lauritsen, Designers in Residence program lead at Education Design LabWhat if every student had the opportunity to earn an associate degree one year after they graduate from high school? I’m thrilled to…
View Story Our first 20-minute video podcast is an excellent ‘prep’ talk: How to be a great podcast guest By Ayanna Conway, Social Media + Community SpecialistHello, and welcome to the first video podcast from the Education…
View Story A cohort of up to 11 senior higher education leaders will work with the Lab virtually for 18 months after an in-person, kick-off event in Washington, D.C. Applications are due by March 17, 2023.The Education…
View Story 40+ colleges are transforming through the learner-centered design process WASHINGTON, D.C. (JANUARY 26, 2023) — Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs, implements, and scales new learning models for higher education and the future…
View Story The Advancing Racial Equity Community of Practice is a six-month project in which Education Design Lab will work with The Bridgespan Group to support our journey to advance racial equity, both in our organization and…
View Story Pima Community College's micro-pathways are featured in this January 2023 excerpt from Community College Journal, the bimonthly magazine of the American Association of Community Colleges.
View Story The Skills Validation Network seeks to enable equitable opportunity for individuals who are Skilled Through Alternative Routes (STARs), as opposed to a bachelor’s degree WASHINGTON, D.C. (Jan. 19, 2023) — Education Design Lab (the Lab),…
View Story Storytelling insights from the Education Design Lab’s community college partners By Stephanie Ogilvie Seagle, Education Design Lab Communications DirectorBefore we get into it, I need to say up front: Thank you. Thank you for being…
View Story Follow this checklist to instantly improve your LinkedIn posts and make your experiences — and thought leadership — more visible. By Stephanie Ogilvie Seagle, Education Design Lab Communications DirectorHas anyone else been dazzled by their…
View Story On Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at 2 p.m. ET, the T3 Innovation Network and Education Design Lab will launch Experience You. The current state learning and employment records (LERs) target newly issued records rather than…
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View Story After two years of the pandemic, the Lab was ready to reconnect with colleagues and partners – in person – at conferences and convenings around the country in 2022. We captured some of our most…
View Story Just in case you missed any of the Lab's must-read publications of 2022 ... here are the top five resources to help us all innovate toward a more equitable, skills-based economy. 1. Skills Visibility:…
View Story Education Design Lab forms strategic partnership with nation’s leading coalition committed to hiring and advancing Black Americans without four-year degrees WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 5, 2022) — Education Design Lab (the Lab), a national nonprofit helping…
View Story Bill Hughes, Education Design Lab’s CEO, talks about the nonprofit’s work in this October 2022 Q&A with Higher Ed Dive.
View Story This is the first story in the Lab's Transformation Profile series spotlighting innovative partners in our Community College Growth Engine Fund. Background Pima Community College (PCC) is located in Tucson, Ariz., and serves Pima County…
View Story Dr. Lisa Larson, Head of the Community College Growth Engine Fund at the Lab (and former president of rural Eastern Maine Community College), attended the 2022 Rural Community College Alliance Conference with a few of…
View Story The Lab's Single Moms Success Design Challenge was featured in this Sept. 16, 2022, story in The Hechinger Report.
View Story Robert Nye, president of Finger Lakes Community College and BRIDGES Rural partner, talks about their GRIT pilot program in this Sept. 8, 2022, Mile Markers story.
View Story Celebrating more than a decade of Innovation by Design, the 2022 honorees include nearly 600 projects, products, and services from Nike, Verizon, Microsoft, and others. WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 15, 2022) — The Education Design Lab’s…
View Story Learning and Employment Records (LERs) - digital records of an individual’s learning and work - have the potential to create more equitable access to employment and education opportunities by equipping individuals with verifiable and shareable…
View Story Four colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) are designing eight micro-pathways in IT and advanced manufacturing. Rio Salado College president Kate Smith says the Education Design Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund…
View Story The six colleges and systems in the first cohort of the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine — CCGE or the Engine, for short — are piloting their 30+ micro-pathways. Micro-pathways are two or more stackable…
View Story Meet Andrea. She’s 24, single, and has three cats that she adores. Andrea is currently serving in the Navy and plans to transition into the civilian workforce in the next few months. She wants to…
View Story Our BRIDGES Rural team has had a busy 2022, visiting our partner community colleges across the country. That tour culminated in a final Summer Convening on July 19-20, when members of our college design teams…
View Story Kathleen deLaski began prototyping the Education Design Lab in 2012 with a passionate group of innovators inside and outside of higher education. They incorporated as a national nonprofit in 2013 and haven’t looked back ……
View Story Letter from outgoing CEO Kathleen deLaski I am so pleased to mark today, August 1, 2022, by handing the management reins officially to Bill Hughes, new CEO of the Education Design Lab. Bill has already…
View Story A "design challenge" is often how the Education Design Lab works on an equity barrier or challenge for New Majority (L)earners. We co-create — with partners — a disciplined, time-limited exploration and testing laboratory across…
View Story Senior Education Designer Leslie Daugherty, EdD, joins Episode 9 of the Rural College Student Experience podcast, July 19, 2022.
View Story The six colleges and systems in the first cohort of the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine — CCGE or the Engine, for short — are in pilots for their 30+ micro-pathways with adult learners as…
View Story Like most of America, the Lab has been grappling with the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. It affects us — not only as a national nonprofit with employees working remotely across the…
View Story In his June 29, 2022, op-ed for Inside Higher Ed, Brian LaDuca writes about the resilience micro-credential the University of Dayton created in collaboration with the Lab.
View Story Two Lab partners — the University of Maine System and Pima Community College — are featured in this June 20, 2022, story published by eCampusNews.
View Story Op-ed by Lab Founder + CEO Kathleen deLaski published on June 15, 2022, by the Charles Koch Foundation.
View Story Podcast published on May 23, 2022, by Trending in Education. Interview by Mike Palmer.
View Story UpSkill SA! — a partnership between Alamo Colleges, Goodwill San Antonio and the Education Design Lab — led to the Alamo Colleges District creating more opportunities for students to earn marketable skills badges. The district…
View Story Op-ed by Lab Founder + CEO Kathleen deLaski. Published May 9, 2022.
View Story Washington D.C.'s 500 Most Influential People. Published May 3, 2022, by Washingtonian magazine.
View Story A podcast interview with the BRIDGES Rural project team, including Leslie Daugherty, Kathy Temple-Miller, Dana Cotton, and Joe Davis. Interview by Michelle Rathman. Published April 10, 2022.
View Story By Maureen Isimbi April 19, 2022, will mark my first year at the Education Design Lab. It has been one of my most life-changing experiences, and I am forever grateful for such a great opportunity.…
View Story A podcast interview by Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation. Published April 5, 2022.
View Story Many of us think of Goodwill as a great service for donating clothes or household goods we no longer need or want. But behind the stores and drop-off locations, Goodwill is a 120-year-old, international nonprofit…
View Story A Letter from Kathleen deLaski, Founder and CEO, Education Design LabIt’s been eight years since we introduced the construct of the Learner Revolution with the Lab’s first white paper. We predicted technology and changing learner…
View Story Education Design Lab team members are excited to return to in-person conferences, and SXSW EDU 2022 has been the biggest so far. Three Labbies each shared their most impactful takeaway from the March conference in…
View Story The University of Dayton – a private, Catholic University located in Dayton, Ohio – has awarded more than 500 digital badges in 21st century skills as part of the Lab’s BadgedToHire project. Brian LaDuca…
View Story Education Design Lab (the Lab) and Credential Engine announce a partnership to support community college systems and related state agencies in their efforts to prepare for the heightened expansion of skills-based learning and hiring. This…
View Story 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.…
View Story A rural revival is happening across America. That’s because rural communities have so much to offer, from a renewed focus on access to affordable, reliable broadband; to an increase in remote job opportunities; and, last…
View Story By George Lorenzo, Workforce Monitor, Published Feb. 9, 2022
View Story Highlights from the Community College Growth Engine Fund National Convening on Jan. 19, 2022. Have you ever had a moment in your work or your career when you felt like the pieces were finally fitting together?…
View Story By Olivia Sanchez, The Hechinger Report, Published Jan. 21, 2022
View Story By Elin Johnson, Work Shift (Open Campus Network), Published Jan. 18, 2022
View Story Community College Daily Staff, Published Jan 18, 2022
View Story + New report: The Lab unveils 30+ micro-pathway models and design insights from the first cohort of the Community College Growth Engine Fund+ New cohort announced: Four major community college systems join the Fund+ National…
View Story Community College Daily op-ed by Lee Lambert + Kathleen deLaski, Published Nov. 9, 2021
View Story Together, We Found a Gateway to Community College Transformation ... and 7 More Breakthroughs of 2021As we head into the fourth surge of the COVID-19 virus that was supposed to be “over” by that first…
View Story As many of us head into a well-deserved winter break, we wanted to share some reading recommendations from a few of the Lab’s Designers in Residence 2021 cohort. When these higher education innovators aren’t leading…
View Story Ivy Tech Community College (ITCC) is using the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund— CCGEF or the Fund, for short —as a springboard to rethink and redesign what credential attainment and skill development can look…
View Story In one of our last Innovation Snapshots, A Silver Lining: State Funding Leveraged to Support Student Advising Innovation for Prince George’s Community College Micro-pathways, we shared how Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) began instituting a…
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The Lab’s latest Design Insights Brief will help institutions better understand single mother learners and increase their academic and economic success.Washington, DC, Nov. 29, 2021 — Education Design Lab (the Lab) today released a new…
View Story The Lab is working with Best Buy to broaden its postsecondary strategy to support participants in successful career transitions and future successCustomers don’t go to Best Buy just for the latest tech. They also go…
View Story This story by George Lorenzo originally appeared in Workforce Monitor on Nov. 12, 2021.Working parents attending Washington State Community College (WSCC) in Ohio will soon have the opportunity to participate in a no-cost, after-school child…
View Story The Lab welcomes Bill Hughes as its next leader amidst national shift to skills-based economyWASHINGTON, D.C. (NOVEMBER 11, 2020) — Today Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit focused on designing and scaling innovative models at…
View Story The XCredit, or "Experience Credit" initiative, seeks to validate in-demand skills so the credential-earner can showcase their skills to employers, indicate fit for job roles, and increase their economic mobility.U.S. Marine Corps veteran Deanna Parker…
View Story Pima Community College (PCC) joined the first cohort of the Community College Growth Engine Fund Growth Engine Fund—CCGEF or the Fund, for short—to design micro-pathways as a way to better access to and outcomes for…
View Story Austin Community College (ACC) is one of the six community colleges and systems that is part of the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund—CCGEF or the Fund, for short—to build and scale what we call…
View Story WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 4, 2021) -- Today, Education Design Lab, a nonprofit leading in the design, implementation, and scaling of innovative learning models for higher education and the future of work, has announced Dr. Lisa…
View Story Ivy Tech Community College’s (ITCC) vision of one-learner ecosystem is starting to crystallize and become reality through the Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fund—CCGEF or the Fund, for short. To the Indiana statewide community college…
View Story Prince George’s Community College has been instituting a holistic advising model to guide and support learners in its credit-bearing programs. For learners in Continuing Education (CE) programs, however, the college hasn’t been able to provide…
View Story Anna Baldwin, Director of Workforce Projects for Seattle Colleges, had no idea that the colleges’ engagement with Seattle Children’s Hospital would yield $200,000 in scholarships for learners in their new Health IT/Epic Associate program. Epic…
View Story In July 2021, we convened with our BRIDGES Rural cohort institutions in-person for the first time, after everyone was fully vaccinated. This last July, the Lab’s BRIDGES Rural team alongside design partners and stakeholders…
View Story Skill assessments grounded in real-life scenarios are essential to the Lab’s 21st Century Skills Micro-credentials. Current state of the credential earning process involves an assessment that requires the learner to demonstrate a competency or sub-competency…
View Story Last week, representatives from each of the four community colleges—Ivy Tech CC in Indianapolis, IN; Monroe CC in Rochester, NY; Delgado CC in New Orleans, LA; and Central New Mexico CC in Albuquerque, NM—in the…
View Story Q&A with Dr. Tara Zirkel, Senior Education Designer with the Community College Growth Engine Fund The Community College Growth Engine Fund is a design accelerator led by the Education Design Lab working with community colleges…
View Story In April 2021, the Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF), a national initiative to build 18+ employer-validated micro-pathways, hosted learner feedback sessions. Micro-pathways are defined as two or more stackable credentials that include a 21st…
View Story Aimed at providing credentials for 21st century skills gained from work and life, Education Design Lab’s new experience credit, or “XCredit,” provides a scalable way to help millions of learners and earners seeking higher wages…
View Story Part 1: Understanding the Potential of Rural Community College Learners The Lab’s new Design Insights publication series offers a glimpse into our human-centered design approach to make learning visible, portable, affordable, flexible, and relevant for…
View Story Established in 2020, the Open Skills Network is a group of nearly 450 employers, educational organizations, and technology providers dedicated to accelerating the adoption of skills-based education and hiring by establishing a network of open…
View Story If you haven’t heard about the emerging “skills based economy,” you soon will. It is being touted, rightly, as an opportunity to democratize the hiring process, to help learners and workers be hired for “what…
View Story Kicking off a Year with the Lab’s Designers in Residence Last month, the Education Design Lab (the Lab) introduced our inaugural cohort of Designers in Residence. These 12 higher education leaders will join together over…
View Story In April 2021, the Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF), a national initiative to build 18+ employer-validated micro-pathways, hosted a series of learner feedback sessions across the country. Micro-pathways are defined as two or more…
View Story Dear partners and innovators, Today, we are excited to announce the selection of 12 higher education leaders to join our Designers in Residence program. Spanning a diverse cross-section of communities, institutional positionality, and lived experience…
View Story Since our BRIDGES Rural initiative kicked off last spring, we’ve been asking: How might we strengthen the capacity of rural community colleges to serve as critical economic growth engines for their learners and communities? At…
View Story Faculty and staff at Delgado Community College participate in a gallery walk during a design session where they built prototype programs to increase single mother learner college completion. In fall 2020, community colleges in…
View Story Dear partners and innovators, We are excited to announce the release of “Walk in My Shoes”: An Actionable Learner Engagement Framework to Foster Growth, Belonging, and Agency. This actionable framework captures our vision, recommendations, tools,…
View Story A completed T-Profile by an employer partner In January 2021, the Community College Growth Engine Fund (CCGEF), a national initiative to build 18 employer-validated micro-pathways that connect low-wage and entry-level workers to in-demand jobs,…
View Story WASHINGTON, D.C. (February, 2021) – Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit and leader in the design, implementation, and scaling of new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today announced the launch…
View Story Dear partners and innovators, The past year has accentuated the ways in which higher education is out of step with the life experiences, perspectives, and goals of new majority learners—students historically considered “nontraditional” who…
View Story More Colleges are Embedding soft skills credentials into degree programs Washington D.C. - The Education Design Lab, February 11th, 2021. To meet demand from all types of learning providers, The Lab is opening access…
View Story Describe something as visible, and it means it can be seen. Describe a person as visible, and it means they are recognizable. Visibility is generally a good thing. It engages our senses and provokes our…
View Story Leaders in skills-driven education, human-centered design, and the future of work join our growing team In a year filled with uncertainty and turmoil, learners and the education and workforce leaders who serve them have been…
View Story This year has been a reckoning. Knowing that the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of economic transformation and further exposed our broken systems is not news. Amidst the trauma, tragedy, and uncertainty of unemployment,…
View Story Higher Ed Dive, December 8, 2020
View Story Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit and leader in the design, implementation, and scaling of new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today announced the selection of five rural community colleges…
View Story The BadgedToHire vFairs main hall, where students can navigate to employer booths, presentation halls, and varying chatrooms. How do we make 21st century skills visible through micro-credentials to better connect learners to jobs? How…
View Story By: Chris Burt Pima Community College chancellor Lee Lambert was forthright in stressing the need for his institution and others to provide educational opportunities within their regions. “The pandemic has brought a heightened sense of urgency to…
View Story Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs, implements, and scales new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today announced the selection of six colleges and systems selected as the inaugural…
View Story Faculty and staff from a participating Graduate NYC college gather to revise their program prototype. Our partners at Graduate NYC recently announced the recipients of the 2020 College Completion Innovation Fund (CCIF). Congratulations to…
View Story The Creativity for COVID team and student participants. The value of an internship is undeniable. They provide students with “real-world” experience, help build their networks and, in some cases, result in a job offer. The…
View Story Earlier this summer, we shared our experience collaborating with our amazing partners in San Antonio, Texas, to build upskilling pathways as an approach to help incumbent frontline workers access and succeed in middle-skill jobs in…
View Story Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs, implements, and scales new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today announced the launch of the Community College Growth Engine Fund, to invest…
View Story Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit and leader in the design, implementation, and scaling of new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today announced a $1.9 million grant from Ascendium Education Group to…
View Story At the Lab, we’ve long talked about the fast-changing learn-to-work ecosystem. In this series, “How might we future?”, we ask Lab education designers to share their thoughts on how we adapt to and stay learner-centric…
View Story Local high school students in Tucson, Arizona, participate in the early stages of program design for the new Catholic University model. When I got a phone call from the Provost of Catholic University three…
View Story The first cohort for Skills Booster—every participant in the cohort successfully earned the Lab’s 21st Century Skills Resilience Micro-credential. Over the past 15 months, the Lab has worked with partners in San Antonio, Texas,…
View Story Education Design Lab, the national nonprofit that pioneered the concept of learner-centric design in education, today announced the launch of a paid remote internship program with District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) that will offer…
View Story Dear partners and friends, The Education Design Lab stands in solidarity with the Black community against the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless others whose lives have been stolen…
View Story Why Micro-Pathways? We didn’t need the coronavirus to get us pondering the question “Is college worth it?” But it certainly speeds up our need to find the alternatives. Coronavirus gives us the moment to put…
View Story Dr. Michael J. Sorrell, President of Paul Quinn College, spoke to the importance of centering on learners in this new era of higher ed. A year ago, the Lab had just released The Learner…
View Story We continue to be inspired by the ways higher ed is responding to this moment on behalf of learners and communities. And we are hearing from our network how the design tools and methods we’ve…
View Story COVID-19 has thrown communities across the whole world into chaos and uncertainty. As colleges and universities nationwide grapple with this unfolding reality, we want to highlight resources that may help respond to the heightened needs…
View Story the Lab team Dear partners and innovators, One of the few things we can feel certain about is that your inboxes and social media feeds are overwhelmed by COVID-19 statements from schools, businesses and service…
View Story Back in October 2019, we announced our Badging Fellows, a cohort of five individuals working on their respective campuses to build and launch a learning experience utilizing the Lab’s 21st century skills. Over the past…
View Story For a single mother learner, her children always come first, but we know that the vast majority of higher ed institutions were not designed with parent learners in mind. Research shows that single mother learners…
View Story By Kathleen deLaski and Tara Lifland When we first predicted the “Learner Revolution” in 2014, we talked about it as a trend that might take hold by 2030. The Learner Revolution is a world where…
View Story Faculty members from Jarvis Christian College and Florida Memorial University work on bettering their respective campus pilots to improve career outcomes for their students. Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) were founded with the…
View Story Retail workers at Goodwill San Antonio. As part of our “Future Proof” series, we’re covering the future of work landscape and the tools, pathways, and trends for designing educational programs that equip learners for…
View Story Members of the Delgado Community College design team, including several single mother learners, collaborate to prototype solutions that address the needs of single mothers. In Spring 2019, the Lab launched the Single Moms Success…
View Story Education Design Lab (the Lab), a national nonprofit and leader in the design, implementation, and scaling of new learning models for higher education and the future of work, today named five key innovators from colleges…
View Story Faculty from Florida Memorial University moved from big problems facing their students and their university to tangible solutions in two days’ time. Increased financial pressures and declining enrollment are forcing small private colleges to…
View Story We find skills and curriculum mapping fascinating, and after our dive into the basics of skills mapping and a conversation with an excited group of skills mappers, it’s clear that you do, too. In “Future…
View Story Before and after: We split the ACE Fellows into teams to rapidly design, build, and test paper airplanes—and compete them against one another—all in under 10 minutes. The result? An immediate energy boost and surge…
View Story We are pleased to announce that Sammie Oputa has joined the Lab as Executive Assistant and Design Associate! Sammie’s background ranges from health sciences to education with a focus on community empowerment. Prior to the…
View Story Last week, EdSurge published “5 Years Since Starbucks Offered to Help Baristas Attend College, How Many Have Graduated?”, a report on the 5 year outcomes of the Starbucks College Achievement Plan, which has helped over…
View Story Featured Image: The Lab team posing during Home Week with our favorite design tool ever...Post Its! At the Lab, we take great care in designing sessions with our partners that are productive, engaging, and learner-centric—and…
View Story The “understand” part of our design work is what allows it to be “human-centered”— through empathy building, we root ourselves in users’ experiences so we can approach the development of solutions through the lens of…
View Story Participants from Goodwill SA, Palo Alto College, and Alamo Colleges Online select design criteria In our human-centered design work, we’re often faced with the conundrum of balancing (often at odds) learner input and the defined…
View Story Virginia Western Community College and national non-profit co-design pathway to region's fast-growing healthcare careers ROANOKE, VIRGINIA (May 30, 2019) -- Education Design Lab, a national nonprofit that designs, tests, and implements education programs aligned with…
View Story Goodwill workers are rich with 21st century skills but not getting credit for them For many team members at Goodwill San Antonio, the thought of going back to school is daunting. The two biggest barriers:…
View Story We’re pleased to announce that Naomi Boyer has joined the Lab as Education Designer, Digital Credential Products. Naomi comes to the Lab with over 20 years of experience in K-12, community and state colleges, and…
View Story UpSkill SA! taps the potential of learner-centric design to prepare frontline workers for jobs in the region's fastest-growing fields. Learn more about this project and meet our partners at eddesignlab.org/upskillsa. SAN ANTONIO, May 2, 2019--…
View Story Skills mapping is coming into focus as the holy grail for translating employer needs to learner pathways. It was a hot topic at the SXSW and ASU+GSV conferences the Lab has attended over the past…
View Story We’re pleased to announce that Miriam Swords Kalk has joined the Lab as an Education Designer. Miriam comes to the Lab having spent six years shaping user experience strategy at Udacity, where she collaborated with…
View Story We’re pleased to announce that Marta Urquilla and Isaac Agbeshie-Noye have joined the Lab as Chief Program Officer and Education Designer, HBCU Director, respectively. Marta joins the Lab with over 25 years’ experience working in…
View Story Education Design Lab taps four large community colleges in an ambitious effort to raise single-mother completion rate 30 percent at each institution by 2024 WASHINGTON, April 4, 2019–– The national nonprofit Education Design Lab today…
View Story The Learner Revolution panel discussion | Ken Eisner (Amazon Web Services), Ángel Cabrera (George Mason University), and Kathleen deLaski (Education Design Lab) Last week, we released our anniversary paper The Learner Revolution: How Colleges Can…
View Story Isaac Agbeshie-Noye Leslie Daugherty We are proud to announce that TWO Lab education designers, Isaac Agbeshie-Noye and Leslie Daugherty, have successfully defended their dissertations and will be officially hooded this spring by George Washington University…
View Story Employers fill out T-Profiles at the University of Maine in Fall 2018 7 schools. 400 students. 20 employers. 40 T-profiles. 14,000 frequent flier miles. Our #TeeUpTheSkills travels at the end of 2018 were intense. In…
View Story participants share out user needs from the perspective of employers, learners, and learning providers Can you imagine the day when your degree will be based on what you can do, not what you know? And…
View Story Five years ago, the Lab began with a vision to bring human-centered design and other innovative tools to bear on the wicked problems that lie at the intersection of the rapidly changing postsecondary education landscape,…
View Story Do you have a list of books you’ve been meaning to read? Us too. For months we’ve been telling ourselves, that we’ll “get to it” over the holiday break. Well, folks, this is it...the special…
View Story This winter, we are working with our UNCF CPI member institutions to launch pilots that will inspire institutional transformation and enhance career outcomes for graduates. Pilots are slated to launch in Fall 2019. For us…
View Story Enterprise representative fills out the Journey of a Resume tool during a design session in San Jose, CA. This tool allows us to pinpoint where 21st Century Skills Badges could be useful in the hiring…
View Story Enterprise representative fills out the Journey of a Resume tool during a design session in San Jose, CA. This tool allows us to pinpoint where 21st Century Skills Badges could be useful in the hiring…
View Story Employer partners fill out the T-Profile at a #TeeUpTheSkills design session Kicking off #TeeUpTheSkills at Central New Mexico Community College This month we traveled to Albuquerque, NM, to kick off #TeeUpTheSkills with Central New Mexico…
View Story Provosts and administrators from the four HBCUs participate in the Gallery Walk How might our institutions provide intentional and sustainable pathways to build 21st century competencies and help our students find meaningful employment in their…
View Story In partnership with ECMC Foundation, non-profit opens request for proposals for Single Moms Success initiative twitterlinkedin WASHINGTON, DC, November 13, 2018--Education Design Lab (the Lab), a non-profit leader in the design and implementation of new models…
View Story Brian Kathman, CEO of Signal Vine, presents on nudge technology at a Seamless Transfer Pathways design session In our work with colleges and universities, we’ve been hearing more and more that institutions need effective and…
View Story Local hiring managers map out their hiring process at a #TeeUpTheSkills design session The first stop on our #TeeUpTheSkills tour was a place with an urgent need for employer-driven 21st Century Skills credentials: Bangor, Maine.…
View Story D211, Harper College, and NIU administrators collaborate at a Seamless Transfer Pathways convening in early 2018 What’s possible when a high school district, community college, and four year university work together to improve outcomes for first…
View Story Yearlong design and hiring challenge aims to help historically underserved students demonstrate 21st century skills to access better career pathways WASHINGTON, DC, September 26, 2018-- Education Design Lab (the Lab), a national non-profit leader in…
View Story Administrator reviews a graduate's description of their transfer experience from Collin College to UNT For undecided or newly decided transfer students, the “back to school” time of year is often accompanied by feelings of…
View Story The Lab shares information about our design process, and design challenges, including 21st Century Skills badges As college students all over the country are headed to various foreign destinations for exchange/study abroad programs, we…
View Story Participants empathy mapping the needs of their students at the UNCF CPI annual convening One of our favorite moments of the summer: design training at this year’s UNCF Career Pathways Initiative convening in Fort Lauderdale.…
View Story Miami Dade College and Florida International University administrators, faculty, and transfer student develop student personas For Miami Dade College and Florida International University, the past year has been a collaborative push to address one question:…
View Story Who says the news slows down in August? Between the Lab’s partnership with Credly, announcement of the #TeeUpTheSkills cohort, and recent UNCF convening, we’ve been having a stand out week in the press.…
View Story For Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) and George Mason University, the past year has been a collaborative push to address one question: How might community colleges and four-year universities dramatically improve transfer and…
View Story New York, NY: Education Design Lab, a nonprofit that applies design thinking to create new pathways from education to employment, announced the launch of a new partnership with Credly that will designate participating colleges and universities…
View Story Students think all the time, whether it’s about what’s for lunch, how to make studying more efficient, or pondering an assignment for a philosophy course. A panel of students from Hope College and Aquinas College…
View Story “There are One Million middle skills jobs in New York City and 46% of New Yorkers lack the skills to fill them.” (NYC DOE website) The New York City Department of Education (DOE) is…
View Story The Education Design Lab is excited to be working with The Catholic University of America to design prototypes for a low-cost, high quality college degree in Tucson, Arizona. With strong support from the Mayor…
View Story Today, the Education Design Lab announces a three-year engagement with UNCF’s Career Pathways Initiative (CPI). African-American unemployment rates remain almost twice as high as unemployment rates for whites. From March 2017 to March 2018,…
View Story “The convening helped us clarify our stakeholders, get a better handle on our target student groups, and helped to narrow the focus on our solutioning space.” After nine months of planning, preparing, and designing…
View Story As I sit on the plane, headed to our second convening at the University of North Texas where all the Seamless Transfer Pathways partners will come together to determine their pilot, I cannot help…
View Story Americans are earning college degrees at an unprecedented rate, yet many college graduates find themselves unemployed or underemployed. Postsecondary institutions struggle to deliver graduates who can articulate their skills, and employers have trouble vetting…
View Story What if you designed a university to support students’ well-being? Growing student anxiety and mental wellness are gaining attention of higher education leaders as they consider how these challenges impact both the student experience and…
View Story Our president, Kathleen deLaski, and Concentric Sky's CEO, Wayne Skipper, presenting at the Summit on Digital Badging. This year’s Summit on Digital Badging was well curated by IMSGlobal at Arizona State University, the impressive…
View Story Stakeholder attendees participating in the NOVA/Mason Walk. The Seamless Transfer Pathways team has been on the road, visiting each of the campus pairs in the project, since the end of January. In total, almost…
View Story Students weigh in on aspects of hospitality ‘bootcamp’ most enticing to them through a dot voting exercise In Washington DC, the fastest growing industry is hospitality and adult charter students who are still working…
View Story Sprint participants convert job descriptions into ‘T profiles’ The Lab was invited to present and lead a design session at this year’s CTE Professional Development day for NYC Public Schools. The essence of the…
View Story Self-Directed Learning Symposium participants contribute their thoughts on the components of a new badge. What’s in a name? For the past couple of years, there has been one microcredential in our suite of skills yet…
View Story If you were given a magic wand and could make any ONE thing happen to increase successful completion among your students, what would that be? What are the most significant hurdles transfer students face…
View Story In the age of Artificial Intelligence and Fake News, employers are placing a premium on critical thinking skills. College students writ large practice critical thinking in some capacity throughout their learning experience, conducting research and…
View Story We are pleased to announce funding from DC’s Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) to take one of our prototypes into pilot with Academy of Hope, an adult charter school in Washington, DC. Our partners…
View Story Night operations at The Lab in Dupont Circle, Washington, DC. Our mission: to see if the increasingly popular team building activity in major cities—a night at an escape room—really creates opportunities to ‘practice and reflect’…
View Story This month George Mason University issued the Resilience Badge to a third cohort. The Resilience Badge is one of eight 21st Century Skills digital badges that the Lab developed with a dozen university partners. A diverse group…
View Story Last week, the much heralded Seamless Transfer Pathways Design Challenge kicked off with the presidents of George Mason University and Northern Virginia Community College welcoming 26 administrators and staff from four transfer teams, representing 9 institutions. Our design…
View Story The Lab engaged 400 students and 60 college coordinators representing career services, retention offices, and alumni affairs as part of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund’s Annual Leadership Institute. The energy was high as students from…
View Story Since the dawn of MOOCs in 2012 innovators have been heralding the “unbundling” of the college degree. Our year-end blog seeks to look beyond the hype at individual examples of where traditional learning institutions are…
View Story The Lab recently presented with Rachel Surkin of IREX (one of our partners in the co-design of the Oral Communication Badge) at the annual Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit in Washington, D.C. The featured session, entitled Beyond the…
View Story Last week, the Lab traveled to beautiful Boise State University to kick off our year-long engagement integrating three of our 21st Century Skills Badges (Catalyst, Collaboration, Resilience) into the student experience for all Community and…
View Story This month, the Lab team hosted a design session with Connecting Credentials “Aligning Supply & Demand” workgroup to further explore opportunities for alignment between supply (learners, higher ed institutions, and other credentialing organizations) and demand…
View Story The Lab leads Innovation Design Sprint for UNCF Career Pathways Initiative How do you turn the ship– historically black colleges and universities—to adapt to the changing career landscape of graduates? This week, approximately 180 attendees…
View Story The 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge student pilots are wrapping up as the academic year comes to a close—but the Lab’s work with employers is ramping up. In partnership with Michigan Colleges Alliance, the Lab…
View Story Every year in the United States, approximately 600,000 students enter a community college with the goal of ultimately attaining a bachelor’s degree. Frustratingly, close to 86% of them will never achieve that dream. This is…
View Story This March, the Education Design Lab’s school partners on the 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge gathered for the 2016-17 Cohort Convening–the culminating event of the year. Bringing together university teams from across the country, it was a…
View Story This March, the Education Design Lab’s school partners on the 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge gathered for the 2016-17 Cohort Convening–the culminating event of the year. Bringing together university teams from across the country, it was a…
View Story The Lab's Founder & President, Kathleen deLaski, spent her summer co-chairing a Connecting Credentials working group which has just released its Aligning Supply & Demand Signals Report. Below are her reflections on her experience and the…
View Story The Lab was thrilled to present along with Badging Challenge partners at conferences around the country in late February and early March. As we continue to look for partners for the next phase of the #BadgingChallenge, we…
View Story “The pace of technology development has outpaced the pace of learning.” The Lab’s Kathleen deLaski was on a panel with David Leaser, IBM’s Senior Program Executive for Innovation and Growth Initiatives, and was fascinated by…
View Story We asked Casey, a student at Georgetown University who earned a Catalyst Badge, to share with us her experience with navigating college while building a career path for herself. In this post, she explores her encounter…
View Story The Education Design Lab just concluded the latest phase of our 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge. Building off of 2015-16’s work with George Mason University (Resilience Badge) and Georgetown University (Catalyst Badge), our primary goal…
View Story Every year in the United States, hundreds of thousands of students enter a community college aspiring to transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree one day; most will fail to do so. Community colleges continue to…
View Story Why did MOOCs create such a stir a few years back? Why are bootcamps all the rage now? We are all looking for potential shortcuts to career success for the learner who doesn’t have access…
View Story It is sad that the traction micro-credentials are getting so far is not for the people who need them most. As Jeff Selingo pointed out in a NYT piece last month, nearly 9 in 10 jobs…
View Story We love going into old style bookshops and seeing “staff recommendations” of favorite books. Expert and personal curation goes a long way in the algorithm age. We thought we‘d carry the tradition over to the…
View Story Connected Pathways "Designing Hospitality Pathways Convening" This week's Connected Pathways "Designing Hospitality Pathways Convening" offered participants a unique environment for exploring and imagining the possibilities of alternative academic and training pathways. Often designing directly with…
View Story Promoting Design-Driven Innovation at Montgomery College At the Lab, we believe that student-centered design has the power to transform institutions. As such, it is part of our mission to spread that belief and lead the…
View Story Prototyping Alternative and Academic Career Pathways December has been busy for our newest challenge: the Connected Pathways initiative. We are prototyping new pathways to professional careers, starting with the fastest growing industry in Washington, DC,…
View Story Kicking Off Prototyping Days with the 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge Cohort Preparing to launch student pilots by February 2017, the Education Design Lab is leading a Prototyping Day at each 21st Century Skills…
View Story https://youtu.be/KGdHNtLlcrg
View Story The Lab is looking at bootcamps as a potential model for career pathways beyond coding. As the bootcamp movement grows in tech, it presents a range of possibilities for industries like healthcare and hospitality. Iron Yard,…
View Story The “Bring back the jobs” trade agreement trash talking from the presidential campaign understates the bigger dramatic trend in the workplace: automation. Technology is causing once-in-a-century hyper shift in “jobs to be done” in the…
View Story How I stumbled across "adaptive design" at my Harvard reunion I have always ignored the class reunion emails from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, which I attended for two of the most eye-opening…
View Story When does a start-up stop being one? It’s been three years this week since we created the official non-profit to formalize the work the Education Design Lab had been doing for a year already. It’s…
View Story Will employer-sponsored education benefits become for the 21st century what healthcare benefits were in the 20th century? With employer spending on professional development growing by more than 10% annually since the Great Recession, and rises…
View Story Will employer-offered education benefits become for the 21st century what healthcare benefits became in the 20th century? With employer spending on professional development growing by more than 10% annually since the Great Recession, and rises…
View Story This year, the Lab is working with universities to prototype a suite of 21st century skill micro-credentials. Over the past few weeks, we have published a three-part series of blogs collecting what we've learned from…
View Story How design flaws in the classroom can actually become design benefits for employers. It shocks my boss that I watch reruns of The West Wing at my desk. How could I so brazenly watch…
View Story Last week, we published a blog collecting what we’ve learned from students, administrators, and employers around our badging work. We asked Sam Holley, a recent graduate of Georgetown University and participant in our inaugural badging…
View Story We're more convinced than ever that meaningful credentials—ones that capture, develop and assess “soft skills”—will become an important currency for employers and developmental tool for schools and students. Figuring this out in ways that work across the…
View Story Our partners keep asking for examples of design thinking in the reimagining of higher education. We teach design thinking at The Academy for Innovation in Higher Education Leadership. This winter a cohort met at Arizona…
View Story For this post, we are featuring a guest blog from Amanda Opperman of Wonderlic, Inc. When the Lab hosted one of many design sessions with colleges, universities and employers for our #BadgingChallenge, we met Charlie Wonderlic and Amanda Opperman from…
View Story We hear a lot about reinventing college and how we might better design the journey from school to work. Some students want faster or more experiential pathways to prosperity, re-entry points after stop-outs or opportunities for…
View Story ...the challenge on traditional public university campuses is whether they can innovate through the challenges of governance, broad mission, policy, and shrinking public funds. Consider this dilemma. Most of the mind-blowing conversations and experiments…
View Story Innovation traction may be tough in the last year of the Obama Administration, but you have to give the DoE credit for continuing to try to push the boat out. Three years ago, when we…
View Story Now, in year two, this university of the future has a lot to share When I ask myself what is the essence of our work at the Education Design Lab, it is to completely reimagine…
View Story Kathleen deLaski, founder of the Education Design Lab, stumbled upon the realization that many roads led to the emerging science of well-being...her college design work at the Lab, her philanthropy, her time on a university…
View Story From Education Design Lab's Higher Ed Fellow, Michael Meotti In a very rare occurrence last month, the same news story flashed across the Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times and the Washington Post last…
View Story OK, so college affordability is going to be a hot button issue in the presidential race. Good. Game on. Love the idea that college should be an entitlement -- that brainchild applied to the…
View Story 10 Things We've Learned from the 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge We’re just about six months into our 21st Century Skills Badging Challenge. This cohort-style design challenge brought together seven local universities and many employers and…
View Story "Most of the really transformational ideas are actually breaking china now." Education Design Lab Founder Kathleen deLaski interviews Randy Bass, Vice Provost for Education at Georgetown University - one of the few vice provosts given…
View Story Recently, the Lab has been percolating in a few different projects that have us returning to a piece we published six months ago, "The Learner Revolution". Our Badging Challenge, the Academy for Innovative Higher Ed…
View Story Last week I attended the Gallup-Lumina Foundation study release event for their 2014 study on Americans' college aspirations and barriers. Entitled Postsecondary Education Aspirations and Barriers, The 2014 Gallup-Lumina Foundation Study of the American Public's…
View Story Jeff King is the Director of the University of Central Oklahoma’s (UCO) Center for Excellence in Transformative Teaching and Learning. We first met Jeff at the Inaugural Leading Academic Change Summit, and have stayed in…
View Story Design thinking is everywhere in the press these days. The practice has ties all the way back to DaVinci, but I only discovered it a little more recently, at Stanford’s “d.School.” Adopting it two years…
View Story When we began thinking about digital badging to enhance student employability in today’s workforce, it was clear that we needed a clear framework from which to translate what skills today’s employers need to how universities…
View Story We're pleased to announce the kick-off of our cohort-style design challenge with 7 partner universities to address the question: How might we capture learning beyond the traditional transcript in ways that are meaningful to…
View Story We first met Cassandra Horii at the Inaugural Leading Academic Change Summit, a convening of 70 senior-level academic change agents from universities around the country. Cassandra is the founding Director of the Center for Teaching,…
View Story Now in Year Three of our badging challenge (recently featured on PBS NewsHour and The Chronicle of Higher Education), we’re announcing the launch of a full group of higher ed partners to co-create digital badges addressing the…
View Story The State of the Union-sparked debate on whether community college should be free reminds us to write about the design session we led at the White House before the holidays. As part of the White…
View Story Recapping our experience at the Inaugural Leading Academic Change Summit Everyone talks about “academic transformation” as code for the urgent imperative to reconsider the value proposition, return on investment and teaching/learning modalities for today’s…
View Story The Lab led a design sprint at Bay Path University, an institution dedicated to emerging women leaders and managers. This two-day event kicked-off a longer Design Challenge that will define and build a non-degree leadership…
View Story Practically every company innovates. But few do so in an orderly, reliable way. In far too many organizations, the big breakthroughs happen despite the company. Successful innovations typically follow invisible development paths and require acts…
View Story As we come near the close of a busy fall, we’d like to pause to reflect on some themes in this nuanced and interesting chapter of the “reinvent college” discussion. We were feeling a kind…
View Story On April 24, George Mason University posted a press release describing the learning pilot phase of the Lab’s Apprenticeship Challenge. The Lab’s Design Challenges all push toward a learning pilot where the design partner puts the newly designed…
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