Preparing Students to Enter the Workforce through Skill-Based Teaching for Critical Roles

Streamed Session

Brief Abstract

This session will make the connection between the needs of the current workforce and the role of online education. Specifically, the session will focus on critical roles in communities that necessitate students be job-ready upon graduation. Through interactive activities, participants will learn teaching strategies for skill-building to supplement their courses.

Presenters

Extended Abstract

This session will make the connection between the needs of the current workforce and the role of online education in professional preparation. Specifically, the session will focus on critical roles in communities that necessitate students to be job-ready upon graduation. Online education offers multiple opportunities to successfully prepare professionals across multiple disciplines. In this session, the field of public health will be used as the primary example to explore workforce preparation. 

As we continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of public health has faced enormous challenges. These challenges began even before the pandemic began and include staff attrition, loss of institutional knowledge through retirements of key leaders, lack of succession planning, and inconsistent preparation of staff for entry, mid, and senior level positions. This requires intentionality in education that is rooted in skill-building.

In this session, participants will be provided tools and resources on examining the current landscape of workforce needs across sectors.  A job advertisement from public health promotion will be analyzed during a group activity. This activity will include identification of required knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and a brainstorming session of online teaching methodologies that support effective preparation of students upon graduation.
 
As a result of attending this session, participants will be able to draw connections between needed workforce skills and online learning activities. In addition, participants will learn at least 5 teaching strategies to consider adding to their courses or curriculum to aid in skill-building and job preparation.