Evaluating Lynda.com Platform Usage: An Analysis of 2018–19 User Data

80,000 postsecondary students, faculty and staff made free use of Lynda.com library in 2018–19 About 80,000 Ontario postsecondary students, faculty and staff took advantage of free access to a library of video tutorials provided by Lynda.com during the 2018–19 school year, according to a report that analyzed usage data on the online learning platform owned […]

Great Divide or Small Fissure? A Comparison of Skills, Education and Earnings across Standard and Non-standard Workers

Higher skill and educational levels lead to greater job security, higher earnings Canadian workers with higher levels of education are more likely to be employed in permanent, full-time jobs while those with higher literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills are likely to earn more money, according to a new report examining the relationship between skills, educational […]

Lifelong Learning in Ontario: Improved Options for Mid-career, Underserved Learners

Report calls on Ontario PSE institutions to introduce programs for displaced workers, adult learners As Ontario’s economy continues to undergo rapid change, the province’s colleges and universities will need to introduce new short-term, flexible training programs that cater to the needs of displaced workers and other adult learners, recommends a new report by the Higher […]

Postsecondary Education Metrics for the 21st Century

Time to introduce new postsecondary performance metrics, report argues Ontario’s postsecondary education system would be best served by a set of performance metrics that would measure, among other things, the skills students acquire during their studies, the link between programs and job success, and institutional financial performance, argues a new paper by the Higher Education […]

Minding the Gap? Ontario Postsecondary Students’ Perceptions on the State of Their Skills

Ontario students perceive gap between skills learned in postsecondary and those needed in the workplace Postsecondary students perceive a gap between the skills they think they will need in their future careers and those they are developing while in university or college, according to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario […]

Categories

Harvey P. Weingarten — Skills in postsecondary education: Where to now?

We recently published a series of reports describing the skill levels of entering and graduating postsecondary students. The most telling observation made in those reports is that too few students are graduating with superior literacy and numeracy skills and too many — about one in four — are graduating with literacy and numeracy levels that […]

On Test: Skills, Summary of Findings from HEQCO’s Skills Assessment Pilot Studies

One-quarter of graduating students score below adequate on measures of literacy, numeracy One of the first major attempts to measure employment-related skills in university and college students on a large scale shows that students are experiencing some gains in literacy, numeracy and critical-thinking scores over the course of their undergraduate studies. Yet, one in four […]

Competency-based Education: Driving the Skills-measurement Agenda

Rise of competency-based education could help bridge ‘skills gap’ With increased pressure on the postsecondary education system to prepare students for a changing workforce, competency-based education (CBE) is emerging as a promising model for preparing graduates to meet employer demands. A new report published by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario, Competency-based Education: Driving the […]

Integrating Pedagogy and Technology to Measure Program and Institutional Learning Outcomes at the University of Guelph

University of Guelph Evaluates Online Outcomes Assessment Tool The University of Guelph was one of the first institutions to define the skills students would learn in their programs. This evolved into a list of five institutional learning outcomes that were approved in 2012. As a next step, researchers worked in collaboration with Desire2Learn (D2L), a […]