Building Sustainable Innovations

Moving forward there are three major areas of focus for C4EO’s Shared Skills Language Platform: 1) data update and maintenance of effort; 2) “real-world’ scenario-based applications of the concept; and 3) commercialization and monetization of data development.

Data Update and Curation Effort:

The initial momentum captured in the development of the first skills library was critical to the proof of concept. However, that momentum could easily wane without a mechanism to maintain and extend competency-based data collection, reach out to a wide range of potential stakeholders, and explore additional applications for the use of the Shared Skills Language Platform in both the public and private sectors. To maintain the currency of the effort, there must be an on-going effort to refine, examine and continue to collect data. C4EO meets this objective by routinely conducting the following data surety and currency processes:

• Monitor real-time job postings to determine the emergence and decay of skill statements. Most, if not all, online job postings use lay terms to define the skills they seek to hire. C4EO will translate these lay skill statements into the taxonomic framework and check the current database to determine if it should be added.
• Engage employers to develop regional talent pipelines that define current and emerging skills. As more employers participate in the regional review process, any suggested changes are evaluated and incorporated into the skills library, as appropriate.
  Leverage external skill framework initiatives to compare  their skills language to the Common Skills Language Platform skill statements.

Develop Scenario-Based Applications:

Including uses for both individuals and organizations and applications in regional strategic planning. The easiest way to demonstrate the tremendous application for the Shared Skills Language Platform is through SaaS-based, automated online tools. An initial resume-to-job posting and career opportunity matching system was brought live on the Internet in late 2011.

Patterned after the EuroPass concept of a portable skills credential, this approach to matching allowed users to upload an electronic version of their resume, curriculum vitae or comparable personal work history profile and view job postings with high skill correlations.

C4EO is creating new curriculum alignment and skills gap analysis tools that will provide more effective and job-driven alignment outcomes, while saving institutions thousands of dollars over current processes which tend to have less fidelity.

Monetization of Data Development:

Even with initial success of the Shared Skills Language Platform applications, there are several additional data development efforts that must happen to fully operationalize the power of the platform in education and workforce development, in individual labor exchange, and among private sector employers. As part of the vision for a common language the following data development projects have either been accomplished or are in pending, ready- for-funding status:

• Development of performance level metrics to assign the requisite status of proficiency expected by employers as it occurs within a given occupation.
• Crosswalk and analysis of competencies against public Career and Technology Education (CTE) student learning objectives.
• Mappings of competencies to the Classification of Instructional Program (CIP) taxonomy. Similar to CTE programs, recent accreditation and accountability initiatives call for greater emphasis on the alignment of higher education curricula with labor market demand.
• The monetization of the Common Skills Language Platform.
• Workplace Basics: The development of measures of social competence associated with each hard skill set.