Workshop: An Evidence-based Industry Perspective on STEM Education for the Future

This project aims to serve the national interest by further informing higher education leaders about industry perspectives concerning skills needed for STEM jobs of the future. The project will focus at a 10-year and beyond horizon. It will also take account of the disruptive changes driven by advanced digital technologies, work behaviors, and business models. These changes are profoundly affecting the nature of work, skills needed for work, and the composition of the workforce. In many industries, the most in-demand occupations, specialties, and skills did not exist five or ten years ago. The pace of change is likely to accelerate going forward and to have tremendous impacts on how the workforce of the future acquires and applies new skills. This project will examine the new research questions that emerged from an earlier project on the industry perspective on STEM education for the future. These research questions include: 1) How has industry perspective on needed skills changed because of the COVID-19 crisis? 2) How are industry recruiters and hiring managers screening STEM graduates for both specialized and foundational skills? 3) From industry perspective, which colleges/universities and curricula/pedagogies better align with current and future industry demand? 4) Can a set of desirable curriculum/pedagogy attributes be developed? and 5) How are industry recruiters using badges and certifications to assess job-readiness of college graduates? To examine these research questions, this project will organize and host four virtual workshops in fall and winter 2021. The International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (ISSIP), in collaboration with the University of Washington, will execute the project. With more than 1400 members representing multiple industry sectors, academia, and government, ISSIP is uniquely positioned to conduct this research. By presenting an evidence-based industry perspective, this project aims to further explore how to close the gap between undergraduate education and employment, to ensure the Nation continues to have a thriving STEM workforce in the future. Workshop 1 will focus on the industry hiring process: How are industry recruiters and hiring managers screening STEM graduates for technical skills/foundational skills? And how does that map to the undergraduate curricula and/or pedagogies of the universities with which they have had the most and least success hiring new graduates? Workshop 2 will examine industry perspectives on badging and evolution of credentialing. Workshop 3 will explore industry perspectives on university curricula and pedagogies that are best aligned with the needs of industry. Workshop 4 will examine the industry perspective on the impact of COVID-19 on the future of work and of learning. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.