Higher Education

Aligning Education & Employment: Skills, Competencies, and Assessment Strategies

A webinar revealing strategies to equip students with essential skills for employment focused on competency development and assessment methods designed to meet today’s workforce needs

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 @ 12:00 pm EST

In today’s rapidly evolving job market, alignment between education and employment is more critical than ever. This panel features three thought leaders discussing how educators can equip students for career success through skills-based learning, competency development, and effective assessment strategies, whether they’re entering trade fields or more traditional career paths.

Join this webinar to learn: 

  • Proven strategies for implementing skills-based learning and competency development in higher education
  • Practical methods for assessing hands-on and technical skills to ensure workforce readiness
  • Insights on using microcredentialing and work-based learning programs to close the skills gap

If you’re unable to join us on Nov. 13, register to receive an email with a link to the recorded webinar.

Kelvin Bentley

Kelvin Bentley has over 25 years of experience serving in various roles as a faculty member, administrator, and consultant within the field of higher education, supporting online learning and other types of academic innovation initiatives. These initiatives have included leading online learning offices and teams and piloting and scaling the use of online tutoring and proctoring in support of online learning programs at 2- and 4-year colleges and universities. Kelvin currently serves as the University of Texas System's first project manager for Texas Credentials for the Future, a new initiative designed to grow and scale access to technical skills for students and alumni across 14 universities and health research institutions. He engages in strategic planning and collaboration with project leads across the UT System to further their microcredentialing efforts. In addition, Kelvin manages several vendor partnerships with companies that include Google and Coursera, gathers and summarizes project-related data, and manages a $1.5 million Beyond Completion Challenge grant from the Strada Education Foundation that supports the UT System's microcredentialing efforts.

Timothy Harding

Tim Harding currently serves as the Assistant Vice President for Career Development and Engagement at The University of Tampa and has worked in higher education for over 30 years. Before coming to the University of Tampa in 2005, Tim served as the Director of Career Services at Butler University. He also taught career planning courses at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis. Tim’s passion is career readiness and competency development, and he leads the University of Tampa’s institution-wide competency initiative, Spartan Ready® and is a co-founder of the annual national Competency Development Symposium. He has served as a keynote speaker on the topic for a variety of meetings and facilitated numerous workshops, retreats, and presentations for associations and individual institutions. Tim is currently serving as the Chair of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Board of Directors and has served in NACE several leadership roles including: Chair-elect from 2023 - 2024; Vice President – College from 2021 – 2023; Director – College on the Board of Directors from 2017 – 2020, the co-chair for the 2018 to 2020 Career Readiness Task Force, and co-chair for the 2015-16 “21st Century Future of Career Services” Task Force. He has served in other association leadership roles including: the President of the Southern Association of Colleges and Employers (SoACE) as well as President of the Career Development Professionals of Indiana. He was the 2018 Conference Chair for annual SoACE conference. NACE recognized Tim with the Mackes Leadership Award. He also received the Southern Star Award by SoACE and with the Brownlee Leadership Award by the Florida Association of Colleges and Employers. He is the recipient of the SoACE Imaginative Spirit Award recognizing innovation, and the SoACE President’s Award. Tim earned a Master of Science in Education from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts from Anderson University. In 2009, he completed the Stetson College of Law/NASPA Student Affairs Policy and Law Certificate Program.

Sandra Metzger

Dr. Sandra Metzger is the founder and co-owner of Inspired Pathways Group, LLC, where she collaborates with educational institutions and businesses to create AI-powered learning solutions aimed at aligning education with workplace demands. With a doctorate in Educational Leadership and a 2023 certificate in Machine Learning and Data Science from MIT, Sandra is a visionary leader devoted to transformative practices in learning and development. With 27 years of teaching experience encompassing early childhood to doctoral levels, Sandra is well-versed in diverse educational settings, including public, private, and homeschool environments, as well as specialized professional development. She frequently speaks at conferences and instructs graduate courses at Indiana Wesleyan University, focusing on business communication, teaching methodologies, and artificial intelligence. As Research Chair for doctoral candidates in the Doctor of Business Administration program, Sandra guides students in tackling real-world challenges with industry partnerships. In 2022, Sandra further embraced the digital education frontier by leading AI-driven model development at a software firm, a role that intensified her enthusiasm for leveraging AI to enhance learning experiences and allowed her to grapple with emerging problems in assessment. This journey inspired her to launch her own enterprise to empower educational transformation. As a founding member of the Human Intelligence movement, Sandra advocates for career readiness in an AI-oriented world through a collaborative learning community linking students, educators, businesses, and nonprofits. She remains actively engaged in her hometown, Marion, Indiana, partnering with local leaders to nurture an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Sandra believes the future of learning promises unparalleled opportunities for innovation and growth, making this an exciting era for education.