Brock Olive
Executive Director, Corporate and Continuing Education, NAIT
As industry changes, new modalities of learning like direct credentials are a fast, and cost-effective way to ensure workers’ skills remain relevant.
Alberta has seen some massive economic disruption over the past few years. Beyond the pandemic and the normal ups and downs of the oil and gas industry, the province is responding to rapid growth in areas such as energy transition and information technology. “While this brings great opportunities to Alberta, there are also implications for future skills requirements,” says Laura Jo Gunter, President and CEO of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT).
To prepare their workforce of the future, employers might consider turning to polytechnics for help with upskilling and reskilling their teams. “Not only do we have the ability to develop foundational skills through our apprenticeship, diploma, degree and certificate programs, but we also have very robust professional and skills development offered through our corporate and continuing education offerings to help people upskill and reskill quickly for these new jobs or functions,” says Gunter. “Also, our close ties to industry keep us very plugged in and connected to their talent needs,” she says.
What are direct credentials and how do they speed up the reskilling process?
Through an innovative concept in development called “direct credentials”, NAIT hopes to further help Alberta meet its current and future skills requirements. Whereas the traditional path involves taking a course or program and undergoing a skills or competency assessment at the end, the direct credential path conducts the assessment first. “This approach lets us identify the specific skills gaps of current and potential employees upfront,” says Brock Olive, Executive Director of Corporate and Continuing Education at NAIT. “If the gaps are small, the learner can fill them through one of our micro-credentials — a shorter form of training to certify that they have the specific skill or competency the employer needs,” says Olive.
An obvious benefit of direct credentials is in expediting the training. “Rather than taking courses on things they already know, they can just complete an assessment, and if successful, can get certified faster,” says Olive. This makes it easier and more cost-effective for employers and organizations to meet the ever-changing market demands. “This is important because the opportunity costs of having to come back to school when you’re older are quite high, so direct credentials add to the ecosystem of options for upskilling and reskilling,” says Olive.
Making career transitions easier for Canadians
NAIT’s targeted professional development offerings, including micro-credentials, can be particularly valuable for employees moving from one career to another where there is a lot of affinity or overlap between the two. “Project management is one example. It’s a fairly generic skillset, but there will be gaps if one is transferring from one industry to another, so letting employees fill these in through micro-credentials saves a lot of time, especially when employers need to upskill and reskill a lot of people,” says Olive.
Direct credentialing is also a way to help different underrepresented groups in the labour market, such as newcomers to Canada. “They may have a lot of direct work experience, but their education isn’t recognized in this country,” says Olive. “Direct credentials are a path for them to get that recognition and participate fully in our labour market, which will help solve some of the labour gap challenges,” says Olive.
Currently, NAIT has 16 micro-credential offerings and has provided 2,700 micro-credentials to learners in the last 18 months. Learners receive a digital badge for each micro-credential competency or learning outcome achieved, which they can display to their peers, professional network, or current or potential employers.
Q&A With Laura Jo Gunter, President and CEO, NAIT
What is NAIT’s vision for the future?
As a world-leading polytechnic, our vision is based on our impact. We call this the NAIT Effect. We want to have an impact on students in making sure they get that meaningful career. We want to have an impact on industry by making sure they get the talent and applied research they need to thrive and be globally competitive. More broadly, we want to have an impact on creating a prosperous future for Albertans.
What are the benefits of that vision?
Industry knows that the talent they need can walk out our door and into theirs, ready to work. There are also benefits to the community. Having people in good careers in industry sectors that are thriving leads to vibrant communities.
What are the opportunities for workers and employers?
This is an exciting time as Alberta reinvents itself. Of course, Alberta is known for energy, and now with energy transition, there are opportunities in emerging areas like electric vehicles and carbon capture, utilization and storage. But energy isn’t the only industry here. We also have a top AI centre in Edmonton, as an example, so there are a lot of opportunities in tech innovation and industries.
Q&A With Patrick Weinmayr, Director, Product, NAIT
How are you bringing the new vision to life through continuing education and micro-credentials?
The promise of micro-credentials is getting people skilled up and job ready quickly. Post-secondary institutions have always helped to fill skills gaps with degrees, diplomas, and certificates. By offering the direct credential path through our Corporate and Continuing Education, alongside the traditional course path, we’re helping students avoid having to take courses on things they already know. We expect to be using this direct path model for many roles with corporate partners in the future.
What are some of the emerging roles that could benefit from direct credentials?
We expect to see benefits in technical roles such as software development, cyber security, block chain, and renewable engineering. There may also be opportunities within the banking, insurance, and healthcare sectors that require front-line workers to have essential communication, problem solving, or adaptability skills. For many of these roles, the competencies are still being mapped out, but we will evolve our micro-credentials to respond to our learners’ and employers’ professional development needs.
What are the opportunities for workers and employers?
This is an exciting time as Alberta reinvents itself. Of course, Alberta is known for energy, and now with energy transition, there are opportunities in emerging areas like electric vehicles and carbon capture, utilization and storage. But energy isn’t the only industry here. We also have a top AI centre in Edmonton, as an example, so there are a lot of opportunities in tech innovation and industries.
