What is the ultimate measure of our effectiveness as educators? Perhaps it is enrollment growth at our institution. Maybe it is retention rates of students. Could it be graduation rates of cohorts? Possibly it is average scores on major field tests. While all of those are worthwhile metrics to measure, consider employer satisfaction with our graduates as a key performance indicator of our effectiveness. Internal metrics are absolutely important to utilize as we continually improve our programs. But ultimately graduating students is not the goal, it is merely a means to an end. The ultimate goal is to develop students who possess the attributes, knowledge and skills to be a professional in their chosen field. Is your institution/program measuring employer satisfaction with your graduates? Is there dialogue taking place between persons serving on curriculum development committees and employers about the competencies needed in the workforce? Dr. Mac Adkins has an uncommon perspective as both an educator and employer. He holds a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Auburn University, has served as a Dean at a state institution and a private, for-profit institution, and has taught on-campus and online for the past twenty years at Troy University, Capella University, Amridge University and the International Distance Education Certification Center. In addition to that academic background for fourteen years he has served as the CEO and Founder of SmarterServices which provides assessment services to over 500 colleges and universities. He has served on curriculum development committees at the program level as well as the state level as he was one of the authors of the Alabama Course of Study in Technology Education. In this presentation Dr. Adkins will share his combined perspective from higher education and corporation leadership. SmarterServices employs persons in positions that require degrees in business, marketing, and computer science. He will reflect on lessons learned as an employer in seeking candidates who have been thoroughly prepared in their collegiate experience. Recommendations will be made on how schools can enhance the dialogue between employers and program developers to ensure that our graduates are competent and capable.

1. A View From Both Worlds
Reflections as Both a College Dean and Corporate CEO
Dr. Mac AdkinsGo to Menti.com 89 48 31

2. Multiple Lenses
PROFESSIONAL STUDENT
COLLEGE ADMINISTRATOR
CORPORATE CEO

3. There are things to be learned
on both sides of the fence.

4. Three words that you associate with …
Go to Menti.com 89 48 31

5. Soft Skills Federal Initiatives
“What Work Requires of Schools.”
“College and Career Readiness
Standards for Adult Education.”

6. US Dept. of Education
“The test score accountability movement and conventional educational approaches tend to
focus on intellectual aspects of success, such as content knowledge. However, this is not
sufficient. If students are to achieve their full potential, they must have
opportunities to engage and develop a much richer set of skills. There is
a growing movement to explore the potential of the “noncognitive”
factors — attributes, dispositions, social skills, attitudes, and
intrapersonal resources, independent of intellectual ability
—that high-achieving individuals draw upon to
accomplish success.”

7. Skills that Employer’s Want
What percent of employers look for this attribute on a resume?
Leadership
Computer Skills
Entrepreneurial

9. WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies, 2013

11. College to Career Connections
Dr. James Andrews

12. College to Career Connections

13. Underprepared But Successful

14. Why Did I Leave Each Job?
Higher Aspirations
Personality Type
Innovative
Entrepreneurial

15. Employability is no longer about what you know.
Knowledge about anything is a Google search
away. Employability is about your abilities to
utilize that knowledge within a community.

16. “According to the Seattle Jobs Initiative, _____% of
businesses surveyed reported that soft skills were as
important or more important than technical skills in
securing entry-level employment.”

17. Seattle Jobs Initiative – “75% of businesses surveyed reported
that soft skills were as important or more important than
technical skills in securing entry-level employment.”
Job Outlook Report - Employers want good communicators
who can make decisions and solve problems while working
effectively as part of a team.

18. Integrating Soft Skills Into Your
Programs/Courses

19. Seven Core Competencies That
Form Career Readiness
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Oral/Written Communications
Teamwork/Collaboration
Information Technology Application
Leadership
Professionalism/Work Ethic
Career Management

20. Critical Thinking
Includes skills such as organizing, categorizing, predicting, interpreting, analyzing and evaluating,
summarizing and decision making.
1. Teachers can model organizational skills by starting each class with an agenda on the board or
in an online course each unit with a plan.
2. In the course syllabus provide guidance on how students can organize the content and plan
for the assignments in the course.
3. Use video scenarios in an online course and then have the students to interpret, analyze and
summarize the content as an assignment.
4. Integrate video-based situational judgment question types into assessments.

21. Oral Communication
This is one of the soft skills that is most commonly cited by employers.
1. Have students discuss an issue in pairs before opening the discussion to the class as a whole
2. Require oral presentations, even in online courses.
3. In online courses this can be done with tools
such as FaceTime, Skype, etc. Students could also
submit videos via a discussion board. Some LMSs
have tools for this.

22. Written Communication
1. Give students opportunities to write in different genres, such as e-mails, letters, paragraphs,
and summaries.
2. Encourage peer revision whenever possible in writing.
3. Foster correct writing even in less formal communications such as email or discussion board.
4. Convey that at work cross-office dialogue and social media tools are increasing the need to
communicate effectively.
5. Set the expectation (modeling) for proper email and
other written etiquette.

23. Teamwork / Collaboration
1. Distinguish between “Cooperation” and “Collaboration.”
2. Provide access to digital platforms such as Google Docs and Google Hangouts.
3. Emphasize to students that it is important on their resumes to convey that they have
experience working in groups.
4. Establish guidelines that outline student expectations, netiquette, procedures to deal absent
group member(s), assessment methods, examples of collaborative exchanges between students,
team roles, etc.

24. Information Technology Application
1. Explore how that information technology is not only changing education but almost every
other industry as well.
2. Model technology integration in the instructional design, delivery and student tasking in your
courses.
3. Have students identify how the use of data is critical in the field with they are studying.

25. Leadership
1. Define it – Foster a discussion on matters like what distinguishes leadership from management.
2. Have students include on their resumes descriptions of instances in which they demonstrated
leadership, even if it was not in a context where they were managing other people.
3. Have students write their definition of leadership such as, “Leadership skills prove that you learn
from your experiences, take the time to develop your personal approach to work, lead others to be
the best they can be, act with integrity and uphold professional standards at all times.”
Rod Adams, U.S. recruiting leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers

26. Professionalism / Work Ethic
These skills include timeliness, dress, courtesy, teamwork, commitment, responsibility, and
integrity.
1. Prompt students to reflect on or track the number of hours they spent during the past week
on coursework.
2. Conclude every lesson by calling attention to the relevance of the lesson and the
classroom activities to students’ lives.
3. Interview a person who is a business owner about the
importance of work ethic.
4. Do not tolerate lateness.

27. Career Management
Myth – If you work hard you will organically advance in your career.
1. Define career path.
2. Recognize opportunities.
3. Take purposeful action toward goals.
4. Guest speakers talk about how their
career progressed.

28. Which TWO competencies do you do the best job of
reinforcing in your courses?

29. Resources
from NACE
http://www.naceweb.org/
career-readiness/competencies/
sample-materials/

31. Professional
Competency
Self-Assessment

32. Promises of CBE Programs
1. Reduce cost
2. Reduce time
3. Connect college & career

34. A View From Both
Worlds
REFLECTIONS AS BOTH A COLLEGE DEAN AND CORPORATE CEO
DR. MAC ADKINS