A Universal language for skills that makes it easier for employers and educators to understand what you can do. WGU, in collaboration with the Open Skills Network, developed the (RSD) Schema. It's like a translator, making skills data readable and usable by multiple applications.
OVERVIEW
Skills in Action
At WGU, skills are the manifestation of knowledge and ability. Skills shape curricula, drive interactions with students, and guide how to prepare learners for the workforce. Course competencies come alive through skills. Essentially, they are the direct link between wanting success and obtaining it. Read more below about how skills integrate into WGU and beyond, and reach out to find out more about the skills ecosystem at WGU.
Skills Ensure Credential Integrity
The higher education landscape is constantly evolving. As it does, so must the way WGU prepares its learners for career success. In fact, WGU has done more than evolve to meet the needs of learners and employers; the university has introduced industry-leading approaches for aligning skills and credentials with workforce needs.
WGU is a pioneer in competency-based education (CBE). CBE measures competence and skills learned rather than time spent in a classroom. This allows learners to progress through courses as soon as they can prove they have mastered the material rather than advancing only when the semester or term ends. Moving at their own pace while gaining valuable skills saves learners time and money.
WGU’s industry-leading credentialing framework ensures that high-demand workforce skills inform the creation of competencies in each course.
In a skills-based economy, employers care most about what a potential new employee can do. Skills inform the design of the university’s programs, courses, and assessments. High-demand, marketable skills are embedded in each course. This ensures that WGU programs are well-aligned with industry and employer needs.
WGU learners are sought-after candidates equipped with skills that are in demand now and in the future.
WGU is committed to providing every learner with the skills they need to be competitive in the workforce and the encouragement they need to speak confidently about their skills, knowledge, and abilities so they can gain meaningful employment.
Learners can be confident that they are acquiring the skills needed for career success. Likewise, employers can be confident that WGU graduates possess the credentials required for employment success.
Skills Power Interoperability
A remarkable transformation in the realm of education and hiring, ushered in by powerful technological advancements, is happening now.
There’s an evolution centered around skills-based education and hiring, where the focus is on the abilities and competencies of individuals rather than traditional credentials alone.
Cutting-edge technology is facilitating this shift with the development of tools such as Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs), the Open Skills Management Tool (OSMT), and an Achievement Wallet that will showcase an individual’s curated classroom and work history. These tools are revolutionizing how WGU works to understand, document, and represent skills, making them more accessible and comprehensible to all stakeholders – learners, educators, and employers.
This skills-based revolution is built upon an open data standard infrastructure that bridges the world of work and learning in novel ways. It fosters more transparent pathways to opportunities, empowering learner-workers, and enabling employers to efficiently find the talent they need. These advancements are contributing to a vibrant, inclusive, and dynamic future of education and work, where every individual’s unique skill and competency are recognized, valued, and connected to the right opportunities.
With an infrastructure built on open data standards, WGU is making connections between learning and work like never before.
By putting all these together, WGU is well on the way to creating a robust skills architecture, a skills-denominated achievement system, a learning and employment record system, and a learner-owned Achievement Wallet.
This approach provides a highly relevant, workforce-aligned experience for students, helping them to connect with the right opportunities more efficiently. It's an exciting time in the world of education, with the lines between learning and work being redrawn, and WGU is leading the way.
Four Crucial Areas Where Open Standards are Making a Difference:
Skills Provide Pathways to Opportunity
At WGU, workforce readiness means acquiring the skills that employers seek.
Workforce signal skills emerge through labor market research as a word or short phrase that represents common occurring skills sought by employers. In identifying the skills employers value most, WGU’s skills library, skills mapping, and skills intelligence is designed to navigate the ever-changing landscape of workforce readiness.
WGU’s skills-denominated courses play a vital role in workforce readiness by providing learners with specialized knowledge, fostering transferable skills, and offering practical knowledge. This empowers graduates to enter or return to the workforce equipped with the expertise, abilities, and adaptability necessary to thrive in their professional careers. It also prepares them to navigate career transitions, upskill or reskill, and remain competitive in the face of evolving job requirements.
Explore WGU’s skills resources to discover how essential skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and communication play a vital role alongside core industry skills in preparing individuals for successful careers.
How does WGU know what skills are in demand – especially while designing degree programs? The answer to these questions can be found in Job Skills Analysis (JSA).
During the JSA process, WGU partners with employers and subject matter experts to determine and validate the skills or competencies needed to perform a certain occupation. JSA results provide endorsement of the skills that WGU uses in its Skills Library and curricula. They ensure degree offerings are filled with the most sought-after skills to help learners grow and succeed in their chosen professions. JSAs help provide the right skills, to align with the right programs, at exactly the right times for WGU students and alumni.
Skills Frame the Future Standard
WGU embarked on a mission to enhance the skills ecosystem through a strategic, collaborative approach. A key facet of this strategy is the forging of robust alliances that ensure skills retain their relevance and universal application and standards in both the present and future landscape of the workforce. A significant milestone in this endeavor was the establishment of the Open Skills Network (OSN) in 2020, with WGU as a founding member. The OSN, a formidable coalition comprising over 900 organizations including employers, educators, policymakers, military entities, non-profits, and other stakeholders, is wholeheartedly dedicated to promoting skills-based education and recruitment through the universal adoption of Rich Skills Descriptors (RSDs).
Through the deployment of work groups, fostering a community of practice, hosting insightful webinars, and conducting a myriad of events, the OSN incessantly works towards the adoption and utilization of transparent, transferable, and translatable skill standards. WGU's commitment and involvement in the OSN is vast, ranging from active participation in pilot initiatives and projects, to contributing to the community of practice. This environment of collaboration and innovation has led to the incubation of pioneering efforts like the Open Skills Management Tool and the Indiana Achievement Wallet. These initiatives epitomize WGU's commitment to the growth and empowerment of the skills ecosystem, enabling skills to be efficiently showcased, and the skills gap effectively bridged.
