News

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Office of Online and Education Outreach has won the Innovation Award from the Illinois Council for Continuing Higher Education (ICCHE). 

The ICCHE annually recognizes innovative initiatives, both credit and non-credit, which relate directly to and advance the ICCHE’s purpose and mission. SIUE’s Mary Ettling, director of online and education outreach, and Courtney Breckenridge, specialist of alternative credentials and grant development, created the “Alternative Digital Credential Project.”

The Office of Online and Education Outreach has been collaborating in the Digital Badge space with Robert Dixon, PhD, associate professor in the SIUE Department of Chemistry, and the Madison and St. Clair County employment, workforce and training groups to assist both traditional students and non-credit students in identifying and articulating demonstrated competencies to be competitive in the job market. 

The project involved three targeted stakeholders:

• Employers who need short term training programs to prepare workers to be effective on day one in the job
• State and county workforce boards who support funding, and create a bridge between employers and the University
• A willing academic unit that aligns with those identified jobs

“Digital badges and related alternative or microcredentials demonstrate great promise as a strategy for closing the skills gap, and supporting the alignment of industry skills with innovative curricular offerings and applied, hands-on learning,” said Ettling. “This project will serve those dislocated by the COVID-19 pandemic as we anticipate 100 trainees completing the program in the next 18-24 months.

“The training, which incorporates online learning, remote reality elements and competency based in-person learning, leads to industry aligned credentials in high demand jobs.”

Photo: SIUE’s Mary Ettling, director of online and education outreach, and Courtney Breckenridge, specialist of alternative credentials and grant development.