IEBC’s Curriculum to Career Choices (CtCC) with
SmartPathways
Introducing the Process
April 7, 2017
IEBC Webinar
Brad C. Phillips
Marianne S. Wokeck
John Yopp
With Special Guest: Marie Vasquez-Brooks
Welcome and Poll
Who is with us today
 Academic Faculty
 Academic Administrator
 Researcher
 State Agency Representative
 Support Organization
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What We Will Address
 Setting the context and then describing the work
 Community Colleges and Guided Pathways
 Student concerns about career preparation
 Employers’ concerns about career readiness
 How IEBC-facilitated Curriculum to Career Choices
CtCC SmartPathways model supports Guided
Pathways:
 Meaningful learning outcomes
 Aligned with employment-based competencies
 How you can engage in this work
Guided Pathways
30,000 ft. View
 What community colleges are doing well:
 Developing new pathways of study
 Student support services
 What needs more attention:
 Making Guided Pathways count toward careers
 Increasing student engagement
 Aligning SLO’s with employer expected competencies

Our fear:
 Sequencing same old courses without addressing
program & course learning outcomes aligned with
career-necessary KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities)
Student Concerns and
Increasing Engagement
How will
this help
me in the
future?
Why are
we
learning
this?
Employer Concerns
Employers want career preparation in college
to engage and develop a well trained workforce
General Education and
Faculty Concerns About Pathways
Faculty don’t want to reduce emphasis on general
education or “train students for employers”
How CtCC SmartPathways
Addresses Those Concerns
 Emphasizes importance of General Education; focuses on
Liberal Arts courses
 Links student learning outcomes (SLOs) to the knowledge,
skills, and abilities (KSAs) students and employers care about
 Helps faculty develop contextualized learning outcomes
 Makes curriculum more relevant to academic preparation for
actual careers
What is Curriculum to Career
Choices (CtCC) SmartPathways?
 A faculty-led process to create smart pathways that
support student achievement with appropriate and clear
learning outcomes
 Includes the Liberal Arts, Humanities and Sciences, focuses
on professional and technical areas, or blends the two
 Begins with consideration of KSAs required in specific
related career areas
 Helps colleges scaffold learning outcomes through courses
within each pathway
 Grounded in the local college academic context
CtCC SmartPathways Process
Facilitates Collaboration
 A collaborative process led by faculty, supported
by administration
 Links employer-articulated learning expectations
to college SLOs
2-yr academic
communities
4-yr academic
communities
Employer
communities
IEBC CtCC SmartPathways uses the
Occupational Information Network
(O*NET) https://www.onetonline.org
to develop pathways
that link academic SLOs
to employer-expected,
career-specific learning
expectations.
O*NET Content Model
Allied Health
Competency Model
 Aligning academic course and program student
learning outcomes (SLOs) with O*NET-based
competencies and the academic tier of the Allied
Health Competency Model
Tier 2: Occupation Expected
Academic Competencies
 Reading
 Writing
 Mathematics
 Science and Technology
 Communication listening and speaking
 Critical and analytic thinking
 Basic computer skills
 Information literacy
Pathways to Career Choices
Health
Professions
Business and
Entrepreneurship
Creative and
Communication
Arts
Science
and
Technology
Courses
sequenced
and scaffolded
Courses
sequenced
and scaffolded
Courses
sequenced
and scaffolded
Courses
sequenced
and scaffolded
Transfer
or Job
Transfer
or Job
Transfer
or Job
Transfer
or Job
Top
Occupations
Top
Occupations
Top
Occupations
Top
Occupations
Example in an Allied Health Pathway
 Allied Health CtCC SmartPathways
 Began with O*NET Allied Heath Competency Model
 IEBC determined the appropriate occupations based
on regional needs and college program strengths
 Collaborative partnership of academic faculty
 Odessa Community College
 Texas Tech University
 Ector County Independent School District
Marie Vasquez-Brooks:
SmartPathways Outcomes
 As a result of the work with IEBC in CtCC
 Added an Introduction to health care professions course
 Workforce skills discussions still taking place
 In discussions with Texas Tech University to develop a
capstone seminar to align with workforce standards to
address employer-perceived gaps
 Nursing and behavioral science faculty are working
together to address issues of student preparation for
dealing with patients from poverty settings
 General education faculty are describing how they
continue to connect with workforce chairs
 We needed assistance from experts to do this work
How Does IEBC’s CtCC
SmartPathways Work?
IEBC Pre-Work
IEBC reviews your pathways, your regional transfer
universities transfer patterns and the regional job
market and helps your college and determines the
most frequent occupations within each pathways.
In consultation with your college, IEBC develops an
initial list of occupation specific learning
expectations to be mapped to your SLOs
How Does IEBC’s CtCC
SmartPathways Work?
Step 1
Faculty determination and IEBC analysis of
occupation-specific learning expectations
Identification of alignment, misalignment, or
absence of SLOs with O*NET-based career–
specific learning expectations
Development of strategies for closing the
identified gaps
In Summary:
O*NET As Tool For Bridging Student Learning
Outcomes and Occupation-Specific
Competencies
O*NET
Guided
Pathways
Competency
Model
Tier 2
Student
Learning
Outcomes
(SLOs)
 501(c)3 nonprofit
 Decades-long history of working across the US
 Specializes in data use, faculty engagement, and data
tools
 Based in San Diego with staff located across the US
 Member of the California Pathways Advisory Committee
 Working with Achieving the Dream since its inception
 Contact Brad C. Phillips: [email protected]
Next Steps
 The webinar will be posted on the IEBC website shortly
www.iebcnow.org . We’ll notify you when it is
available.
 Please use the posted webinar for your own review or to
share with others.
 IEBC will offer those who have participated today a
no-cost consultation on getting this process started at
the state, regional or local level.
 Contact us at [email protected] for more information.
Thank you for participating today!
Questions