A Future-Ready Workforce: Preparing Community College Students for a Global Economy | Asia Society

A Future-Ready Workforce: Preparing Community College Students for a Global Economy

These online professional development modules and tools, created by the Center for Global Education at Asia Society, support CTE faculty in internationalizing their curriculum. These short, 15–20 minute modules, are self-paced and available through ACTE's CTELearn platform. Descriptions of each module are below together with related activity guides and resources featured in each module. All materials are free of charge due to generous support from ECMC Foundation. Institutions will also be able to place the modules on their own LMS system. Contact Heather Singmaster, Director of CTE for more information: [email protected]

Course Modules

Introductory Module

This introductory module will welcome and provide a guide for faculty and administrators to understand the content and sequence of the modules. It will include the definition of global competence and will provide an overview of the 10 faculty training modules.

Module 1: Global Workforce Readiness Skills—A New Imperative

Today’s students will be graduating into a world that is ever more interconnected. One in ten Americans is foreign born, and local communities—urban, suburban, and rural—are growing more diverse. To take advantage of global market opportunities, companies want employees with the knowledge and skills to work across cultures. Therefore, faculty teaching in career and technical education (CTE) pathways need to prepare their students to compete, connect, and cooperate on an international scale in order to find jobs and move along a career trajectory. This module will establish a rationale for incorporating global competence in postsecondary CTE and introduces natural ways to make those connections.

This module will:

  • explore global career readiness,
  • help faculty recognize internationalization opportunities, and
  • analyze ways to prepare a globally competent, diverse workforce through postsecondary CTE programs.

Module 1 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 2: Making Local/Global STEM Connections

CTE is the most proactive approach to address the mismatch between the skills demanded by employers and the skills of our current workforce. To do so, CTE needs to evolve to better align to these shifting workforce demands and provide students with both specific occupational skills, as well as broader and transferable knowledge, skills, and dispositions that position them as adaptable workers and lifelong learners. This module provides an overview of learning needs of today’s diverse community college students, ACTE’s Quality CTE Framework, and tools to connect global competence to career fields.  

Module Objectives

  • Recognize the need to prepare students for today’s diverse workforce;
  • Utilize ACTE’s Quality CTE Program of Study Framework for program improvement; and
  • Evaluate how a quality CTE program can meet student needs and prepare a globally competitive workforce.

Module 2 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 3: Engaging Diverse Students 

Building global competence into CTE begins with understanding your students’ diverse experiences through the lens of social justice. This module will utilize the Global Social Justice Framework for educators, provide tools to integrate student experience and learning, and address the foundation of global and technical competence within CTE programs.

Module Objectives:

  • Identify components of global social justice to develop equitable learning environments;
  • Recognize ways to scaffold new learning based on student background and experiences; and
  • Build global competence through student career goals.

Module 3 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 4: Course Planning for Internationalization 

Now that you understand your students, the next step to internationalization is integration into your course. Today’s diverse workforce needs to be proficient in literacy and numeracy, together with strong interpersonal, technical, and problem-solving skills for a global economy. Course planning is a faculty role, yet most who teach in community colleges have received little, if any, training in how to construct mission statements and learning outcomes. This module will focus on how to systematically plan CTE learning goals and adapt to changing occupational requirements and global innovations. It will also focus on integrating academic education, technical training, and hands-on work experience to allow students, workers, and businesses to be competitive in the global economy.

Module Objectives:

  • Develop internationalized, measurable learning goals for your CTE content area.
  • Analyze how to integrate global learning across CTE curriculum.

Module 4 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 5: Internationalizing Your Instruction

The role of faculty in learning is to serve as a facilitator, coach, and consultant to create an environment for all students to be successful. Teaching style should link instructional choices to students’ learning strategies. This module focuses on a variety of strategies for internationalizing curriculum and will provide some basic guidelines on how to select teaching strategies (work-based learning, PBL, cooperative learning, service learning, discussions, simulations, role playing, panel discussions, case studies, peer teaching, etc.) that match global learning outcomes for the success of all students.

Module Objectives:

  • Connect the SAGE Framework to instructional choices to engage all students in CTE.
  • Apply local-global connections to CTE curriculum.
  • Utilize a variety of instructional strategies to engage students in global understanding.

Module 5 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 6: Assessment for Global Understanding 

Educators need to know how the teaching and materials used for instruction are aligned with the assessments that measure students’ progress. This module will focus global career ready practices as a tool for assessing global readiness in CTE. Participants will develop their own assessment toolbox including rubrics, checklists, tests, portfolios, effective assignments, reflection activities, rating scales, etc. 

Module Objectives:

  • Review the purpose of formative and summative assessments.
  • Explore strategies for assessing internationalized learning outcomes.
  • Analyze how to utilize the global career ready practice rubric to scaffold student global learning experiences.

Module 6 Activity Guide and Resources

Module 7: Engaging Industry Partners for International Success 

Employers are essential partners in guiding programmatic content, maintaining technology for cutting edge CTE programs, offering work-based learning opportunities, and providing opportunities for faculty to stay up-to-date in their industries. Industry partnerships and advisory boards give form and structure to stakeholder engagement, and there is no alternative to understand the knowledge and skills employees need to be successful. This module will focus on key strategies and approaches for faculty to fully engage industry partners in programmatic improvement to ensure global workplace readiness of their program completers. 

Module Objectives:

  • Create industry partnerships to build stronger globally-connected CTE programs.
  • Utilize industry partnerships to integrate global competencies into CTE curriculum.

Module 7 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 8: Internationalizing Work-Based Learning 

International skills and expertise will be critical to assist students in not only getting jobs, but in being able to move up the career ladder to mid- and top-tier jobs - even if they do not wish to pursue an explicitly international career pathway. Engaging work-based learning (WBL) experiences that allow students to take part in the diverse workforce and to see the interdependence of the global marketplace is the best way to develop these skills. This module will provide an overview of how interconnected we are with the global economy, successful learning components and strategies to internationalize work-based learning, and how to align the learning goals of CTE programs and international workforce needs.

Module Objectives:

  • Understand how work-based learning can teach skills for global competence.
  • Analyze the benefits of equitable work-based learning experiences with a global focus.
  • Align CTE learning goals with workplace learning experiences to build global competence.

Module 8 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 9: Do It Yourself Global Collaboration

Educational technology is like any other element of good course design and using every educational tool at our disposal to give students a quality CTE experience is essential. Connecting students with international partners allows for authentic global career readiness. This module will provide faculty with “do it yourself” strategies to make international CTE program connections. Faculty will learn to utilize online resources and technology tools, how to find international partners, create lessons or projects together, and implement an international collaboration.

Module Objectives:

  • Analyze technology tools for making international connections.
  • Formulate strategies for embedding an international virtual connection/exchange within a CTE program.

Module 9 Faculty Guide and Resources

Module 10: International Connections through Social Media

Technology and social media influence every aspect of our lives from personal use to business, education, and training environments. This module will provide postsecondary educators with insight into how business leaders utilize social media for growth in a global society, explore social media business strategies, as well as tools to lead discussions with students on responsible global digital citizenship. 

Module Objectives:

  • Analyze social media use for business.
  • Evaluate an inquiry-based model for engaging students in social media discussions.
  • Investigate how to teach students to become global digital citizens through social media.

Module 10 Activity Guide and Resources