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MATTHEW MORIN: I'm really excited about the ACES program.
ACES stands for academic, community,
and employability skills.
The ACES program definitely will help students get jobs.
There's no question about that.
Our main focus with the ACES program
is to make visible all of the learning that
happens in the classroom that students
do with their faculty that will help them
in their professional careers and bring it out
at the point of competency demonstration
so that when a student does an assignment that,
that assignment immediately can be recognized
in the form of a digital micro credential
that, that student can put on their LinkedIn account.
They can put it on their resume.
A micro credential is recognition
of learning that occurs before the final degree, which
means that a student can see their progress
either within a class or after a series of classes.
Whereas normally students only get something
from their college experience when
they complete their degree.
So what we're doing is we're showing demonstration
of skills of mastery of some kind of accomplishment
for the student before they get to that actual degree.
In our case, we've termed them tokens and badges,
and there's 40 different tokens that a student can earn.
And after a student earns four tokens in any skill area,
then they earn the master skill badge for that area.
But all of these are micro credentials.
The skills used in the ACES framework
were based on extensive research done
across the country about what employers value most
from students after they graduate, communication,
collaboration, entrepreneurial, mindset, empathy,
digital fluency, and some others.
SHANNON JESSEN: The digital framework
allows us to be responsive to evolving needs
in the community.
So as our employer's needs change,
we can also change the digital ecosystem
and keep our students skills current
and also provide that service to the community.
MATTHEW MORIN: What faculty love about this program
is that in less than 5 minutes they
can connect the assignments that they already
have in Canvas to these skills so that students
can earn the tokens and badges for what they learn.
SHANNON JESSEN: And a simple click of a button
allows them to add that outcome to the rubric,
and the students can see it as well as the faculty.
And then when the faculty grade the assignment,
they grade the student's performance on that outcome.
How fun is it to just be able to click on your portal
and see all of these skills that have beautiful colors attached
to them and see these pathways, right, that are directly
connected to your learning?
They provide a really clear and concrete connection
between the assignments that they're
completing in their courses and the skills
that they are building for their future academic and career
pathways.
LISA MALONEY: Currently I am pursuing my associate's degree
in law, public policy, and society for transfer.
My goal is to go to Laverne University
and obtain my bachelor's and then go on to law school.
And ultimately, my career dream is
to become a district attorney.
So for the first time last night,
I got badges from my previous professors.
And I'm hoping that with your help
that I can continue to improve on these and be successful.
SHANNON JESSEN: All right.
LISA MALONEY: So I've mastered one so far already,
but I have a total of 13 that I'm now working on.
So I've actually been invited to another pathway for resilience,
so that means I've started this badge.
And I'm 25% complete.
SHANNON JESSEN: How do you think resilience plays
into your plans to be a district attorney?
LISA MALONEY: Oh my goodness, you
can't give up no matter what.
This past semester my mom was really sick
and was in the hospital, and I still
managed to get all of my work done.
And I still managed to do everything
right from in the hospital room with her.
So as long as you never give up and you
keep on trying and pursuing things,
your resilience is going to pay off at the end of the day.
SHANNON JESSEN: So what happens when you click from here
when you click my badges?
LISA MALONEY: So this is going to take me
to all of my badges that I've earned so far
and that I'm working on, which was a--
SHANNON JESSEN: You have a lot.
LISA MALONEY: --great surprise I have 13 so far.
And I was very grateful because at the end of the day,
these are your professors recognizing
the work that you've done and recognizing you.
And your hard work and dedication is what earned this.
You can then speak to that.
And you're like I can do this, and I can speak to this.
And I absolutely did this.
And it just motivates you to just want to do even more.
So as soon as I got them, I wanted to shout to the world
that I got them.
And I was wondering how I could go about actually doing that.
So I went to the social tab, and it said add this to my profile
on LinkedIn.
And under my licenses and certifications,
I now have 13 badges that Chaffey College has given
me to show my proficiency.
It was just an overwhelming sense of accomplishment
and achievement.
Just having that overall picture window
into what it is that you can bring to a table
as far as your skill sets out in the real world,
it's an invaluable tool.
MATTHEW MORIN: So in our first year,
we've awarded over 6,500 badges, 6,500.
SHANNON JESSEN: We're changing the emphasis
so that the focus is now on the experiential learning
and the skills that the students are developing
during their course of study.
MATTHEW MORIN: The ACES program for faculty
will make visible the great teaching and learning of skills
that they've always been doing but they've never
been able to show the world in any kind
of transparent digital format.
SHANNON JESSEN: I feel like my students really
do understand why we're doing these assignments,
what skills they are expected to get out of the assignments.
And it gives them that sense that this assignment
isn't just a academic thing they're
doing that's far removed from their future career
but rather that it has some connection to the types
of skills that they're going to be expected
to have when they move on in their future program of study.
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