Skill Artifacts

The Objective

The Lab is identifying a menu of real world evidence of soft skills, crowdsourced, that can serve as a proxy for more formal credentials. Examples include an Uber driver’s performance score, a home health aide's experience and ratings as listed on Care.com, or a local tree trimmer's reviews on Thumbtack, to signal skills such as oral communication, empathy, or initiative.

Two Sets of Artifacts

Military-Specific Artifacts

Artifacts, gained over the course of military service, which represent particular 21st century skills

"Universal" Artifacts

Artifacts, gained over the course of civilian work and life, which represent particular 21st century skills

What are Artifacts?

What Artifacts ARE

  • Tangible evidence of a skill

  • A defined menu of items explicitly identified by employers as valuable

  • Aligned to a particular benchmark of quality/rigor

  • Attached to a digital badge to serve as verifiable evidence

What Artifacts ARE NOT

  • A verbal recommendation ("Yeah, she's pretty good at that")

  • Outdated / irrelevant items ("Sweet, my 8th grade spelling bee trophy!")

  • Anything an individual can "dig up" ("Here's an email I received once, thanking me for my patience...")

Whose perspectives will inform the list of artifacts?

Employers

We will host two Employer Studio Sessions to inform the inventory of Skill Artifacts. First, employers will identify criteria by which they would evaluate the strength of Skill Artifacts as strong market signals for 21st century skills. Later, employers will review the inventory and provide feedback.

Military

The Lab will work closely with SOLID, mapping our competencies to both O*NET and the MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) codes to identify potential artifacts, gained in the course of military service, which represent particular 21st century skills.

The "Market"

The answers to these questions:
  • What job roles are in demand?
  • What 21st century skills are essential for these roles?
  • What kinds of skill evidence might learner-earners commonly possess?