OTAN News

TDLS is Almost Here!

OTAN’s Technology and Distance Learning Symposium 2020 is just around the corner, and we can’t wait to convene with our adult education colleagues from California (and a few other states!) and dive into all-things edtech on Friday and Saturday!

We also have a great keynote scheduled to kick off TDLS. Our speaker is Josh Davies from The Center for Work Ethic Development in Denver, Colorado, and Josh’s topic is Work Ethic: The Building Blocks for the 21st Century Workforce. As Josh will discuss, with the rapid change taking place in every sector of the workforce, a set of skills has emerged as the building blocks for the future. Sometimes called soft skills or career readiness, employers simply call them Work Ethic. Nearly 9 out of 10 hiring managers nationwide say work ethic is their most important factor in hiring. In the classroom, students with high work ethic have significant improvements in performance and graduate college at nearly double the average rate. The challenge is that fewer than 1 in 5 people have these skills, and almost all education is instead focused on academic and technical skills.

While many believe that you can’t teach “common sense,” new research is showing that these skills can be developed at any age. Josh's presentation will highlight simple training and leadership approaches that everyone can use to develop work ethic. While in the past we had hoped to develop these skills through projects and group work, we need to make the learning of them as intentional as the rest of our teaching. By using employer-based research, defining the seven skills of work ethic, and applying innovative teaching methodology, TDLS-goers will discover how to make lasting behavior change. Discover how educators can build the foundational skills of work ethic and prepare students with the skills for the 21st Century!

If you’d like to learn more about this topic, please visit The Center for Work Ethic Development website. And if you’ll be at TDLS, we’ll see you soon!