Vice Provosts Doris Savron and Marc Booker
discuss innovations including skills-mapped curriculum, learning
and employment records, and microcredentials that inform more
equitable career paths of working adult learners
University of Phoenix is pleased to share that leaders Doris
Savron, vice provost, Colleges, Assessment and Curriculum, and Dr.
Marc Booker, vice provost, Strategy, join the Jobs for the Future
(JFF) Horizons Summit July 22-23, 2024, in Washington, D.C., an
event focused on innovation and thought leadership in advancing
economic equity and themed, “The Power of Us.” Savron and Booker
will serve on the panel, “Utilizing Skills Mapping and Innovative
Credentials to Deliver the Most Direct Career Path,” on July 22,
3:15 PM-4:00pm ET, discussing how collaborative innovations
including skills-mapped curriculum, learning and employment record
(LER), and microcredentials inform more equitable career paths of
working adult learners. University of Phoenix is a partner of JFF's
Center for Racial Economic Equity and a supporting sponsor of the
Horizons Summit.
“Approaches to capturing learner skills aligned to career
outcomes through innovative methods such as microcredentials,
skills tagging and authentic assessments in curriculum can enable
capturing student achievements through comprehensive learner
records (CLRs), and support developing an ecosystem for learning
and employment records (LERs),” states Savron. “LERs grow and
evolve with the learner and can more effectively demonstrate the
knowledge, learning, and skills accumulated by a worker over their
lifetime.”
The panel features Savron and Booker alongside Cynthia Proctor,
Director of Communications and Academic Policy Development in the
Provost’s Office at the State University of New York (SUNY) System
and Rob Coyle, Program Manager, Digital Credentials at 1EdTech
Consortium. Their panel discussion will explore the impact and
potential of microcredentials and LERs in higher education as well
as how to engage employers in planning and developing effective and
relevant microcredentials.
“LERs have inherent and empowering value to working adult
learners as a single record of all their learning and employment
history accessible in one digital location,” Savron shares. “This
fosters a more equitable method of matching with employers while
also creating a feedback loop on whether courses and credentials
are living up to their purpose.”
Savron and Booker will share how, understanding that students
represent far more than course descriptions and grades, University
of Phoenix reimagined its assessment process to align to skills
outcomes and map its curriculum back to workplace needs, and how
this action has created more value to students related to
credentialing and mobility opportunities as skills outcomes are
becoming more desired by employers. The session will help attendees
understand how microcredentials and LERs can support workers and
employers in the rapidly evolving, AI-driven, metamorphosing
workplace of today.
“Technology, data, and how we can share insight on learners’
skills and abilities is evolving rapidly,” states Booker. “Although
tremendous progress has been made in this area, like the University
of Phoenix’s approach to skills-aligned learning and how it ties to
our micro-credential and badging strategies; this is an emerging
area of need that is yet to be fully defined. As a result, we are
delighted to be a part of this important conversation with industry
groups because there is still work to be done in triangulating the
right value proposition for learners, higher education and
employers.”
The Horizons Summit is driven by the JFF journey toward their
established North Star: In 10 years, 75 million people facing
systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs. The
Summit vision is that individuals attending, listening to the
Horizons podcast, or watching the video series, can connect with
thinkers and innovators activating the power of community to
influence economic equity and advancement.
Savron serves as Vice Provost of Colleges, Assessment and
Curriculum, overseeing the strategy for the University’s academic
programs and curriculum design, institutional assessment and
faculty. Her role includes oversight of strategy for degree,
certificate and course offerings, design of curriculum and student
learning outcomes for the University. Savron works collaboratively
with her team members to innovate academic solutions that enable
the University to provide exceptional student experiences and
learning environments to support student success. In her tenure
with University of Phoenix she has served as associate faculty,
campus vice president, regional Vice president of student services,
and college operations. She was appointed to the advisory council
for UPCEA and AACRAO’s inaugural 2023 Convergence Conference
focused on the emerging field of alternative credentials in Higher
Education, and in 2024 to the UPCEA Council for Credential
Innovation leadership. Savron is often sought out as a speaker for
her expertise on mapping relevant skills in programs and building
an infrastructure to support career tools in curriculum design,
micro credentialing and other innovations in curriculum, presenting
at events by organizations such as 1EdTech and PACRAO. She earned
her MBA from Cleveland State University and is completing her
doctorate in management in organizational leadership.
As Vice Provost for Strategy at the University of Phoenix,
Booker oversees critical path academic initiatives to improve the
student experience such as learning platform implementations,
curricular enhancements, and developing empathetic solutions to
drive improved student outcomes through data. He is the recipient
of the 2024 UPCEA Operational Excellence Award and a 2024 American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
(AACRAO) Thomas A. Bilger Award. In 2023, he was part of a
leadership team named winners of the Catalyst Award for Teaching
& Learning. Widely recognized as an expert in transfer credit
and Credit for Prior Learning (CPL), Booker previously served as
vice president of Admissions and Evaluation at University of
Phoenix; during his tenure his office received three Showcase in
Excellence Awards from the Southwest Alliance for Excellence for
processes related to admissions application, transcript and prior
learning assessment processes. Booker has been an employee of the
University of Phoenix since 2001.
Proctor is the Director of Communications and Academic Policy
Development in the Provost’s Office at the State University of New
York (SUNY) System, the largest comprehensive public university in
the United States. Having been with SUNY for over 25 years, Proctor
now develops and supports the implementation of SUNY academic
policy (applicable to all 64 campuses). Central to her recent work
is advancement of SUNY’s award-winning microcredential policy, a
dynamic program designed to help more New York residents earn the
credentials they need to succeed in life and career. Proctor is a
nationally and internationally regarded expert in the application
of short-term credentials. She holds a master’s degree in strategic
public relations from George Washington University and a bachelor’s
degree in public relations/journalism from Utica University.
As 1EdTech’s program manager for digital credentials, Coyle is
committed to expanding the success of digital credentials with Open
Badges and the Comprehensive Learner Record Standard™
(CLRStandard™) to support learning and acknowledge the skills and
competencies mastered through formal and informal education and
life experiences. Coyle has deep experience from a career as a
teacher and collaborator with other educators, and through working
with a wide variety of educators and edtech suppliers from K-12,
higher education, and corporate training and development. He earned
his master’s degree in educational leadership and educational
technology administration and bachelor’s degree from Goucher
College.
Learn more here about the JFF Horizons Summit.
About University of Phoenix
University of Phoenix innovates to help working adults enhance
their careers and develop skills in a rapidly changing world.
Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning,
skills-mapped curriculum for our bachelor’s and master’s degree
programs and a Career Services for Life® commitment help students
more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while
balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit
phoenix.edu.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240721893423/en/
Sharla Hooper University of Phoenix
sharla.hooper@phoenix.edu