2. ‘Maker’ skills.
From ePortfolios to YouTube videos, and from PowerPoint presentations to blogs, more colleges and universities are looking to see students’ skills in software, presentation, and social media.
Many new and innovative admissions offices are beginning to incorporate these Maker highlights into their own practices; such as: YouTube acceptance videos, virtual campus tours, and online Twitter and Facebook chats for incoming students, and are increasingly looking for students exhibit similar creative tendencies.
ePortfolios are also being implemented by campus faculty to help students better prepare ‘resumes’ for future employers, and admissions are also looking to ePorfolios to get a more comprehensive sense of a students’ broad range of skills.
3. Online safety skills.
Data security is quickly becoming a growing concern for postsecondary institutions, and students who know basic online safety skills can better protect themselves from potential breaches.
For example, the University of Maryland this year suffered not one, but two, student data breaches, with many other universities experiencing similar attacks. Tips from experts include varying passwords for different sites, not using common passwords (e.g. 1234), and keeping your social profiles separated or private from other online platforms.
In the event of just such an emergency, students should also be aware of the legal steps available to them, as well as next steps that should be taken, after a massive information breach.
4. Entrepreneurial skills.
With the economy in its current state, many students are finding it harder than ever to land a job after college, with many postsecondary institutions now striving to be ranked as those that offer students the best job-placement opportunities.
Part of helping students become desirable job candidates is teaching them the skills necessary for job interviews, self-marketing, and building the right competencies.
By teaching students these skills in high school, not only can it help students better choose the major that’s right for them for their future career path, but can help them land often-required internship experience for both college admissions and entry-level jobs. And by developing entrepreneurial skills, can help any student, no matter their academic interest, better thrive in today’s business economy.
5. Financial literacy skills.
According to an upcoming report from Junior Achievement and PwC, nearly a quarter of today’s students believe that after they complete college their student loan debt will be forgiven. Yet, 41 percent default on their loans. There’s a financial literacy disconnect going on between reality and today’s students, but it’s not just worrisome for bank accounts—it’s affecting colleges, business and the global economy.
In the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) latest global assessment, more than 1 in 6 U.S. teens are unable to make even simple decisions about everyday spending, and only 1 in 10 can solve complex financial tasks.
Schuyler noted that knowing financial skills isn’t just about balancing a checkbook, it’s about using critical thinking skills to analyze and solve a problem.
“What the lack of financial literacy shows us is that students don’t just lack personal finance skills, it’s also lack of mathematics, critical thinking and reading comprehension,” she emphasized. “There’s a large correlation to math and reading in the U.S., more so than in other countries, which means that not only should students have better math and reading skills, financial literacy can be a major way to teach those math and reading comprehension skills.”
Also troubling is the affect the lack of financial literacy skills has on the current national student loan debt crisis, which not only affects the legitimacy of degrees and institutions, but the stability of the economy as well.
“Part of being financially literate is also understanding how student loans work: According to data, nearly a quarter of students surveyed believe that their student loan debt will be forgiven after they graduate; yet, 41 percent of all students default on their loans,” noted Schuyler. “There needs to be a triangulation between career choice, college choice and degree choice that doesn’t exist for students today. Financial literacy will help with these decisions.”
Indeed, knowing how to apply math and critical thinking skills to a college decision is critical for today’s students, including understanding how tuition directly correlates to student loan interest and base salaries in careers.
Not only could this help students from defaulting on their loans, but higher education (currently under intense public scrutiny), may better understand how to serve students and help provide pipelines to critical jobs in the business industry.
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