Key points:
- Innovation labs can help students graduate ready for the world
- How community colleges can embed real-world projects into workforce training
- Guiding colleges on embedding career purpose from enrollment to alumni
- For more news on career readiness, visit eCN’s Teaching & Learning hub
The primary goal of two-year colleges is to provide students with accessible and affordable education and training that prepares them for in-demand jobs and supports local industry.
Industry-recognized certifications, microcredentials and job shadowing experiences are significant focal points for these institutions because these things help to prepare and qualify students for immediate entry into high-demand fields such as manufacturing, healthcare, and information technology.
This focus has served both the students and the colleges well, with enrollment at community colleges growing 4 percent in the fall of 2025, while public four-year and private college enrollment grew 2 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
A shift in industry demands
While these statistics are promising, industry demands are constantly evolving, and the skills and qualifications companies are seeking in employees will undoubtedly change. Just look at the seismic impact AI has had in just a few years.
As president of North Idaho College–a two-year college offering more than 150 degrees and certificates and more than 35 dedicated Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs–I am already seeing a gradual shift. While industry leaders are comfortable with the current degree system offered by two-year colleges, they aren’t satisfied with our “product.” Currently, two-year colleges are producing graduates who have taken a bunch of classes and solved a lot of canned problems. But employers want employees who have been educated in a way that enables them to solve a multitude of complex problems across a variety of applications. In other words, employers want “journeyman” problem solvers–instead, we’re giving them apprentices.
A transdisciplinary approach
In order to remain relevant in the years to come, colleges must rethink their model. We need to revisit what we are trying to do and why. Shifting to an interdisciplinary model integrates knowledge and skills from multiple disciplines, fostering students’ deeper understanding and critical thinking. I would argue to go further and adopt a model that also includes non-academic partners, making it a transdisciplinary approach. These approaches equip students to be critical thinkers, able to solve complex challenges and able to adapt to meet evolving issues and challenges. It ensures we are “future-proofing” our graduates.
I have been looking at this issue for a long time. In my previous role, I founded the successful and sought-after JMU X-Labs, a cross-disciplinary innovation center at James Madison University, a four-year institution in Virginia. There, students collaborate to solve real-world problems. Now my team and I are working to do the same thing at North Idaho College with the development of NIC X-Labs. I believe X-Labs are the future for two-year colleges.
What is an X-Lab?
An X-Lab, in the way we define it, is an innovation center that provides students with the hands-on experience of working as a team to solve problems in a way that doesn’t fit nicely in a syllabus or a grading rubric. It’s real-world learning. X-Labs promote trans-disciplinary collaboration and design thinking to address challenges and find solutions, from developing new products to addressing real-world issues.
When this process works well, it elevates learning from the apprentice level to the mastery level. That’s what happened at the JMU X-Labs. Now, we’re figuring out how to do it at a two-year institution and make it the defining feature of the entire college.
Ten characteristics of a successful X-Lab
There are certain characteristics an innovation lab should have. Here are the 10 areas we are focusing on for NIC X-Labs. With these as the core, students will graduate ready for the world.
- Cross-disciplinary collaboration. An X-Lab brings together students, faculty, staff, and industry partnersto solve real-world problems, creating a practical model of team-based innovation. This promotes collaboration and also builds skills and relationships that can help them get hired.
- Applied learning with impact. The emphasis of an X-Lab is applied learning, encouraging participants to create practical solutions for systems, services and community needs. Every course at NIC X-Labs will involve multiple disciplines, focusing on creating a solution to a concrete challenge. Examples of projects that we tackled at JMU X-Labs included everything from designing self-driving cars to figuring out how to use drones to deliver beer or inoculate herds of zebras in Africa.
- A design thinking approach. X-Labs use design thinkingand a Lean Startup model. Understanding user needs, brainstorming creative ideas, prototyping and iterative testing guide each project, fostering critical thinking and innovation.
- A collaborative course structure. Courses and experiences are team-taught, leveraging expertise across disciplines, with industry experts, ensuring diverse perspectives and robust problem-solving.
- Innovation spaces. X-Labs should have dedicated innovation spaces. NIC X-Labs will include scalable studios and a robotics lab, integrating the famous GIZMO makerspace here in Cour d’Alene, Idaho. It will also include AV technology to support collaboration such as Epson’s BrightLink® projectors. We used these interactive displays at JMU X-Labs to create a video wall where students could project the content directly onto the wall–no fancy flat screens required. This provided a large canvas where students could show their designs and draw or add notes directly to the design using their finger. Having the right equipment, technology, and a dedicated flexible space are all important to the success of an X-Lab.
- Small, interactive groups. The ability to work as teams, communicate effectively with peers and assign and manage tasks within a group are all skills that are highly sought after by employers. NIC X-Labs will have large classes that focus on small group work, prioritizing collaboration over solo efforts to maximize interaction and knowledge exchange.
- Strong industry partnerships. X-Labs serve as bridges between higher education and regional employers, inviting industry partners to present challenges, mentor students and participate in internship programs that prepare students for the workforce. Partners at JMU X-Labs included the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, the cybersecurity firm Endgame, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the United Way. We will be developing similarly beneficial partnerships at NIC X-Labs.
- Support for systems and services. X-Labs strengthen regional systems and servicesby promoting mentorships, supporting departments, and collaborating across organizational boundaries, and deepening community impact. The reach of NIC X-Labs will go well beyond the boundaries of the college to impact systems throughout our region.
- Engagement with community experts. Collaboration at an X-Lab includes academic and industry voices, as well as community experts, ensuring solutions address real local needs and support regional growth.
- A regional vision for innovation. NIC X-Labs will be a regional engine for innovation, aligning with the College’s community-serving vision by integrating workforce development, economic goals and educational programming. By having a regional vision, X-Labs become more than education spaces. They become part of the fabric of the community, and beyond, setting the stage for the region to become a leader in innovation and growth.
Providing students with academic education and technical skills/certifications for specific careers is no longer enough. Higher education institutions must also equip them to be critical thinkers who have the skills to succeed in their chosen field, and also the skills to adapt–or even lead the charge–when industry needs change. While the full story remains to be written, we are setting the foundation for success at North Idaho College with NIC X-Labs.
Nick Swayne is a nationally recognized leader in higher education and currently serves as president of North Idaho College. He has also served as the executive director of 4-VA, a consortium uniting nine universities to advance collaborative research, course sharing, degree completion, and innovation across Virginia. He also founded JMU X-Labs academic innovation ecosystem at James Madison University, hailed as a national model of experiential, transdisciplinary learning that serves over 6,000 students annually.
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