NIU conference offers workplace learning strategies

One of every three job applicants in 2001 lacked the skills necessary to become industrious employees, hurting their own pocketbooks and costing U.S. businesses an estimated $60 billion in lowered productivity.

One solution is found in workplace learning programs designed to provide employees with the basic proficiency needed to get and keep jobs, advance careers or boost efficiency.

NIU’s Workplace Learning Conference, widely considered the country’s premier single source of strategies, resources and connections, will help employers understand the importance of workplace learning and find ideas that might work for them.

The goal is match the pace of innovation in workforce development with the speed of economic change.

“Census data tells us that educational attainment across most age categories is rising, which is good news,” said Peter Creticos, president of the Institute for Work and the Economy and a senior research associate at the NIU Center for Governmental Studies. “However, the demands for a literate, highly skilled workforce continue to increase faster than educational attainment.”

NIU, in partnership with the NIU Center for Governmental Studies and the Institute for Work and the Economy, coordinates and hosts the annual conference.

Established in 1996, originally to address adult literacy, the symposium features more than 70 workshops, plenary sessions and meetings and brings together business, organized labor, academia, government and communities to learn about innovative and effective practices in work and learning.

Scheduled for Dec. 7 through 10 at the Chicago Sheraton Hotel & Towers, this year’s theme is “Advancing Adult Work-Based Learning: Building a 21st Century Community of Practice.”

Keynote speakers include Jeff Taylor, CEO of monster.com; Edward Potter, president of the Employment Policy Foundation; Bill Lucy, president of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists; Michael Parmentier, former director of the Office of Readiness and Training for the Secretary of Defense; and Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.

“We have a rich agenda of people who are practitioners in the field who will share their experiences and knowledge about workplace learning,” Creticos said. “Substantively, this conference has no equal this year. Conference Director Diana Robinson has pulled together the best event you’ll find.”

It offers many opportunities for NIU faculty, staff and students, who receive a 25 percent discount on conference registration.

“One area of relevance is the teaching aspect of the university as we prepare people who are going to provide those workplace learning services. Faculty or students engaged in education or education research around adult-oriented education, especially as it pertains to the workplace, will clearly find the practical or applied side of what works in the workplace,” Creticos said.

“It’s also internal to the university. We’re an employer also,” he added. “Just as any employer coming to the conference would see it as gathering ideas on what they can do to advance the skills of the workforce to produce new products and services, the same holds true for us. We’re operating businesses, in effect, and certainly can use these lessons.”

For more information, or to register, call 753-6925 or visit www.workplace-learning.net.

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