Canadian HR Reporter

N E W S 14 www.hrreporter.com Is micro-learning the answer to Canada's largest skills gaps? Micro-learning initiatives are designed to supplement employee knowledge and can be delivered in "snippets" of courses that be accessed from anywhere — but are employers taking them seriously when it comes to recruitment? writes John Dujay Agnico Eagle, according to Abballe, and will come with a $930,000 funding contribution from FSC. Filling the skills gap Micro-credentials are designed to "fill Canada's largest skills gap," says Tracey Taylor-O'Reilly, assistant vice president of continuing studies at York University in Toronto. "Our programs are driven out of where we see those gaps emerging, where there are jobs without people, where employers are desperate to find people with the right skillset. We reskill people who have just graduated from a degree or a college diploma program or people later on in their careers." As an example, York University looked at what was needed to be a UX (user experience) designer. "[That meant] what are not only the technical skills in UX design but we work closely with employers to find out what their soft skills are, what those cross-functional skills are. Because people fail in jobs usually not because they don't have the technical skills, it's because they don't have problem-solving skills, the ability to program with a focus on behaviour- based safety and communication to provide moments-of-need learning," says Amanda Abballe, vice president of human resources at Anaconda Mining in Toronto. "We' ve realized that workplace learning has experienced drastic shifts, especially with COVID limiting employees' options to leave the site for training and being in a remote location." For mining employees — who are often nowhere near a traditional school setting — taking quick micro-courses on their phones and tablets is ideal, she says. "We have a lot of boots-on-the-ground employees, employees that are on shift work; we have a 24-7 mill that operates, so it's very hard to deliver some of this safety-based training stuff at 2 a.m." The company has partnered with Ryerson University's Future Skills Centre (FSC) and Agnico Eagle on "just- in-time learning snippets of two to four minutes long [with] educational topics around safety that we could inject in their day and not disturb any workflow or focus on what they're doing," she says. "We tried to find a balance in terms of providing training and skill development but not taking away from the day-to-day focus." The initiative will involve more than 200 participants from Anaconda and communicate, higher management, those kinds of things." Defining micro-learning There is one challenge, however — what is the actual definition of micro-learning? "I've asked that question about 40 or 50 times and most people are unable to answer, other than by saying, 'Well, a micro-credential,' " says Taylor- O'Reilly. "The problem is we all define it in different ways. Some people are talking about a very specific thing, like technology companies that are giving out digital badges and how to code, like the IBM badging system. Others are talking about digital badging in higher education, usually on a skill or a competency." In an effort to nail the definition down to a more manageable morsel, York University has partnered with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), which was created from the Business Council of Canada. "Currently, their working definition is that it is a credential, probably not a single skill, for a program that's smaller — and they haven't defined what it's smaller than — [but] it's probably going "Workplace learning has experienced drastic shifts, especially with COVID limiting options to leave the site for training." Amanda Abballe, Anaconda Mining FOR miners working in remote regions of the country, just-in- time micro-learning might be the best way to upgrade their skills, one module at a time. Take, for example, Anaconda Mining, a gold producer with projects in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia. The company has embarked on a two-year project to boost the safety skills of its workforce and is employing micro- learning to achieve that goal. "What we wanted to create and deliver was a micro-learning-based training MICRO-LEARNING IN CANADA $59.5 million Money invested by the Ontario government to expand programs for unemployed workers 36% Percentage of educational institutions that offer these types of programs 32% Percentage of post-secondary organizations that have digital badges offerings Sources: Colleges Ontario, Canadian Digital Learning Research Association

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