Making sense of skills - A UK skills taxonomy

Taken from here>>>

Skill shortages are costly and can hamper growth, but we don't currently measure these shortages in a detailed or timely way. To address this challenge, we have developed the first data-driven skills taxonomy for the UK that is publicly available. A skills taxonomy provides a consistent way of measuring the demand and supply of skills. It can also help workers and students learn more about the skills that they need, and the value of those skills. The full research paper is available to read here.

Skill shortages are a costly unknown

Skill shortages are a major issue in the UK and arise because there are not enough people with particular skills to meet demand. The Open University estimates that skill shortages cost the UK £2bn a year in higher salaries, recruitment costs and temporary staffing bills. They can also significantly hamper growth. According to OECD research, the UK could boost its productivity by 5 per cent if it reduced the level of skill mismatch to OECD best practice levels.

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New Open Toolkit for Teaching File and Data Management

The ETD+ Toolkit (https://educopia.org/publications/etdplustoolkit) is an approach to improving student and faculty research output management. Focusing on the Electronic Thesis and Dissertation (ETD) as a mile-marker in a student’s research trajectory, it provides in-time advice to students and faculty about avoiding common digital loss scenarios for the ETD and all of its affiliated files.

The ETD+ Toolkit provides free introductory training resources on crucial data curation and digital longevity techniques. It has been designed as a training series to help students and faculty identify and offset risks and threats to their digital research footprints.

About the Toolkit

The ETD+ Toolkit is the result of a project (https://educopia.org/research/grants/etdplus) generously funded by the Institute of Library and Museum Services. Educopia Institute led the creation of the Toolkit in partnership with the NDLTD, ProQuest, bepress, and 12 U.S. research libraries.

What it is: 
An open set of six modules and evaluation instruments that prepare students to create, store, and maintain their research outputs on durable devices and in durable formats. Each is designed to stand alone; they may also be used as a series. 

What each module includes: 
Each module includes Learning Objectives, a one-page Handout, a Guidance Brief, a Slideshow with full presenter notes, and an evaluation Survey. Each module is released under a CC-BY license and all elements are openly editable to make reuse as easy as possible.

Who it is for: 
Anyone may freely adopt and adapt this toolkit. We especially recommend its use by administrators, faculty, and librarians teaching students and by students seeking practical advice about digital content management.   

Give us feedback (Please)
Like the modules? Hate them? Think they’re unique? Redundant? These materials have been produced under a grant-funded project, and we are requesting feedback that we can share with our funder and that we can use to improve the Toolkit. Please help us to refine the workshops and report back to our funder about how and where they are being used. Contact katherine@educopia.org and sam@educopia.org.