March 2015–September 2018
CCRC is evaluating a project being implemented by a consortium of six Kentucky community colleges led by Hazard Community and Technical College and funded through a four-year grant from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Act Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program.
The purpose of the project is to test and expand Kentucky’s online, personalized, competency-based learning system—called Learning on Demand (LOD)—for training IT workers in the computer and medical fields. The EPIC consortium will develop five new LOD degree programs in computer information technology and medical information technology. These programs will include 11 stackable certificates, all of which will be developed in concert with regional and national employers.
CCRC’s evaluation will seek to answer the following questions:
- Compared with conventional program models, is LOD a more cost-effective approach to improving completion rates and reducing time to completion for students in career-technical education programs, such as information technology?
- What are the labor market outcomes of participants in LOD IT programs, and how do they compare with those of students in IT programs taught using conventional face-to-face methods?
- How can the LOD design be improved to enhance student learning and success?
- How effective is the EPIC consortium in helping to scale implementation and improvement of the LOD model for technical training in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System?
This project is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.
