Elearning! Magazine: Building Smarter Companies via Learning & Workplace Technologies.
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learning!100 Biocom Institute Educates California's Science Workforce Biocom Institute, the workforce and edu- cation arm of Biocom, an industry life sci- ence association, has built several training curricula to assure the sector will have the talent to fuel California's most robust emerging industry. Biotech is critical to sustaining the environment, energy renewal, medical advances and more. It is a perfect model of how industry, govern- ment and association can come together and build solutions to address science and technology talent shortages. The institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, serves as a bridge between learning institutions and life science com- panies to build comprehensive education initiatives that advance scientific literacy. This is accomplished through: >>Biotechnology Readiness, Immersion, Certification and Degrees for Gainful Employment (B.R.I.D.G.E.) and Educating and Developing Workers for the Green Economy (E.D.G.E.) grants will help train those seeking employment and those moving up the career ladder to sharpen existing skills and develop new competencies to compete for positions in the global economy. The Biocom Institute and partners were able to raise $9 million to support the California life science industry. >>A scholarship and education fund that supports students demonstrating aca- demic excellence and a desire to pur- sue research in the life sciences. normally from a basic online e-learn- ing course," notes Biocom Institute executive director Kristie Grover. >>The Science A.C.E.S. (Advancing Classroom Education in Science), one of the first industry-wide volunteer movements of its kind. The campaign leverages lessons tied to state educa- tion standards from its Science Education Speaker's Bureau. The les- sons are taught by industry profes- sionals, with research showing an 82 percent increase in content knowledge from having industry professionals deliver learning. with developmental courses, teaching non-science professionals about basic life sciences and helping scientists with leader- ship and communication skills. "Then, in 2005, the San Diego Workforce Partnership and Biocom were awarded a President's High Growth Grant to create a program for students and teachers in the life sciences industry." "We're doing a new take on learning — exactly what industry wants." The grant allowed partners to establish the Life Sciences Summer Institute, a pro- gram that exposes teachers and students to the life-science industry through pro- fessional development opportunities and internships. The President's Grant also provided >>The Life Science & Industrial Biotechnology Immersion Programs, intensive online certificate programs that use industry-driven curriculum to give individuals the business acumen to successfully transition into and move up the career ladder in industrial careers. Beginning in June, it will use real-business case studies and solutions through vignettes from CEOs. "People taking the course get that tribal knowl- edge that you wouldn't be able to get 26 May / June 2011 Kristie Grover of the Biocom Institute >>The Biocom Career Center (www.Biocom.Biospace.org), with more than 1,000 jobs listed in life sci- ences across California. Biocom with funding to create an online workforce center. "In looking at the land- scape, we wanted to reach the most people that we could across diverse audiences, so that's where we came up with creating the Website www.BiocomInstitute.org," Grover says. "We realized that we needed to make it easy and accessible, so we created a frame- work we could update ourselves. The grant funding went away in 2007, but because we were creative, we've been able to add to it and keep it alive and useful all these years." What makes the Biocom Institute unique is that it works closely with the life sciences (medical devices, diagnostics, biotech, biofuels, pharmaceutical compa- nies) and the green communities. All of the training it offers is based on industrial needs, because its committees and boards work directly with industry to determine needs and create an adequate workforce. The institute partners with all the uni- >>An industrial biotech workforce sur- vey, which notes that California's industrial biotechnology sector experi- enced record-setting growth over 2009. "Our whole mission is to enhance sci- ence literacy," Grover notes. "We started versities in San Diego and environs. According to Grover, job-seekers who complete a Biocom Institute program will see their résumés move to the top of the stack. "Our programs give job-seekers that industrial edge, an endoresement of industry authenticity," she says. Government Elearning!