What is LS/PS?
  What are the Essential Skills and where did they come from?
  How does the program work?
  What is a Skills Profile?
  How is a Skills Profile useful to an employer?
  What does an employer see?
  What are employers saying about LS/PS?
  Are other colleges using this model?

What is LS/PS?
The Liberal Studies/Professional Skills (LS/PS) program is an assessment instrument designed to measure a student's achievement in ten "Essential Skills".

LS/PS emphasizes both the value of traditional liberal arts and the professional capabilities needed to perform successfully in the 21^st century.

The LS/PS program helps students make a connection between the skills they learn in their courses and the applicability of these skills to their world.
Return to top.

What are the Essential Skills and where did they come from?
The Essential Skills have been called transferable skills, work-ready skills, professional skills, or core competencies skills that once learned, can be applied in education, career, or community life. They are the skills that students should acquire in addition to the subject matter of their studies in a post-secondary education.
The ten Essential Skills are:

Appreciation Skills: Achieving a perspective on oneself and the world	Material Skills: Interacting with the physical world
Collaboration Skills: Working with people effectively	Presentation Skills: Communicating effectively and responsively
Conceptual Skills: Organizing ideas and materials	Qualification Skills: Making distinctions and finding connections with words
Implementation Skills: Working and organizing effectively	Quantification Skills: Making distinctions and finding connections with words
Inquiry Skills Finding, assimilating, and evaluating new information	Technology Skills: Using technology

The Essential Skills page will show you all of the skills in more detail on one scrollable page.

The Minnesota Skills Profile, on which the LS/PS program is based, was developed partly in response to a need expressed by employers for a better-prepared workforce. Studies used in developing the skill areas are:

• The SCANS Report (Secretaries Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills) and others prepared by the American Society for Training and Development
• The Commission on Skills of the American Workforce, and
• The (Canadian) Corporate Council on Education.
  

How does the program work?
The LS/PS program takes assessment beyond the level of measuring what student's know to allowing them to demonstrate through class projects their use of what they know.

Teachers determine which skills they emphasize in their courses.

Students earn skill points on assignments for various levels of achievement in a skill area. Teachers enter a student's points in each skill area into a database that converts information from other courses and activities into a graph that visually displays a skills profile in progress.

The Skills Profile then allows students to show anyone outside of the school setting (employers, transfer institutions, etc.) what they've learned.
Return to top.

What is a Skills Profile?
The Skills Profile is a supplement to a grade transcript that demonstrates in a more specific way what a student has learned .

A Skills Profile displays a student's achievement in each of the 10 Essential Skills.
Return to top.

How is a Skills Profile useful to an employer?
In addition to a degree and a major, employers are able to see the skills a prospective employee has developed through his or her studies.

For example, an employer looking for someone with excellent communication skills might look for high achievement in sub-skill areas such as public speaking, conflict mediation, learning from people, others viewpoints, etc.
Return to top.

What does an employer see?
Students may present a Skills Profile summary of the ten skill areas, a summary of achievement in sub-skills within each of the ten skills, a list of courses and activities in which those skills were developed, or a portfolio with examples of projects completed. Since a student's Skills Profile is privacy protected, an employer cannot access it, but a student may choose to show it to a prospective employer.
Return to top.

What are employers saying about LS/PS?

Return to top.

Are other colleges using this model?
Four other colleges in the Minnesota State Colleges & Universities (MnSCU) system (one four-year university, two combined technical and community colleges, and one technical college) have expressed interest in and/or begun working with the LS/PS template, in conjunction with IHCC faculty and administration.
For more information on the LS/PS program, please contact Julia McGregor, LS/PS Faculty Coordinator, at 651-450-8589 or send an email
Return to top.