As a pan-Canadian network of universities and industry employer organizations, the Future Skills Innovation Network (FUSION)’s goal is to design and implement training to support the skills development that is critical for success in the 21st-century labour market, with a particular focus on engaging and supporting underrepresented groups.
FUSION participants showed statistically significant skill gains from the beginning to the end of their FUSION experience. The FUSION curriculum integrated well with students’ experiential learning and curricular courses. Students overwhelmingly reported that their experience with FUSION was helpful for finding future employment and that they would recommend the experience to their peers.
Our Programs
FUSION programs help students develop the skills they need to succeed in the modern workforce. Find out more about our current programs.
Our Achievements
As a network, we have collected an impressive constellation of qualitative and quantitative impact that we are making a difference, both in helping students develop/articulate their skills.
We have engaged in extensive research and evaluation at each institution and as a network to try to understand the impact of the curriculum and the user experience. As part of this work, we interviewed over 50 participants, asking them a series of questions about the quality, effectiveness, and implementation of the curriculum. In addition, we analyzed the surveys of participants in which they rated the quality of the modules, the fit with student needs, and perceptions of impact. We also performed analyses of pre- and post-test data from student self-assessments of skills at the beginning and end of their experience.
The University of Saskatchewan collected quantitative data from student self-assessment of skills at the beginning and end of their FUSION experience. Students received scored feedback on their perceived skills in eight sub-domains of metacognition and problem solving. Initial inferential statistical tests (paired t-tests) revealed that students experienced significant gains in EVERY subdomain across the two skills. This triangulated the student reports of perceived skill-gains through the end-of-course surveys.
Across the network, students consistently reported an increased ability to identify and articulate their own skills. Students highlighted that the skills developed were applicable to employment and career goals, but also to their academic and personal goals. We also learned from interviews that students valued the efforts of FUSION staff to supplement the asynchronous curriculum with synchronous facilitated workshops.