Announcing a partnership with UVU, Skillco says success for universities hinges on four key metrics: enrollment, retention, completion, and job placement. The company says it empowers students to take ownership of their education. As a result, universities see improvements across all key metrics.
Edtech startup Skillco has developed a new type of educational software. Skillco provides higher-ed students with an explanation of the skills they’ve acquired, given the classes they’ve taken. Skillco’s secondary goal is encouraging higher-ed institutions to apply skill-based definitions to courses. “What we've done at Skillco is we've created the data architecture for curriculum to have skill based outcomes,” said Skillco Founder and CEO, Steve Lockhart.
Lockhart explained to TechBuzz that he wants to give college students, “a dashboard to take control over their own education.”
Skillco attempts to bridge the gap between the skills a course provides and the skills a student needs to be employable. Lockhart said his company is creating "the only comprehensive student experience on the market."
All types and levels of educators are seeing the effects of skill-based hiring, according to Lockhart. He has met with educators at K-12 and post secondary institutions he noted how all of them are aware of the gap that employers are facing when trying to find the right talent fit when recruiting recently graduated students. Many of them are trying different approaches to solve the problem. Lockhart and his team believe that focusing on a student experience is the best way to drive higher academic engagement.
Utah Valley University, the largest university in Utah, is one Skillco's strongest supporters and represents the founding university behind the platform.
"SkillCo is a groundbreaking platform that not only transforms students' academic transcripts into skill-based portfolios but also helps them recognize the value of their education in real time," said Astrid S. Tuminez, President of Utah Valley University. "By mapping their coursework to tangible skills, students can clearly see how their efforts contribute to their career readiness and employability. UVU’s Excellence and Innovation Initiative (e2i) is proud to have been critical in developing SkillCo, providing support that enabled the creation of a platform that could transform the student and employer experience in building Utah’s workforce."
“At the heart of Skillco’s innovation is a commitment to empowering students with the tools they need to succeed," said Kyle Reyes, V.P. of Institutional Advancement and Associate Professor of Education at UVU. "Skillco empowers our students to identify and develop the skills they need for success in their academic and professional journeys. I believe Skillco will transform how students connect their education to workplace relevancy."
"SkillCo began as an igniter project, an idea developed by UVU students who turned to our e2i program for the skilled team members needed to bring their vision to life," said Tammy Clark, UVU's Associate Provost for Academic Innovation. "This collaboration gave our students hands-on experience working on a project that transitioned into a successful startup. Some of the e2i students involved were later hired as full-time employees at SkillCo, showcasing the powerful connection between education and career pathways that e2i fosters. It's a testament to the impact our program can have on both student success and innovative ventures."
Lockhart has spent over two years conducting product research on UVU's Skicampus, identifying the tools and interactions that could lead to greater student success. Once the product reached a stage where students were actively using it and gaining valuable educational and career insights, UVU administrators decided to purchase a license. Skillco’s product can be used by any UVU student by going to Skillco.net, clicking register, and signing in through their University’s portal.
In addition, Mountainland Technical College (MTECH) is preparing to implement Skillco in the coming months.
Skillco is designed to help students gain employment by matching them with jobs based on their skillset. The platform can compare a user's skills against in-demand skills, then display a list of matching jobs. Skillco provides a portfolio that students can build while going school to show potential employers what they've learned.
“A student can upload a picture of the project, title it, and write a description about what they did." explained Lockhart. "Then the student can decide which skills they believe were developed during that project.”
This approach to hiring may also help employers choose candidates based on their skills in addition to their degree. Lockhart said, "When you look at what employers are saying, they don't really care about your degree. They want to know what your skill set is so they can be more confident in the hiring process."
He continued, “Skill-based hiring helps with diversity, overall job satisfaction, and employer satisfaction. It creates a better environment for the workforce.”
Lockhart believes higher-ed institutions can also benefit specifically from student data generated by Skillco. "Student success is the primary focus for most education institutions. University administrators are constantly seeking ways to improve enrollment, retention, graduation rates, and job placement. State-funded universities that can demonstrate consistent improvement in these key metrics are better positioned to secure increased funding," Lockhart explained.
The idea of Skillco sprouted when Lockhart began working for the Utah Valley Chamber of Commerce as the Director of Government Affairs right out of college. With a Bachelors in Finance from UVU, Lockhart was often asked, ‘How did you get into the world of politics with a finance degree?’ This type of question led Lockhart down a path to found Skillco. Lockhart told TechBuzz:
“They were always left a little confused, not knowing how I was able to transition from a business industry to the political science world. As I was thinking about that, it dawned on me. When I was first in college, I had declared for political science and took plenty of courses during that time frame.”
He continued, “As I was thinking about how my transcript proved I had the skill-set, I decided to create skill-based outcomes for my personal transcript.”Lockhart created an Excel spreadsheet containing every college course he’d taken, along with skills he learned from them. He presented the spreadsheet to Dr. David Conley, Director of Student Success at UVU, and Tammy Clark, Associate Provost of Innovation at UVU. Lockhart was then asked if he could develop something similar to his spreadsheet for all UVU students.
Lockhart searched for a software developer to help make his dream a reality. During his search, he found Jackson Lohman, a member of the UVU computer science club. Lockhart explained the idea of Skillco to Lohman. Lohman was intrigued and eventually joined Lockhart and became Co-Founder of Skillco. Together Lockhart and Lohman went from just an idea, to a product currently being used at UVU.
Lockhart has also met with state government officials in Utah, including members of the Higher Education’s Appropriations Committee. Each member and official had a different vision for how the application could be used.
He’s also met Jefferson Moss, Utah House Majority Leader, Managing Director of the Utah Innovation Fund, Associate Commissioner of Innovation at USHE and Executive Director for Innovation District at The Point. Lockhart reported on the meeting, stating, “philosophically, Jeff agreed that Skillco’s approach is a direction higher education should explore to stay competitive amidst the rise of new and alternative education methods."
In the near future, Lockhart’s goals for Skillco are to raise an additional $500K, expand the team, focus on sales and marketing, and continue to develop additional features by Q1, 2025.
"As I evaluate our cash flows and the progress of our product development, I foresee a need to raise additional funds to accelerate our growth projections," said Lockhart. "Earlier this year, I raised a round from family and friends through a SAFE agreement, which enabled me to hire additional engineers and secure HECVAT (Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit) approval for our product."
Skillco will launching its marketing plan on UVUs campus on October 21, 2024, after fall break. Through its marketing efforts Skillco plans to provide incentives for UVU students to register and build a Skillco account.
More information about Skillco is available at Skillco.net. UVU students may use the QR code below to register for Skillco.net
