NCDA's Technology Committee co-chairs Dr. Eric Hines and Angie Thompson host guest Denise Lawson from Quality Information Partners. They discuss data literacy and emerging tools, such as verifiable credentials and digital wallets. Lawson explains data literacy as role-dependent, stressing ethical data creation, asking good questions, and careful interpretation in career guidance. They discuss the shift toward skills-based hiring, using portfolios of verified skills from education, work, and extracurricular activities, starting as early as high school. Lawson emphasizes interoperability standards, trusted credential registries, and keeping humans in the loop — especially as AI changes work and can generate inaccurate claims — so that employers, educators, and counselors can share information with greater trust and better align education with workforce needs.

For more on this topic, check out Denise Lawson's recorded NCDA Webinar: Digital Innovations and the Future of the Talent Marketplace.

Denise Lawson is a Senior Associate at Quality Information Partners (QIP) where she currently leads projects related to data literacy for education professionals and furthering the use of postsecondary outcomes data. She also works on efforts to promote skills-based hiring and advancement as part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s T3 Innovation Network. In addition to these projects, Denise led the development of eLearning courses on data visualization for use by state and local education agencies and training materials related to student data privacy rules and regulations. She is an adjunct faculty and serves as a project advisor for second-year graduate students in the Master of Science in Public Policy and Management program at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College. Denise provides guidance to student teams on the completion of a capstone project performed for a real-world client. She also conducts student workshops to build student skills in areas such as project planning and managing client relationships. Denise has an MBA with a focus on information technology from the University of Edinburgh and a BS in psychology from Georgetown University. She also holds a PMP certification.

Erik M. Hines, Ph.D., is a Professor of Counseling in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, and Educational Sciences within the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. Dr. Hines research agenda focuses on the postsecondary readiness and career development of Black men and boys across various contexts (P-12, community college, 4- year college/university) and critically examines how high impact programming shape their educational and career outcomes and experiences. Additionally, Dr. Hines studies the career exploration of educationally vulnerable students in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). He has secured over $12.5 million dollars in research and program funding. 

Angie Thompson has worked in higher education for over two decades and currently serves as the Assistant Director of AI Education and Student Engagement at the University of Montana. A certified federal application specialist and career coach, she teaches career courses and is nationally recognized for her expertise in AI, career readiness, and federal hiring processes. She currently serves as the Co-Chair of the NCDA Technology Committee and is actively involved in the University of Montana’s AI Future Project and AI Community of Practice, where she helps shape campus-wide AI guidelines, initiatives and ethical frameworks. Angie has recently written an article on AI and, this year, will also serve on the NCDA AI Task Force and the NACE AI Content Special Interest Group. 

Resources

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• NCDA's Webinar Series