The Soft Technical Skills Institute (STSI) is an independent research and assessment institution for Soft Technical Skills. The STSI at the-stsi.com uses a ten-member Board of Review to establish minimum requirements for credentialing of candidates who have mastered specific soft technical skills.

The mission of the Soft Technical Skills Institute is to improve the skills proficiency and economic well being of the world’s work force.

To accomplish the mission, the goals of the Soft Technical Skills Institute are to:

• Establish the industry's standards for mastery of soft technical skills.
• Expand and improve technicians' occupational set of skills in soft technical skills.
• Improve technicians' efficiency and effectiveness in accomplishing job tasks.
• Enhance technicians' work attitudes.

To accomplish the mission and goals, the programmatic objectives of the Soft Technical Skills Institute are to:

• Establish industries-wide standards for mastery of soft technical skills, including
  • Codify exit performance standards for each soft technical skill.
  • Align and verify established mastery standards with other industry standards.
  • Review and enhance measurable learning objectives, formative practice e-quizzes, attitude e-survey, and summative comprehensive performance examinations.
  • Issue credentials in the form of digital badges to those learners who master standards.
  • Maintain a registry of credentialed trainees who have demonstrated mastery of soft technical skills.
• Provide public outreach by responding to inquiries from employers and others regarding the rigor of standards and the successful holders of credentials.
• Conduct and report research on:
  • Identify emerging soft technical skills needed by technicians.
  • Analyze employers' preferences/needs for specific soft technical skills.
  • Advise Bench Mark Publications, LLC at www.Lesson-Up.net regarding emerging soft technical skills needing online lesson plans.

The Soft Technical Skills Institute's Board of Review sees itself as an external "jury of experts" or "court of judges" which collectively pass judgment on the worthiness and mastery of skills sets of soft technical skills by learners. The Board is couched in the belief of the collective wisdom of mature and thoughtful people who are knowledgeable about the topics. The Board maintains a "big picture" perspective, which provides an industry-wide, nation-wide , and world-wide overview.

STSI's Board of Review is comprised of several professional educators and vocational trainers who have time-tested skills in assessing occupational competence. Their strength comes from their diversity. The current members are shown on STSI's website.

• Employers
• Self-employed contractors
• Secondary Career & Technical Education
• Inter-related Cooperative Education
• Postsecondary technical training
• Higher education
• U. S. Military
• Credentialed learners
• Other credentialing agencies:
  • NOCTI (formerly known as the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute)
  • Illinois Department of Professional Regulation

Via the STSI's staff, the Board of Review:

• Codifies exit performance standards for each soft technical skill.
• Aligns and verifies established mastery standards with other industry standards.
• Reviews and enhances measurable learning objectives, formative practice e-quizzes, attitude e-survey, and summative comprehensive performance examinations.

A skills set is the "know how" of an occupational competency consisting of contextual knowledge, positive attitudes, and mental and physical procedures and techniques rendered into on-the-job habits. Every Lesson-Up lesson plan produces a skills set in the soft technical skill.

The Soft Technical Skills Institute's staff consists of:

• Director: Mary R. Waters, MEd, of WatersEdge Consulting & Training at WatersEdgeConsulting.net
• Design: Erin Waters of erin waters design at watersedesign.com
• Line Editor: Angela Xu
• Web Master: Darrell Micheli of CommonM@n Innovative Technologies at cmiti.com
• Lead Writer: Richard K. Hofstrand, PhD, of Bench Mark Publications LLC at lesson7up@gmail.com
• Numerous technical consultants are shown in each pertinent lesson

Soft Technical Skills are core technical competencies. These are advanced technical skills that apply to nearly every job, in every career, and in every industry. They require instruction for understanding, application, and mastery. The National State Directors of Career & Technical Education Consortium refer to these skills as essential knowledge & skills, academic foundations, and common cores required for career success. Every technician needs competence on all of these topics.

"Hard" technical skills usually require physical tools, while "soft" technical skills usually require mental tools. For example, an Automotive Technician may use wrenches electronic-diagnostics machines, and other physical tools which are the "hard skills." But that same Automotive Technician may use teamwork, common sense, and other mental tools which are the "soft skills." The focus of each lesson is to make the "mental tools" into habits of thought for use on the job.

Soft Technical Skills lesson plans are a series of over 60 online lesson plans for teaching and assessing soft technical skills. Each lesson plan contains:

• a learner-based eText containing the subject matter of the lesson
• an instructor-based ePlan containing instructional strategies on how to teach the lesson
• a PowerPoint presentation to augment the eText and ePlan
• a Practice eQuiz to assess knowledge of the lesson
• an Attitude eSurvey to assess feelings toward the lesson

A credential is a declaration of competence or qualification issued to a person by an independent agency with the relevant authority to issue such credentials. To that end, STSI:

• Is an independent agency separate from Bench Mark Publications, the publisher of Lesson-Up.net lesson plans, and separate from learners or groups of learners.
• Prescribes training and concomitant learning experiences for mastery.
• Establishes, publishes, and defends professional standards.
• Establishes mastery levels of performance, especially scores on each Comprehensive Performance Examination.

• A credential is a declaration or "signal" of competence or qualification issued to a person by an independent agency having the relevant authority to issues such credentials.
• A license is permission to engage in certain activities issued to a person by a government agency, such as for hunting, fishing, driving, or teaching.
• A certificate is a memorandum of completion of a program of instruction .
• A diploma is a certificate of satisfactory completion of a program of instruction issued to a person by an accredited educational institution.
• A badge is a "sign" or "diploma." The STSI awards credentials in the form of badges based on demonstrated mastery of the particular soft technical skill.

The candidate must:

• Complete a program of instruction contained in the eText.
• Meet all the Measurable Learning Objectives specified in the ePlan.
• Be recommended by the instructor of record
• Earn a score of 80% or better on the lesson's eQuiz
• Demonstrate a positive attitude toward the skill by scoring thirty (30) or better on the eSurvey
• Demonstrate skill in applying the Soft Technical Skill by earning a score of 80% or better on the proctored Comprehensive Performance Examination. This includes one of the following activities associated with the topic:
  1. Design, conduct, and report applied research
  2. Identify, describe, and solve a problem
  3. Design, fabricate, and display a product

Here are a few things you can do:

• Teach the entire lesson. The Exam covers the entire lesson, including any Enrichment Learning Activities. If you only used parts of the lesson, test items may be lurking in the other parts.
• Review terms. Use the terms review aid in the eText.
• Review the Key Questions. Many test items are based on these questions.
• Advise that the Exam will ask the test taker to do something with the material, such as create something, analyze data, or other performance. Anticipate and think outside the box.
• Use the Practice eQuiz again.

Both the eQuiz and Comprehensive Performance Examination are provided online. STSI provides credentialing for demonstrated competence. To ensure accurate assessment of each learner's competence, the online delivery format reduces the urge to "teach to the test."