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At-a-GlanceProgram Dates: Two Options: May 13-14, or July 29-30, 2026Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time (both days)Location: Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MAIntended Audience: Workforce development professionals and Community College leaders who enable job-aligned learning pathways and job mobilityRegular Program Fee: $1600Early Bird Discounted Fee: $900 (Apply by February 12, 2026)
Our world is defined by complexity, uncertainty, and rapid technological change, most notably the rise of generative and agentic AI, which is transforming not just how people think, create, and collaborate, but what it means to learn and work.
Workforce development leaders today must build and anticipate workforce capability and readiness, becoming enablers of performance and mobility. At the same time, much workforce development still happens alongside work—through programs, pathways, and supports that prepare people to enter, re-enter, or advance in jobs. As skills demands shift faster, a new challenge is becoming unavoidable:
How do we bring workforce development and work closer together—so learning is not only front-loaded before employment, but continuously “topped up” through ongoing, in-context support as people adapt and progress?
This certificate program helps you design learning that fits where and how people actually work, while strengthening the bridges between training pathways and workplace realities.
Drawing on research from the Next Level Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education as well as more broadly, it uses evidence-based research to propose design provocations to help you reimagine what effective, future-ready workforce development can look like in today’s economy.
How might we move from "capturing attention" to giving learners more control over their learning—so they can navigate shifting career pathways and skill demands?
How might we better connect workforce development to real tasks, tools, and rhythms of work—so learning translates into performance and mobility?
How might we design for transfer so people can adapt what they learn across roles, employers, and changing job requirements?
How might we build AI-shaped learning ecosystems that expand agency, trust, and mobility—so people get continuously "topped up" in context without becoming dependent, surveilled, or left behind?
How might we help learners unlock how to use their own minds so that they can strengthen and sustain their learning over time?
How might we intentionally work with motivation, emotion, and context as design levers to unlock readiness, persistence, and performance?
As a workforce development leader, you are being asked to help people learn faster, adapt better, and build confidence amid ambiguity, while also ensuring learning translates into real opportunity, mobility, and performance on the job. This program helps you operationalize those mandates and design learning that better connects training pathways with workplace realities. You will leave with frameworks and prototypes you can apply immediately to make workforce development more continuous, adaptive, and human, supporting ongoing top ups as skills needs evolve.
This certificate course invites you to shape a new standard for workforce development, one that is evidence based, future focused, and more tightly linked to how work actually happens.
Join a cohort of workforce development and training leaders for an immersive two day experience at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Estimated to take 15 hours to complete on campus and 3 hours before arriving.
This program is ideal for professionals who shape workforce development and training pathways, including:
Workforce development leaders designing and improving programs across local and regional systems
Community college leaders and program directors building job aligned learning pathways
Workforce training providers, facilitators, and trainers modernizing their practice for today’s labor market
Philanthropic program officers and funders supporting workforce development who want sharper lenses for identifying and investing in excellence
To apply, simply complete the online application form. It collects basic information about your professional background, experience, and learning goals.
The form asks for:
Most applicants complete the online form in 20–30 minutes. You’ll move more quickly if you have your CV or résumé ready and take a few minutes beforehand to reflect on the short-answer questions about your learning experience and professional goals.
Dr. Tessa Forshaw is a cognitive scientist and one of the founding scholars of the Next Level Lab. She leads the lab's research on workforce development and workplace learning.
Tessa teaches design and innovation at the Harvard Innovation Lab and Harvard University Division of Continuing Education, and has served on the teaching faculty at Stanford's d.school for several years.
Outside her academic career, she is a member of the Senior Leadership Team at Silicon Valley design firm People Rocket. Previously, Tessa worked at IDEO CoLab and in Accenture's Strategy, Insight, and Innovation team focused on innovation in workforce systems. Tessa is a recipient of the Australian American Chamber of Commerce Innovation Award, a Fast Company Design Award for General Excellence, and a Core 77 Design Award for Educational Product Design. She is also the co-author of Innovation-ish (Wiley, 2025)
Tessa earned her B.A. (Honours) from the Australian National University, M.A. from Stanford University, and her Ph.D. from Harvard University.