Oregon Coast Community College

Overview

On Oregon’s rugged coast, opportunity is rising with the tides. But to meet the growing need for skilled maritime and aquaculture workers, Oregon Coast Community College (OCCC) needed more than vision –it needed a plan. Partnering with the Worldwide Instructional Design System (WIDS),the college launched a nine-month project that turned local insight into action, creating clear, validated career pathways that will power new training programs at the future Oregon Coast Advanced Technology & Trades Center.

To strengthen Oregon’s coastal workforce, OCCC – supported by the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County – set out to design programs for two high-demand occupations: Aquaculture Technician and Maritime Maintenance Technician. The project was led by Dan Lara, OCCC’s Director of Institutional Effectiveness and OCATT Grant Director, alongside WIDS Consultant Owen Smith.

“The college had a solid vision for designing these programs,” said Smith. “Our role at WIDS was to help them turn that vision into something concrete – something they could build curriculum and training around.”

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The Challenge

To do this, the college needed to understand what these jobs truly looked like in the real world, according to Smith. While Aquaculture Technicians have many tasks in common, such as maintaining water quality, they often work for facilities of different sizes specializing in different species.

In contrast, the Maritime Maintenance Technician role is more complex.

“Although maritime Technicians often share core competencies in electrical and mechanical maintenance,” said Smith, “they can vary in their other competencies based on the different navigation, marine sanitation and engine systems.”

At the end of the day, OCCC needed to determine which skills were universal and which were unique to specific employers. “That’s the key to building a program that’s both broad enough to be useful and targeted enough to be valuable,” Smith explained.

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The WIDS Solution

To pinpoint and organize these skills, Smith guided stakeholders through a modified DACUM process—a structured method that gathers insights directly from experienced workers and employers. He first led OCCC’s team through a mock DACUM session so they could get comfortable with the process and prepare draft materials.

“They already had the industry insight,” Smith said. “They just needed a framework to organize it and turn it into training goals.”

Once the team was ready, OCCC and WIDS brought together local and regional experts to refine the occupational analyses and ensure they reflected real-world work. A follow-up validation survey confirmed the findings and gathered broader feedback, helping identify key competencies and potential advisory board members.

One stakeholder captured the project’s value, according to Smith, calling it “an investment where ocean science and workforce opportunity meet.”

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The Result

By project’s end, OCCC had detailed occupational analyses and clear career pathway maps for both occupations. The results define what workers need to know, how they can advance and which credentials support each stage.

“This work gives OCCC an industry-verified foundation for new programs,” Smith said. “They can move from occupational analysis to program design to program launch knowing their training aligns with real employer needs.”

The collaboration not only produced practical frameworks but also empowered OCCC’s team to sustain the work. They can now update pathways and adapt curriculum as industries evolve – ensuring Oregon’s coastal workforce continues to grow and thrive.