career development - Learning Ecosystems

Reimagining Hiring and Learning with the Power of AI [LinkedIn’s Srinivasan]

On 10/04/2023, in Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, career development, Microsoft, platforms, skills, trends, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Reimagining Hiring and Learning with the Power of AI — from linkedin.com by Hari Srinivasan

That’s why today we’re piloting new tools like our new release of Recruiter 2024 and LinkedIn Learning’s AI-powered coaching experience to help with some of the heavy lifting so HR professionals can focus on what matters most.

“AI is quickly transforming recruitment, training, and many other HR practices,” says Josh Bersin, industry analyst and CEO of The Josh Bersin Company. “LinkedIn’s new features in Recruiter 2024 and LinkedIn Learning can massively improve recruiter productivity and help all employees build the skills they need to grow in their careers.”

By pairing generative AI with our unique insights gained from the more than 950 million professionals, 65 million companies, and 40,000 skills on our platform, we’ve reimagined our Recruiter product to help our customers find that short list of qualified candidates — faster.

From DSC:
While I’m very interested to see how Microsoft’s AI-powered LinkedIn Learning coach will impact peoples’ growth/development, I need to admit that I still approach AI and hiring/finding talent with caution. I’m sure I was weeded out by several Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) back in 2017 when I was looking for my next position — and I only applied to positions that I had the qualifications for. And if you’ve tried to get a job recently, I bet you were weeded out by an ATS as well. So while this might help recruiters, the jury is still out for me as to whether these developments are good or bad for the rest of society.

Traditional institutions of higher education may want to research these developments to see which SKILLS are in demand.

Also relevant/see:

LinkedIn Launches Exciting Gen AI Features in Recruiter and Learning — from joshbersin.com by Josh Bersin

This week LinkedIn announced some massive Gen AI features in its two flagship products: LinkedIn Recruiter and LinkedIn Learning. Let me give you an overview.

LinkedIn goes big on new AI tools for learning, recruitment, marketing and sales, powered by OpenAI — from techcrunch.com by Ingrid Lunden

LinkedIn Learning will be incorporating AI in the form of a “learning coach” that is essentially built as a chatbot. Initially the advice that it will give will be trained on suggestions and tips, and it will be firmly in the camp of soft skills. One example: “How can I delegate tasks and responsibility effectively?”

The coach might suggest actual courses, but more importantly, it will actually also provide information, and advice, to users. LinkedIn itself has a giant catalogue of learning videos, covering both those soft skills but also actual technical skills and other knowledge needed for specific jobs. It will be interesting to see if LinkedIn extends the coach to covering that material, too.

How to Handle Unusual Questions Asked During a Job Interview [Lee]

On 09/29/2023, in career development, productivity / tips and tricks, workplace, by Daniel Christian

How to Handle Unusual Questions Asked During a Job Interview — from hongkiat.com by Singyin Lee
Learn the art of answering unconventional questions in job interviews.

Have you ever been in a job interview where you were thrown off by an unexpected question? Questions like, “Why is a manhole cover round?” or “What’s the most crucial part of a sandwich?” or even “What three items would you want if you were stranded on a deserted island?“

Rest assured, it’s unlikely that your job will require you to survive on a deserted island. So, why do interviewers ask such perplexing questions? The truth is, these questions serve a purpose, and it’s not necessarily to hear your answer.

What recruiters are really interested in is what your responses reveal about your character and problem-solving abilities.

Also important and related to one’s career development, see:

Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. It Actually Did. [bloomberg.com]

On 09/27/2023, in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), career development, change, society, sociology, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. — from bloomberg.com
It Actually Did.
The year after Black Lives Matter protests, the S&P 100 added more than 300,000 jobs — 94% went to people of color.

The overall job growth included 20,524 White workers. The other 302,570 jobs — or 94% of the headcount increase — went to people of color.
…
But the trend continued up the job ladder in top, high-paid jobs, too: Companies increased their racial diversity among executives, managers and professionals.

For another item relevant to career development, see:

Michigan may lift 9-month wait period, pay retirees amid teacher shortage [Hermani]

On 09/19/2023, in career development, change, changing business models, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, legislatures / government / legal, marketplaces, Michigan, new business models, surviving, teachers, trends, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Michigan may lift 9-month wait period, pay retirees amid teacher shortage — from mlive.com by Jordyn Hermani

After barring educators from returning to Michigan schools in any capacity for nine months following their retirement, the state legislature is looking to lift the ban and pay some returnees up to $30,200 in the process.

Under House Bill 4752, lawmakers would amend the state’s public school retirement act to allow retirees to work for schools while continuing to receive their pensions and other retirement benefits, such as health care.

Next, The Future of Work is… Intersections — from linkedin.com by Gary A. Bolles; via Roberto Ferraro

So much of the way that we think about education and work is organized into silos. Sure, that’s one way to ensure a depth of knowledge in a field and to encourage learners to develop mastery. But it also leads to domains with strict boundaries. Colleges are typically organized into school sub-domains, managed like fiefdoms, with strict rules for professors who can teach in different schools.

Yet it’s at the intersections of seemingly-disparate domains where breakthrough innovation can occur.

Maybe intersections bring a greater chance of future work opportunity, because that young person can increase their focus in one arena or another as they discover new options for work — and because this is what meaningful work in the future is going to look like.

From DSC:
This posting strikes me as an endorsement for interdisciplinary degrees. I agree with much of this. It’s just hard to find the right combination of disciplines. But I supposed that depends upon the individual student and what he/she is passionate or curious about.

Speaking of the future of work, also see:

Centaurs and Cyborgs on the Jagged Frontier — from oneusefulthing.org by Ethan Mollick
I think we have an answer on whether AIs will reshape work…

A lot of people have been asking if AI is really a big deal for the future of work. We have a new paper that strongly suggests the answer is YES.
.

Consultants using AI finished 12.2% more tasks on average, completed tasks 25.1% more quickly, and produced 40% higher quality results than those without. Those are some very big impacts. Now, let’s add in the nuance.

Ask the Chair: Are Great Chairs Born or Made? [Dettmar]

On 09/13/2023, in business side of he, career development, colleges, community colleges, faculty, higher education, leadership, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, quality, skills, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Ask the Chair: Are Great Chairs Born or Made? — from chronicle.com by Kevin Dettmar (behind a paywall)
Higher education is finally getting serious about training new department heads.

Great chairs aren’t born, but made; “trial and error” isn’t actually a professional-development strategy. The provost and deans should recognize that a confident and competent chair makes their job easier, creates a well-functioning department, and buoys faculty, student, and staff morale.

As someone vitally engaged with the chair’s role, I do think we are experiencing a sea-change when it comes to how institutions are preparing chairs. For too long, colleges have treated the position as simply a minor cog in the chain of command. But more and more institutions are now investing in their chairs.

Solid idea from Brandon Busteed: “Create externship programs for faculty.”

On 09/12/2023, in adjunct faculty, business, career development, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, Daniel S. Christian, experimentation, faculty, higher education, professional development, training / L&D, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

An excerpt from ‘The Magnificent Seven’ posting from Brandon Busteed on LinkedIn:

6. Create externship programs for faculty. Many college and university faculty have never worked outside of academia. Given a chance to be exposed to modern workplaces and work challenges, faculty will find innovative and creative ways to weave more work-integrated learning into their curriculum.

From DSC:
This is a great idea — thanks Brandon!

I might add another couple of thoughts here as well:

And/or treat your Adjunct Faculty Members much better as well!
And/or work with more L&D Departments at local companies (i.e., to develop closer, more beneficial/WIN-WIN collaborations).

“We need more solutions that take the guesswork out of career exploration.” [Weise]

On 09/11/2023, in Amazon, career development, online media, parents/guardians, society, student-related, youth, by Daniel Christian

Which Way to the Fitting Room? — from michelleweise.substack.com by Dr. Michelle R. Weise
Trying on the Jobs of the Future

What if there was a way in which we could try on different careers and pathways? What if there was such a thing as a career pathway fitting room so that we could better understand the direction we might want to pursue before we make an investment or take out a loan?

One venture-backed company called Springpod has made this challenge its central focus: Helping more people not choose the wrong career or pathway. In its current formation in the UK (Springpod is now branching out to the state of Rhode Island), over 400,000 British middle and high school learners can try a “course taster,” or 10 to 15 hours of a university course from an array of universities (1/3 of the postsecondary institutions in the UK offer a course spotlight on Springpod). Alternatively, a learner can try a one- to two-hour work-based learning experience with one of the 200 employers featured on the platform.

From DSC:
Speaking of finding out more about careers, I haven’t yet checked this program out, but we would like our youngest daughter to watch some of its episodes:

Real Life 101 — from amazon.com

Ever wondered what you might want to do for the rest of your life? Have you thought about your “dream” job? Do you have any idea what it takes to get there? Are you headed in the right direction? Real Life 101 takes you “on the job” so you can see for yourself why these professionals love what they do.

Future of Work Report AI at Work [LinkedIn]

On 09/02/2023, in 21st century, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, business, career development, change, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Future of Work Report AI at Work — from economicgraph.linkedin.com; via Superhuman

The intersection of AI and the world of work: Not only are job postings increasing, but we’re seeing more LinkedIn members around the globe adding AI skills to their profiles than ever before. We’ve seen a 21x increase in the share of global English-language job postings that mention new AI technologies such as GPT or ChatGPT since November 2022. In June 2023, the number of AI-skilled members was 9x larger than in January 2016, globally.

The state of play of Generative AI (GAI) in the workforce: GAI technologies, including ChatGPT, are poised to start to change the way we work. In fact, 47% of US executives believe that using generative AI will increase productivity, and 92% agree that people skills are more important than ever. This means jobs won’t necessarily go away but they will change as will the skills necessary to do them.

Also relevant/see:

The Working Future: More Human, Not Less — from bain.com
It’s time to change how we think about work

Contents

Introduction
Motivations for Work Are Changing.
Beliefs about What Makes a “Good Job” Are Diverging
Automation Is Helping to Rehumanize Work
Technological Change Is Blurring the Boundaries of the Firm
Young Workers Are Increasingly Overwhelmed
Rehumanizing Work: The Journey Ahead

Two items re: K-12 learning ecosystem that show the motivating power of choice

On 09/02/2023, in career development, change, changing business models, education, education reform, innovation, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, more voice more choice more control, motivation, online learning, personalized/customized learning, by Daniel Christian

Build Your Own High School: Phoenix Students Choose from 500 Classes, Internships, College Courses, Career Programs & More — from the74million.org by Beth Hawkins; via Michael Horn
At Phoenix Union City, high school doesn’t refer to a building but a personalized path of experiences that teenagers create for themselves.

PXU City HS has no physical site — its 83 students create custom programs, choosing from a menu of some 500 options from Phoenix Union High School District’s bricks-and-mortar schools; its online-only program, internships; jobs; college classes; and career training programs.

But in the process, it became clear just how many high school-aged students were working, caring for siblings, filling in for their parents or significantly behind — or ahead and bored — academically.
…
If PXU City works as well for all its students as it does for Dominguez, he adds, every high school in the district ought to throw away the bell schedule and offer a truly personalized education.

‘Every day matters’: CCSD students, teachers kick off 2023-24 school year — from reviewjournal.com by Julie Wootton-Greener; via Michael Horn

There are 10 areas of study students chose from: architectural design, business administration logistics-distribution, computer science, construction technology, cybersecurity, diesel/auto technology, energy technologies, human and social services, teaching and training, and sports medicine.

Students pick a job within the program they’re working toward, but that can change, Cordia said, noting that there are hundreds of possible jobs within the automotive program.

The school received e more than 1,000 applications from interested students, he said, calling it “very humbling.”

Addendum that also involves changes within the K12 learning ecosystem:

Is the Post-Pandemic Era Ripe for Rethinking High School? — from edsurge.com by Rebecca Koenig

“A TV show with no ending” [Khan] — DC: Some interesting thoughts for those who are studying acting, film production, & the like.

On 08/25/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, business, career development, content development, aggregation, repositories, drama/theater, media/film, personalized/customized learning, workplace, by Daniel Christian

A TV show with no ending — from joinsuperhuman.ai by Zain Kahn
ALSO: Turbocharged GPT is here

We’re standing on the cusp of artificially generated content that could theoretically never end. According to futurist Sinéad Bovell, “Generative artificial intelligence also means that say we don’t want a movie or a series to end. It doesn’t have to, you could use AI to continue to generate more episodes and other sequels and have this kind of ongoing storyline.”

If we take this logic further, we could also see hyper-personalized content that’s created just for us. Imagine getting an AI generated album from your favourite artist every week. Or a brand new movie starring actors who are no longer alive, like a new romcom with Marylin Monroe and Frank Sinatra.

While this sounds like a compelling proposition for consumers, it’s mostly bad news for actors, writers, and other professionals working in the media industry. Hollywood studios are already investing heavily in generative AI, and many professionals working in the industry are afraid to lose their jobs.

Letter from the Editor: Experienced teachers are leaving Michigan schools. This is why. — from mlive.com by Matthew Miller

They talked instead about issues like pay, stress and the sense that they no longer had the solid backing of school administrators.

Sue Harper, who retired this summer from Kreeger Elementary in Fowlerville, blamed what she called “bulldozer parents.”
…
“I have never been one to quit anything, and teaching is my passion, but this is not teaching,” one teacher wrote. “This is hours of endless paperwork, this is social work, this is counseling, this is parenting, this is babysitting, this is coaching, this is everything but teaching.”

Also relevant/see:

Low pay, culture wars, and ‘bulldozer parents.’ Why Michigan’s best teachers are calling it quits. — from mlive.com by Melissa Frick and Matthew Miller

Now a change management coordinator for Fifth Third Bank, she said, “I don’t take the stress from my job home. I don’t feel guilty, like I always could be doing more for someone.”

Thousands of experienced teachers have retired or left the profession in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic first closed schools and shifted classes to Zoom.

Teachers say they’re burnt out, tired of a lack of support and lack of respect, feeling the impact of the increasingly acrimonious politics surrounding public education.

And finally:

Michigan Teacher Shortage Study: Comprehensive Report — from epicedpolicy.org by Tara Kilbride, Katharine O. Strunk, Salem Rogers, & Meg Turner; published in January of 2023

Let’s Use ChatGPT to ‘Think Different’ About K-12 Schools — from gettingsmart.com by Kara Stern

So, in addition to asking ChatGPT to think like a school communications professional, a principal, or a teacher, what if we asked ChatGPT to think like the populations we’re serving, as a way of improving the education (or UX) we’re delivering?

Why I Keep Teaching — from edutopia.org by Rachel Jorgensen
A veteran educator explains why, despite the many challenges, she continues to try to change students’ lives, in turn enriching her own.

EVERY TIME I SHOW UP FOR WORK, A STUDENT MIGHT CHANGE MY LIFE FOR THE BETTER

MY WORK HAS INVISIBLE RIPPLE EFFECTS

34 Ways to Quiet a Rambunctious Class — from edutopia.org by Daniel Leonard
From “Silent 20” to imaginary marshmallows, these teacher-tested strategies for all grade levels can help you snap an unruly classroom back to attention.

Per EdSurge:

‘THE MOTH’ GOES TO SCHOOL: For more than a decade, the nonprofit behind the popular storytelling podcast The Moth has run workshops in schools to help students share impactful stories from their lives. Now the group started a spin-off podcast, Grown, highlighting those student stories. Here’s what they’re learning, and why they say storytelling needs to be taught in schools.

The Power of Storytelling for Youth https://t.co/5OyBarJtQp #edtech via @EdSurge

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 25, 2023

.

DC: This article is behind a paywall so I couldn’t read it…but I think we need more *fixes/overhauls* and less coping.

More student centered; less legislative/administration centered. https://t.co/MsEe7058XV

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) August 25, 2023

ElevenLabs’ AI Voice Generator Can Now Fake Your Voice in 30 Languages — from gizmodo.com by Kyle Barr
ElevenLabs said its AI voice generator is out of beta, saying it would support video game and audiobook creators with cheap audio.

According to ElevenLabs, the new Multilingual v2 model promises it can produce “emotionally rich” audio in a total of 30 languages. The company offers two AI voice tools, one is a text-to-speech model and the other is the “VoiceLab” that lets paying users clone a voice by inputting fragments of theirs (or others) speech into the model to create a kind of voice cone. With the v2 model, users can get these generated voices to start speaking in Greek, Malay, or Turkish.
…
Since then, ElevenLabs claims its integrated new measures to ensure users can only clone their own voice. Users need to verify their speech with a text captcha prompt which is then compared to the original voice sample.

From DSC:
I don’t care what they say regarding safeguards/proof of identity/etc. This technology has been abused and will be abused in the future. We can count on it. The question now is, how do we deal with it?

Introducing SeamlessM4T, the first all-in-one, multilingual multimodal translation model.

This single model can perform tasks across speech-to-text, speech-to-speech, text-to-text translation & speech recognition for up to 100 languages depending on the task.

Details ??

— Meta AI (@MetaAI) August 22, 2023

Google, Amazon, Nvidia and other tech giants invest in AI startup Hugging Face, sending its valuation to $4.5 billion — from cnbc.com by Kif Leswing

But Hugging Face produces a platform where AI developers can share code, models, data sets, and use the company’s developer tools to get open-source artificial intelligence models running more easily. In particular, Hugging Face often hosts weights, or large files with lists of numbers, which are the heart of most modern AI models.

While Hugging Face has developed some models, like BLOOM, its primary product is its website platform, where users can upload models and their weights. It also develops a series of software tools called libraries that allow users to get models working quickly, to clean up large datasets, or to evaluate their performance. It also hosts some AI models in a web interface so end users can experiment with them.

The global semiconductor talent shortage — from www2.deloitte.com
How to solve semiconductor workforce challenges

Numerous skills are required to grow the semiconductor ecosystem over the next decade. Globally, we will need tens of thousands of skilled tradespeople to build new plants to increase and localize manufacturing capacity: electricians, pipefitters, welders; thousands more graduate electrical engineers to design chips and the tools that make the chips; more engineers of various kinds in the fabs themselves, but also operators and technicians. And if we grow the back end in Europe and the Americas, that equates to even more jobs.

Each of these job groups has distinct training and educational needs; however, the number of students in semiconductor-focused programs (for example, undergraduates in semiconductor design and fabrication) has dwindled. Skills are also evolving within these job groups, in part due to automation and increased digitization. Digital skills, such as cloud, AI, and analytics, are needed in design and manufacturing more than ever.

The chip industry has long partnered with universities and engineering schools. Going forward, they also need to work more with local tech schools, vocational schools, and community colleges; and other organizations, such as the National Science Foundation in the United States.

Our principles for partnering with the music industry on AI technology — from blog.youtube (Google) by Neal Mohan, CEO, YouTube
AI is here, and we will embrace it responsibly together with our music partners.

Principle #1: AI is here, and we will embrace it responsibly together with our music partners.
Principle #2: AI is ushering in a new age of creative expression, but it must include appropriate protections and unlock opportunities for music partners who decide to participate.
Principle #3: We’ve built an industry-leading trust and safety organization and content policies. We will scale those to meet the challenges of AI.

Developers are now using AI for text-to-music apps — from techcrunch.com by Ivan Mehta

Brett Bauman, the developer of PlayListAI (previously LinupSupply), launched a new app called Songburst on the App Store this week. The app doesn’t have a steep learning curve. You just have to type in a prompt like “Calming piano music to listen to while studying” or “Funky beats for a podcast intro” to let the app generate a music clip.

If you can’t think of a prompt the app has prompts in different categories, including video, lo-fi, podcast, gaming, meditation and sample.

A Generative AI Primer — from er.educause.edu by Brian Basgen
Understanding the current state of technology requires understanding its origins. This reading list provides sources relevant to the form of generative AI that led to natural language processing (NLP) models such as ChatGPT.

Three big questions about AI and the future of work and learning — from workshift.opencampusmedia.org by Alex Swartsel
AI is set to transform education and work today and well into the future. We need to start asking tough questions right now, writes Alex Swartsel of JFF.

How will AI reshape jobs, and how can we prepare all workers and learners with the skills they’ll need?
How can education and workforce leaders equitably adopt AI platforms to accelerate their impact?
How might we catalyze sustainable policy, practice, and investments in solutions that drive economic opportunity?

“As AI reshapes both the economy and society, we must collectively call for better data, increased accountability, and more flexible support for workers,” Swartsel writes.

The Current State of AI for Educators (August, 2023) — from drphilippahardman.substack.com by Dr. Philippa Hardman
A podcast interview with the University of Toronto on where we’re at & where we’re going.

From DSC: If this is true, how will we meet this type of demand?!?

RESKILLING NEEDED FOR 40% OF WORKFORCE BECAUSE OF AI, REPORT FROM IBM SAYS — from staffingindustry.com; via GSV

Generative AI will require skills upgrades for workers, according to a report from IBM based on a survey of executives from around the world. One finding: Business leaders say 40% of their workforces will need to reskill as AI and automation are implemented over the next three years. That could translate to 1.4 billion people in the global workforce who require upskilling, according to the company.

Learning Ecosystems

Reimagining Hiring and Learning with the Power of AI [LinkedIn’s Srinivasan]

How to Handle Unusual Questions Asked During a Job Interview [Lee]

Corporate America Promised to Hire a Lot More People of Color. It Actually Did. [bloomberg.com]

Ask the Chair: Are Great Chairs Born or Made? [Dettmar]

Solid idea from Brandon Busteed: “Create externship programs for faculty.”

Future of Work Report AI at Work [LinkedIn]

“A TV show with no ending” [Khan] — DC: Some interesting thoughts for those who are studying acting, film production, & the like.

Fake Your Voice in 30 Languages + several more items re: the good and the bad of AI

If this is true, how will we meet this type of demand?!? [Christian]

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