Thriving in an age of continuous reinvention — from pwc.com
As existential threats converge, many companies are taking steps to reinvent themselves. Is it enough? And what will it take to succeed?
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On 01/18/2024,
in Alternatives, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Australia, business, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, credentialing, Daniel S. Christian, education technology, emerging technologies, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, lifelong learning, marketplaces, online learning, platforms, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, training / L&D, trends, UK, United States, universities, vocational / trades,
by Daniel Christian
The future of learning — from moodle.com by Sonya Trivedi
Self-directed and continuous learning
The concept of self-directed and continuous learning is becoming increasingly popular, reshaping our approach to knowledge and skill acquisition in both formal education and workplace settings. This evolving landscape reflects a world where traditional career paths are being replaced by more dynamic and flexible models, compelling learners to adapt and grow continuously.
The Future of Learning Report 2022 highlights this shift, noting the diminishing concept of a ‘career for life.’ With regular job switching and the expansion of the gig economy, there is an increasing need for a workforce equipped with a broad range of skills and the ability to gain qualifications throughout their careers. This shift is underlined by learners increasingly seeking control over their educational journeys, understanding that the ongoing acquisition of knowledge and skills is essential for staying relevant in the rapidly changing world of work. Reflecting this trend, a significant portion of learners, 33%, are choosing online platforms for their flexibility and ability to cater to individual needs and schedules.
From DSC:
The next paragraph after the above excerpt says:
Much like how companies such as Uber and Airbnb have reshaped their respective industries without owning traditional assets, the future of education might see universities functioning as the ‘Netflix of learning.’ In this model, learners comfortably source their educational experiences from various platforms, assembling their qualifications to create a personalised and continuously evolving portfolio of skills??.
But I don’t think it will be universities that function as the “Netflix of learning” as I don’t think the cultures of most institutions of traditional higher education can deal with that kind of innovation. I hope I’m wrong.
I think it will be a new, global, lifelong learning platform that originates outside of higher education. It will be bigger than higher education, K12, corporate training, or vocational training — as such a 21st-century, AI-based platform will offer all of the above and more.
Slow Shift to Skills — from the-job.beehiiv.com by Paul Fain
Real progress in efforts to increase mobility for nondegree workers is unlikely during the next couple years, Joseph Fuller, a professor at Harvard University’s business school who co-leads its Managing the Future of Work initiative, recently told me.
Yet Fuller is bullish on skills-based hiring becoming a real thing in five to 10 years. That’s because he predicts that AI will create the data to solve the skills taxonomy problem Kolko describes. And if skills-based hiring allows for serious movement for workers without bachelor’s degrees, Fuller says the future will look like where Texas is headed.
Report: Microcredentials Not a Strategic Priority for Many Colleges — from insidehighered.com by Kathryn Palmer
A new report finds that while most colleges surveyed embrace alternative credentials, many have a decentralized approach for creating and managing them.
While the majority of colleges focused on online, professional and continuing education have embraced alternative credentials, a significant number of those institutions haven’t made them a strategic priority.
That’s one of the key takeaways from a new study released Monday by UPCEA, the organization previously known as the University Professional and Continuing Education Association. University Professional and Continuing Education Association.
“While a lot of institutions want this, they don’t necessarily all know how” to deliver alternative credentials, said Bruce Etter, UPCEA’s senior director of research and consulting. “Embracing it is great, but now it needs to be part of the strategic plan.”
The Higher Learning Commission’s Credential Lab — from hlcommission.org
10 higher ed trends to watch in 2024 — from insidetrack.org by
Trend 1.
Linking education to career paths
Trend 2.
Making sense of the AI explosion
Trend 3.
Prioritizing mental health on campus
…plus 7 other trends
North Carolina’s Community Colleges Make a Big Bid to Stay Relevant — from workshift.opencampusmedia.org by Margaret Moffett
The system is poised to ask state legislators to overhaul its funding formula to focus on how well colleges prepare students for high-demand, well-paying jobs.
The new formula would pay a premium to each college based on labor-market outcomes: the more students enrolled in courses in high-demand, high-paying workforce sectors, the more money the college receives.
Importantly, the proposed formula makes no distinction between curricular courses that count toward degree programs and noncredit continuing education classes, which historically offer fewer slots for students because of their lower FTE reimbursement rates.
Supporting Career and Technical Education — from bloomberg.org via Paul Fain
The American job market is changing. A high school diploma is no longer a ticket to a good job now, an increasing number of employers are offering “middle-skill jobs” that require more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree. Industries like health care, IT, advanced manufacturing, and financial services continue to see sustained growth at all levels, and they need workers with the experience and the credentials to fill new positions. Bloomberg Philanthropies is investing in programs that help young people get the specialized training they need through internships, apprenticeships, academics, and work-based learning.
On 01/14/2024,
in apprenticeships, business side of he, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, credentialing, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, higher education, India, instructional design, intelligent systems, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, online learning, skills, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Four Disruptive Trends For Higher Ed In 2024 — from michaelbhorn.substack.com by Michael B. Horn
- More colleges will close or merge.
- Online learning will continue to have its moment, but a shakeout is beginning.
- Big colleges and universities will get bigger.
- Apprenticeships will gain more traction outside of the trades.
Speaking of higher education and disruptions, also see the following item — via Ray Schroeder on LinkedIn:
Experts predicted dozens of colleges would close in 2023 – and they were right — from hechingerreport.org by Olivia Sanchez
Even more colleges will likely close in coming years as enrollment problems worsen
Though college enrollment seems to be stabilizing after the pandemic disruptions, predictions for the next 15 years are grim. Colleges will be hurt financially by fewer tuition-paying students, and many will have to merge with other institutions or make significant changes to the way they operate if they want to keep their doors open.
At least 30 colleges closed their only or final campus in the first 10 months of 2023, including 14 nonprofit colleges and 16 for-profit colleges, according to an analysis of federal data by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. Among nonprofits, this came on the heels of 2022, when 23 of them closed, along with 25 for-profit institutions. Before 2022, the greatest number of nonprofit colleges that closed in a single year was 13.
On 01/01/2024,
in Bias | Diversity Equity & Inclusion (DE&I), business, business side of he, career development, change, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, cost of getting a degree, higher education, trends, United States, universities,
by Daniel Christian
Nearly half of companies say they plan to eliminate bachelor’s degree requirements in 2024 — from highereddive.com by Carolyn Crist
Many employers are dropping degree requirements to create a more diverse workforce and increase job candidate numbers, survey results show.
In 2023, 55% of companies removed degree requirements, particularly for entry-level and mid-level roles, the survey shows. Employers said they dropped these requirements to create a more diverse workforce, increase the number of applicants for open positions and because there are other ways to gain skills.
“Due to the expense of attending college, earning a bachelor’s degree is generally more difficult for people from traditionally marginalized groups and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds,” Diane Gayeski, higher education advisor for Intelligent.com and professor of strategic communication at Ithaca College, said in a statement.
On 12/12/2023,
in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Access to Justice (A2J), Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, change, changing business models, communities of practice, computer science, corporate / business world, culture, Daniel S. Christian, experimentation, faith, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, ideas, innovation, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, platforms, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, society, technology (general), tools, United States, vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, vision/possibilities,
by Daniel Christian
From DSC:
As you can see from the above items, Mr. David Goodrich, a great human being and a fellow Instructional Designer, had a great comment and question regarding the source of my hope that AI — and other forms of legaltech — could significantly provide more access to justice here in America. Our civil justice system has some serious problems — involving such areas as housing, employment, healthcare, education, families, and more.
I’d like to respond to that question here.
First of all, I completely get what David is saying. I, too, have serious doubts that our horrible access to justice (#A2J) situation will get better. Why? Because:
- Many people working within the legal field like it this way, as they are all but assured victory in most of the civil lawsuits out there.
- The Bar Associations of most of the states do not support changes that would threaten their incomes/livelihoods. This is especially true in California and Florida.
- The legal field in general is not composed, for the most part, of highly innovative people who make things happen for the benefit of others. For example, the American Bar Association is 20+ years behind in terms of providing the level of online-based learning opportunities that they should be offering. They very tightly control how legal education is delivered in the U.S.
Here are several areas that provide me with hope for our future
There are innovative individuals out there fighting for change.
And though some of these individuals don’t reside in the United States, their work still impacts many here in America. For examples, see:
- Cat Moon
- Natalie Anne Knowlton
- Justice Bridget McCormack
- Dan Linna Jr.
- James Sandman
- Colin Levy
- Richard Susskind
- Jordan Furlong
- Bob Ambrogi
- Josh Kubicki
- Richard Tromans at Artificial Lawyer
- Dennis Kennedy and Tom Mighell
- …and many others
There are innovative new companies, firms, and other types of organizations out there fighting for change. For examples:
- IAALS, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver
- Legal Aid of North Carolina
- Innovation for Justice (i4J): i4J designs, builds, and tests disruptive solutions to the justice gap
- University of Pennsylvania’s Future of the Profession Initiative at the Penn Carey Law School
- A2J Tech
- The AAAi Lab: A web center supporting American Arbitration Association® (AAA) users, arbitrators, in-house counsel and law firms with policy guidance, educational webinars and tools for embracing generative AI in alternative dispute resolution.
- Ironcrow AI’s LLM Sandbox: Setting an Industry Standard (patent law)
- Wolters Kluwer (who recently announced a Generative AI Summarization Feature for Court Rulings)
- Law School AI
- Rasa
- Legal Hackers
- Frontline Justice
- Legal Services Corp.
- …and many others
There are innovative new tools and technologies out there such as:
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)
- AI and machine learning remain pivotal in legaltech, especially for in-house lawyers who deal with vast quantities of contracts and complex legal matters. In 2024, these technologies will be integral for legal research, contract review, and the drafting of legal documents. Statistics from the Tech & the Law 2023 Report state more than three in five corporate legal departments (61%) have adopted generative AI in some capacity, with 7% actively using generative AI in their day-to-day work. With constant improvements to LLM (Large Language Models) by the big players, i.e. OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft (via OpenAI), 2024 will see more opportunities open and efficiencies gained for legal teams. (Source)
- From drafting contracts to answering legal questions and summarising legal issues, AI is revolutionising the legal profession and although viewed with a sceptical eye by some law firms, is generally perceived to be capable of bringing huge benefits. (Source)
- Legal bots like Harvey will assist lawyers with discovery.
- Technology-assisted review (TAR) in e-discovery
- Due to COVID 19, there were virtual courtrooms set up and just like with virtual/online-based learning within higher education, many judges, litigants, lawyers, and staff appreciated the time savings and productivity gains. Along these lines, see Richard Susskind’s work. [Richard] predicts a world of online courts, AI-based global legal businesses, disruptive legal technologies, liberalized markets, commoditization, alternative sourcing, simulated practice on the metaverse, and many new legal jobs. (Source)
There are innovative states out there fighting for change. For examples:
- Utah in 2020 launched a pilot program that suspended ethics rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership of legal services providers and let non-lawyers apply for a waiver to offer certain legal services. (Source)
- Arizona in 2021 changed its regulatory rules to allow for non-lawyer ownership. (Source)
- Alaska with their Alaska Legal Services Corporation
- …and others
And the last one — but certainly not the least one — is where my faith comes into play. I believe that the Triune God exists — The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit — and that the LORD is very active in our lives and throughout the globe. And one of the things the LORD values highly is JUSTICE. For examples:
-
“This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’ Zechariah 7:9-10
- Many seek an audience with a ruler, but it is from the Lord that one gets justice. Proverbs 29:26 NIV
- These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; Zechariah 8:16 NIV
- …and many others as can be seen below
So I believe that the LORD will actively help us provide greater access to justice in America.
Well…there you have it David. Thanks for your question/comment! I appreciate it!
On 12/11/2023,
in 21st century, career development, change, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, education, education reform, higher education, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, lifelong learning, Michigan, skills, strategy, United States, universities, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
Michigan launches lifelong learning department with acting director — from mlive.com by Simon Schuster
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education, Advancement, and Potential, deemed MiLEAP, took its first steps Friday [12/1/23] as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer launched the department with an acting director in place to lead it.
The department will handle everything from child care licensing, formerly in the department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, to scholarship administration, which was previously handled by the Department of Treasury.
More than 300 state government employees from four different departments are being consolidated into MiLEAP. The department will have three offices: early childhood education, higher education and education partnerships.
Also re: Michigan, see:
Growing Michigan Together Council | Recommendation Report
November 28 Discussion Draft
Excerpt:
Growing Michigan Together Council Recommendation
Develop a lifelong education system for Michigan kids that prepares them to be successful in a 21st century economy.
01 Redesign the Michigan P–12 education system so that all students have a broad set of future ready skills and competencies to thrive in work and life, and guarantee up to a 13th year to ensure all students achieve this standard
02 Provide all students opportunities to gain up to two years of publicly funded college credits or postsecondary training once they are prepared to succeed
03 Align secondary, postsecondary, higher education, and skills training to create a seamless system of continuous learning so that all Michiganders can be prepared for and adapt to a changing workplace
On 12/07/2023,
in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, change, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, future, Google, languages and translation, multimedia, Natural Language Processing (NLP), trends, UK, United States,
by Daniel Christian
Introducing Gemini: our largest and most capable AI model — from blog.google by Sundar Pichai and Demis Hassabis
Making AI more helpful for everyone
Today, we’re a step closer to this vision as we introduce Gemini, the most capable and general model we’ve ever built.
Gemini is the result of large-scale collaborative efforts by teams across Google, including our colleagues at Google Research. It was built from the ground up to be multimodal, which means it can generalize and seamlessly understand, operate across and combine different types of information including text, code, audio, image and video.
One year in: from ChatGPT3.5 to a whole new world — from stefanbauschard.substack.com by Stefan Bauschard
Happy Birthday to ChatGPT 3.5+. You’re growing up so fast!
So, in many ways, ChatGPT and its friends are far from as intelligent as a human; they do not have “general” intelligence (AGI).
But this will not last for long. The debate about ProjectQ aside, AIs with the ability to engage in high-level reasoning, plan, and have long-term memory are expected in the next 2–3 years. We are already seeing AI agents that are developing the ability to act autonomously and collaborate to a degree. Once AIs can reason and plan, acting autonomously and collaborating will not be a challenge.
ChatGPT is winning the future — but what future is that? — from theverge.com by David Pierce
OpenAI didn’t mean to kickstart a generational shift in the technology industry. But it did. Now all we have to decide is where to go from here.
We don’t know yet if AI will ultimately change the world the way the internet, social media, and the smartphone did. Those things weren’t just technological leaps — they actually reorganized our lives in fundamental and irreversible ways. If the final form of AI is “my computer writes some of my emails for me,” AI won’t make that list. But there are a lot of smart people and trillions of dollars betting that’s the beginning of the AI story, not the end. If they’re right, the day OpenAI launched its “research preview” of ChatGPT will be much more than a product launch for the ages. It’ll be the day the world changed, and we didn’t even see it coming.
AI is overhyped” — from theneurondaily.com by Pete Huang & Noah Edelman
If you’re feeling like AI is the future, but you’re not sure where to start, here’s our advice for 2024 based on our convos with business leaders:
- Start with problems – Map out where your business is spending time and money, then ask if AI can help. Don’t do AI to say you’re doing AI.
- Model the behavior – Teams do better in making use of new tools when their leadership buys in. Show them your support.
- Do what you can, wait for the rest – With AI evolving so fast, “do nothing for now” is totally valid. Start with what you can do today (accelerating individual employee output) and keep up-to-date on the rest.
Google says new AI model Gemini outperforms ChatGPT in most tests — from theguardian.com by Dan Milmo
Gemini is being released in form of upgrade to Google’s chatbot Bard, but not yet in UK or EU
Google has unveiled a new artificial intelligence model that it claims outperforms ChatGPT in most tests and displays “advanced reasoning” across multiple formats, including an ability to view and mark a student’s physics homework.
The model, called Gemini, is the first to be announced since last month’s global AI safety summit, at which tech firms agreed to collaborate with governments on testing advanced systems before and after their release. Google said it was in discussions with the UK’s newly formed AI Safety Institute over testing Gemini’s most powerful version, which will be released next year.
On 12/06/2023,
in 21st century, Africa, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Australia, bots, business, Canada, career development, change, corporate / business world, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, Europe, experimentation, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, health, higher education, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, India, innovation, intelligent systems, political science, society, teachers, technology (general), trends, UK, United States, universities, vendors, vision/possibilities, workplace,
by Daniel Christian
34 Big Ideas that will change our world in 2024 — from linkedin.com
Excerpts:
6. ChatGPT’s hype will fade, as a new generation of tailor-made bots rises up
11. We’ll finally turn the corner on teacher pay in 2024
21. Employers will combat job applicants’ use of AI with…more AI
31. Universities will view the creator economy as a viable career path