The pandemic accelerated existing trends in remote work, e-commerce, and automation, with up to 25 percent more workers than previously estimated potentially needing to switch occupations.
Excerpts:
This report on the future of work after COVID-19 is the first of three MGI reports that examine aspects of the postpandemic economy. The others look at the pandemic’s long-term influence on consumption and the potential for a broad recovery led by enhanced productivity and innovation. Here, we assess the lasting impact of the pandemic on labor demand, the mix of occupations, and the workforce skills required in eight countries with diverse economic and labor market models: China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Together, these eight countries account for almost half the global population and 62 percent of GDP.
Since the spring of 2020, learning pods have evolved from a new idea to a significant feature of the pandemic learning landscape. As the pod movement grows in real-time through the current school year and morphs into new models and approaches, the work of learning is moving beyond the four walls of the school building and into communities across the country.
Our database of learning pods—also referred to as learning hubs—now hosts nearly 330 entries of pods organized by institutions with publicly available information from across the country. While this landscape is not a representative sample and is limited by information available on program websites, it offers a snapshot of how learning pods are reshaping education one year into the pandemic.
Our latest analysis shows that community-based organizations and adults beyond the teacher are playing an increased role supporting students and their families through the pandemic.
More states require telehealth coverage going into 2021 — from by Several states passed recent laws that would require commercial insurance plans to cover more telehealth services on a permanent basis. More states now require health plans to pay the same amount for telehealth as in-person visits.
From DSC: Telelegal on deck…? What about in your area of work…what’s coming down the pike in this regard?
One thing we have realized is that COVID-19 has accelerated three transformational trends that already existed before the pandemic, but are now dramatically reshaping healthcare: the concept of a networked healthcare system, the increasing adoption of telehealth, and the idea of virtual care and guidance.At the same time, we have seen consumers becoming much more engaged in their personal health and that of their families.
From DSC: Next up…telelegal; and, possibly, more virtual courtrooms.
Also see:
How can screen sharing be used in healthcare? — from blog.webex.com Excerpts: Virtual consultations | Training and education sessions | RPM and other remote treatments | Annotations
Through self-directed learning and impact projects, participants build stronger mindsets, develop real-world skills, learn to code, and expand their social capital. TKS’ teachers hail from leading companies in every sector.
The TKS team works with big companies to see what problems they are facing. This creates a bank of problems students can choose to work on. “[TKS] is as much about problem finding as it is about problem-solving,” says Navid.
COVID-19 and the resulting increases in virtual care adoption and changes in regulation have permanently altered the healthcare landscape in the US. The demand for virtual care has never been greater. There is a great need for virtual care solutions, particularly those integrating data from devices in meaningful ways. Organizations that do not do this operate at a competitive disadvantage to those who do.
From DSC: If the future of healthcare is telehealth, where might telelegal fit within the legal realm?
Wide Open School (WOS) is a platform developed by the leading non-profit for kids and families Common Sense media. WOS provides access to a wide range of resources designed specifically to help enhance the quality of distance learning. The work of Wide Open School is a fruit of a partnership with more than 80 leading educational organizations and services including Kahoot, Google, Khan Academy, National Geographic, PBS, Scholastic, Smithsonian, TED Ed, and many more.
Musical Mentors Collaborative Announces Requiem-20 The resulting compendium is a tribute to the pandemic world we live in today
Philadelphia, PA — January 19, 2021 — Musical Mentors Collaborative (“MMC”), which provides free private music instruction and instruments to students who would not otherwise have access, presents Requiem-20, a collaborative, multimedia, multi-genre reflection on the ineffable loss of life in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Featuring music by young but brilliant early-career composers, this project offered these artists a chance to help culture make meaning in a time of seeming creative impossibility. Produced in cooperation with Musical Mentors Collaborative and performed by MMC’s Teaching Fellows, this project represents a coalescence, a meeting place for creative artists to express and process the difficulties of this time.
“With the looming loss of millions of lives to Coronavirus, 11 composers and 23 artists have come together to form a musical collaborative work called, Requiem-20, a modern day Requiem in response to Covid-19. During this pandemic and with the lack of so many live performances, composers, especially young composers are feeling that their musical voices are not able to be displayed as normal and are looking for ways to stay connected and be relevant to the world right now.
This is their musical reaction to all the loss that is experienced during this time. A requiem not just for the loss of so many lives, but also for the loss of everyday life as we knew it, the loss of so many things that we had, the loss of getting to do things we love and see the people we love, the loss of so many jobs and livelihoods, the loss of so much continues and is expressed here in this montage and continuous melange of 11 short expressions that is interwoven to formulate Requiem-20,” says Says Daniel Matsukawa, principal bassoon of the Philadelphia Orchestra, professor at the Curtis Institute of Music, and the creator of this project.
Given the continuing loss of so many musicians’ jobs and livelihoods, we hope that the feelings and stories conveyed through Requiem-20 give you faith that artistic expression lives on as robustly as ever. We also hope that this project may prompt other musicians to compose and add to the concept, thus creating their own musical tribute in response to the current pandemic-filled world.
“Musical Mentors Collaborative encourages creativity through connection, and employs the ingenuity of economically displaced musicians to create connections in communities with the least access to music’s undisputed benefits. This project furthers our mission of connecting artists and young people with this crucial resource in this troubled time,” said Teddy Poll, Artistic and Educational Director of MMC. “We are excited to share Requiem-20 and for the public.”
Requiem-20, as well as more detailed information about the piece, can be seen/heard here: www.requiem-20.com.
NHS facilities in England are using tech developed by U.K. firm Everyware and U.S. blockchain organization Hedera Hashgraph.
The aim is to keep a tamper-proof digital record of temperature-sensitive vaccines and pick up on any irregularities in their storage.
Blockchain saw much hype in 2017 as cryptocurrencies like bitcoin skyrocketed, but the buzz around it seems to have died down today.
Addendum on 1/27/21:
Universities use blockchain to streamline student services — from thetechedvocate.org by Matthew Lynch A blockchain is one way in which universities can streamline student services. This article will discuss exactly what a blockchain is and how it can be used to perform this task.
According to a new report by Class Central, a company that tracks massive open online courses, of all learners who have registered for MOOCs throughout their history, a third did so last year. Coursera, the largest MOOC operator, added nearly four times the number of new registered users, exploding from 8 million in 2019 to 31 million in 2020 — a rise of 387 percent. Dhawal Shah, founder of Class Central, estimated that Coursera’s total number of users is currently 76 million.
Whereas topics in technology, business and career development dominated pre-COVID-19, during the pandemic learners focused on wider interests: Art and design, self-improvement, the humanities, communication skills, health & medicine and foreign languages surfaced in the top 10 subjects.
2020 ties for hottest year on record, says NASA and NOAA — from bigthink.com by Kevin Dickinson In a joint briefing at the 101st American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, NASA and NOAA revealed 2020’s scorching climate data.
Excerpts:
2020 is tied with 2016 for being globally the hottest year on record.
The year’s hotspot included the Arctic, which is warming at three times the global mean.
The United States endured a record-breaking year for billion-dollar natural disasters.
