professional development

Smart Workplace 2040: The rise of the workspace consumer [Johnson Controls]

On 06/02/2015, in 21st century, business, career development, corporate / business world, future, game-changing environment, generational differences, professional development, technologies for your home, technology (general), vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

New report lays out its 2040 vision of the workplace of the future — from workplaceinsight.net by Mark Eltringham; with thanks to Norma Owen for posting this

Excerpt:

By 2040 knowledge workers will decide where and how they want to work, according to a new report on the workplace of the future by Johnson Controls’ Global Workplace Solutions business. The Smart Workplace 2040 report claims that 25 years from now, work will be seen as something workers do, rather than a place to which they commute. According to the study, work patterns will be radically different as a new generation of what it terms ‘workspace consumers’ choose their time and place of work. Most workers will frequently work from home, and will choose when to visit work hubs to meet and network with others. There will be no set hours and the emphasis will be on getting work done, while workers’ wellness will take priority. Technology will bring together networks of individuals who operate in an entrepreneurial way, with collaboration the major driver of business performance.

Also see:
Smart Workplace 2040: The rise of the workspace consumer — from JohnsonControls.com

Executive Summary
Corporate organizations are still considering the workplace as delivering a strong identity and more than ever as a marketing weapon, creating and sustaining their corporate identity. The intensity of performance level improvements increased significantly over the past ten years, accelerating the pace of work through the combined power of technology and personalized, choice-based software solutions.

The presence of technology in every aspect of our life in 2040 is predominating our way of living. The workplace of 2040 is far more agile, the presence of technology is ultra predominant and human beings are highly reliant on it. Yet the technology is “shy”, not intrusive, transparent, and highly reliable – no failure is neither, not a possibility nor an option:

The home (the Hive) is a hyper connected and adaptive, responsive to the environment and its users, supporting multiple requirements simultaneously
Complex software applications will suggest to users what they should do to maximise performance, not miss any important deadlines, and make sure she allocates enough time for important tasks that are not necessarily urgent
End user services are autonomous, proactive and designed around enhancing the user experience
In an ubiquitously networked world, true offline time is both a luxury and a necessity. Being physically present is perceived as more authentic, a privilege
Adaptive white noise technology makes it possible to have a first rate telepresence session in an open environment
The whole DIY movement is experiencing a tremendous boost – people are literally building their own products, bought through their smartphones using mobile web applications, and printed on demand
Lower costs of energy and unmanned vehicles in combination with high costs of owning your own vehicle, plus high parking costs in densely populated megacities, benefits new sharing regimes.

In the context of the new world of work in 2040, we are contemplating a new world of work in an Eco Campus:

CHOICE: deciding where and how we want to work

ADAPTABILITY: adapting our working pattern to meet private needs and family constraints

WORK: entrepreneurship is the norm

LOCATION: deciding who we work with and how

WORKPLACE: access to “Trophy Workplaces” so going to the “office” is a luxury, a reward

SERVICES: offering real time services, catering to peak demands

WELLNESS: privileging wellness over work

NETWORK: reliance on an extremely wide network of experts to carry out our work

While Corporate Soldiers still remain major actors in organisations, we are seeing a significant rise of entrepreneurial behaviours, transforming employees into a new breed of workers focused on achieving great results through their work activities as well as achieving wellbeing in their private life. Going to “work” is therefore accessible through a complex model of locations, spread across an Eco Campus, accessible less than 20 miles away from home…

The Internet of Things will give rise to the algorithm economy [Sondergaard @ Gartner]

On 06/02/2015, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, business, career development, computer science, data related items, emerging technologies, future, game-changing environment, internet, machine-to-machine communications, marketplaces, Near Field Communication (NFC), professional development, programming, strategy, by Daniel Christian

The Internet of Things will give rise to the algorithm economy — from blogs.gartner.com by Peter Sondergaard

Excerpt:

It’s hard to avoid. Almost every CEO’s conversation about how IT is driving innovation inevitably comes back to the potential of big data. But data is inherently dumb. It doesn’t actually do anything unless you know how to use it. And big data is even harder to monetize due to the sheer complexity of it.

Data alone is not going to be the catalyst for the next wave of IT-driven innovation. The next digital gold rush will be focused on how you do something with data, not just what you do with it. This is the promise of the algorithm economy.

…

Algorithms are already all around us. Consider the driver-less car. Google’s proprietary algorithm is the connective tissue that combines the software, data, sensors and physical asset together into a true leap forward in transportation. Consider high frequency trading. It’s a trader’s unique algorithm that drives each decision that generates higher return than their competitors, not the data that it accesses. And while we’re talking about Google, what makes it one of the most valuable brands in the world? It isn’t data; it’s their most closely guarded secret, their algorithms.

A brave new world of opportunities
Where does this ultimately lead? Software that thinks. Software that does. Cognitive software that drives autonomous machine-to-machine interactions. Dare I say artificial intelligence? I dare. I did.

From DSC:
Besides Training/L&D departments and those developing strategy & vision within the corporate world…Provosts Offices take note. Computer Science programs take note. Interested students take note. Those who want to take a right turn in their careers take note.

Will your job be replaced by a robot?

On 05/18/2015, in 21st century, business, change, engineering, future, pace of change, professional development, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
I had posted some of the articles below on a recent post, but the list kept growing — as much is being written these days about the topic of technology replacing people and jobs (via automation, robotics, algorithms/software, other). Though this is not a new topic, the pace at which jobs are disappearing seems to be picking up. So I’m posting the updated list of recent articles below:

14 Surprising Jobs That Robots Are Doing — from jobs.aol.com
Actors? Waiters? The next machine age is coming.

Robots threaten these 8 jobs — from money.cnn.com
Soon you could be competing with a robot for a job.

Humility: The No. 1 Job Skill Needed For The Smart Machine Age — from forbes.com
Excerpt:
I believe in the Smart Machine Age humility will be the #1 job skill because it is the gateway for the kind of human thinking and emotional engagement that technology will not be able to do as well as us for at least the near decades. Humility also will be a key cultural and behavioral attribute of organizations that create value through critical thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship processes.
.

The top jobs in 10 years might not be what you expect – from fastcompany.com
We talked to three futurists to find out what the hot jobs of 2025 could be, and their answers may surprise you.
Excerpt (emphasis DSC):
For decades, the U.S. Bureau of Labor’s Economic and Employment Projections have been the bellwether for predicting what the hottest jobs up to a decade out would be. But with the rapid pace of technological change disrupting industries faster than ever before (think: robotics, 3-D printing, the sharing economy), it’s becoming obvious to many futurists that past trends may no longer be a reliable indicator of future job prospects.

Is your job creative enough to resist robot automation? — from blogs.wsj.com by Amir Mizroch

How Machines Destroy (And Create!) Jobs, In 4 Graphs — from npr.org

Why isn’t the tech boom helping the economy? — from linkedin.com by Nishant Bhajaria

The near future of artificial intelligence and smart machines in community banking — from independentbanker.org by Elizabeth Judd

New machine could one day replace anesthesiologists — from washingtonpost.com Todd Frankel

We need new jobs as the machines do more of our work — from theconversation.com by David Tuffley

More STEM education won’t protect our jobs from robots — from phys.org by Toby Walsh

Bad news for IT: Robots and artificial intelligence will take jobs — from zdnet.com by Greg Nichols
In his new book, Rise of the Robots, Martin Ford argues that a bleak jobless future awaits if we don’t take action. Fortunately, he gives us a way forward.

Revolution in the Driver’s Seat: The Road to Autonomous Vehicles — Boston Consulting Group / bcgperspectives.com

Does Artificial Intelligence Pose a Threat? — from wsj.com by Ted Greenwald
A panel of experts discusses the prospect of machines capable of autonomous reasoning
Excerpt:

5 white-collar jobs robots already have taken – from fortune.com by Erik Sherman
Artificial intelligence, robotics and new disruptive technology are challenging white-collar professions that previously seemed invulnerable:
Financial and Sports Reporters
Online Marketers
Anesthesiologists, Surgeons, and Diagnosticians
E-Discovery Lawyers and Law Firm Associates
Financial Analysts and Advisors

.

The new bookkeeper is a robot — from by Vipal Monga
In corporate finance departments, software does tasks that once took armies of people

.

Automation replacing service, white-collar workers — from daytondailynews.com by Dave Larsen
Excerpt:
Robots and artificial intelligence are rapidly moving beyond the factory floor to new roles in service industries, which account for four out of five U.S. jobs. Many agricultural and manufacturing workers already have been replaced by machines that work faster and more efficiently, and other occupations, including some white-collar jobs, will soon follow, experts said.

Addendum on 5/21/15:

Yes, Robots Really Are Going To Take Your Job And End The American Dream — from fastcoexist.com by Ben Schiller
Now that machines can diagnose cancer, trade stocks, and write symphonies, they’re not just going to make humans more efficient as they have in the past—they are replacing them entirely and wrecking the economy along the way.

Addendums on 6/1/15:

Autonomous cars will destroy millions of jobs and reshape the US economy by 2025 — from qz.com by Zach Kanter
Robot revolution by 2020? Japan launches pro-robot campaign — from rt.com
New McDonald’s In Phoenix Run Entirely By Robots — from newsexaminer.net by Darius Rubics

Automated, creative & dispersed: The future of work in the 21st century — from The Economist

Date Published:
May 20th 2015

Excerpt:

The key findings are as follows:

In the next decade-and-a-half, digital technology will dissolve the concept of work as we know it.
The growing use and sophistication of automation will shift the emphasis of human employment towards creativity and social skills.
This new reality of work will require a new, more nurturing approach to management.

Contents

About the research
Executive summary
Introduction
Your workplace is… everywhere
The hospital of the future
Creative and social skills will dominate the automated world
The bank of the future
Well-being and employee development top the management agenda
The university of the future
The government of the future
Conclusion
Appendix: Survey results

This requires university workers to develop new skills, she says. Ms Shutt predicts that in the future lecturers will be encouraging more of their students to take work placements or even launch their own start-ups, and developing relationships that give industry a greater input
into the direction of research. “We need to develop skills in interaction with business and in preparing students for the work world.”

Certifying skills and knowledge: Four scenarios on the future of credentials — from knowledgeworks.org by Jason Swanson

Excerpts:

Disruptions to the education system and employment sector are changing what it means to acquire knowledge and skills. Fundamental changes in how we educate learners promise to change how we credential learning. In turn, changes to the way we work could alter the value placed on credentials and how individuals earn them.

This paper considers trends in the education and employment sectors to explore four possible scenarios reflecting how credentials might reflect individuals’ knowledge and skills in ten years’ time.

…

Exploring the Future of Credentials
In order to explore what credentials might look like in ten years, this paper considers four scenarios for the future of credentials:

A baseline future, “All Roads Lead to Rome,” imagines a future in which degrees awarded by the K-12 and post-secondary sectors still serve as the dominant form of credentials, but there are many roads toward gaining those credentials, such as diverse
forms of school and educational assessments.

An alternative future, “The Dam Breaks,” explores a future in which the employment sector accepts new forms of credentials, such as micro-credentials, on a standalone basis, leading to major shifts in both the K-12 and post-secondary sectors and new relationships between the academic and working worlds.

A second alternative future, “Every Experience a Credential,” considers what credentials might look like if new technologies enabled every experience to be tracked and catalogued as a form of credential for both students and employees.

A wild card scenario, “My Mind Mapped,” imagines a future in which breakthroughs in both the mapping and tracking of brain functions have created a new type of credential reflecting students’ cognitive abilities and social and emotional skills.

…

Each scenario in this paper reflects different drivers of change and a different set of fundamental assumptions about how changes affecting credentials might play out across the K-12, post-secondary, and employment sectors.

From DSC:
I appreciate Jason’s futurist approach here and his use of scenarios. Such an approach helps stimulate our thinking about the potential “What if’s” that could occur — and if they did occur, what would our game plan be for addressing each one of these scenarios?

————-

A related addendum on 4/24/15:

Survey shows growth of open badges — from totaralms.com by Richard Wyles [March 7, 2015]

Excerpt:

If you were an academic institution, you might feel a little bit threatened. Over 60% of organisations now believe that the crown jewel of traditional educators – certifications and diplomas – is about to be dethroned by a new uprising: Digital Badges. That’s the finding of research by Extreme Networks on the current adoption of Digital Badges and prospects for the future.

“Who is taking MOOCs? Teachers, says MIT-Harvard study”; plus other MOOC-related items

On 04/07/2015, in corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, distance education, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, online learning, professional development, teachers, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Who is taking MOOCs? Teachers, says MIT-Harvard study — from pbs.org by Kirk Carapezza, WGBH

Excerpt:

A new MIT-Harvard study released on [April 1st] finds that nearly 40 percent of learners who take open online courses are teachers. That finding has researchers wondering whether they can better design online courses once predicted to upend students’ experience to meet teachers’ needs.

The study describes two years of open online courses launched on MIT and Harvard’s non-profit online initiative, edX. It explores 68 certificate courses and 1.7 million participants.

“We know who these people are,” said Harvard Associate Professor Andrew Ho, co-author of the study.

HarvardX and MITx: Two Years of Open Online Courses Fall 2012-Summer 2014

Abstract:
What happens when well-known universities offer online courses, assessments, and certificates of completion for free? Early descriptions of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have emphasized large enrollments, low certification rates, and highly educated registrants. We use data from two years and 68 open online courses offered by Harvard University (via HarvardX) and MIT (via MITx) to broaden the scope of answers to this question. We describe trends over this two-year span, depict participant intent using comprehensive survey instruments, and chart course participation pathways using network analysis. We find that overall participation in our MOOCs remains substantial and that the average growth has been steady. We explore how diverse audiences — including explorers, teachers-as-learners, and residential students — provide opportunities to advance the principles on which HarvardX and MITx were founded: access, research, and residential education.

Keywords:
MOOC, massive open online course, HarvardX, MITx, edX, online learning, distance education, higher education, residential learning

Study on MOOCs provides new insights on an evolving space — from newsoffice.mit.edu
Findings suggest many teachers enroll, learner intentions matter, and cost boosts completion rates.

Excerpt:

[On April 1], a joint MIT and Harvard University research team published one of the largest investigations of massive open online courses (MOOCs) to date. Building on these researchers’ prior work — a January 2014 report describing the first year of open online courses launched on edX, a nonprofit learning platform founded by the two institutions — the latest effort incorporates another year of data, bringing the total to nearly 70 courses in subjects from programming to poetry.

“We explored 68 certificate-granting courses, 1.7 million participants, 10 million participant-hours, and 1.1 billion participant-logged events,” says Andrew Ho, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The research team also used surveys to gain additional information about participants’ backgrounds and their intentions.

August LearnMoodle MOOC is now enrolling — from moodlenews.com by Joseph Thibault

9 free MOOCs for corporate training — from elearningindustry.com

Excerpt:

MOOCs for corporate training offer a wide range of benefits but due to the broad range of courses available today, finding the right ones for skill set development and corporate training can often be a time consuming and frustrating task. To make the process easier, I’d like to share some of the top MOOCs for corporate training that you may want to consider.

Over 120 MOOCs and courses coming up in the month of April 2015 — from edtechreview.in

From 2014:
Ten big reasons for the rise of corporate MOOCs — from trainingzone.co.uk by Donald Clark

The increasing popularity of MOOCs, open-education resources such as OpenStax College, and freely available course content on platforms such as iTunes U brings an incredible opportunity for high school teachers and college instructors to collaborate and enhance each other’s instruction.

– from Mind the Gap: Connecting K–12 and Higher Education
Educators to Improve the Student Experience –from educause.edu
by Matthew W. Stoltzfus, Ben Scragg, and Cory Tressler

“The cool things are happening at the intersections of fields, not deep, deep, deep in a field — with a few exceptions.”

On 04/06/2015, in 21st century, career development, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, Google, learning, pedagogy, professional development, teaching & learning, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The cool things are happening at the intersections of fields, not deep, deep, deep in a field — with a few exceptions.

Per Laszlo Bock, Google’s senior vice
president of people operations; see
Google HR boss shares his best advice
for succeeding in today’s workplace

From DSC:
If this is true, what might that mean for the curriculum we develop and provide? For how we set up our learning environments? For the pedagogies we employ?

Does this address what many people were trying to get at with Deeper Learning (i.e., creating more interdisciplinary programs and thinking; focusing more on learning for transfer — helping students take what’s learned in one situation and apply it to another)?

“Preparing for the Workforce of the Future” + “The Rise of the On-Demand Economy”+ other workplace-related items

On 04/02/2015, in 21st century, career development, future, professional development, trends, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From Trend Hunting to World Building: Preparing for the Workforce of the Future — from linkedin.com by Yvette Montero Salvatico

Excerpt:

In this increasingly complex landscape, nothing exists in a vacuum. Isolated trends can be your worst enemy because they tie you to what is taking place right now, leaving you blind to what’s ahead. For this reason, reports and annual “top 10” lists of trends are of limited usefulness.

Instead, we must study the intersection of trends, making sense of the patterns formed from these unique collisions; explore the shifting values that act like fault lines undergirding the trends; and envision the new narratives which these trends, patterns, and values will create.

These world-building narratives act as maps, allowing us to test our current strategies and discover new opportunities, while avoiding threats. By painting immersive pictures of possible future worlds, we can be prepared no matter what future unfolds.

…

We want to pursue our passions and desire a calling rather than a career.

The Rise of the On-Demand Economy — from blogs.wsj.com by Irving Wladawsky-Berger

Excerpt:

This corporate capitalism era, characterized by hierarchically organized institutions, reached its height in the U.S. in the period following World War II, when the country craved a sense of stability following the pain and chaos of the Great Depression and the war years. But those days are long gone. In the more recent past, these relatively slow moving organizations were not able to keep up with fast changing technologies and markets, nor could individuals assume that being loyal to a company would translate into a secure job with good benefits.

In its stead, we are seeing the rise of what The Economist called the On-Demand Economy in a recent article. “Ever since the 1970s… Manufacturing jobs have been automated out of existence or outsourced abroad, while big companies have abandoned lifetime employment. Some 53m American workers already work as freelances.”

But now the sharing economy is evolving into something new. Ubiquitous communications, freelance work forces and low transaction costs are giving rise to the on-demand company, which aims to apply the principles of Uber or Airbnb to a much broader range of markets.

How HR can prepare for the future of work — from shrm.org by Roy Maurer

Excerpt:

Demographic Shifts Boost Global Migration

Labor Becomes Automated

The Skills Gap Persists

Employees Can Work from Anywhere

The Freelance Workforce Grows

Amazon Home Services — reminds me of the Economist’s article, “Workers on tap”

The future of documentation? Heads up to Technical Communicators, Trainers, User Experience Designers, & similar positions

On 03/26/2015, in 21st century, 3D, A/V -- audio/visual, Augmented Reality (AR), corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, emerging technologies, professional development, training / L&D, user experience (UX), workplace, by Daniel Christian

Madcap and Metaio team up for augmented reality documentation — from blog.metaio.com by Jack Dashwood

Excerpt:

Documentation is a huge industry and with humanity’s continuing pursuit of technology, it’s not slowing down. Instead, documentation methods are growing and diversifying into mediums beyond the traditional paper manual.

…

Madcap’s newest update, Madcap Flare 11, has taken documentation even further. By leveraging Metaio’s Augmented Reality technology, Flare is now able to export documentation with Augmented Reality content. In a world of increasingly complex and abstract concepts, Augmented Reality provides much needed simplicity, with intuitive 3D models, live video, and dynamic linking between static printed content and digital information.

A video of Audi’s Augmented Reality Manual, back from August 2013:

From DSC:
Also…what affordances might this present for educators, instructional designers, and the like?

How Google and Coursera may upend the traditional college degree — from brookings.edu by Stuart Butler

Excerpt:

Recently, the online education firm Coursera announced a new arrangement with Google, Instagram and other tech firms to launch what some are calling “microdegrees” – a set of online courses plus a hands-on capstone project designed in conjunction with top universities and leading high-tech firms. Coursera is one of America’s leading MOOC developers (Massive Open Online Courses).
…
Why does this announcement suggest such a shakeup is likely? Several reasons. Here are just four:

MOOCs are moving from novel sideshow to serious competition.
The partnership between online education and employers is likely a game-changer.
Accreditation as a restriction on competition is eroding.
Microdegrees are likely the pathway to customized degree programs.

Also see:

Top companies work with university partners to help create capstone projects with real world applications — from blog.coursera.org

Excerpt:

Experts at top companies like Google and Instagram have joined Coursera to help develop the final projects — called “Capstones” — for Coursera Specializations.

Combining a curated series of courses with a final Capstone Project, Specializations help you master new skills with the best of university teaching and the real-time market perspective of top industry partners. Hundreds of thousands of learners have enrolled in Specializations since their launch in January 2014.

But partnerships like Coursera’s include employers actually certifying groups of courses as meeting industry’s standards for skills and knowledge – essentially an end-run around traditional accreditation as a measure of quality.

Also see:

Udacity’s nanodegree program”
Credentials built and recognized by industry leaders to advance your career

From DSC:

First of all, that piece about the end-around traditional accreditation should make those of us working within higher ed veeeeerrrrry nervous — and much more responsive — as accreditation has been what’s kept traditional institutions of higher ed in the game. If that goes, well…hmmm…things could get very interesting.

Secondly, those who talk of the demise of MOOCs are waaayyy too premature in their assessment/conclusion. Technologies and vendors such as IBM (Watson), Apple (Siri), Google (Deepmind), and Microsoft (Cortana and Azure Machine Learning) could bake their products into MOOCs. Also, what happens if vendors involved with developing personalized learning platforms and/or those vendors specializing with big data start approaching MOOC providers? (See Will micro-credentialing be an example of the use of big data in education and training?) The resulting offerings could have an enormous impact on how people learn and make a living in the future. Again, if those types of technologies get baked into MOOCs, I’m pretty sure that people won’t be discounting MOOCs any longer.

Also, it’s because of items like those mentioned above that sometimes make me wonder if online education and digitally-related delivery mechanisms are what will save the liberal arts. People could pick up courses in the liberal arts throughout their lifetimes — obtaining degrees…or not. (As a brief aside, I wonder to what extent faculty members will develop their own brands.) Anyway, it’s getting to the point that many people can’t afford the campus experience. But could they afford something online…? It could be…depending upon the pricing and associated business models involved. My guess is that those institutions who practice a team-based approach will survive and thrive — if they keep a steady eye on their pricing.

3 items re: necessary skills for the modern workplace

On 02/26/2015, in career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, creativity, education reform, entrepreneurship, innovation, new media literacies, play, professional development, social learning / networks, training / L&D, trends, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

digital workforce skills — from jarche.com by Harold Jarche

Excerpt:

Behaviour change comes through small, but consistent, changes in practice. So how do we move from responsibility, to creativity, and potentially to innovation? Play, explore, and converse. But first we need to build a space to practice. This is where management plays a key role: providing the space to ‘Do it Yourself’.

Our employer-employee marriages need counseling — from forbes.com by Dov Seidman

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Our Big Asks of employees have become so pervasive that they’re transforming into competencies. A report by Palo Alto-based non-profit research firm Institute for the Future identifies 10 increasingly important work skills. These include talents like: The ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these media for persuasive communication; cross-cultural competency; proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote or rules-based; and the ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based reasoning.

Andrew McAfee: The Second Machine Age is approaching. Here’s how we can prepare. — from huffingtonpost.com by Dawn Nakagawa , EVP, Berggruen Institute

Excerpt:

Nakagawa: Inequality is already a problem. How much worse will inequality get in this new future?

McAfee: The stratospheric wealth of the 1 percent presents some challenges. But I think it’s largely a distraction from the more important challenge, which is not about the people at the top pulling away. It is about the 50th-percentile worker or the 25th-percentile worker. It is about the stagnation in the prospects and earnings of the middle class. We need to focus on how to improve the prospects for the middle and the bottom, people who are finding themselves stagnating or sliding backwards. It could well be that higher marginal tax rates on top levels of income and wealth are part of the solution, but we need to broaden the conversation to look for comprehensive solutions to a complex problem.

…

Nakagawa: How do we need to change the education system, not to address the labor force skills gap we see today but to prepare our younger generation for the economy that is coming?

McAfee: Our education system is in need of an overhaul. It is frustrating that our primary education system is doing a pretty good job at turning out the kinds of workers we needed 50 years ago. Basic skills, the ability to follow instructions, execute defined tasks with some level of consistency and reliability. Machines can do all those things better than we can. What they can’t do, at least not yet, are things like negotiate, provide loving and compassionate care, motivate a team of people, design a great experience, realize what people want or need, figure out the next problem to work on and how to solve it and so on. And not all the items on that list require advanced degrees. We’re going to need people with all kinds of skills and training for some time to come, so let’s rethink our education system so that it provides the required variety.

5 items on listening — an underrated skill

On 02/09/2015, in career development, collaboration, learning, learning ecosystem, learning theories, metacognition / metacognitive skills, professional development, psychology, relationships, smart classrooms, student-related, web-based collaboration, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Many K-12 schools as well as colleges and universities have been implementing more collaborative learning spaces. Amongst other things, such spaces encourage communication and collaboration — which involve listening. So here are some resources re: listening — a skill that’s not only underrated, but one that we don’t often try to consciously develop and think about in school. Perhaps in our quest for designing more meta-cognitive approaches to learning, we should consider how each of us and our students are actually listening…or not.

Mackay: The power of listening — from startribune.com by Harvey Mackay

Excerpts:

We are born with two ears, but only one mouth. Some people say that’s because we should spend twice as much time listening. Others claim it’s because listening is twice as difficult as talking.

Whatever the reason, developing good listening skills is critical to success. There is a difference between hearing and listening.
…
These statistics, gathered from sources including the International Listening Association* website, really drive the point home. They also demonstrate how difficult listening can be:

85 percent of our learning is derived from listening.
Listeners are distracted, forgetful and preoccupied 75 percent of the time.
Most listeners recall only 50 percent of what they have heard immediately after hearing someone say it.
People spend 45 percent of their waking time listening.
Most people remember only about 20 percent of what they hear over time.
People listen up to 450 words per minute, but think at about 1,000 to 3,000 words per minute.
There have been at least 35 business studies indicating listening as a top skill needed for success.

From the International Listening Association*
LISTENING AND EDUCATION

Even though most of us spend the majority of our day listening, it is the communication activity that receives the least instruction in school (Coakley & Wolvin, 1997). Listening training is not required at most universities (Wacker & Hawkins, 1995). Students who are required to take a basic communication course spend less than 7% of class and text time on listening (Janusik, 2002; Janusik & Wolvin, 2002). If students aren’t trained in listening, how do we expect them to improve their listening?
Listening is critical to academic success. An entire freshman class of over 400 students was given a listening test at the beginning of their first semester. After their first year of studies, 49% of students scoring low on the listening test were on academic probation, while only 4.42% of those scoring high on the listening test were on academic probation. Conversely, 68.5% of those scoring high on the listening test were considered Honors Students after the first year, while only 4.17% of those scoring low attained the same success (Conaway, 1982).
Students do not have a clear concept of listening as an active process that they can control. Students find it easier to criticize the speaker as opposed to the speaker’s message (Imhof, 1998).
Effective listening is associated with school success, but not with any major personality dimensions (Bommelje, Houston, & Smither, 2003).
Students report greater listening comprehension when they use the metacognitive strategies of asking pre-questions, interest management, and elaboration strategies (Imhof, 2001).
Students self-report less listening competencies after listening training than before. This could be because students realize how much more there is to listening after training (Ford, Wolvin, & Chung, 2000).
Listening and nonverbal communication training significantly influences multicultural sensitivity (Timm & Schroeder, 2000).

* The International Listening Association promotes the study, development,
and teaching of listening and the practice of effective listening skills and
techniques. ILA promotes effective listening by establishing a network of
professionals exchanging information including teaching methods, training
experiences and materials, and pursuing research as listening affects
humanity in business, education, and intercultural/international relations.

10 important skills for active listening — from educatorstechnology.com

Excerpt:

Effective Listening — with Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes — from lynda.com

Course description:
Listening is a critical competency, whether you are interviewing for your first job or leading a Fortune 500 company. Surprisingly, relatively few of us have ever had any formal training in how to listen effectively. In this course, communications experts Tatiana Kolovou and Brenda Bailey-Hughes show how to assess your current listening skills, understand the challenges to effective listening (such as distractions!), and develop behaviors that will allow you to become a better listener—and a better colleague, mentor, and friend.

Topics include:

Recalling details
Empathizing
Avoiding distractions and the feeling of being overwhelmed
Clarifying your role
Using attentive nonverbal cues
Paraphrasing what was said
Matching emotions and mirroring

How to stop talking and start listening to your employees — from inc.com by Will Yakowicz
As a leader, you’re bound to be talking a lot, but you can’t forget to give others a chance to speak their mind.

—————————

Addendum on 2/13/15:

Wake-up call: How to really listen — from irishtimes.com by Sarah Green
Insights from the Harvard Business Review into the world of work
Excerpt:

“It can be stated, with practically no qualification,” Ralph Nichols and Leonard Stevens wrote in a 1957 article in Harvard Business Review, “that people in general do not know how to listen. They have ears that hear very well, but seldom have they acquired the necessary aural skills which would allow those ears to be used effectively for what is called listening. ”

In a study of thousands of students and hundreds of business people, they found that most retained only half of what they heard – and this immediately after they had heard it. Six months later, most people only retained 25 per cent.
…

It all starts with actually caring what other people have to say, argues Christine Riordan, provost and professor of management at the University of Kentucky.

Listening with empathy consists of three specific sets of behaviours.

From DSC:
It seems like there’s been an increase in the number of “boot camps” that I’m seeing — below are some examples:

.

New MOOC Platform Provides Free IT Certification Courses — from campustechnology.com by Rhea Kelly

People offering their own bootcamps / building their own brands; such as this Two Week Web Development Bootcamp for Beginners by Adam Stanford.

Some other approaches that are occurring:

Ideo U

Yieldr Academy

Lessons Go Where

ClassDo

Udemy

C-Suite TV.com

Simon & Schuster to sell online courses taught by popular authors — from nytimes.com by Alexandra Alter; with thanks to Sidneyeve Matrix for her Tweet on this

Excerpt:

Simon & Schuster is making a push into paid online video, with a new website offering online courses from popular health, finance and self-help authors.

The cost of the first batch of online courses ranges from $25 to $85, and includes workbooks and access to live question-and-answer sessions with three authors: Dr. David B. Agus, the best-selling author of “The End of Illness”; Zhena Muzyka, who wrote the self-help book “Life by the Cup”; and Tosha Silver, the author of the spiritual advice book “Outrageous Openness.” The courses will be available on the authors’ individual websites and on the company’s new site, SimonSays.

.

The real revolution in online education isn’t MOOCs — from hbr.org by Michelle Weise

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Something is clearly wrong when only 11% of business leaders — compared to 96% of chief academic officers — believe that graduates have the requisite skills for the workforce. It’s therefore unlikely that business leaders are following closely what’s going on in higher education. Even the latest hoopla around massive open online courses (MOOCs) amounts to more of the same: academics designing courses that correspond with their own interests rather than the needs of the workforce, but now doing it online.

But there is a new wave of online competency-based learning providers that has absolutely nothing to do with offering free, massive, or open courses. In fact, they’re not even building courses per se, but creating a whole new architecture of learning that has serious implications for businesses and organizations around the world.

It’s called online competency-based education, and it’s going to revolutionize the workforce.
…
The key distinction is the modularization of learning.
…
Here’s why business leaders should care: the resulting stackable credential reveals identifiable skillsets and dispositions that mean something to an employer. As opposed to the black box of the diploma, competencies lead to a more transparent system that highlights student-learning outcomes.

From DSC:
Though several of the items above have a slant towards IT/coding/programming, other disciplines may be impacted by these types of trends as well.

These developments are meant for consideration for those of us working within higher education. What do they mean for us? Should they inform more of our strategies? Our visions? Our responses?

Addendums on 2/17/15:

Should your institution consider a nanodegree program? — from by Rebecca Lundberg
Students seeking to build technical skills and credentials are enrolling in nanodegree programs.

Addendum on 3/27/15:

Anyone Can Be a Teacher at Skillshare, an Online School — from nytimes.com by Jonah Bromwich
Excerpt:
Skillshare is an online video platform that allows anyone to sign up and teach a class. The company has proved adept at recruiting experts to teach on its website. Aside from Ms. Orlean’s class on creative nonfiction, the website has a class on visual storytelling from the design maven Debbie Millman and a marketing course taught by the entrepreneur Seth Godin. At one point, it even offered screenwriting instruction from James Franco.

Addendum on 4/1/15 — with thanks to Mr. Cal Keen at Calvin College

Canvas.net

Addendum on 4/7/15:

Udemy alternatives for selling video courses online — from robcubbon.com
Udemy is currently the leading online learning platform. Their top 10 instructors all made over $500,000 last year and the top earner makes over $8 million. I make $4000+ each month by selling courses on Udemy.

Addendum on 5/1/15:

worldacademy.tv

Addendum on 5/18/15:

16 Startups Poised to Disrupt the Education Market — from inc.com by Ilan Mochari
Colleges and universities are facing new competition for customers–students and their parents–from startups delivering similar goods (knowledge, credentials, prestige) more affordably and efficiently. Here’s a rundown of some of those startups.

A smorgasboard of items re: data science and data scientists, including machine learning

On 01/06/2015, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Algorithms, business, career development, computer science, corporate / business world, data related items, future, professional development, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Ten Trends in Data Science 2015 — from linkedin.com by Kurt Cagle

Excerpt:

Data Science Teams
I see the emergence within organizations of data science teams. Typically, such teams will be made up of a number of different specialties:

Integrator. A programmer or DBA that specializes in data ingestion and ETL from multiple different sources. Their domain will tend to be services and databases, and as databases become data application platforms, their role primarily shifts from being responsible for schemas to being responsible for building APIs. Primary focus: Data Acquisition
Data Translation Specialist. This will typically be a person focused on Hadoop, Map/Reduce and similar intermediate processing necessary to take raw data and clean it, transform it, and simplify it. They will work with both integrators and ontologists, Primary Focus: Data Acquiisition
Ontologist. The ontologist is a data architect specializing in building canonical models, working with different models, and establishing relationships between data sets. They will often have semantics or UML backgrounds. Primary focus: Data Awareness.
Curators. These people are responsible for the long term management, sourcing and provenance of data. This role is often held by librarians or archivists. They will often work closely with the ontologists. Primary Focus: Data Awareness.
Stochastic Analyst (Data Scientist?). This role is becoming a specialist one, in which people versed with increasingly sophisticated stochastic and semantic analysis tools take the contextual data and extraction trends, patterns and anti-patterns from this. They usually have a strong mathematical or statistical background, and will typically work with domain experts. Primary Focus: Data Analysis
Domain Expert. Typically these are analysts who know their particular domain, but aren’t necessarily expert on informatics. These may be financial specialists, business analysts, researchers, and so forth, depending upon the specific enterprise focus. Primary Focus: Data Analysis
Visualizers. These are typically going to be web interface developers with skills in areas such as SVG or Canvas and the suites of visualization tools that are emerging in this area. Their role is typically to take the data at hand and turn it into usable, meaningful information. They will work closely with both domain experts and stochastic analysts, as well as with the ontologist to better coerce the information coming from the data systems into meaningful patterns. Primary Focus:Data Analysis
Data Science Manager. This person is responsible for managing the team, understanding all of the domains reasonably well enough to interface with the client, and coordinating efforts. This person also is frequently the point person for establishing governance. Primary Focus: All.

Infographic: What’s Hot in Data Science in 2015 — from data-informed.com; with thanks to Michael Caveretta’s tweet on this

Michigan State Wants a Big Data Professor on Campus — from edtechmagazine.com by D. Frank Smith; back from Nov 2014
Explosive growth in the data science field is pushing higher education to extend its analytics expertise.

Excerpt:

There is a torrent of information flooding today’s higher education institutions. Michigan State University is hoping to find Big Data experts to turn it into results.

Putting Big Data to use in an educational setting takes a special set of skills. MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences recently held a search for an assistant professor of Big Data and health, a position that will lead courses on data analytics and IT in the Department of Media and Information.

“We seek a scholar conducting cutting-edge social and/or technical research utilizing big data approaches — including theory-building, analytics, applications, and effects,” according to MSU’s job listing, which has expired, but is still available on LinkedIn.

Is Data Science a buzzword? Modern Data Scientist defined — from marketingdistillery.com by Krzysztof Zawadzki

Great #infographic! MT @exaptive: #Datascience isn’t = a single #datascientist / super employee. pic.twitter.com/iw6WfTILir ht @analyticisms
— Michael Cavaretta (@mjcavaretta) December 12, 2014

.

From DSC: Those working in higher ed – take note of this 12 week bootcamp:

.

.. .

.

Should Big Data Skills Be Taught in K–12 Classrooms? — from by D. Frank Smith
A new report recommends that schools begin preparing students to think like data scientists at an earlier age.

Excerpt:

The skills necessary for the data analytics jobs of tomorrow aren’t being taught in K–12 schools today, according to a new report released by the Education Development Center, Inc.’s (EDC) Oceans of Data Institute. The Profile of the Big-Data Enabled Specialist projects a workforce shortage for data-driven positions. Based on a 2011 McKinsey & Co. report cited by the Oceans of Data Institute, ”By 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions.”

Difference between Data Scientist and Data Analyst — from edureka.co; again, with thanks to Michael Caveretta’s tweet on this

Excerpt: .

.

The Data Scientist’s Toolbox — course from coursera.org

The 25 Hottest Skills That Got People Hired in 2014 — from linkedin.com

Excerpts:

Statistical analysis and data mining
Business intelligence
Data engineering and data warehousing

16 analytic disciplines compared to data science — from datasciencecentral.com by Vincent Granville

Excerpt:

What are the differences between data science, data mining, machine learning, statistics, operations research, and so on?

Here I compare several analytic disciplines that overlap, to explain the differences and common denominators. Sometimes differences exist for nothing else other than historical reasons. Sometimes the differences are real and subtle. I also provide typical job titles, types of analyses, and industries traditionally attached to each discipline. Underlined domains are main sub-domains. It would be great if someone can add an historical perspective to my article.

Tech 2015: Deep Learning And Machine Intelligence Will Eat The World — from forbes.com by Anthony Wing Kosner; with thanks to Pedro for his tweet on this

Excerpt:

Despite what Stephen Hawking or Elon Musk say, hostile Artificial Intelligence is not going to destroy the world anytime soon. What is certain to happen, however, is the continued ascent of the practical applications of AI, namely deep learning and machine intelligence. The word is spreading in all corners of the tech industry that the biggest part of big data, the unstructured part, possesses learnable patterns that we now have the computing power and algorithmic leverage to discern—and in short order.

The effects of this technology will change the economics of virtually every industry.

The rise of machines that learn — from infoworld.com by Eric Knorr; with thanks to Oliver Hansen for his tweet on this
A new big data analytics startup, Adatao, reminds us that we’re just at the beginning of a new phase of computing when systems become much, much smarter

Shivon Zilis, Machine Intelligence Landscape

Data Science Dojo — @DataScienceDojo
Stanford startup focused on all things data science.

The 2 Types Of Data Scientists Everyone Should Know About — from datasciencecentroal.com by Bernard Marr

Excerpt:

It depends entirely on how broadly you categorize them. In reality, of course – there are as many “types” of data scientist as there are people working in data science. I’ve worked with a lot, and have yet to meet two who are identical.

But what I have done here is separate data scientists into groups, containing individuals who share similar skills, methods, outlooks and responsibilities. Then I grouped those groups together, again and again, until I was left with just two quite distinctly different groups.

I’ve decided to call these two types strategic data scientists and operational data scientists.

Deep learning Reading List — from jmozah.github.io

Changing role of the CLO — from business-standard.com by Gurprriet Singh

Excerpt:

The ownership for keeping skills and competencies sharpened will move to the employee. With the emergence of MOOCs, social media enabled knowledge and connections, which facilitate you to identify and appoint mentors across dimensions and distance, the role of L&D as the provider of knowledge and provider of resource is soon becoming extinct. Individuals need to own their own development and leverage the resources available in social media. Just recently, IBM cut salaries by 10 per cent, of employees who had not kept their skills updated.

…

As Jack Welch said, “If the rate of change inside your organisation is slower than the rate of change outside, the end is near”. In such a scenario, the thinking and orientation must shift from being able to manage change TO being able to change on a dime which means Dynamism. The role of L&D thus becomes key in influencing the above cultural pillars. And to do so, is to select for the relevant traits, focus on interventions that help hone those traits. Traits and skills are honed by Experience. And that brings me to the 70:20:10.

From DSC:
I think Gurprriet is right when he says that there’s a shift in the ownership of our learning. We as individuals need to own our own development and leverage social media, MOOCs, online and/or F2F-based courses, other informal/on-the-job resources, our personal learning networks, and our Communities of Practice. Given the pace of change, each of us needs to be constantly building/expanding our own learning ecosystems. We need to be self-directed, lifelong learners (for me, this is where learning hubs and learning from our living rooms will also play a role in the future). One approach might be for those in L&D/corporate training-related functions to help employees know what’s out there — introduce them to the streams of content that are constantly flowing by. Encourage them to participate, teach them how to contribute, outline some of the elements of a solid learning ecosystem, create smaller learning hubs within a company.

Learning Ecosystems

Smart Workplace 2040: The rise of the workspace consumer [Johnson Controls]

Will your job be replaced by a robot?

“Who is taking MOOCs? Teachers, says MIT-Harvard study”; plus other MOOC-related items

“The cool things are happening at the intersections of fields, not deep, deep, deep in a field — with a few exceptions.”

“Preparing for the Workforce of the Future” + “The Rise of the On-Demand Economy”+ other workplace-related items

The future of documentation? Heads up to Technical Communicators, Trainers, User Experience Designers, & similar positions

Reflections on “How Google and Coursera may upend the traditional college degree” [Butler]

Alternatives — to the way things are typically done in higher ed — continue to develop

Categories

Tags