The best lighting for video conferencing, according to experts— from blog.webex.com
Contents:
Tech skill gaps are decimating the global workforce and could put workers—and companies—in crisis — from fortune.com by Colin Lodewick
Excerpt:
The pandemic laid bare the value of digital skills when it forced people around the world to shift their lives even more online. Understanding and using technology is no longer a “nice-to-have” but essential for anyone looking for a job. Still, is the workforce ready for this change?
Salesforce released its Global Digital Skills Index* on Thursday, which offers insights into how the global workforce feels about the future of work in a world that continues to prioritize tech savviness and a digital-first mindset.
The report found 76% of respondents said they do not feel prepared for that future.
*An excerpt from that skills index:
Across 19 surveyed countries, workers scored 33 out of a possible 100 points on the Digital Skills Readiness Index across areas such as preparedness, access to learning resources, skill level, and participation in training. Workers in the United States fared slightly better at 36 out of 100 points.
Make Learning a Part of Your Daily Routine — from hbr.org by Helen Tupper and Sarah Ellis; with thanks to Learning Now TV for the resource
In a squiggly career, everyone’s a learner and everyone’s a teacher.
Summary:
In our increasingly “squiggly” careers, where people change roles more frequently and fluidly and develop in different directions, the ability to unlearn, learn, and relearn is vital for long-term success. It helps us increase our readiness for the opportunities that change presents and our resilience to the inevitable challenges we’ll experience along the way. Adaptive and proactive learners are highly prized assets for organizations, and investing in learning creates long-term dividends for our career development. Based on their experience designing and delivering career development training for over 50,000 people worldwide, the authors present several techniques and tools to help you make learning part of your day-to-day development.
Our capacity for learning is becoming the currency we trade on in our careers. Where we once went to work to learn to do a job, learning now is the job. Adaptive and proactive learners are highly prized assets for organizations, and when we invest in our learning, we create long-term dividends for our career development.
Also see (with thanks again to Learning Now TV):
Virtual brainstorming creates the maximum number of novel ideas, gaining an innovation advantage. It also provides the optimal experience for the largest number of group members, balancing the preferences of introverts and extroverts, optimists and pessimists, lower-status and higher-status members. Team leaders who wisely prioritize focusing on integrating introverts, pessimists, and lower-status team members into the team—which is more difficult than with extroverts, pessimists, and higher-status members—find virtual brainstorming especially beneficial.
Make a commitment to learn, grow, develop and advance in your career — from chieflearningofficer.com by Maria Rodriguez
No matter what you do, what title you hold or what industry you are in, you owe it to yourself to be intentional about your own professional development.
Excerpt:
As a new year begins, create a plan so you can be intentional on how you will spend your time and energy toward your career over the next year. Set your own career goal if you do not have one already, and establish a development plan that includes a list of actions you will take this year to expand and improve your knowledge and skills. As you plan for your career growth, consider the following…
From DSC:
This is what I mean by the need for each of us to be intentional as we seek to enhance our own, personal learning ecosystems.
Skillsoft to acquire CodeAcademy, a leading platform for learning high-demand technical skills, creating a worldwide community of more than 85 million learners — from skillsoft.com with thanks to Ray Schroeder for this resource out on LinkedIn
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Boston – December 22, 2021 – Skillsoft (NYSE: SKIL), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Codecademy, a leading online learning platform for technical skills, for approximately $525 million in cash and stock.
…
With the addition of Codecademy’s innovative capabilities, we will create an even more immersive online learning experience. When we combine Skillsoft’s enterprise customer base of more than 12,000 corporate customers and over 46 million learners with Codecademy’s 40 million learners, sophisticated digital marketing capability and influential brand, we expect to unlock significant revenue synergies.”
Expands Immersive Platform with New Ways of Learning. Skillsoft has already assembled an expansive set of learning options, including virtual instructor-led training, coaching, micro videos, audio, books, bootcamps, live events, assessments and badges. Together with Codecademy’s interactive, self-paced courses and hands-on learning, Skillsoft will be able to deliver even more immersive experiences through its AI-driven platform, Percipio.
DC: Yup.
“Navigate the lifelong learner journey with Pocket.
A portable, secure and verified digital wallet for learning, work and life.”https://t.co/ncqa6e6aF4#digitalcredentials #lifelonglearning #credentials #skills #learningfromthelivingclassroom— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) January 10, 2022
Resource via @ernperez
at this article/page.
From DSC:
Excerpt from this posting:
Welcome to day 21 of the 2021 Appvent Calendar. It’s been so much fun sharing all of these amazing tools each day across the month so far. With Google featuring twice already on the calendar, it’s great to share again the awe and wonder of human history in the arts and within our cultures with the sharing of this amazing free app. Thanks to Gustavo Calderón De Anda for suggesting it!
Also see:
AWS Expands Access to Free Cloud Skills Training on its Mission to Educate 29 Million People by 2025 — from businesswire.com; with thanks to Ryan Craig for the resource
New AWS digital learning experience, technical courses on Amazon.com, expanded access to AWS re/Start, and Amazon’s first dedicated in-person cloud learning center will put cloud skills training into the hands of millions of people
New AWS Global Digital Skills Study finds the need for digital skills training is greater than ever, with 85% of workers feeling they need more technical knowledge than they did pre-pandemic
Excerpt:
SEATTLE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–[On 11/28/21], Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com, Inc. company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced four initiatives to empower learners and make it even easier for anyone with a desire to learn to access free cloud computing skills training and unlock new career possibilities in the cloud. The initiatives announced today include the launch of AWS Skill Builder—a new digital learning experience, the addition of AWS courses to the Amazon.com website, the expansion of the AWS re/Start global reskilling program, and the opening of the AWS Skills Center—Amazon’s first dedicated, in-person cloud learning space.
Upskilling to engage your people: attracting and retaining talent during the great resignation — from protocol.com by Suneet Dua and Cy Coons
Excerpt:
Digital skills development is now table stakes — in a few short years, almost a third of all jobs globally will be transformed by technology. Nearly half of respondents to a recent National Association for Business Economics (NABE) survey reported a shortage of skilled workers in the third quarter. Digital skills will continue to be in high demand. The good news is that 77% of workers are ready to learn new skills or completely retrain.
Upskilling programs should encourage the critical thinking and digital acumen needed for future success. And they should provide opportunities for scenario-based applied learning that demonstrates competency and translates to immediate business impact. Upskilling should focus on job- and function-specific skills so organizations can be less reliant on institutional knowledge.
If you persevere and implement the right kinds of programs, the payoffs can be huge: 93% of CEOs who introduce upskilling programs have seen increased productivity, an improvement in talent acquisition and retention and a more resilient workforce.
Will Microcredentials be the Rx Needed to Fix Our Ailing Degree Systems? — from evolllution.com by David Leaser | Senior Program Executive of Innovation and Growth Initiatives, IBM
Amidst the dramatic social and economic upheaval caused by the pandemic, microcredentials are presenting themselves as the viable solution to getting learners prepared quickly and effectively for desperately needed jobs.
Excerpts:
Pace of Change Accelerates Beyond Our Wildest Imagination
But the world of work is changing at a pace that traditional education systems cannot match. Cloud computing, big data and AI technologies are replaced or improved monthly—and often faster than that.
…
The U.S. college system is organized around an all-or-none framework: You only get a credential after completing the entire learning path. But when a large number of students cannot commit to a long-term commitment (the situation we have faced for decades), shouldn’t we break the learning down into credentials along the way?
…
The MicroBachelors: A Major Win for Credential As You Go
Today, most microcredentials provide the opposite of college degrees: high skill-signal strength but low social-signal strength.
…
MicroBachelors programs are a series of college classes that have been customized and grouped together to meet employers’ real-world needs. The programs typically take two to four months to complete and provide credentials and college credits.
Report Finds US Workers Lagging in Digital Skills — from technewsworld.com by John P. Mello Jr.
Excerpt:
Many Americans lack the digital skills needed to be productive members of the workforce in the 21st century, according to a report released Monday by a Washington, D.C. think tank.
One-third of U.S. workers lack digital skills, with 13 percent having no digital skills and 18 percent having, at best, limited digital skills, noted the report by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, a science and technology institute.
In essence, the ITIF reported, one in six working-age Americans are unable to use email, web search, or other basic online tools.
Also see:
Even though we may not be able to predict the jobs of the future, we can begin to crack the labor market code in today’s economy and home in on the hybrid, or human and technical skills that will help working-age adults prepare for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
