skills

A very solid question: “What role do CFOs play in the Great Resignation?” [Keating]

On 09/03/2022, in adult learning, business, career development, change, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, leadership, skills, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

What role do CFOs play in the Great Resignation? — from chieflearningofficer.com by Keith Keating

Excerpt:

People are unhappy with their jobs, opportunities and employers’ treatment. Many feel constricted and unable to advance their careers because their companies fail to provide efficient learning and development programs. According to a McKinsey report, 41 percent of employees said the lack of opportunity for professional progress was the principal reason they left.

Their workplaces had no room for personal or career growth, forcing them to look elsewhere. Moreover, 94 percent said they wouldn’t resign their jobs had their employers invested in learning and development.

That is a grave problem. Gallup’s 2021 report found that turnover costs one trillion dollars to U.S. businesses per year.

Would companies be able to prevent this issue if their chief financial officers took L&D programs more seriously?

From DSC:
That seems like a very solid question to me.

Also relevant/see:

Succession Planning Requires Continuous Learning Culture — from learningsolutionsmag.com by Pamela Hogle

Teens Have Changed Their Higher Ed Plans — Survey Shows They May Never Go Back — from the74million.org by John Kristof & Colyn Ritter
Kristof & Ritter: COVID-19 forced HS students to re-evaluate their learning plans. If colleges want enrollment to recover, they must adapt

Excerpt:

Each of the nearly 4 million students who graduated high school this spring faces major decisions this summer. Do they want to pursue further education? If so, what do they want to study and where? How will they afford it? Will they begin working immediately? If so, are they moving out of their family home? Are they prepared for the hassles of adulthood?

According to a recent survey we at EdChoice conducted in conjunction with Morning Consult, teenagers are embracing their agency in an increasingly broad array of choices. What they told us might worry institutions of higher education — because the next generation appears less interested in the traditional college pipeline.

Microcredentials: A new category of education is rising [Caballero, Gallagher, Shapiro, & Zanville — via Zeina Chalich]

On 08/25/2022, in Alternatives, Australia, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, credentialing, Europe, new business models, reinvent, skills, staying relevant, student-related, surviving, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Despite the lack of globally accepted standards or even agreement on language, microcredentials have proven to be a promising way to fulfil student and labour market needs that are unique to the digital age.#aussieED #womenED #microcredentials https://t.co/CJfxwxm2K5

— Zeina Chalich ? (@ZeinaChalich) August 24, 2022

Yale Study: Vast Majority of High Schoolers Unhappy at School — from fee.org by Kerry McDonald
The Yale findings echo previous conclusions about young people’s attitudes toward school.

Excerpt:

Most high school students are not happy at school. A new study by Yale researchers finds that nearly three-quarters of high schoolers report negative feelings toward school. The study surveyed more than 20,000 high school students in all 50 US states and found widespread dissatisfaction at school across all demographic groups, with girls reporting slightly more negative emotions than boys. According to Yale co-author Zorana Ivcevic,

It was higher than we expected. We know from talking to students that they are feeling tired, stressed, and bored, but were surprised by how overwhelming it was.

From DSC:
If you were to have polled him during his ninth through eleventh-grade years, our son would have been one of the very disgruntled students going through high school. His senior year was spent doing exactly what he wanted to be doing — and he was much happier, more engaged, and more motivated to learn the material. He was also around an entirely different student body his senior year — where students were there because they wanted to be there and they were all pursuing their craft.

Fast forward a couple of years, and he actually enjoyed a good deal of his learning experiences this summer and he’s really looking forward to his film and acting classes this fall. It’s amazing the amount of energy and determination/interest that gets unleashed when the motivation is intrinsic.
.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

Also from fee.org by Kerry McDonald:

How Disruptive Innovation Is Accelerating the Growth of Alternative Learning Models
Disruptive innovation is reshaping how children learn and expanding access to alternative education models.

.
9 Digital Etiquette Tips — from techlearning.com by Lisa Nielsen
Teaching proper digital etiquette to students starts with modeling it

Excerpt:

It’s undeniable that the pandemic changed the way we teach, learn, work, and live, but when some people returned to in-person learning and their schools, it seemed they could use some advice on digital etiquette for the new, and extremely connected, world in which we are now operating. This is a world where at any time you may be meeting or teaching in-person, via video, phone, or a combination thereof at the same time.

While adapting was easier for some, others could use a bit of help. For those people, you may want to share or discuss these tips with them.

A Guide To Design Thinking For Kids — from edtechreview.in by Saniya Khan

Excerpt:

The concept is active and inclusive. What’s more, children embrace design thinking with enthusiasm. Across the globe, schools are embracing design thinking as a new way to learn and increase student participation. It should be on our education agenda. Of course, this is more complicated than standard repackaged evaluations. However, conceptual thinking gives children golden opportunities for commitment and creativity, two prerequisites for true learning.
.

How Accredible Makes Learning Credible — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark

Key Points

To increase the value of credentials, Accredible launched Spotlight Directory.
This allows issuers to provide a home base for people that hold their credentials.

Excerpts:

Learners store credentials in their Accredible wallet and can incorporate them into their LinkedIn profile.

To increase the value of credentials, Accredible launched Spotlight Directory which allows issuers to provide a home base for people that hold their credentials. For example, the Hootsuite Certified Professionals Directory showcases everyone that has earned a Hootsuite credential.

The faster the world of work changes, the more the transcripts lose signal value and the more we need finer grained and more dynamic ways of communicating capabilities.

Tom Vander Ark

Addendum on 8/22/22:

What parents should say to teachers (according to teachers) — from washingtonpost.com by Elizabeth Chang

Excerpt:

“Parents are often surprised by stories of other parents’ treatment of teachers,” wrote Margaret Flaherty, 42, a high school English teacher at a public school in Byfield, Mass. “When I share some of the things parents have said or written to me, mouths go agape. They can be mean. Very mean. And we are so tired. Start with assuming good intentions and take it from there.”

Dive Into AI, Avatars and the Metaverse With NVIDIA at SIGGRAPH — from blogs.nvidia.com

Excerpt:

Innovative technologies in AI, virtual worlds and digital humans are shaping the future of design and content creation across every industry. Experience the latest advances from NVIDIA in all these areas at SIGGRAPH, the world’s largest gathering of computer graphics experts, [which ran from Aug. 8-11].

At SIGGRAPH, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang Illuminates Three Forces Sparking Graphics Revolution — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
NVIDIA unveils new products and research to transform industries with AI, the metaverse and digital humans.

NVIDIA AI Makes Performance Capture Possible With Any Camera — from blogs.nvidia.com by Isha Salian
Derivative, Notch, Pixotope and others use NVIDIA Vid2Vid Cameo and 3D body-pose estimation tools to drive performances in real time.

How to Start a Career in AI — from blogs.nvidia.com by Brian Caulfield
Four most important steps to starting a career in AI, seven big questions answered.

As Far as the AI Can See: ILM Uses Omniverse DeepSearch to Create the Perfect Sky — from blogs.nvidia.com by Richard Kerris
Omniverse AI-enabled search tool lets legendary studio sift through massive database of 3D scenes.

Future of Creativity on Display ‘In the NVIDIA Studio’ During SIGGRAPH Special Address — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Major NVIDIA Omniverse updates power 3D virtual worlds, digital twins and avatars, reliably boosted by August NVIDIA Studio Driver; #MadeInMachinima contest winner revealed.

What Is Direct and Indirect Lighting? — from blogs.nvidia.com by JJ Kim
In computer graphics, the right balance between direct and indirect lighting elevates the photorealism of a scene.

NVIDIA Studio Laptops Offer Students AI, Creative Capabilities That Are Best in… Class — from blogs.nvidia.com by Gerardo Degaldo
Designed for creativity and speed, Studio laptops are the ultimate creative tool for aspiring 3D artists, video editors, designers and photographers.

Design in the Age of Digital Twins: A Conversation With Graphics Pioneer Donald Greenberg — from blogs.nvidia.com by Rick Merritt
From his Cornell office, home to a career of 54 years and counting, he shares with SIGGRAPH attendees his latest works in progress.

DC: Hmmm. Interesting. “…where we match employees in the workforce to our academic clients.”

On 08/13/2022, in career development, CMS/LMS, lifelong learning, microlearning, reinvent, skills, United States, vendors, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Learning Management Systems Are Getting Smarter — from campustechnology.com by Mary Grush and John Baker

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Grush: Why do you at D2L present a ‘common learning platform’?

Baker: The common learning platform is a critical part of our strategy for educators and learners alike. We decided years ago that we did not want to build multiple different platforms for K12, higher education, or the workplace — we found it better to focus on one platform that met different use cases.

One great example of how this single platform across markets helps is what we’re doing with D2L Wave — where we match employees in the workforce to our academic clients. This takes the friction out of all the steps required to enroll in micro-credentials and other programs, and it helps an employee with career progression. D2L Wave makes it easy to connect learners with the right education to help them take the next step in their career or to support them to get better at their craft — this is key for upskilling the workforce.

The future of learning: Co-creating skills development strategies with employee preferences [Young Rivers]

On 08/10/2022, in adult learning, business, career development, collaboration, communications, communities of practice, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, digital learning, future, heutagogy, ideas, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning preferences, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, more voice more choice more control, pace of change, personalized/customized learning, platforms, podcasting, skills, training / L&D, using teams, vendors, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, webinars, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The future of learning: Co-creating skills development strategies with employee preferences — from chieflearningofficer.com by Stacey Young Rivers
The limitations of developing just-in-time learning strategies perpetuate a paradigm where learning and development can appear ineffective for teams that have to move quickly and fail fast.

Excerpt:

I believe the future of learning will be a system where employees and learning teams co-create experiences. No longer will skills development programs be created in silos for employees to consume. Gone will be the days of conducting exhaustive needs analysis that can add layers of complexity for program delivery.

The limitations of developing just-in-time learning strategies perpetuate a paradigm where learning and development can appear ineffective for teams that have to move quickly and fail fast. Thinking about how to overcome these challenges conjures a solution similar to a metaverse, a persistent virtual world that is always open. One value proposition of a metaverse is that everyone can create their own adventure in an ecosystem supporting curiosity and experimentation, two areas undergirding skills development.

With this lens, understanding employee preferences for learning is the beginning of co-creating experiences, and one approach for how L&D leaders can begin to structure skills development programs. While conducting a study to engage employees in training, we uncovered new insights into where corporate L&D is headed in the future.

Also relevant here, see:

Workplace Learning: Still a Mess — from eliterate.us by Michael Feldstein

Excerpt:

There’s a mantra these days that higher education needs to get better at listening to industry so they can better prepare students for work. And while there is definitely some truth to that, it assumes that “industry” knows what it needs its workers to know. Former HP CEO Lew Platt once famously said, “If only Hewlett Packard knew what Hewlett Packard knows, we’d be three times more productive.”

In other words, a lot of vital know-how is locked up in pockets within the organization. It doesn’t reach either the training folks or the HR folks. So how are either universities or EdTech professional development companies supposed to serve an invisible need?

It’s not that they don’t know how to learn or they don’t like to learn online. It’s because their experience tells them that their valuable time spent “learning” might not equate to actual skills development.

Addendum on 8/15/22:

Workplace Learning: A Follow-up — from eliterate.us by Michael Feldstein

Women in Tech: A Complete Guide [Niles]

On 08/03/2022, in 21st century, career development, corporate / business world, engineering, entrepreneurship, mathematics, MBA, science, skills, society, sociology, STEAM-related, technology (general), United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Women in Tech: A Complete Guide — from techguide.org by Vasilia Niles

Excerpt:

This guide is all about how to get more women in tech. First, we will examine why the gender gap in tech fields exists and what we can do about it. And then, we will take a look at the best way to find opportunities for women interested in science, technology, and engineering — including scholarships, internships, and employment opportunities all geared toward the most cutting edge fields.

Closing the gap in tech is important for many reasons. Firstly, women make up 40 percent of the US workforce. With the tech industry being the fastest growing sector and others rapidly shrinking, there will be a disparity between supply and demand for employees if this continues. This is already the case in some tech sectors like cybersecurity.

Secondly, women-led companies and companies with more female employees historically outperform by 3x ones that are male dominant. In fact, in companies where 50 percent or more of executives are women, there are reported higher job satisfaction, better work culture, equal and higher pay, and less female employee turnover.

10 in-demand soft skills to supercharge your career [Rosenthal]

On 08/03/2022, in business, career development, collaboration, communications, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, ethics, morals/values, skills, training / L&D, Uncategorized, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

10 in-demand soft skills to supercharge your career — from fastcompany.com by Melissa Rosenthal
Your résumé and experience may get you through the door, but these soft skills could help you clinch the job.

Excerpt:

A LinkedIn Global Talent Trends report shows that 92% of talent professionals reported that soft skills are equally or more important to hire for than hard skills. The same study reveals that 89% surveyed said that when a new hire doesn’t work out, it’s because they lack much-needed soft skills.

The hard truth about hard skills is that they can have a short half-life. Constant innovation, technology updates, and new feature releases render many of these skills obsolete quickly. Meanwhile, soft skills never expire—they are relevant, transferable, and keep a person highly employable.

The workforce is changing. Can community colleges change with it? [Burke]

On 07/30/2022, in 21st century, adult learning, career development, communities of practice, community colleges, funding / grants, higher education, reinvent, research, skills, society, staying relevant, surviving, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

The workforce is changing. Can community colleges change with it? — from workshift.opencampusmedia.org by Bylilah Burke; with thanks to Dr. Paul Czarapata for this resource
Advocates and researchers in education are asking if two-year institutions might transform to reach a fuller potential—serving as community hubs for social and economic mobility.

Excerpt:

Increasingly, they’re also the place students like Plunkett turn to when they find themselves at a dead end in their career and need to retool. And advocates and researchers in education are asking if these institutions might transform to reach a fuller potential—serving as community hubs for social and economic mobility.

That’s certainly the future envisioned by groups like Achieving the Dream, a leader in the student success movement. Karen Stout, president and CEO of the organization, has said that means colleges must take a more active role in bringing career-aligned education and reskilling opportunities—whether their own programs or those developed by industry—to the community.

“In the past, community colleges were lifelong-learning institutions,” Stout told Work Shift earlier this year. “Now we must become lifelong career-matching institutions—a source of upskilling, a rational pathway to career development that weaves together opportunities for students to move in and out of work and school that is designed to progressively lead to a career in a particular field.”

It’s a tall order, as the American workforce from Alabama to Wyoming is set to change drastically over the next few decades. Can community colleges rise to the occasion? Some already are.

Also from workshift.opencampusmedia.org, see:

A series of high-profile researchers and commentators this past week put the U.S. financial aid system under the microscope—looking at whether it reduces or perpetuates inequality. @kevincarey1, @dynarski, @linzcpage, @jscottclayton, Art Hauptmanhttps://t.co/YBhzEC3p3D

— workshiftnews (@workshiftnews) July 28, 2022

Coding Isn’t a Necessary Leadership Skill — But Digital Literacy Is [Matveeva]

On 07/30/2022, in career development, collaboration, computer science, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, data related items, leadership, programming, skills, training / L&D, United States, usability, user experience (UX), using teams, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Coding Isn’t a Necessary Leadership Skill — But Digital Literacy Is — from hbr.org by Sophia Matveeva

Summary (emphasis DSC):

While most leaders now know that tech is a vital part of business, many are wondering what they really need to know about technology to succeed in the digital age. Coding bootcamps may appeal to some, but for many leaders, learning to code is simply not the best investment. It takes a long time to become a proficient coder, and it still doesn’t give you a holistic overview of how digital technologies get made. The good news is that most leaders don’t need to learn to code. Instead, they need to learn how to work with people who code. This means becoming a digital collaborator and learning how to work with developers, data scientists, user experience designers, and product managers — not completely retraining. The author presents four ways for non-technical leaders to become digital collaborators.

15 technical skills employers look for in 2022 [Dale]

On 07/27/2022, in 21st century, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, CMS/LMS, digital video, marketing/social marketing, mathematics, platforms, programming, research, skills, social media, UK, workplace, by Daniel Christian

15 technical skills employers look for in 2022 — from wikijob.co.uk by Nikki Dale

Excerpts:

A technical skill is the ability to carry out a task associated with technical roles such as IT, engineering, mechanics, science or finance. A typical technical skill set might include programming, the analysis of complex figures or the use of specific tools.

Technical skills are sometimes referred to as ‘hard skills’ because you can learn how to do them and, in some cases, get qualified or at least certified.
…
Some technical skills employers are looking for include:

10 Arguments for Inciting Learning — from insidehighered.com by Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis
Active learning has been clearly shown to be more effective than traditional modes, write Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis, who outline its many merits to those who continue to resist it.

Excerpts:

So what can we do to convince more instructors to actually support and use active learning? Over the past several years, we’ve been researching and interviewing faculty members around the world for our upcoming book on teaching and learning, The New College Classroom. And a number of those faculty have asked us how they can best explain the merits of active learning to colleagues and administrators—and even to students and their parents— who continue to be resistant to it. Here are 10 principles, or convincing arguments, that we’ve shared with them.

“Nothing will change until faculty incentives do.
Until we change our academic reward structures for hiring and promotion, faculty members have no reason to take valuable time out from writing monographs or refereed papers to rethink their role in the classroom. We cannot incite students to learn without inciting—and incentivizing—their instructors first so they will invest in understanding and applying active learning. We’ve already made the case for why such an educational approach is vitally important, so we now say simply to top administrators: let’s do it!

Audre Lorde

I think we’ve run out of time to effectively practice law in the United States of America [Christian]

On 07/25/2022, in 21st century, accreditation, adult learning, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), Blockchain, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, communities of practice, copyright/ownership/NFTs, corporate / business world, Cost of legal services - including access, credentialing, cryptocurrencies, dangers of the status quo, Daniel S. Christian, distance education, emerging technologies, engineering, entrepreneurship, experimentation, face-to-face, future, higher education, Holographic comms, human-computer interaction (HCI), hybrid learning, Hyflex learning, ideas, innovation, instructional design, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning preferences, learning spaces, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, Metaverse, Michigan, Mixed Reality (MR), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Near Field Communication (NFC), online learning, organizational change, pace of change, platforms, policy, productivity / tips and tricks, reinvent, robotics, skills, society, staying relevant, strategy, surviving, technology (general), telelegal, trends, Uncategorized, United States, universities, using teams, vendors, Virtual courts and law firms, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, vision/possibilities, Web3, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Given:

the accelerating pace of change that’s been occurring over the last decade or more
the current setup of the legal field within the U.S. — and who can practice law
the number of emerging technologies now on the landscapes out there

…I think we’ve run out of time to effectively practice law in the U.S. — at least in terms of dealing with emerging technologies. Consider the following items/reflections.

Inside one of the nation’s few hybrid J.D. programs — from highereddive.com by Natalie Schwartz
Shannon Gardner, Syracuse law school’s associate dean for online education, talks about the program’s inaugural graduates and how it has evolved.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

In May, Syracuse University’s law school graduated its first class of students earning a Juris Doctor degree through a hybrid program, called JDinteractive, or JDi. The 45 class members were part of almost 200 Syracuse students who received a J.D. this year, according to a university announcement.

The private nonprofit, located in upstate New York, won approval from the American Bar Association in 2018 to offer the three-year hybrid program.

The ABA strictly limits distance education, requiring a waiver for colleges that wish to offer more than one-third of their credits online. To date, the ABA has only approved distance education J.D. programs at about a dozen schools, including Syracuse.

Many folks realize this is the future of legal education — not that it will replace traditional programs. It is one route to pursue a legal education that is here to stay. I did not see it as pressure, and I think, by all accounts, we have definitely proven that it is and can be a success.

Shannon Gardner, associate dean for online education

From DSC:
It was March 2018. I just started working as a Director of Instructional Services at a law school. I had been involved with online-based learning since 2001.

I was absolutely shocked at how far behind law schools were in terms of offering 100% online-based programs. I was dismayed to find out that 20+ years after such undergraduate programs were made available — and whose effectiveness had been proven time and again — that there were no 100%-online based Juris Doctor (JD) programs in the U.S. (The JD degree is what you have to have to practice law in the U.S. Some folks go on to take further courses after obtaining that degree — that’s when Masters of Law programs like LLM programs kick in.)

Why was this I asked? Much of the answer lies with the extremely tight control that is exercised by the American Bar Association (ABA). They essentially lay down the rules for how much of a law student’s training can be online (normally not more than a third of one’s credit hours, by the way).

Did I say it’s 2022? And let me say the name of that organization again — the American Bar Association (ABA).

Graphic by Daniel S. Christian

Not to scare you (too much), but this is the organization that is supposed to be in charge of developing lawyers who are already having to deal with issues and legal concerns arising from the following technologies:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) — Machine Learning (ML), Natural Language Processing (NLP), algorithms, bots, and the like
The Internet of Things (IoT) and/or the Internet of Everything (IoE)
Extended Reality (XR) — Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), Virtual Reality (VR)
Holographic communications
Big data
High-end robotics
The Metaverse
Cryptocurrencies
NFTs
Web3
Blockchain
…and the like

I don’t think there’s enough time for the ABA — and then law schools — to reinvent themselves. We no longer have that luxury. (And most existing/practicing lawyers don’t have the time to get up the steep learning curves involved here — in addition to their current responsibilities.)

The other option is to use teams of specialists, That’s our best hope. If the use of what’s called nonlawyers* doesn’t increase greatly, the U.S. has little hope of dealing with legal matters that are already arising from such emerging technologies.

So let’s hope the legal field catches up with the pace of change that’s been accelerating for years now. If not, we’re in trouble.

* Nonlawyers — not a very complimentary term…
I hope they come up with something else.
Some use the term Paralegals.
I’m sure there are other terms as well.

From DSC:
There is hope though. As Gabe Teninbaum just posted the resource below (out on Twitter). I just think the lack of responsiveness from the ABA has caught up with us. We’ve run out of time for doing “business as usual.”

Law students want more distance education classes, according to ABA findings — from abajournal.com by Stephanie Francis Ward

Excerpt:

A recent survey of 1,394 students in their third year of law school found that 68.65% wanted the ability to earn more distance education credits than what their schools offered.

Learning Ecosystems

A very solid question: “What role do CFOs play in the Great Resignation?” [Keating]

DC: Hmmm. Interesting. “…where we match employees in the workforce to our academic clients.”

The future of learning: Co-creating skills development strategies with employee preferences [Young Rivers]

10 in-demand soft skills to supercharge your career [Rosenthal]

The workforce is changing. Can community colleges change with it? [Burke]

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