United States

Making Change: How America’s Workforce is Responding to Rising Costs [guildeducation.com]

On 02/21/2023, in adult learning, business, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, economics, funding / grants, future, reinvent, society, staying relevant, surviving, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Making Change: How America’s Workforce is Responding to Rising Costs — from insights.guildeducation.com

Taken together, the results show an American workforce focused on the long-term. Workers are managing to costs, but more than that, they’re making down payments on their future. This is a workforce motivated more than ever by a path to career growth and economic stability.

What the workforce wants in 2023 -- looking for more education, training, and long-term stability

Digital credentials’ appeal is strong, while corporate upskilling moves at a ‘snail’s pace’ [Ashburn]

On 02/20/2023, in business, career development, colleges, communities of practice, competency-based learning/education, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, IBM, learning ecosystem, Microsoft, skills, staying relevant, student-related, training / L&D, United States, universities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Digital credentials’ appeal is strong, while corporate upskilling moves at a ‘snail’s pace’ — from by Elyse Ashburn; with thanks to Paul Fain for this resource
Surveys out this week from IBM and LinkedIn take a closer look at the role of digital credentials and other forms upskilling in education and on the job.

Excerpt:

Interest in upskilling and short-term credentials, either as an alternative or an add-on to college, has grown steadily over the past few years. And a couple of surveys out this week take a closer look at the role digital credentials and other forms upskilling can play in bridging the gap between formal education and work.

A major IBM survey fielded in 13 countries, including the United States, found that almost half of students, job seekers, and career changers are interested in jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)—but more than 61% think they aren’t qualified because they lack the right degrees.

75% of respondents thought that digital credentials were a good way to supplement traditional education, but only 47% were actually familiar with such credentialing programs.
Among those who’d earned a digital credential, 86% said that it helped them achieve their career goals.

Eight in 10 people surveyed said they planned to upgrade their skills in the next two years—but time, cost, or simply not knowing how to begin were major barriers. Among both students and job seekers, 40% said that they don’t know where to start in developing new professional or technical skills.

Several months’ worth of labor market updates from Handshake’s blog

On 02/20/2023, in Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, business, career development, change, computer science, corporate / business world, marketing/social marketing, MBA, skills, society, technology (general), United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Below are several months’ worth of labor market updates from Handshake’s blog — with thanks to Paul Fain for this resource.

February 2023 Early Talent Labor Market Update — from joinhandshake.com/blog/
Demand for tech talent outside of coastal states

Key takeaways

Tech hubs no longer? Traditional tech hubs like California and New York are seeing fewer entry-level job openings for technical talent and less interest from students.
A rising tech diaspora: States in other parts of the country, like Iowa (+10.9%) and Maryland (+5.1%), are emerging as locations with more job postings for technical roles—at the same time, students have demonstrated interest in applying to opportunities in those states.
New hubs for tech talent: Students are demonstrating greater openness to a wider array of geographic locations for tech roles with large increases in applications per job in states like Oklahoma (4.8x), Arizona (2.3x), and Oregon (2.7x).

January 2023 Early Talent Labor Market Updates — from joinhandshake.com/blog/
Employers still have strong demand for entry-level technical talent.

Key takeaways
2022 was a difficult year for workers in tech, as the industry was hit hard by hiring freezes and layoffs. Despite an overall slowdown in tech sector hiring, there are several bright spots in the technical labor market that should give early talent reason for optimism.

Tech industry is still investing in (tech) talent
Software and computer tech jobs outside of tech industry
Tech, but not in software

December 2022 Early Talent Labor Market Updates — from joinhandshake.com/blog/
Part-time jobs falling year over year with retail leading the way

Key takeaways

Demand for early talent to fill part-time roles has dropped compared to earlier this year, and part-time jobs saw the largest year-over-year decrease (-32%) in job postings on the platform, when compared to full-time and internships.
Notably employers who are still creating new jobs have been hiring more for full-time roles and internships with job postings per employer up 1% and 7% respectively.
The retail industry, which relies on part-time workers through the holiday season, has seen the greatest year-over-year decrease in part-time job postings that were listed between October and November with a drop of 51%

Competition Can Motivate, Encourage and Inspire Students. But It Can Also Harm Them. — from edsurge.com by Patrick Harris II

Excerpt:

The American Psychological Association (APA) defines competition as “any performance situation structured in such a way that success depends on performing better than others.” Naturally, this could create challenges in a school setting, but in my experience, whether innate or as a product of a structure, competition itself isn’t always problematic. In fact, some studies confirm that competition has benefits, though they vary based on the individual and the competition.
…
Competition can be thrilling and motivating to those who choose to engage. But it’s important to remember that competition is not a golden key to unlock student engagement. Depending on how we use it, competition can also cause harm, such as anxiety, low self-esteem or negative feelings of self-worth.

For every student who was celebrated, there was another student who, by design, was shamed.

Looking back, these competitions weren’t used to teach students sportsmanship or resilience. They were used as gimmicks and antics to “motivate” students. I now recognize that I played a part in reinforcing a system of inequity by awarding those students who were already privileged.

From DSC:
I appreciate Patrick’s balanced article here — mentioning both the potential advantages and disadvantages of using competitive activities in the classroom.

I’m also going to comment on the topic of competition but from a different perspective. One that involves my faith journey and relationships.

I used to play a lot of sports and I played one sport at the university level. I mention this to establish that I’ve had my share of competition. In my experience, competition was anti-relational. That could have been just my perspective, but perhaps others share this perspective as well.

That is, I viewed people as to be competed against…not to be in relationships with. When my identity was tied up with my sport, that was ok. But as my identity changed in my senior year, it was not ok. When I became a Christian (in faith), my identity shifted big time. And the LORD wanted me to be in relationships with other people. Competition didn’t help that part of my journey.

As an aside, competition was also encouraged in terms of grades and performance in school — including at the university level. Several professors put our results up on the walls outside their offices — clearly showing everyone where they stood in the class. And I saw competition in the corporate world all the time as well. So while it’s something we here in the United States practice big time, it does seem to have its plusses and minuses.

Why Studying Is So Hard, and What Teachers Can Do to Help [McKenna & Willingham]

On 02/14/2023, in education, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, memory, productivity / tips and tricks, psychology, research, student teaching/teacher education, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, by Daniel Christian

Why Studying Is So Hard, and What Teachers Can Do to Help — from edutopia.org by Laura McKenna
Beginning in the upper elementary grades, research-backed study skills should be woven into the curriculum, argues psychology professor Daniel Willingham in a new book.

Excerpt:

The additional context for Willingham’s new book is that students often don’t know the best methods to study for tests, master complex texts, or take productive notes, and it’s difficult to explain to them why they should take a different tack. In the book, Willingham debunks popular myths about the best study strategies, explains why they don’t work, and recommends effective strategies that are based on the latest research in cognitive science.

I recently spoke to him about why listening to lectures isn’t like watching a movie, how our self-monitoring of learning is often flawed and self-serving, and when it’s too late to start teaching students good study skills.

What will be hot in workplace L&D in 2023? The results are in for the L&D Global Sentiment Survey 2023 [Taylor]

On 02/13/2023, in Africa, analytics, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Asia, Augmented Reality (AR), Australia, Canada, collaboration, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, data related items, digital learning, elearning, Europe, global / globalization, India, instructional design, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, Metaverse, microlearning, mobile learning, personalized/customized learning, skills, UK, United States, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, workplace, XR - extended reality, by Daniel Christian

Here’s the link to Don Taylor’s posting on Linked in (also shown below).

.

Why Are Students So Disengaged? [Alonso]

On 02/13/2023, in adjunct faculty, career development, colleges, community colleges, engagement / engaging students, faculty/staff, higher education, ideas, instructional design, Learning Experience Design, real-world assignments, skills, staying relevant, student-related, teaching & learning, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Why Are Students So Disengaged? — from insidehighered.com by Johanna Alonso
A new survey by Wiley finds that one-fourth of students said they would be more invested in their courses if they learned in a way that emulated their future careers.

Excerpt:

Undergraduate students are struggling to stay engaged in class—and they believe that material more directly connected to real-life issues could help solve the problem.

That’s a key finding of the recent State of the Student 2022 survey by the academic publishing company Wiley, which noted that 55 percent of undergraduate and 38 percent of graduate students said they struggle to remain interested in their classes. The same proportion of undergraduates and 34 percent of graduate students also said they have trouble retaining the material they learn.

The survey of 5,258 students and 2,452 instructors in North America was conducted in August 2022 and sought to understand the factors that most impact student success, as well as what factors instructors perceive as the most impactful.

Preparing Today’s Students for the Future Workforce — from rdene915.com by Rachelle Dené Poth

Excerpt:

Today’s high school students are the future of our workforce. Before long they will be in college or starting full-time jobs of their own. But how are today’s students preparing for their futures? What will the workforce look like when these students move on to the next stage of their lives?

Schools, districts, and even state education departments provide various programs for students to gain relevant work experience and gain necessary skills outside of the classroom.

What Are These Programs?
There are a number of school-based programs that support student growth through work such as…

Also relevant/see:

One Foot in the Future — from the BIG questions institute

As an excerpt from an email describing this new/free ebook, Homa Tavangar and Will Richardson write:

We need a fresh set of tools, frameworks, and lenses if we are to meet the future effectively.

With this new ebook, “One Foot in the Future,” we’re charting a different path forward, introducing readers to things like:

Design Fiction – A tool to help us become “archeologists of the future” and help us
Regenerative Learning – A lens that helps us see our work as it impacts all living things
Schoolpunk – A movement and a community to help imagine the future of education together.

And much more.

Our sense is that there is growing appetite to get out of the traditional school box and to design a more aspirational future. This new ebook is a great starting point for anyone who wants to do just that.

Brandon Busteed (emphasis DSC):

This is a Titanic moment. The iceberg is right in front of us and there just isn’t enough time to turn the massive U.S. education/higher education/employer training ship. Unless… We all go to work on work.

From DSC:
My comment on that string from Brandon was:

And I can’t help but think that part of that work involves Design Thinking…reinventing what lifelong learning looks/acts like.

A quick and sobering guide to cloning yourself — from oneusefulthing.substack.com by Professor Ethan Mollick
It took me a few minutes to create a fake me giving a fake lecture.

Excerpt:

I think a lot of people do not realize how rapidly the multiple strands of generative AI (audio, text, images, and video) are advancing, and what that means for the future.

With just a photograph and 60 seconds of audio, you can now create a deepfake of yourself in just a matter of minutes by combining a few cheap AI tools. I’ve tried it myself, and the results are mind-blowing, even if they’re not completely convincing. Just a few months ago, this was impossible. Now, it’s a reality.

To start, you should probably watch the short video of Virtual Me and Real Me giving the same talk about entrepreneurship. Nothing about the Virtual Me part of the video is real, even the script was completely AI-generated.

.

From DSC:
Also, I wanted to post the resource below just because I think it’s an excellent question!

If ChatGPT Can Disrupt Google In 2023, What About Your Company? — from forbes.com by Glenn Gow

Excerpts:

Board members and corporate execs don’t need AI to decode the lessons to be learned from this. The lessons should be loud and clear: If even the mighty Google can be potentially overthrown by AI disruption, you should be concerned about what this may mean for your company.
…
Professions that will be disrupted by generative AI include marketing, copywriting, illustration and design, sales, customer support, software coding, video editing, film-making, 3D modeling, architecture, engineering, gaming, music production, legal contracts, and even scientific research. Software applications will soon emerge that will make it easy and intuitive for anyone to use generative AI for those fields and more.
.

Some resources regarding how our emotions impact our learning [Knight]

On 02/10/2023, in Daniel S. Christian, education, Emotion, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning theories, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, by Daniel Christian

Learning relies on emotions — from linkedin.com by Melanie Knight

From DSC:
I don’t know nearly enough about how our emotions impact our learning. But this version of the Learn About Learning newsletter reminds me of a wish I have that our nation would create a one-stop shop/resource for how we learn:

I wish we had a one-stop shop / URL for how we learn

Why Educators And Employers Must Come Together To Cross The Skills Gap [Perna]

On 02/10/2023, in business, career development, collaboration, colleges, community colleges, education, higher education, ideas, IT in HE, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, United States, vision/possibilities, vocational / trades, workplace, youth, by Daniel Christian

Why Educators And Employers Must Come Together To Cross The Skills Gap — from forbes.com by Mark C. Perna

Excerpts:

Beyond the IT sector, skills gaps also exist in other areas of the economy, such as manufacturing and retail. There is a shortage of workers in the skilled trades industries, for example, which is growing more acute every year.

The other major factor in the growth of the skills gap is the aging of the Boomer generation, who are exiting the workforce—leaving open highly-skilled jobs that members of younger generations have not had the time or training to fill.

By 2030, forecasts predict that all Boomers will have left the job market—leaving some 85 million open jobs, according to a Korn Ferry study on the Global Talent Crunch. The cost? A projected $8.5 trillion in lost revenue.

Put another way, schools and employers need to team up in new ways to help provide access to members of the younger generation to gain the kinds of skills that make the skills gap a thing of the past. We need to connect the dots between school and work, because far too many people are getting lost in the middle.

And on a somewhat relevant note, also see:

General Assembly Launches Apprenticeship Solution to Help Employers Source, Deploy, and Retain Hard-to-Find Tech Talent — from finance.yahoo.com; via Paul Fain

Excerpt:

NEW YORK, Feb. 7, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — General Assembly (GA) today announced the launch of GA Apprenticeships, Powered by Interapt, a tech apprenticeship solution designed to fast-track high-potential, overlooked talent into careers in software engineering, data, and cybersecurity. In light of growing labor market challenges and ongoing skill shortages across a range of industries, this new model will provide employers with a derisked opportunity to onboard entry-level tech talent while also enabling apprentices to earn a salary as they learn alongside senior-level developers.

See Workers as Workers, Not as a College Credential — an opinion item out at nytimes.com (paywall)

In one of the richest nations on earth, the path to prosperity has narrowed significantly in recent decades — especially for those without a college education. More than 62 percent of Americans ages 25 and up do not hold bachelor’s degrees, and the earnings gapbetween those with a college education and those without one has never been wider.

ChatGPT sets record for fastest-growing user base – analyst note — from reuters.com by Krystal Hu

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Feb 1 (Reuters) – ChatGPT, the popular chatbot from OpenAI, is estimated to have reached 100 million monthly active users in January, just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to a UBS study on Wednesday.

The report, citing data from analytics firm Similarweb, said an average of about 13 million unique visitors had used ChatGPT per day in January, more than double the levels of December.

“In 20 years following the internet space, we cannot recall a faster ramp in a consumer internet app,” UBS analysts wrote in the note.

From DSC:
This reminds me of the current exponential pace of change that we are experiencing…

..and how we struggle with that kind of pace.

Five Predictions for the Future of Learning in the Age of AI [Lee Skates]

On 02/10/2023, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, assessment, credentialing, education technology, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, personalized/customized learning, United States, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Five Predictions for the Future of Learning in the Age of AI — from a16z.com by Anne Lee Skates

Excerpts:

Seeing as education is one of AI’s first consumer use cases, and programs like ChatGPT are how millions of kids, teachers, and administrators will be introduced to AI, it is critical that we pay attention to the applications of AI and its implications for our lives. Below, we explore five predictions for AI and the future of learning, knowledge, and education.

“How will ALSPs use ChatGPT, AI, & other forms of #legaltech?” [Christian] + several other legal-related items

On 02/10/2023, in Access to Justice (A2J), business, corporate / business world, Daniel S. Christian, future, law schools, Legal operations, legal reform, legal technologies, legislatures / government / legal, trends, United States, by Daniel Christian

The Thomson Reuters Institute’s biennial report found that growth of ALSPs has “dramatically accelerated.” It is up 45% since the last report in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 20% for fiscal years 2020 and 2021…https://t.co/cVNH8dKHRs via @ABAJournal #legal

— Daniel Christian (he/him/his) (@dchristian5) February 10, 2023

DC: It will be interesting to see how ALSPs use ChatGPT, GPT versions 3.5 and above, and other areas of #legaltech

Alternative legal services providers hit $20.6B share of legal market, new report says — from abajournal.com by Matt Reynolds

Excerpt:

Alternative legal services providers, or ALSPs, have shown accelerated growth and now make up $20.6 billion of the legal market, according to a report published Tuesday.

The Thomson Reuters Institute’s biennial report found that growth of ALSPs has “dramatically accelerated.” It is up 45% since the last report in 2021, with a compound annual growth rate of 20% for fiscal years 2020 and 2021, according to the report, titled Alternative Legal Services Providers 2023: Accelerating growth & expanding service categories.

ABA panel deals a blow to test-optional push — from highereddive.com by Jeremy Bauer-Wolf

Dive Brief:

The American Bar Association’s policymaking body rejected a plan Monday that would end the requirement that ABA-accredited law schools use the Law School Admission Test or another standardized assessment in admissions.
The ABA House of Delegates voted against the change to the organization’s policy that mandates admissions tests — exams detractors say contribute to middling diversity in legal education. Nearly 600 officials comprise the House of Delegates, which took a voice vote on the plan, meaning a precise count was not available.
However, the proposal isn’t dead. It could be revived and approved unilaterally by the Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar…

Excerpts:

Every year, 20 million Americans find themselves in state civil courts facing life-altering events such as divorce, child custody deliberations, eviction, and missed bills.

But unlike in criminal courts, where defendants have a constitutional right to legal representation, the same guarantee isn’t afforded in state civil courts. Most people in these courts are low- to middle-income and unable to afford help. They must strike out on their own to blindly navigate byzantine legal protocols.

“The civil justice system is broken in our state courts,” says Utah Law Professor Anna Carpenter, whose research examines state civil courts, the judges who preside in them, and access to justice. She is part of a four-person research team that pioneered a new body of scholarship that analyzes state civil courts.

“I challenge anyone, especially lawyers, to go sit in one of these courtrooms and watch the tragic, day-to-day reality,” Carpenter says. “You’ll see why we believe these courts are the emergency rooms of our justice system.”

The Future of Legal Technology with Gabe Teninbaum

Learning Ecosystems

Making Change: How America’s Workforce is Responding to Rising Costs [guildeducation.com]

“How will ALSPs use ChatGPT, AI, & other forms of #legaltech?” [Christian] + several other legal-related items

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