curriculum

Why recruiters can’t find workers and new grads can’t find jobs (it’s not AI) — from washingtonpost.com by Jon Marcus
Experts say a major labor shortage looms because of population shifts and a mismatch between new graduates’ skills and employers’ needs.

Recent college graduates complain they can’t find entry-level jobs because artificial intelligence is taking over.

Yet, tech recruiter Matt Walsh and other experts say the growth of AI and the struggle to find entry-level work mask a bigger problem: The United States is facing what’s projected to become the largest labor shortage in its history.

In sectors such as semiconductor production, the problem isn’t AI or too few jobs, said Walsh, CEO of the Phoenix-based search firm Blue Signal.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “There just aren’t enough people.”

Economists warn that the worsening labor problem, due in part to a skills shortage and population shifts, will be vast and reach beyond tech.

Among the trends that have been leading to this moment: a mismatch between the careers college graduates are pursuing and the jobs employers are struggling to fill. Far fewer students are majoring in health care fields than are needed to meet demand, for instance.

“We have pumped so many young people into business and finance” when what’s really in demand are graduates in other fields, Hetrick said. “It’s like a factory producing these workers like widgets, even though society is saying, ‘We really don’t need them.’ And the factory just keeps pumping them out.”

“Teachers ban it. Employers demand it.”

Also relevant/see:

The Shifting Career Ladder — from nafez.substack.com by Nafez Dakkak
AI is changing how work works and quietly removing the pathways through which young people learn to become experts.

AI is reshaping how people build skills, enter professions, and move along the career ladder and through the labour market.

In this conversation, I sit down with Matt Sigelmen founder of LightCast and now the President of Burning Glass Institute. Matt has dedicated his career to understanding the labor market and helping society improve the connections within in it.

Matt and I explore why people and opportunities are often only “a few skills apart,” why entry-level work may be losing its traditional role as the first rung of expertise, and why schools, universities, and employers now need to rethink the pathways that turn potential into mastery.

Educators need to be deeply aligned with what these changes are, and they need to shift the AI discourse from “how” questions to “what” questions. What do we need to teach? What do we need to keep in the curriculum?

The Law School Deans Driving AI Innovation in Legal Education — from natlawreview.com by Shivani Vedhere, AI & the Law Newsletter; via Colin S. Levy

Artificial intelligence is no longer a peripheral issue for legal education. It is quickly becoming one of the central questions facing law schools: how to prepare future lawyers for a profession in which AI will affect research, client counseling, litigation strategy, access to justice, and the business of law.

For decades, law schools treated legal technology as an elective or a niche interest for students already inclined toward innovation. That era is ending. Law firms are adopting AI tools at scale and even investing in developing their own tools. Clients are asking harder questions about efficiency, cost, and competence. Courts are sanctioning lawyers and litigants for AI-generated hallucinations, with the number of identified cases in the United States now exceeding 1,000. Students entering the profession will be expected to keep up with this rapidly changing landscape.

The most forward-looking law schools are responding accordingly. That transformation is being driven in large part by a group of innovative law school deans who are treating AI not as a passing trend, but as a structural change in legal education.

These initiatives signal a broader shift in legal academia where law schools are no longer merely debating whether AI belongs in the curriculum. The more pressing question is how deeply, how early, and how responsibly AI should be integrated into legal education.

What AI-Enabled Education Actually Looks Like When It’s Working for Workforce Students — from gettingsmart.com by Stephen Griffin

Key Points

Institutions can use AI to make skills, pathways, and job outcomes visible to students and employers in ways traditional transcripts cannot.
Academic affairs, workforce development, career services, and employers need a shared definition of readiness and competency before tools can deliver meaningful value.

The second is portable competency records. Learning and employment records — AI-enabled documentation of what a student knows and can do, expressed in language employers recognize — are the infrastructure that makes credentials legible across the education-to-employment continuum. When a student can show an employer not just “completed Supply Chain Management 101” but “demonstrated proficiency in inventory optimization, route planning, and logistics software at the industry-recognized level,” the credential stops being abstract. It becomes evidence. Building these records requires investment in tools, yes — but more importantly, it requires faculty, workforce development staff, and employer partners to agree on what competency actually looks like before the technology is ever purchased.

Workplace Readiness: Can Higher Education Develop AI-Ready Students? — from learningguild.com by Eddie Lin and Roshan Bharwaney

For higher education to remain relevant, curricula must evolve. Here are some overarching recommendations for directions in higher education to bridge the skills gaps between universities and workplaces:

AI ethics and safety: Prepare students to navigate issues of fairness, bias, privacy, and societal impact.
Tackling complex questions: Emphasize open-ended challenges that blend structured and unstructured skills and reduce reliance on standardized tests and repetitive drills.
Critical thinking: Develop new assessments for judgment, creativity, and metacognition—essential to supervise AI outputs.
Human-AI synergy: Embed AI fluency across all disciplines, encouraging students to find the niches where human value is maximized.
Industry connection: Maintain close industry partnerships and collaborations including open innovation opportunities and collective intelligence approaches (Bharwaney & Sleeva, 2024).

Experiential learning and communities of practice are central to this vision. Internships, simulations, and cross-disciplinary projects can help students practice human-AI collaboration, resilience, and decision-making in environments that mirror the workplace’s ambiguity and complexity.

Universities that condemn the use of AI by students risk isolating themselves from the realities of today’s workplace, where interns and new hires are expected to be or quickly become adept at using AI for routine tasks and complex projects.

Why universities must become flexible lifelong partners, not one-time providers [Sivarajah]

On 05/28/2026, in adjunct faculty, apprenticeships, business, career development, change, changing business models, colleges, community colleges, corporate / business world, credentialing, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, Europe, faculty/staff, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, higher education, ideas, innovation, internships, leadership, learning ecosystem, lifelong learning, MBA, new business models, organizational change, pace of change, participation, pathways, professional development, skills, strategy, student-related, teaching & learning, technology (general), UK, United States, universities, vision/possibilities, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Why universities must become flexible lifelong partners, not one-time providers — from timeshighereducation.com by Sankar Sivarajah
As careers become increasingly non-linear and shaped by rapid change, universities must evolve beyond traditional degree provision, says Sankar Sivarajah. Here, he outlines strategies

From programmes to learning ecosystems
These pressures point towards a broader redefinition of higher education. Rather than viewing education as a one-time experience culminating in a degree, universities increasingly need to see themselves as partners in professional development across an entire career.

This means moving from a model centred on programmes to one focused on learning ecosystems that allow individuals to enter, leave and re-engage with higher education as their needs evolve.

Business schools may be particularly well placed to lead this shift because of their close engagement with employers and their long tradition of educating professionals at different stages of their careers.

But success will depend on more than introducing new modules or certificates. Universities must confront a fundamental question. Are the systems, structures and cultures that define higher education capable of supporting genuinely flexible learning?

The sector has already embraced the language of lifelong learning – the next step is ensuring that universities themselves are built to deliver it.

From DSC:
Long-time readers of this blog have seen this graphic of mine posted over the last 12+ years:
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Also relevant/see:

What if the undergraduate journey were a four-year internship? — from timeshighereducation.com by Michelle Seref
Treating work placements and co-curricular programmes as optional or supplementary misses deeper questions about whether traditional degrees prepare students for careers. Michelle Seref explains

Attending workshops or polishing a résumé in their final semester does not make students career-ready. They need to practise how to work – how to collaborate, navigate ambiguity, manage projects and apply knowledge in context – throughout their academic experience. The reality is that career readiness is not a co-curricular programme; it is an essential part of an integrated curriculum.

To be clear, employers do not expect classrooms to become training centres. What they are asking for – implicitly and explicitly – is graduates who can function in complex environments from day one. That means graduates who can work in teams, communicate professionally with stakeholders, adapt when plans change, apply theory to real constraints and learn continuously on the job.

These capabilities do not develop through passive learning. But experiential learning is often misunderstood as a single, high-impact activity: an internship, a capstone project or study abroad. In reality, its power comes from repetition and progression. One experience introduces exposure. A sequence of experiences builds competence.

We are proposing a paradigm shift: repositioning the undergraduate journey as a four-year professional internship rather than a continuation of the K-12 classroom environment.

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From DSC:
The problem with this innovative idea is that faculty often are not out in the “real world.” The best chance higher ed has to deliver on this idea is via the adjunct faculty members out there. Often, they are the ones practicing what they are teaching. They are constantly pulse-checking — and actively involved with — their industries and have more up-to-date, practical knowledge.

But this is a problem for traditional institutions of higher education, which have treated their adjunct faculty members poorly through the years. Adjunct faculty members hardly make minimum wage, have no benefits, no retirement plans, etc. — plus they have little to no say in faculty senates.

Organizational change would be a requirement.

Across the divide: reimagining faculty-staff collaboration in higher education — from timeshighereducation.com by Saskia van de Gevel
Academic units do best when they harness different viewpoints – from field scientists and curriculum designers to extension professionals – to drive innovation and relevance. Saskia van de Gevel offers proactive advice

Universities are not sustained by individual leaders or isolated units. They are sustained by teams of people who bring different kinds of expertise to a shared mission. When faculty and professional staff collaborate as genuine partners – aligned around outcomes, clear about roles and committed to mutual respect – institutions become more resilient, innovative and effective.

Also from timeshighereducation.com, see:

The five levels of learning designer support — from timeshighereducation.com by Daniel Searson
Learning designers and academics may have different expectations when it comes to collaborating on course design. Here’s how a five-point scale can help
Harness the power of your university librarian in the age of information chaos — from timeshighereducation.com by Ben Meunier
Find out how to tap the mine of knowledge your university library has, for trustworthy research sources, data expertise and information literacy advice
How employability teams can strengthen academic programmes — from timeshighereducation.com by Hanene Duprat
Working like recruitment partners, rather than just career advisers, can help align teaching with industry needs, writes Hanene Duprat
Excerpts:

Again, we don’t send them 200 CVs. We might send 20, but they’re meticulously shortlisted. The employer saves time, the student feels they are being taken seriously and trust builds quickly on both sides.

And because we work closely with employers, we learn something universities often struggle to find out early enough: what the market is asking for now.

What academics need to know: we can’t do this without you
If I could say one thing to academic colleagues anywhere, it’s that employability can’t sit next to the curriculum. It has to live with it.

The benefits of engaging third space practitioners in curriculum development — from timeshighereducation.com by Steve Briggs
Third space practitioners are often overlooked in the curriculum development process, to everyone’s detriment. Here’s a look at the viewpoints they can offer and how to engage them better
Teaching deaf, deafblind and hard-of-hearing students: practical steps that benefit everyone — from timeshighereducation.com by Annelies Kusters
When educators design communication to work across multiple modes from the outset, classrooms become more accessible – and more effective – for everyone, says Annelies Kusters

Americans’ retirement accounts – and hardship withdrawals – hit new highs. Here’s what to know [Feingold]

On 03/17/2026, in business, curriculum, Daniel S. Christian, economics, education, funding / grants, future, K-12 related, legislatures / government / legal, parents/guardians, society, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Americans’ retirement accounts – and hardship withdrawals – hit new highs. Here’s what to know — from weforum.org by Spencer Feingold

Last year, US retirement account balances rose at double-digit rates, driven by strong market performance and steady contributions.
At the same time, hardship withdrawals increased, highlighting growing short-term financial stress.
The trend underscores the importance of financial education and resilience to support long-term retirement security.

From DSC:
I’m hoping that we are doing a better job in the United States on educating our youth on investing, saving, and developing better legal knowledge (i.e., the need for wills, estate planning, trusts, etc.).

Are microschools a solution to falling public school enrollment? One district thinks so [Fradette]

On 03/03/2026, in curriculum, education, education reform, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning preferences, learning spaces, more voice more choice more control, parents/guardians, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Are microschools a solution to falling public school enrollment? One district thinks so — from hechingerreport.org by Rachel Fradette
In Indiana, a rural school district leader started a network of microschools to help keep students in his schools. The model could spread

Around the same time, the concept of microschooling was gaining traction nationally. Microschools offer multiage learning environments that focus on personalized, often less-regulated instruction. Popularity grew during the pandemic when families sought learning alternatives in online, hybrid and pod options; an estimated 750,000 to 2 million students now attend the schools.

The schools are typically privately run, but Philhower saw a role for them in his small district. Last year, he won approval from the state’s charter school board to establish the Indiana Microschool Collaborative, which he says will incubate a network of microschools statewide. They will operate as charter schools, meaning they are public but have more flexibility in terms of curricula and other operations than traditional public schools.

Here is Brandon’s post out on linkedin:

Something Big is Happening [Shumer] + reflections on it by the BIG Questions Institute

On 02/18/2026, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, bots, career development, change, changing business models, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, corporate / business world, creativity, curriculum, dangers of the status quo, design, disruption, education, emerging technologies, experimentation, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, generational differences, graphics, health, K-12 related, law schools, leadership, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, lifelong learning, pace of change, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, reinvent, skills, society, sociology, staying relevant, strategy, student-related, surviving, teachers, trends, United States, writing, youth, by Daniel Christian

Something Big Is Happening — from shumer.dev by Matt Shumer; see below from the BIG Questions Institute, where I got this article from

I’ve spent six years building an AI startup and investing in the space. I live in this world. And I’m writing this for the people in my life who don’t… my family, my friends, the people I care about who keep asking me “so what’s the deal with AI?” and getting an answer that doesn’t do justice to what’s actually happening. I keep giving them the polite version. The cocktail-party version. Because the honest version sounds like I’ve lost my mind. And for a while, I told myself that was a good enough reason to keep what’s truly happening to myself. But the gap between what I’ve been saying and what is actually happening has gotten far too big. The people I care about deserve to hear what is coming, even if it sounds crazy.

…
They’ve now done it. And they’re moving on to everything else.

The experience that tech workers have had over the past year, of watching AI go from “helpful tool” to “does my job better than I do”, is the experience everyone else is about to have. Law, finance, medicine, accounting, consulting, writing, design, analysis, customer service. Not in ten years. The people building these systems say one to five years. Some say less. And given what I’ve seen in just the last couple of months, I think “less” is more likely.
…

The models available today are unrecognizable from what existed even six months ago. The debate about whether AI is “really getting better” or “hitting a wall” — which has been going on for over a year — is over. It’s done. Anyone still making that argument either hasn’t used the current models, has an incentive to downplay what’s happening, or is evaluating based on an experience from 2024 that is no longer relevant. I don’t say that to be dismissive. I say it because the gap between public perception and current reality is now enormous, and that gap is dangerous… because it’s preventing people from preparing.

What “Something Big Is Happening” Means for Schools — from/by the BIG Questions Institute
Matt Shumer’s newsletter post Something Big is Happening has been read over 80 million times within the week when it was published, on February 9.
…
Still, it’s worth reading Shumer’s post. Given the claims and warnings in Something Big Is Happening (and countless other articles), how would you truly, honestly respond to these questions:

What will the purpose of school be in 5 years?
What are we doing now that we must leave behind right away?
What can we leave behind gradually?
What does rigor look like in this AI-powered world?
Does our strategy look like making adjustments at the margins or are we preparing our students for a fundamental shift?
What is our definition of success? How do the the implications of AI and jobs (and other important forces, from geopolitical shifts and climate change, to mental health needs and shifting generational values) impact the outcomes we prioritize? What is the story of success we want to pass on to our students and wider community?

The Campus AI Crisis — by Jeffrey Selingo; via Ryan Craig
Young graduates can’t find jobs. Colleges know they have to do something. But what?

Only now are colleges realizing that the implications of AI are much greater and are already outrunning their institutional ability to respond. As schools struggle to update their curricula and classroom policies, they also confront a deeper problem: the suddenly enormous gap between what they say a degree is for and what the labor market now demands. In that mismatch, students are left to absorb the risk. Alina McMahon and millions of other Gen-Zers like her are caught in a muddled in-between moment: colleges only just beginning to think about how to adapt and redefine their mission in the post-AI world, and a job market that’s changing much, much faster.

“Colleges and universities face an existential issue before them,” said Ryan Craig, author of Apprentice Nation and managing director of a firm that invests in new educational models. “They need to figure out how to integrate relevant, in-field, and hopefully paid work experience for every student, and hopefully multiple experiences before they graduate.”

What’s Happening to Jobs for New Grads — from linkedin.com by Jeff Selingo

No matter where you go to college, the job market math for new graduates is grim right now, as I write in a new article out yesterday in New York magazine.

There were 15% fewer entry-level and internship job postings in 2025 than the year before, according to Handshake, a job-search platform popular with college students; meanwhile, applications per posting rose 26%.

How much AI is to blame for the fragile entry-level job market is unclear. Several research studies show AI is hitting young college-educated workers disproportionately, but broader economic forces are part of the story, too.

As Christine Y. Cruzvergara, Handshake’s chief education strategy officer, told me, AI isn’t “taking” jobs so much as employers are “choosing” to replace parts of jobs with automation rather than redesign roles around workers. “They’re replacing people instead of enabling their workforce,” she said.

Today’s graduates are stuck in an in-between moment. Many started college before AI mattered and graduated into a labor market reshaped almost overnight, where entry-level roles are disappearing faster than students can adapt.

Major Changes Reshape Law Schools Nationwide in 2026 [Fatima]

On 01/12/2026, in accreditation, assessment, career development, change, corporate / business world, curriculum, faculty/staff, health, higher education, law schools, leadership, policy, real-world assignments, skills, strategy, United States, universities, by Daniel Christian

Major Changes Reshape Law Schools Nationwide in 2026 — from jdjournal.com by Ma Fatima

Law schools across the United States are entering one of the most transformative periods in recent memory. In 2026, legal education is being reshaped by leadership turnover, shifting accreditation standards, changes to student loan policies, and the introduction of a redesigned bar exam. Together, these developments are forcing law schools to rethink how they educate students and prepare future lawyers for a rapidly evolving legal profession.

Also from jdjournal.com, see:

Healthcare Industry Legal Careers: High-Growth Roles and Paths — from jdjournal.com by Ma Fatima
The healthcare industry is rapidly emerging as one of the most promising and resilient sectors for legal professionals, driven by expanding regulations, technological innovation, and an increasingly complex healthcare delivery system. As hospitals, life sciences companies, insurers, and digital health platforms navigate constant regulatory change, demand for experienced legal talent continues to rise.

Community colleges are training the next generation of manufacturing workers [No]

On 01/06/2026, in apprenticeships, collaboration, community colleges, curriculum, higher education, ideas, internships, real-world assignments, training / L&D, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Community colleges are training the next generation of manufacturing workers — from manufacturingdive.com by Michelle No
Rutgers University explored how community colleges are responding to regional workforce training demands. Clark State College and Columbus State Community College are among those leading the way.

One underrated option may hold the most promise for workforce growth: the local community college.

That’s according to a series of reports by The Rutgers Education and Employment Research Center released in October, which examines the “hidden innovative structure” of America’s community colleges.

Community colleges excel in ways conducive to a successful manufacturing career, said Shalin Jyotishi, founder of the Future of Work & Innovation Economy Initiative at think tank New America.

Learning Ecosystems

Across the divide: reimagining faculty-staff collaboration in higher education [van de Gevel]; plus several other items from timeshighereducation.com

Major Changes Reshape Law Schools Nationwide in 2026 [Fatima]

Community colleges are training the next generation of manufacturing workers [No]

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