professional development

Coursera Survey Pins Down MOOC Benefits [Schaffhauser]

On 09/29/2015, in career development, MOOCs -- Massive Open Online Courses, professional development, workplace, by Daniel Christian

Coursera Survey Pins Down MOOC Benefits — from campustechnology.com by Dian Schaffhauser

Excerpt:

More than seven in 10 learners report career benefits and more than six in 10 report educational benefits from completing massive open online courses (MOOCs). Participants from developing countries and particularly those with lower socioeconomic status and less education appear to be more likely to report benefits from pursuing MOOCs.

Those results and others come out of the first major research survey done among Coursera learners and reported in the Harvard Business Review.

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2015 [Hart]

On 09/21/2015, in Adobe, Apple, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, elearning, Google, learning, learning ecosystem, Microsoft, mobile learning, online learning, productivity / tips and tricks, professional development, tools, training / L&D, trends, UK, vendors, by Daniel Christian

Here are the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2015 — from c4lpt.co.uk by Jane Hart

Excerpt:

Over 2,000 learning professionals from around the world from both education and enterprises contributed to the 9th Annual Survey of Learning Tools. Very many thanks to all those who took the time to complete the online form, write a blog post, send me an email or tweet me their selection.

I have now compiled the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2015, updated the Top 100 Tools for Learning website and prepared a slideset, which I have hosted on Slideshare and embedded below.

For the 7th year running Twitter is the No 1 tool on the list, although this year it is very closely followed by YouTube, and once again, the list is dominated by free online tools and services. I can also see some interesting new trends in the tools that are being used for both personal learning and for creating learning content and experiences for others, and I will provide my analysis shortly. In the meantime, beneath the presentation, you will find a summary of the new tools on the list and the big movers up the list.

Now we’re talking! One step closer! “The future of TV is apps.” — per Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook

On 09/10/2015, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, A/V -- audio/visual, adult learning, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, cloud-based computing / apps / other cloud-related, competency-based learning/education, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, educational games / serious games, elearning, emerging technologies, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, global / globalization, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), ideas, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, interactivity, internet, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, learning spaces, lifelong learning, mirroring and/or multiple devices, mobile learning, mobile technologies, more voice more choice more control, multi-touch, multimedia, online learning, online media, online tutoring, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, simulations, social learning / networks, staying relevant, storytelling, streams of content, student-related, tablets, technologies for your home, telecommunications, telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, TVs, ubiquitous learning, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, virtual tutoring, web-based collaboration, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
We’ll also be seeing the integration of the areas listed below with this type of “TV”-based OS/platform:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Data mining and analytics
Learning recommendation engines
Digital learning playlists
New forms of Human Computer Interfaces (HCI)
Intelligent tutoring
Social learning / networks
Videoconferencing with numerous other learners from across the globe
Virtual tutoring, virtual field trips, and virtual schools
Online learning to the Nth degree
Web-based learner profiles
Multimedia (including animations, simulations, and more)
Advanced forms of digital storytelling
and, most assuredly, more choice & more control.

Competency-based education and much lower cost alternatives could also be possible with this type of learning environment. The key will be to watch — or better yet, to design and create — what becomes of what we’re currently calling the television, and what new affordances/services the “TV” begins to offer us.

From Apple’s website:

Apple Brings Innovation Back to Television with The All-New Apple TV
The App Store, Siri Remote & tvOS are Coming to Your Living Room

Excerpt:

SAN FRANCISCO — September 9, 2015 — Apple® today announced the all-new Apple TV®, bringing a revolutionary experience to the living room based on apps built for the television. Apps on Apple TV let you choose what to watch and when you watch it. The new Apple TV’s remote features Siri®, so you can search with your voice for TV shows and movies across multiple content providers simultaneously.

The all-new Apple TV is built from the ground up with a new generation of high-performance hardware and introduces an intuitive and fun user interface using the Siri Remote™. Apple TV runs the all-new tvOS™ operating system, based on Apple’s iOS, enabling millions of iOS developers to create innovative new apps and games specifically for Apple TV and deliver them directly to users through the new Apple TV App Store™.

…

tvOS is the new operating system for Apple TV, and the tvOS SDK provides tools and APIs for developers to create amazing experiences for the living room the same way they created a global app phenomenon for iPhone® and iPad®. The new, more powerful Apple TV features the Apple-designed A8 chip for even better performance so developers can build engaging games and custom content apps for the TV. tvOS supports key iOS technologies including Metal™, for detailed graphics, complex visual effects and Game Center, to play and share games with friends.

Addendum on 9/11/15:

New Apple TV release date, specs, price and news — from techradar.com by Nick Pino

What might our learning ecosystems look like by 2025? [Christian]

On 07/31/2015, in 21st century, 24x7x365 access, active learning, adult learning, analytics, Apple, Artificial Intelligence/Agents/LLMs/and Related, Augmented Reality (AR), blended learning, business side of he, career development, changing business models, collaboration, colleges, communities of practice, community colleges, competency-based learning/education, content development, aggregation, repositories, corporate / business world, corporate universities / corporate training, cost of getting a degree, Daniel S. Christian, data related items, digital learning, digital storytelling, disruption, distance education, education, education technology, elearning, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, expectations, experimentation, formal learning, future, future of higher education, game-changing environment, Google, higher education, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), IBM, ideas, informal learning, innovation, intelligent systems, intelligent tutoring, K-12 related, learner profiles, learning, learning agents, learning ecosystem, Learning from the Living [Class] Room, learning hubs & pods & microschooling, liberal arts, lifelong learning, marketplaces, mobile learning, more voice more choice more control, online learning, online media, online tutoring, pace of change, participation, personalized/customized learning, platforms, professional development, reinvent, second screen apps, social learning / networks, staying relevant, streams of content, student-related, surviving, technologies for your home, technology (general), telepresence, television, training / L&D, transmedia, trends, TVs, universities, user experience (UX), using teams, videoconferencing, virtual field trips, virtual K-12 schools, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, virtual tutoring, vision/possibilities, web-based collaboration, workplace, by Daniel Christian

This posting can also be seen out at evoLLLution.com (where LLL stands for lifelong learning):

From DSC:
What might our learning ecosystems look like by 2025?

In the future, learning “channels” will offer more choice, more control. They will be far more sophisticated than what we have today.

That said, what the most important aspects of online course design end up being 10 years from now depends upon what types of “channels” I think there will be and what might be offered via those channels. By channels, I mean forms, methods, and avenues of learning that a person could pursue and use. In 2015, some example channels might be:

Attending a community college, a college or a university to obtain a degree
Obtaining informal learning during an internship
Using social media such as Twitter or LinkedIn
Reading blogs, books, periodicals, etc.

In 2025, there will likely be new and powerful channels for learning that will be enabled by innovative forms of communications along with new software, hardware, technologies, and other advancements. For examples, one could easily imagine:

That the trajectory of deep learning and artificial intelligence will continue, opening up new methods of how we might learn in the future
That augmented and virtual reality will allow for mobile learning to the Nth degree
That the trend of Competency Based Education (CBE) and microcredentials may be catapulted into the mainstream via the use of big data-related affordances

Due to time and space limitations, I’ll focus here on the more formal learning channels that will likely be available online in 2025. In that environment, I think we’ll continue to see different needs and demands – thus we’ll still need a menu of options. However, the learning menu of 2025 will be more personalized, powerful, responsive, sophisticated, flexible, granular, modularized, and mobile.

Highly responsive, career-focused track

One part of the menu of options will focus on addressing the demand for more career-focused information and learning that is available online (24×7). Even in 2015, with the U.S. government saying that 40% of today’s workers now have ‘contingent’ jobs and others saying that percentage will continue climbing to 50% or more, people will be forced to learn quickly in order to stay marketable. Also, the 1/2 lives of information may not last very long, especially if we continue on our current trajectory of exponential change (vs. linear change).

However, keeping up with that pace of change is currently proving to be out of reach for most institutions of higher education, especially given the current state of accreditation and governance structures throughout higher education as well as how our current teaching and learning environment is set up (i.e., the use of credit hours, 4 year degrees, etc.). By 2025, accreditation will have been forced to change to allow for alternative forms of learning and for methods of obtaining credentials. Organizations that offer channels with a more vocational bent to them will need to be extremely responsive, as they attempt to offer up-to-date, highly-relevant information that will immediately help people be more employable and marketable. Being nimble will be the name of the game in this arena. Streams of content will be especially important here. There may not be enough time to merit creating formal, sophisticated courses on many career-focused topics.

With streams of content, the key value provided by institutions will be to curate the most relevant, effective, reliable, up-to-date content…so one doesn’t have to drink from the Internet’s firehose of information. Such streams of content will also offer constant potential, game-changing scenarios and will provide a pulse check on a variety of trends that could affect an industry. Social-based learning will be key here, as learners contribute to each other’s learning. Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will need to be knowledgeable facilitators of learning; but given the pace of change, true experts will be rare indeed.

Microcredentials, nanodegrees, competency-based education, and learning from one’s living room will be standard channels in 2025. Each person may have a web-based learner profile by then and the use of big data will keep that profile up-to-date regarding what any given individual has been learning about and what skills they have mastered.

For example, even currently in 2015, a company called StackUp creates their StackUp Report to add to one’s resume or grades, asserting that their services can give “employers and schools new metrics to evaluate your passion, interests, and intellectual curiosity.” Stackup captures, categorizes, and scores everything you read and study online. So they can track your engagement on a given website, for example, and then score the time spent doing so. This type of information can then provide insights into the time you spend learning.

Project teams and employers could create digital playlists that prospective employees or contractors will have to advance through; and such teams and employers will be watching to see how the learners perform in proving their competencies.

However, not all learning will be in the fast lane and many people won’t want all of their learning to be constantly in the high gears. In fact, the same learner could be pursuing avenues in multiple tracks, traveling through their learning-related journeys at multiple speeds.

The more traditional liberal arts track

To address these varied learning preferences, another part of the menu will focus on channels that don’t need to change as frequently. The focus here won’t be on quickly-moving streams of content, but the course designers in this track can take a bit more time to offer far more sophisticated options and activities that people will enjoy going through.

Along these lines, some areas of the liberal arts* will fit in nicely here.

*Speaking of the liberal arts, a brief but important tangent needs to be addressed, for strategic purposes. While the following statement will likely be highly controversial, I’m going to say it anyway. Online learning could be the very thing that saves the liberal arts.

Why do I say this? Because as the price of higher education continues to increase, the dynamics and expectations of learners continue to change. As the prices continue to increase, so do peoples’ expectations and perspectives. So it may turn out that people are willing to pay a dollar range that ends up being a fraction of today’s prices. But such greatly reduced prices won’t likely be available in face-to-face environments, as offering these types of learning environment is expensive. However, such discounted prices can and could be offered via online-based environments. So, much to the chagrin of many in academia, online learning could be the very thing that provides the type of learning, growth, and some of the experiences that liberal arts programs have been about for centuries. Online learning can offer a lifelong supply of the liberal arts.

But I digress…
By 2025, a Subject Matter Expert (SME) will be able to offer excellent, engaging courses chocked full of the use of:

Engaging story/narrative
Powerful collaboration and communication tools
Sophisticated tracking and reporting
Personalized learning, tech-enabled scaffolding, and digital learning playlists
Game elements or even, in some cases, multiplayer games
Highly interactive digital videos with built-in learning activities
Transmedia-based outlets and channels
Mobile-based learning using AR, VR, real-world assignments, objects, and events
…and more.

However, such courses won’t be able to be created by one person. Their sophistication will require a team of specialists – and likely a list of vendors, algorithms, and/or open source-based tools – to design and deliver this type of learning track.

Final reflections

The marketplaces involving education-related content and technologies will likely look different. There could be marketplaces for algorithms as well as for very granular learning modules. In fact, it could be that modularization will be huge by 2025, allowing digital learning playlists to be built by an SME, a Provost, and/or a Dean (in addition to the aforementioned employer or project team). Any assistance that may be required by a learner will be provided either via technology (likely via an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled resource) and/or via a SME.

We will likely either have moved away from using Learning Management Systems (LMSs) or those LMSs will allow for access to far larger, integrated learning ecosystems.

Functionality wise, collaboration tools will still be important, but they might be mind-blowing to us living in 2015. For example, holographic-based communications could easily be commonplace by 2025. Where tools like IBM’s Watson, Microsoft’s Cortana, Google’s Deepmind, and Apple’s Siri end up in our future learning ecosystems is hard to tell, but will likely be there. New forms of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) will likely be mainstream by 2025.

While the exact menu of learning options is unclear, what is clear is that change is here today and will likely be here tomorrow. Those willing to experiment, to adapt, and to change have a far greater likelihood of surviving and thriving in our future learning ecosystems.

What Learners Really Want — from clomedia.com by Todd Tauber
Listen to your learners: They want speed, diversity and adaptability in internal development programs.

Excerpt (emphasis DSC):

Everyone knows most learning happens beyond the classroom walls and outside learning management systems. But new research shows just how much — and the data are startling.

In the past year, learning technology company Degreed conducted two separate surveys that show workers spend four to five times more time on self-directed learning than on internal or external learning offerings. They invest more than 14 hours a month, on average, learning on their own but just two to three hours on employer-provided learning.

Those numbers should inform how and why development needs to evolve — urgently.
…
Learners want easier and faster access to answers. Degreed found almost 70 percent of workers say the first thing they do when they need to learn something for their jobs is Google it, then read or watch what they find. About 42 percent look for a live or online course, but they do it on their own. Fewer than 12 percent turn to their learning organization first.

Learning and development people do pretty much the same thing. They are “Googling it” too, and not just because it’s expedient. By a 3.5 to 1 margin, people believe self-directed learning is more effective in helping them succeed at work than taking part in company sponsored learning. These are mature adults. They have a good idea what they need.
…
Learners want to leverage the whole learning ecosystem. Informal learning initiatives should be valued because workers believe as much as 60 percent of the knowledge and skills they use on the job comes from informal learning.

From DSC:
I agree with Todd that this is where learning ecosystems come in. Employees are trying to use a variety of tools and methods to tap into streams of up-do-date content.

To me, the charter of those involved with corporate training/development should be to help employees learn about the current set of tools available to them and how to use such tools. Then do the necessary research to give employees a place to begin using those tools — such as whom should a particular group of employees should follow on Twitter or Scoop.It, which websites/blogs are especially well done and applicable to their particular positions and area of expertise, etc.

The pace of change has changed and at times, it’s moving too fast to create formal learning materials. We need to tap into streams of content. Perhaps those in corporate U’s could even be helping to curate and create the most beneficial streams of content for their employees in key strategic areas — and doing so using small, bite-sized chunks. They could recommend — and to some degree even provide — the platforms employees could use for self-directed learning. This self-directed learning wouldn’t be all alone though — each employee would be building and interacting with folks within their own Personal Learning Network (PLN); each person’s learning ecosystem would likely look different from others’ learning ecosystems.

Also relevant/see:

Heutagogy Community of Practice

25 impact opportunities in U.S. K-12 education [Getting Smart & Vulcan, Inc.]

On 06/22/2015, in active learning, assessment, computer science, education, education reform, engagement / engaging students, experimentation, K-12 related, pedagogy, professional development, programming, science, STEAM-related, student-related, teachers, teaching & learning, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

25 impact opportunities in U.S. K-12 education — by Getting Smart in partnership with Vulcan, Inc.

Excerpt:

With support from Vulcan Inc, a Paul Allen company, Getting Smart conducted a series of expert interviews with education and philanthropy leaders, and led a design workshop, to identify and vet impact investment strategies in U.S. K-12 education. This resulting report outlines opportunities where organizations can participate in making significant shifts in the American education landscape, ultimately improving student outcomes.

Through our research and interviews, approximately four dozen impact opportunities were identified in the following 10 categories and are described within the report:

Student-Centered Learning
New School Development
Professional Learning & Development
Next-Gen Assessment
Entrepreneurship Education
Portable Data & Parent Engagement
Learning Resources
Social-Emotional Learning
Early Learning
STEM, Coding & Computer Science

Also see:

EdTech 10: When impact potential is ripe — from gettingsmart.com

Excerpts:

1. Microschool, big impact. We’ve seen how microschools could, in most cities, accelerate the transition to next-gen learning. That’s why we were so excited to see AltSchool highlighted in a video on CBS News This Morning.
…
4. Mind the gap. Closing the Achievement at Three Virtual Academies, is a new report from K12 that highlights the progress of Texas Virtual Academy (leaders in Course Access in the Lone Star State), Arizona Virtual Academy, and Georgia Cyber Academy in creating opportunities for low-income students.

Shocker: 40% of workers now have ‘contingent’ jobs, says U.S. Government — from forbes.com by Elaine Pofeldt

Excerpt:

Tucked away in the pages of a new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office is a startling statistic: 40.4% of the U.S. workforce is now made up of contingent workers—that is, people who don’t have what we traditionally consider secure jobs.

There is currently a lot of debate about how contingent workers should be defined. To arrive at the 40.4 %, which the workforce reached in 2010, the report counts the following types of workers as having the alternative work arrangements considered contingent. (The government did some rounding to arrive at its final number, so the numbers below add up to 40.2%).

Agency temps: (1.3%)
On-call workers (people called to work when needed): (3.5%)
Contract company workers (3.0%)
Independent contractors who provide a product or service and find their own customers (12.9%)
Self-employed workers such as shop and restaurant owners, etc. (3.3%)
Standard part-time workers (16.2%).

In contrast, in 2005, 30.6% of workers were contingent. The biggest growth has been among people with part time jobs. They made up just 11.9% of the labor force in 2005. That means there was a 36% increase in just five years.

In the future, employees won’t exist — from techcrunch.com by Tad Milbourn

Excerpt:

Contract work is becoming the new normal. Consider Uber: The ride-sharing startup has 160,000 contractors, but just 2,000 employees. That’s an astonishing ratio of 80 to 1. And when it comes to a focus on contract labor, Uber isn’t alone. Handy, Eaze and Luxe are just a few of the latest entrants into the “1099 Economy.”

Though they get the most attention, it’s not just on-demand companies that employ significant contract workforces. Microsoft has nearly two-thirds as many contractors as full-time employees. Even the simplest business structures, sole proprietorships, have increased their use of contract workers nearly two-fold since 2003.

The unsung heroes of the on-demand economy — from medium.com by Alex Chriss
We need to rethink the notion of entrepreneurship in the on-demand economy and build the tools and infrastructure to support the growing self-employed workforce.

Excerpt:

Enabled by the ubiquitous connectivity and power of smartphones, entrepreneurs are opening shops on Etsy, working as virtual assistants through oDesk, tackling neighborhood jobs on TaskRabbit, or driving on demand with Uber.

This new economy isn’t limited to low-paying gigs either. There are highly skilled professionals with advanced degrees from top 10 schools opting to work for themselves instead of a big firm. Consider the MBAs earning $100-$150 an hour through online consulting firm HourlyNerd or the lawyers making more than that on UpCounsel.

The Handy housecleaner and the UpCounsel attorney share a common characteristic: They’re a business of one.
…
This new wave of entrepreneurs — the self-employed workforce — is accelerating a broad trend we’ve been watching closely for nearly 10 years and started documenting in the year 2007 B.U. –before Uber.

They are part of the massive growth in the number of independent professionals. Full-time jobs with their corporate grab bag of benefits are becoming scarcer by the day. In the near future, working full time for a single company that offers little flexibility or work-life balance will become as outdated as the notion of staying with one company for your entire working life.

New survey: 40% of unemployed have “given up” — from prweb.com
Express Employment Professionals released the results [on May 20th, 2015] of its second annual in-depth poll, “The State of the Unemployed,” revealing that 40 percent of unemployed Americans agree to some extent that they have completely given up looking for work.

Excerpt:

Express Employment Professionals released the results [on May 20th, 2015] of its second annual in-depth poll, “The State of the Unemployed,” revealing that 40 percent of unemployed Americans agree to some extent that they have completely given up looking for work.

That figure, though high, represents a slight improvement from 2014, when 47 percent said they had given up.

The survey of 1,553 jobless Americans age 18 and older was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Express Employment Professionals between April 7 and 29, 2015, and offers a rare look at the background and attitudes of the unemployed, their approach to the job hunt, who they blame for their current situation, and how they are holding up through tough times.

New self-learning systems will reduce reliance on humans during ramp-up — from wtvox.com by Aidan Russell

Excerpt:

Robots are cracking eggs and making ice cream sundaes. These aren’t just party tricks. The way robots learn to do complex tasks is changing and that has profound implications for the future of manufacturing.

The egg-cracking robot comes courtesy of researchers at the University of Maryland and NICTA, an information and computer technology research centre in Australia. Their robotic system learns processes by watching YouTube videos.
…
It’s not difficult to see how systems like this might be utilised to improve automated manufacturing or bring new automation systems to areas of production that haven’t seen much automation yet. An investment in a single robotic system capable of learning a variety of tasks without specialised programming would be attractive to small manufacturers that do short production runs, for example.

A bot that can learn from watching other people could also fine tune its own actions through trial and error, essentially learning from its mistakes. That’s what researchers at Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) in Finland had in mind when they developed a self-adjusting welding system.

Will humans go the way of horses? — from foreignaffairs.com by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee
Labor in the Second Machine Age

Our mental advantages might be even greater than our physical ones. While we’re clearly now inferior to computers at arithmetic and are getting outpaced in some types of pattern recognition—as evidenced by the triumph of Watson, an artificial-intelligence system created by IBM, over human Jeopardy! champions in 2011—we still have vastly better common sense. We’re also able to formulate goals and then work out how to achieve them. And although there are impressive examples of digital creativity and innovation, including machine-generated music and scientific hypotheses, humans are still better at coming up with useful new ideas in most domains.

It is extraordinarily difficult to get a clear picture of how broadly and quickly technology will encroach on human territory (and a review of past predictions should deter anyone from trying), but it seems unlikely that hardware, software, robots, and artificial intelligence will be able to take over from human labor within the next decade. It is even less likely that people will stop having economic wants that are explicitly interpersonal or social; these will remain, and they will continue to provide demand for human workers.

From DSC:
Stop right there! Hold on! Those of us working in education or training need to be asking ourselves:

What do these MASSIVE trends mean for the way that we are educating, training, and preparing our learners and employees!?!?

This is not our grandfathers’/grandmothers’ economy and way of life! From here on out, people must be able to adapt, to pivot, to change — and they must be able to learn…continually and quickly. They need to be able to know where to go to find information and be able to sort through the content to find out what’s true and relevant. They need to know under what circumstances they learn best.

Finally, becoming familiar with futurism — looking down the pike to see what’s developing, building scenarios, etc. — is now wise counsel for a growing number of people.

“2015 Guide to Social Media Image Sizes” plus “Digital, Social & Mobile in 2015”

On 06/09/2015, in Asia, Australia, Canada, career development, design, digital photography, Europe, global / globalization, graphics, professional development, social media, UK, United States, by Daniel Christian

2015 Guide to Social Media Image Sizes – Infographic — from setupablogtoday.com by Jamie Spencer

Excerpt:

Get your social media platforms optimized with the right image sizes and stand out from the crowd. From Twitter and Pinterest to Instagram and Facebook image sizes, we have the complete guide right here in one clear infographic!

Also see:

We Are Social’s comprehensive new report covers internet, social media and mobile usage statistics from all over the world. It contains more than 350 infographics, including global snapshots, regional overviews, and in-depth profiles of 30 of the world’s largest economies. For a more insightful analysis of these numbers, please visit http://wearesocial.sg/blog/2015/01/digital-social-mobile-2015/.

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/Agents/LLMs/and Related, 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)?

Learning Ecosystems

Coursera Survey Pins Down MOOC Benefits [Schaffhauser]

The Top 100 Tools for Learning 2015 [Hart]

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.”

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