The future of work: Death of the single skill set in the age of automation — from forbes.com by Jeanne Meister

Excerpt:

The future of work is here today, and the nature of both manufacturing and knowledge jobs will never be the same. According to a McKinsey analysis of 2,000 different work activities across 800 occupations, automation will change virtually every job across all occupations. Specifically, McKinsey found that in about 60% of occupations, 30% of tasks could be handed over to robots and bots. “More occupations will change,” the report concludes, “than will be automated away.”

Other sources have predicted that automation of professional knowledge economy jobs in the United States will be more than 10 times as large as the number of manufacturing jobs automated to date.

 

 

So how does one prepare for this volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world of work? I believe by understanding a simple fact: across many jobs there is a “death of a single skill set,” and what has made you employable today will not be enough to ensure you are employable tomorrow.

 

 

According to recent research by MIT,  90% of executives believe their businesses are being disrupted or reinvented by digital business models, and 70% believe they do not have the right skills.

 

 

 

Connecting more Americans with jobs — from blog.google by Nick Zakrasek

Excerpt:

We have a long history of using our technology to connect people with crucial information. At I/O, we announced Google for Jobs, a company-wide initiative focused on helping both job seekers and employers, through deep collaboration with the job matching industry. This effort includes the Cloud Jobs API, announced last year, which provides access to Google’s machine learning capabilities to power smarter job search and recommendations within career sites, jobs boards, and other job matching sites and apps. Today, we’re taking the next step in the Google for Jobs initiative by putting the convenience and power of Search into the hands of job seekers. With this new experience, we aim to connect Americans to job opportunities across the U.S., so no matter who you are or what kind of job you’re looking for, you can find job postings that match your needs.

 

 

How to Use Google for Jobs to Rock Your Career — from avidcareerist.com by Donna Svei

Excerpt:

How Does Google for Jobs Work?
Let me walk you through an example.

Go to your Google search bar.
Enter your preferred job title, followed by the word jobs, and your preferred location. Like this:

 

 

Google launches its AI-powered jobs search engine — from techcrunch.com by Frederic Lardinois

Excerpt:

Looking for a new job is getting easier. Google today launched a new jobs search feature right on its search result pages that lets you search for jobs across virtually all of the major online job boards like LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder and Facebook and others. Google will also include job listings its finds on a company’s homepage.

The idea here is to give job seekers an easy way to see which jobs are available without having to go to multiple sites only to find duplicate postings and lots of irrelevant jobs.

 

 

Google for Jobs Could Save You Time on Your Next Job Search — from lifehacker.comby Patrick Allan

Excerpt:

Google launched its new Google for Jobs feature today, which uses their machine learning Cloud API to put job listings from all the major job service sites in one easy-to-search place.

 

 

 

 

From DSC:
Given the increasing use of robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence…how should the question of “What sort of education will you need to be employable in the future?” impact what’s being taught within K-12 & within higher education? Should certain areas within higher education, for example, start owning this research, as well as the strategic planning and whether changes are needed to the core curricula for this increasingly important trend?

The future’s coming at us fast — perhaps faster than we think. It seems prudent to work through some potential scenarios and develop plans for those various scenarios now, rather than react to this trend at some point in the future. If we wait, we’ll be trying to “swim up the backside of the wave” as my wise and wonderful father-in-law would say.

 



The above reflections occurred after I reviewed the posting out at cmrubinworld.com (with thanks to @STEMbyThomas for this resource):

  • The Global Search for Education: What Does My Robot Think?
    Excerpt:
    The Global Search for Education is pleased to welcome Ling Lee, Co-Curator of Robots and the Contemporary Science Manager for Exhibitions at the Science Museum in London, to discuss the impact of robots on our past and future.

 

 

 



 

 

3 trends that will disrupt your workplace forever — from gallup.com by Andrew Dugan and Bailey Nelson

Excerpts (emphasis DSC):

The AI revolution is here, and leaders are unprepared for its impact on employee engagement.

According to Gallup’s analysis, millennials are the generation most vulnerable to the threat of AI and automation, as they are disproportionately more likely to hold positions that Frey and Osborne estimate as having a strong likelihood to one day be replaced by this new technology. Nearly four in 10 millennials (37%) are at high risk of having their job replaced by automation, compared with 32% of those in the two older generations.

To proactively manage employees through the reality of AI integrating into their work environment, leaders need to better understand the nuances of the emotional toll that replacement risk takes on employees. For instance, Gallup finds that 34% of millennials whose jobs are at “medium” or “high” risk for robotic replacement say they are worried about either losing their job or having their job outsourced, compared with 27% of older generations — a statistically significant difference.

 

 

 

From DSC:
There are now more than 12,000+ skills on Amazon’s new platform — Alexa.  I continue to wonder…what will this new platform mean/deliver to societies throughout the globe?


 

From this Alexa Skills Kit page:

What Is an Alexa Skill?
Alexa is Amazon’s voice service and the brain behind millions of devices including Amazon Echo. Alexa provides capabilities, or skills, that enable customers to create a more personalized experience. There are now more than 12,000 skills from companies like Starbucks, Uber, and Capital One as well as innovative designers and developers.

What Is the Alexa Skills Kit?
With the Alexa Skills Kit (ASK), designers, developers, and brands can build engaging skills and reach millions of customers. ASK is a collection of self-service APIs, tools, documentation, and code samples that makes it fast and easy for you to add skills to Alexa. With ASK, you can leverage Amazon’s knowledge and pioneering work in the field of voice design.

You can build and host most skills for free using Amazon Web Services (AWS).

 

 

 


 

 

2017 Best Cities for Summer Internships — from goodcall.com

Excerpt:

Landing an internship is one of the best ways to get a head start on your career. In fact, a recent study from iCIMS showed that 70% of employers and recruiters say an internship is more important than a high GPA on a new grad’s resume.

But some places are definitely better than others when it comes to finding an internship. Students might find cities with more access to public transportation useful. And it’s hard to justify moving for an unpaid or low-pay internship to a city where rent is astronomical.

Those are just two of the metrics GoodCall analysts used to rank the 2017 Best Cities for Summer Internships. These are cities that have a high number of available internships per capita, where cost of living is reasonable and crime isn’t rampant. They’re also generally nice places to live, with abundant restaurants, bars and other amenities.

The top 10 Best Cities for Summer Internships were…

 

 

Complete Guide to Virtual Reality Careers — from vudream.com by Mark Metry

Excerpt:

So you want to jump in the illustrious intricate pool of Virtual Reality?

Come on in my friend. The water is warm with confusion and camaraderie. To be honest, few people have any idea what’s going on in the industry.

VR is a brand new industry, hardly anyone has experience.

That’s a good thing for you.

Marxent Labs reports that there are 5 virtual reality jobs.
UX/UI Designers:
UX/UI Designers create roadmaps demonstrating how the app should flow and design the look and feel of the app, in order to ensure user-friendly experiences.
Unity Developers:
Specializing in Unity 3D software, Unity Developers create the foundation of the experience.
3D Modelers:
3D artists render lifelike digital imagery.
Animators:
Animators bring the 3D models to life. Many 3D modelers are cross-trained in animation, which is a highly recommended combination a 3D candidate to possess.
Project Manager:
The Project Manager is responsible for communicating deadlines, budgets, requirements, roadblocks, and more between the client and the internal team.
Videographer:
Each project is captured and edited into clips to make showcase videos for marketing and entertainment.

 

 

Virtual Reality (VR) jobs jump in the job market — from forbes.com by Karsten Strauss

Excerpt:

One of the more vibrant, up-and-coming sectors of the tech industry these days is virtual reality. From the added dimension it brings to gaming and media consumption to the level of immersion the technology can bring to marketing, VR is expected to see a bump in the near future.

And major players have not been blind to that potential. Most famously, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg laid down a $2 billion bet on the technology in the spring of 2014 when his company acquired virtual reality firm, Oculus Rift. That investment put a stamp of confidence on the space and it’s grown ever since.

So it makes sense, then, that tech-facing companies are scanning for developers and coders who can help them build out their VR capabilities. Though still early, some in the job-search industry are noticing a trend in the hiring market.

 

 

 

 

 

New graduates: These are the unspoken rules of the workplace no one tells you — from fastcompany.com by Anisa Purbasari Horton
Entering the workforce for the first time can be a shock to the system. Here’s what you need to know.

Excerpt:

Graduation is an exciting (and scary) time; you’re leaving a world where you know all the rules and entering into a world where what’s expected of you often isn’t so clear cut. The rules that truly matter in the workplace are often not written anywhere–they’re simply things that those who have been in it for a while consider to be obvious.

Many learn these unspoken rules through trial and error, and some do it by observing others’ mistakes. But if you’re a recent graduate, there’s no reason why you can’t get a head start on day one of your entry-level job.

 

 

The 2017 Dean’s List: EdTech’s 50 Must-Read Higher Ed Blogs [Meghan Bogardus Cortez at edtechmagazine.com]

 

The 2017 Dean’s List: EdTech’s 50 Must-Read Higher Ed Blogs — from edtechmagazine.com by Meghan Bogardus Cortez
These administrative all-stars, IT gurus, teachers and community experts understand how the latest technology is changing the nature of education.

Excerpt:

With summer break almost here, we’ve got an idea for how you can use some of your spare time. Take a look at the Dean’s List, our compilation of the must-read blogs that seek to make sense of higher education in today’s digital world.

Follow these education trailblazers for not-to-be-missed analyses of the trends, challenges and opportunities that technology can provide.

If you’d like to check out the Must-Read IT blogs from previous years, view our lists from 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013.

 

 



From DSC:
I would like to thank Tara Buck, Meghan Bogardus Cortez, D. Frank Smith, Meg Conlan, and Jimmy Daly and the rest of the staff at EdTech Magazine for their support of this Learning Ecosystems blog through the years — I really appreciate it. 

Thanks all for your encouragement through the years!



 

 

 

 

From DSC and Adobe — for faculty members and teachers out there:

Do your students an enormous favor by assigning them a digital communications project. Such a project could include images, infographics, illustrations, animations, videos, websites, blogs (with RSS feeds), podcasts, videocasts, mobile apps and more. Such outlets offer powerful means of communicating and demonstrating knowledge of a particular topic.

As Adobe mentions, when you teach your students how to create these types of media projects, you prepare them to be flexible and effective digital communicators.  I would also add that these new forms and tools can be highly engaging, while at the same time, they can foster students’ creativity. Building new media literacy skills will pay off big time for your students. It will land them jobs. It will help them communicate to a global audience. Students can build upon these skills to powerfully communicate numerous kinds of messages in the future. They can be their own radio station. They can be their own TV station.

For more information, see this page out at Adobe.com.

 

 

From DSC:
This is where we may need more team-based approaches…because one person may not be able to create and grade/assess such assignments.

 

 

Most Millennials Are Finding It Hard to Transition Into Adulthood: Report — from nbcnews.com by Safia Samee Ali

Excerpt:

“It became too difficult financially to be in school and not working,” says Kaylor, who dropped out of Lincoln Christian University, in Illinois, after one semester because of a money crunch. “And without schooling, you can’t get a job that you can survive on, so I had to move back home,” he said.

From DSC:
Let’s pause right there. If higher ed is the gatekeeper into better salaries/wage rates — i.e., the ability to make a living — then it must be affordable. Higher education has a big piece of this current situation. This is why a backlash against traditional institutions of higher education continues to build. When a lower cost “Amazon.com of Higher Education” comes along, many will take that route. Just sayin’.

“In 1975, only 25 percent of men aged 25 to 34 had incomes of less than $30,000 per year. By 2016, that share rose to 41 percent of young men,” according to the report.

In 2015, one-third or about 24 million young adults, ranging from 18 to 34, lived with their parents, according to the report.

 

“These individuals are the first to go through new demands in a drastically different job force than from one generation prior,” he said. So it’s no surprise the transition has been bumpy for many.

 

 

 

 

Linkedin reaches a half billion users — from businessinsider.com by Kevin Gallagher

Excerpt:

LinkedIn announced that it now has over 500 million registered users in 200 countries, an increase from the 467 million reported in the company’s last earnings release as standalone company in October.

Microsoft’s $26 billion acquisition of the professional social network was completed in December, and similar announcements highlighting tighter integration between Microsoft and LinkedIn could be imminent. The member milestone is important, but somewhat lackluster as it implies relatively flat member growth since Q3 2016.

 

 

 

 

From DSC:
For you students out there, you need to have a presence/account out on LinkedIn.com. Why? Because:

  • It’s got 500 million users
  • You can join groups and build communities of practice
  • It’s owned by Microsoft — and with the increasing usage of artificial intelligence, algorithms, and software-based screening, look for Microsoft to offer more services in this regard. New forms of badging, credentialing, and blockchain-based applications could arise in the future…and having your account on LinkedIn might help in this regard.
  • You need to be online and to be able to be discovered
  • It provides you with yet another stream of content for you to learn from

 

 

 

4 Ways Technology Is Changing Recruiting — from blog.hrtechweekly.com by Ji-A Min

Excerpt:

AI for recruiting
Industry statistics estimate 75 percent of resumes received for a role are screened out. This adds up to the hundreds of hours a recruiter wastes reading unqualified resumes per year. As one of recruiting’s biggest bottlenecks, resume screening is in dire need of better tools to help recruiters manage their time more effectively. This is why AI for recruiting is the biggest topic in HR tech right now. AI and recruiting are a natural fit because AI requires a lot of data to learn and large companies often have millions of resumes in their ATS.

Recruiting software that uses artificial intelligence can automate the screening process by learning the experience, skills, and qualifications required for the job and then shortlisting, ranking, and grading new candidates who match the requirements (e.g., from A to D). This type of AI recruiting software can also be used to source candidates from external databases such as Indeed and CareerBuilder or find previous candidates in your existing ATS database by applying the same learning ability to match candidates to an open req. By automating the manual processes of resume screening and candidate matching, companies who use AI recruiting software have reduced their screening costs by 75%.

Comment from DSC:
This is exactly why I tell my students to be sure they have an account on LinkedIn — which is owned by Microsoft. A piece of Microsoft will likely traverse down the AI-based pathway. (I also encourage them to have other pieces of their digital/online-based footprint such as an account on Twitter as well as their own WordPress-based blog).  Data mining and the use of AI for hiring will only pick up steam from here on out. If you don’t exist online, you had better have a lot of contacts and foots in the doors elsewhere.

 

 

Today more than ever, finding top talent will depend on a recruiter’s ability to intelligently automate their workflow.

 

 

 

Google is shifting their focus from Search to artificial intelligence, CEO says — from zmescience.com by

Excerpt:

While delivering Google’s first quarterly income report on Thursday, the company’s CEO said that Google is transitioning — the search-engine giant will become an A.I.-first company.

“We continue to set the pace in machine learning and A.I. research,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a call [embedded at the end of the article] to investors on Thursday to report the company’s Q1 2017 earnings.

“We’re transitioning to an A.I.-first company.”

 

 

 

A revolutionary partnership: How artificial intelligence is pushing man and machine closer together — from pcw.com

Excerpt:

With more than $5 billion in 605 deals of VC investment over last 2 years, artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to have a transformative effect on consumer, enterprise, and government markets around the world. While there are certainly obstacles to overcome, consumers believe that AI has the potential to assist in medical breakthroughs, democratize costly services, elevate poor customer service, and even free up an overburdened workforce. We dug deeper into those perceptions through an online survey of consumers and business decision makers, and an expert salon with thought leaders in the field. This original research unpacks key ways AI may impact our world, delving into its implications for society, service, and management.

 

Also see:

AI has the potential to become a great equalizer. More than half of consumers believe AI will provide educational help to disadvantaged schoolchildren. Over 40% also believe AI will expand access to financial, medical, legal, and transportation services to those with lower incomes.

Consumers also see the value in sharing their personal information for the greater good: 62% would share their data to help relieve traffic in their cities and 57% would do so to further medical breakthroughs.

 

 

 

New Google Earth has exciting features for teachers — from thejournal.com by Richard Chang

Excerpt:

Google has recently released a brand new version of Google Earth for both Chrome and Android. This new version has come with a slew of nifty features teachers can use for educational purposes with students in class. Following is a quick overview of the most fascinating features…

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 out of the ordinary things job hunters can do to get noticed on LinkedIn — from finance.yahoo.com by Hannah Morgan

Excerpt:

Even if you use all the right job buzz words, your LinkedIn profile still may not catch the attention of your potential new boss when on a job search. Isn’t it time you stopped lurking on LinkedIn and took control of your search?

Before you start applying these new ideas, search to see how many people or companies have viewed your profile. LinkedIn now summarizes this information for you when you view your profile. You will see two numbers immediately below your summary section. LinkedIn tells you how many people or companies have viewed your profile and how many people have viewed your posts. (You may also see the number of connections you have.) If you click on either number it will take you to a new page with greater detail. Write these numbers down and check them after you’ve begun implementing your new actions on LinkedIn. You will notice a difference. And this will help you in your search for a new job through the platform.

  • Publish an article on LinkedIn.
  • Create a career summary using SlideShare.
  • Like, comment or share one article every day.
  • Tag someone.
  • Reach out with a personalized invite to connect.
  • Turn on LinkedIn’s Open Candidate feature.
  • Give a great testimonial.

 

 

Former interns tell how they landed a first job — from nytimes.com by Jeff Selingo

Excerpt:

In recent years, internships have gone from nice-to-have-on-a-résumé to absolutely critical. Employers today go on to hire about 50 percent of their interns as full-time workers, according to the Collegiate Employment Research Institute at Michigan State University. And the share is growing every year in industries like construction, consulting, accounting and scientific services.

This new emphasis has upended the traditional recruiting calendar on campuses nationwide. With more companies drawing from their intern pools, recruiters have shifted their attention from hiring soon-to-graduate seniors to scoping out juniors, even as early as the fall term, for summer internships. Postings for internships now make up a significant proportion of the overall entry-level job openings in engineering, graphic design, communications, marketing and information technology, according to Burning Glass Technologies, a data analytics company that studies the job market.

“There was a time when 50 employers came to recruit for interns,” said Patricia Rose, director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania. “Now we have 180. They want to wrap up talent before anyone else.”

 

 

Want to effectively raise your LinkedIn profile? Follow these tips! — from medium.com by Larry Kim

Excerpt:

A killer LinkedIn profile is mandatory if you want to grow your personal brand and company. Even though you’re busy, LinkedIn is one place you can’t forget. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it. Here are 22 top tips to effectively boost your LinkedIn profile.

 

 

 

 
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