We are on the cusp of an educational technology revolution that will ultimately change the way we learn, live, and earn our livelihood. Industries far and wide, including education, have experienced radical disruption. Here are six ways, education technology will lead economic and education recovery – all trends helping to drive CLA’s talent development strategy:
Resistance is Futile
According to Forbes magazine, while many education systems have resisted changing their 150-year-old structure, necessity now compels them to do what declining student achievement could not. Education technology that delivers great content and engages students and teachers has never been more important. Forbes went on to ask, “What if we were actually deploying the many advances in the science of learning and technology to bring an “end to average?”
Frontline Upskilling and Reskilling
What if you discovered every dollar that is invested in eLearning results in $30 of increased productivity, and revenue generated per employee is 26 percent more for organizations that offer technology-based training such as eLearning? IBM paid attention to the research from KZO Innovations and saved $200 million after making the switch from in-person training to online learning. VR and AR technologies represent a new learner experience to access and consume content via bite-sized learning and performance support.
According to the World Economic Forum, they predict more than 1 billion people will need to be reskilled by 2030, as jobs continue to transform. Proactively utilizing online courses—in a remote, socially distant capacity—could make a dramatic difference in post-pandemic abilities to return to work or start a new career. As unemployed or furloughed workers begin to think about their next role and returning to work during this period of sheltering in place, it is critical that they evaluate their current skill sets and utilizing online courses to develop new ones. While employers will have a large talent pool to choose from once the pandemic is over, applicants should do everything they can to reskill to become as attractive to employers as possible.
STEM evolves to STEEM
Entrepreneurship becomes part of the academic ecosystem to prepare minds and nurture talent, not just as worker bees, but as thinkers, creators, and pioneers. In our 2D world, entrepreneurs’ brand themselves online with a name, logo, colors and fonts on a website or social media page. However, in our rapidly approaching 3D world, your experience with an online business entrepreneur will be a fully immersive one.
Competency Profiles
Amazon announced it would spend $700 million over the next six years to help retrain a third of its US workforce to adapt to an economy increasingly disrupted by automation and new technology. As individuals, we have competency profiles, and these profiles are not static. Upskilling and reskilling is the conscious migration of one competency profile to another through education and/or training and/or experience.
Frontier Technologies
Walmart, the country’s largest private employer, is using virtual reality headsets to test which employees have the aptitude for middle management positions. Frontier technologies occupy the intersection where radical forward-thinking and real-world implementation co-mingle and co-exist. Industry pushes the boundaries of technology capability and adoption into the workforce.
The opportunities for companies to pursue new paths to providing online education – such as AI-enabled one-on-one teaching and other immersive learning technologies, education subscription platforms, and gamified education models – are continuing to grow. These initiatives are transforming workforce training and driving social impact, and CLA-OC is working with local leaders to have an influential role in this advancement.
Smart Learning Environments
In 2018, the world’s internet users passed the 4 billion mark. The rallying cry “Anytime, anywhere, any age!” drives the smart learning environment. Institutions have already shifted to accommodate new students, teachers, and professionals. As of last year, major edtech investments soared past $18.66 billion, driving a market shift towards digital learning and personalized classrooms. According to LinkedIn, in 2015, 40% of the global population had smartphones. That’s 3.4 billion people. 30% of those smartphone users have taken a class or accessed instructional content on a phone. That’s 1.02 billion people. Acquiring knowledge is no longer restricted to formal learning situations. Learning can and does happen in any environment, interaction, and conversation that learners engage in.
We can predict that the marketplace will now have an even larger demand for skills that include online learning, online teaching, data tools, and virtual tools that have been implemented during these times. The education system and soon to be graduates should look further into their online tools and how they can prepare themselves for post-pandemic. With the workforce shifting to mold around their new demographic that’s continuously online, graduates and new professionals must follow their lead, bringing their own skills to match.