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This week’s topic was in high demand and is something that has a huge effect on the future of work as a whole but also on most community members as individuals. What will the future of education look like? Will we learn from robots? Will schools even exist? Will universities drop in popularity? It turns out that people in our discussion were much more concerned about the framework of education in the future than they were with the technology, but everyone had big ideas for how things should look in the future.
According to many community members, educational practices are outdated. Vanessa Sweeney pointed out that many of the systems were created during the Industrial Revolution and haven’t really changed since then, except to add new technology in some cases. Work now is very different from what it was like in the Industrial Revolution, which means many schools aren’t equipping kids with the skills they need, leaving parents and other programs to fill in the gaps. Independant Researcher Michael Massey brought up the point that most educational systems use one-size-fits-all solutions that don’t meet the individual needs of students, which is especially difficult as companies work to make their offices more personalized for employees.
A big question that has grown in the last few years has been the importance of going to college. In many cases, the majority of what you learn is outdated by the time you graduate. Not to mention the high prices and huge amounts of debt that many graduates are left with! It used to be that a college degree basically guaranteed you a good job, but that is no longer the case. That, paired with the fact that a growing number of companies offer free or low-cost training on more job-specific skills online, has made some people shy away from continuing their formal education at a college or university. Public Events Manager Tyler Chartier said that he has learned more from free online courses in one year than he did in three years at a top university.
However, Foresight Consultant Daniel Jean-Pierre Riveong pointed out that universities are for more than just preparing students with job skills—they also develop good citizens with critical thinking skills that build community. “If I wanted to learn skills needed for a job, I could go on Facebook, YouTube, or Coursera. If we think that as a society everyone needs a baseline understanding of critical thinking, history, and philosophy to be a well-rounded member of society, we need universities,” he said. Many others agreed with him.
In the future of work, one of the most valuable skills employees can have is knowing how to learn. With so much information out there, knowing how to quickly find answers and gain skills is vital. Some would argue that those skills are born in a university environment. Workplace Strategy Manager Dave Denomolos mentioned that in Mexico the push has been to turn traditional education into a model for finding and discovering knowledge. Instead of being lectured at, students at these schools work in collaborative environments to solve problems and find answers. This is great preparation for real-world work experience, but unfortunately the practice isn’t widespread around the world.
Education is unlikely to drastically change in the next few decades, but there are seeds being planted of what could happen in the future. Global Service Line Lead Vanessa Sweeney suggested that traditional schools be replaced with “learning experience centers” that feature shared resources for all ages. These centers would allow students to learn on their own schedule and allow adults to continue their learning and keep active minds. However, she also acknowledges the huge step that is and that many people won’t want to take the risk.
As we saw in our discussion this week, education is something that everyone has an opinion about. What we can all agree on is that the current educational system isn’t perfect and needs some sorts of changes, either big or small depending on who you talk to. Most everyone was also in agreement that learning shouldn’t stop, especially with so many resources available today. So what will education look like in the future? No one knows for sure, but there is lots of opportunity to shape what it becomes.
My new book, The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, March 2017) analyzes over 250 global organizations to understand how to create a place where people genuinely want to show up to work. Subscribe to the newsletter here or become a member of the new Facebook Community The Future If… and join the discussion.
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