KILUVU

It is almost universally acknowledged that in order to succeed in the 21st century, students must learn much more than the “three Rs” and basic computer competency.

The term “21st century skills” is used often in educational circles to refer to a range of abilities and competencies that go beyond what has traditionally been taught in the classroom, including problem solving, communication, collaboration, creativity and innovation. Others define the term as “information literacy, media literacy, and information, communication and technology literacy.”

More importantly, students need these skills because employers across a huge variety of industries increasingly demand them. A recent McKinsey report indicated that close to 40 percent of employers could not find people with the right skills while 60 percent “complain[ed] of a lack of preparation.” Even jobs that were once considered vocational, such as welding, petroleum production, and even factory work, are now high tech, and require specialized knowledge that includes not only a robust science background and familiarity with the computerized machinery that keeps heavy industry humming, but also critical thinking and collaboration skills. In other words, 21st century job growth is outpacing our ability to develop a prepared workforce, making it more critical than ever to teach these skills.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/if-i-would-own-a-company-what-skills-would-i-expect-from-my-workers-in-21st-century/

Being an efficient learner is at least as important as being an efficient coder.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/the-new-possibilities-to-learn-and-teach-with-ict/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2014/10/03/design-the-learning-of-your-learners-students-ideas/

Digital skills call for digital training 

So now we’ve established that training is going to be one of the cornerstones of beating the Digital Skills Shortage. But what kind of training? Digital! You wouldn’t teach someone about the future by using ancient history textbooks, and you can’t just rely on traditional face-to-face training to teach digital skills.

But aside from the fact that digital training matches the subject matter more closely, another thing to consider is the frequency of training. One of the big four accounting firms, Deloitte, suggested that half of all digital skills become obsolete within about 30 months, due to technological change and development [5]. So that means constant updates are needed. Now, you could call in an external trainer and organize a workshop on a large scale every couple of years, but we could be talking about costs of tens, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost working time, organizational time, and hiring trainers.

The idea is that if you have an online training program, then it’s simple enough to update the content as frequently as necessary. On a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly basis; all that’s needed to keep training up to date is to stay abreast of any changes in the industry. Overall, this makes a lot more financial sense than offline training.

Besides this, a survey by Brandon Hall titled the “State of Learning” study, showed that employees expect continuous learning opportunities; for instance:

61% expect learning activity at least weekly,
90% expect learning activity at least monthly

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/what-are-the-skills-needed-from-students-in-the-future/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2016/02/18/the-new-possibilities-to-learn-and-teach-with-ict/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/learning-path-for-professional-21st-century-learning-by-ict-practice/

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/12/27/what-are-the-best-ways-of-teaching-and-learning-ideas-and-reflections/

“Skills young people should be learning to be prepared for a career in 2020 include:

The ability to concentrate, to focus deeply.

The ability to distinguish between the “noise” and the message in the ever-growing sea of information.

The ability to do public problem solving through cooperative work.

The ability to search effectively for information and to be able to discern the quality and veracity of the information one finds and then communicate these findings well.

Synthesizing skills (being able to bring together details from many sources).

The capability to be futures-minded through formal education in the practices of horizon-scanning, trends analysis and strategic foresight.”

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

https://gustmees.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/what-are-the-skills-needed-from-students-in-the-future/