In a rapidly changing digital landscape, it is only with innovative digital capabilities that we can curate advanced skilling platforms, those that enable better learning experiences for a future-ready workforce.
The world is evolving rapidly, and so is the future of work. A study by the McKinsey Global Institute states that automation is expected to push around 375 million people worldwide to shift occupational categories by 2030.
The study also highlights the complexity of skills needed to be future-ready lest economies bear the brunt across dimensions like growth, inclusiveness, and sustainability.
Covid accelerated the pace of digitalization and the way the world consumes knowledge. Technological advances like Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are expected to dictate the advancement of ed-tech solutions. Furthermore, the quicker adoption of technology has led to a steep rise in innovation and the development of new online platforms, apps, systems, and software.
With the shift to remote working, people are increasingly embracing digital learning to upskill and navigate an ever-shifting world of work. A World Economic Forum report states that online learning platforms like Coursera recorded 20 million new student registrations in 2021. This upward trend is a testament to the global acceptance of online learning for future-proof skills. Rapid digitalization is also forecasted to leave several traditional, low-skilled roles redundant. Workers must upskill and reskill, or stagnant, low-skilled employees will lose lucrative opportunities in the burgeoning tech landscape.
Educational technology has enormous potential in upskilling a future-ready workforce. Let’s understand how tech is facilitating and augmenting learning for a future-ready workforce:
• Upskill platforms are already tech-first: Software platforms for upskilling need the integration of multiple standalone technology platforms to provide an end-to-end learning experience. These may be course storefronts, CRM systems, or course enrolment systems that include payment gateway solutions, teaching and learning systems, assessments, and engagement platforms. The interplay of technologies here helps in attracting learners, enhancing the teaching & learning experience, and influencing learner outcomes.
• Driving down the cost of learner acquisition: Companies in the upskilling business are still faced with steep costs of learner acquisition. Tech intervention can help a prospective learner better evaluate several learning platforms with a self-driven approach, thus reducing the CAC (Cost of Customer Acquisition). Instead of expensive on-the-ground sales teams, prospective learners are now provided with a learner portal that allows them to take a test drive of the learning material at their own convenience. Portals for prospective learners can provide tech-enabled toolsets to evaluate ROI, choose options to fast-track completion, and provide a high degree of flexibility in class schedules based on learners’ convenience. They also provide a feel of the course even before enrolment, giving prospective learners all the necessary data points to help them make a well-informed decision.
• Tech-driven skill mapping and gap analysis are shaping personalized career paths: The need to assess learners for their propensity to move into new roles requires an initial test of their skills, identification of gaps, and a mechanism to devise a transformational path to help them make a shift to aspirational roles. Tech can help maintain a skills repository focused on the domain of interest, perform skill mapping, and gap analysis, and chalk out the personalized path for upskilling or re-skilling.
• Facilitation of multimodal learning delivery: With multimodal learning, learners are better engaged with content delivered through varied modes of communication. As the pandemic ushered in online learning, multi-modal delivery of courses has proliferated as learners prefer greater agency in how they consume knowledge. Technology solutions that provide a seamless intersection of in-classroom lecture capture systems, video/audio conferencing systems, LMS systems, and video-on-demand services are becoming an absolute necessity. This way, EdTech companies in the upskilling space need to ensure an immersive learning experience is provided for the learners, irrespective of the way they participate in the class: one can attend lectures in person, join remotely for real-time, live classes, or access lectures offline at a convenient pace and time.
• Provides socially enabled Learning in The Flow of Work (LIFOW): Upskilling requires a higher quantum of motivation and commitment for success, and is more effective when learning can be integrated into the flow of work. Social learning platforms can play a pivotal role in inculcating learning touch points across a regular workday based on the unique needs of each learner. Lastly, micro-learning systems provide unfettered and continuous delivery of relevant content, facilitating higher retention and mastery.
• Enable competency-based experiential learning: In upskilling, a learner’s primary focus is a higher career trajectory or more lucrative job opportunities. Also, enterprises often want their best people to be upskilled for newer and bigger roles to mitigate attrition. That said, the pedagogy cannot be primarily driven by lectures (live or recorded) and assessments; learners need hands-on learning experience. The platform must provide a virtual simulation of work-related tools, methodologies, communication mechanisms, and, importantly, a way to compare the outcomes achieved. Project-based learning gives the learner a feeling of “been there, done that” when tasked with actual work on the job.
• Build digital resumes and e-portfolios: Learners need a digital space to organize and document their most significant learning experiences, enabling a reflective learning process and, over time, deepening learning. A mature e-portfolio is a mirror of learning outcomes. Edtech platforms can help design a dynamic combination of e-portfolios with learner bio/demo and work experience. This lets learners capture their learning achievements digitally, showcase them to potential employers, and position their candidature for job openings anytime, anywhere. With automated mechanisms to align resumes to job requirements, tech can help scale job placements.
• Enable equitable access to quality learning: Edtech’s greatest promise is to remove barriers and expand access to education for everyone. As upskilling platforms collaborate with well-established institutions worldwide, learners are to benefit greatly by investing in their professional development with easy access to online on-the-job training, anytime and from anywhere in the world.
• Make learners’ identities and accomplishments verifiable: Lastly, technology plays an important role in credentialing and certification. Technology can automate processes by reducing the cost of certificate administration for relevant external stakeholders — from easing learner identity verification processes to the fake-proofing of a badge or certificate award.
While tech has been deemed notorious for widening the skills gap or taking jobs away, on the bright side, it is a great leveler in ensuring the availability, accessibility, and affordability of education for unfettered participation in the digital economy. Intelligent technologies are reshaping the demand for skills and jobs and for edtech platforms, the future demands more inclusive learning solutions and sophisticated grading systems to achieve the growth promised by these smart technologies. And, in a rapidly changing digital landscape, it is only with innovative digital capabilities that we can curate advanced skilling platforms, those that enable better learning experiences for a future-ready workforce.
