Wednesday, May 21, 2014

College or Entrepreneurship Bound? from 26 Gems


I found this outstanding post on the future of education; it reminds me of the perfect storm, in the sense that we are making our students sitting in front of us miss the boat on their futures'....

In the near future fifty percent of what students learn in a four year higher learning institution will be obsolete by their third year of study. 
The Huff Post Teen asked 20 teens what they would change about high school. The answers varied from changing the grading system, scheduling, course offerings, standardized tests, low standards and most importantly eliminating memorization to focus on learning.

These concerns pose a dilemma that should have been solved yesterday. Although some of these concerns have been minimally tampered with, it is still insufficient to meet the requirements that will most likely be needed for the newly created jobs that still have been invented...

It appears that critical changes to education are developing at a rate that is failing to keep up with technology. Ten years ago, the following jobs were non-existent:

App Developer

Data Miner

Admissions Consultants

Millennial Generational Expert

User Experience Designer

Sustainability Expert

Cloud Computing Technologist

Social Media Manager

Scarier yet, look what is coming down the future pipeline in terms of tomorrows jobs:

Body Part Engineer: This individual will be responsible for engineering your new organ (liver, heart, kidney, or lung) for your transplant. Yes, you read it correctly.

Memory Augmentation Surgeon: Research shows that most individuals suffer from memory loss as we age. The surgeon will not only preserve your memory but will improve it. Sweet!

Elderly Well Being Consultant: How about having your very own consultant in your golden age years?

Nano-Medic: fashions smalls implants that will monitor your health and give you medication as needed. Seriously…wow!

Avatar Manager: We have come a long ways from James Cameron’s Avatar movie in 2009. This person will be responsible for developing and handling holograms of virtual individuals.

Climate Controller: Really? The weather conditions will be managed instead of forecasted. Sounds like sci-fi.

Vertical Farmer: The fields will no longer be planted or harvested as we know it. The crops will rise towards the sky leaving plenty of space behind.

Waste Data Handler: One of the components of waste management encompasses the trash we litter, but now waste data handler. Wasted data will have to be disposed of in an responsible manner.

Digital Architect: Advertisers and retailers will market their products in virtual buildings designed by these individuals. Go figure...

Research Source: http://www.wagepoint.com


Generation Z needs to value the skills for the forecasted future jobs which will include skills such as creativity, innovativeness, problem solving, critical thinking, digital literacy, open communication, collaboration, digital citizenship, technology operations, technology concepts, research and information fluency and last but not least entrepreneurism.

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Approximately, 1.5 million iPads have a selection of 20,000 educational apps that may be used in the classrooms. Students prefer to read from a tablet than from a traditional book. They read on average 9 more books on a tablet. About 90 percent of students believe they can learn more effectively by using a tablet. There are about 50,000 books, videos, lectures on the Internet at the tips of their fingers.

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