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Future Skills - The Future of Learning and Higher Education
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The starting point for the enormous career of the Future Skills concept is the insight that current concepts of higher education do not meet the urgent needs of our societies with convincing future concepts. Neither are they fit to help sustain our environment nor associated social or economic challenges. While social challenges are exacerbated by an accelerating process of globalisation and digital advancement, at the same time these are the very forces that enable a multitude of new options for human development. In this situation of digital acceleration, the characteristic feature is that of uncertainty and the inevitable necessity is that of creative responsibility.
The NextSkills Studies are about models for future relevant skills, so-called Future Skills. They are developed through a multitude of research activities over the last decade, involving a diverse range of international experts. Future Skills are the skills that enable future graduates to master the challenges of the future in the best possible way. The results show that in order to deal with future challenges, students must develop curiosity, imagination, vision, resilience and self-confidence, as well as the ability to act in a self-organised way. They must be able to understand and respect the ideas, perspectives and values of others, and they must be able to deal with mistakes and regressions, while at the same time progressing with care, even against difficulties.
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... What opportunities, but also risks, this new form of organizing learning and work holds for individual students and teachers and for companies is not yet completely clear. As explained by Ehlers the future skills for Curriculum 4.0 need competence orientation, self-organization of studies, and flexibility of study (spatial, temporal, and content related) [16]. A micro-credential is proof of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a short learning experience. ...
... Table 2 illustrates Education 4.0 skills initiatives. Many of them has been developed already a few years ago before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic such as Education 4.0 Lab with Digital Innovation Units [9], Learning Lab for Digital Technologies [23,34,35], SMART Mini Factory Lab for Industry 4.0 [24], ICARUS [16,25], Innovation Learning Lab for AI Analysis [26], CAMIS [27], Interconnection Techniques in Electronics (TIE) contest [28,37], Inaco Smart Labs [29], Edu+ [36], HELP [42] and CEL Together Online [41]. E4ILLAI is used in Higher Education, but also for further industry research projects such as the use of graphics processing units (GPU) and AI developer kits (NAO6 Robot, Nvidia Jetson developer kits). ...
These days, companies including Higher Education Institutions can no longer afford not to be innovative. They have to react with 4.0 concepts to secure their own existence. A future university graduate must easily cope with the requirements and skills of Industry 4.0, such as agile mindset, curiosity, reflection (in/on action), innovation, creativity, leadership, technology knowledge Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods, and AI-supported decision making. How exactly can Higher Education benefit from these approaches? This paper presents the paradigm shift in Engineering Education 4.0, considering high levels of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Therefore, the paper proposes a future-ready Curriculum 4.0 for Industry 4.0 and a new mindset from content to context, from delivery to co-creation, and from training to business impact.
... Accordingly, it is suggested that they can use the proposed model informally as a self-evaluation tool. Additionally, it should be mentioned that the above model also reflects the idea of the future university whose definition can be found in [13,14]. According to this definition, the future university is based on four pillars: competences of the future, networked university, flexible didactic offer and lifelong learning scenario. ...
The author of this article has proven in a separate bibliometric analysis that in most cases the world of education and the world of business use different terminology when discussing the competences needed on the current and future labor market. The former tends to refer to competences of the future while the latter uses the term competences 4.0 more often, which results from binding this phenomenon with the digital transformation and current changes in industry generally called the 4<sup>th</sup> industrial revolution. The differences in terminology in this respect also refer to the way these competences are defined, although in most cases they refer to three main domains: (1) technical competences; (2) cognitive competences and (3) social competences. On the basis of the above, the research group of the Polish NGO, The Platform for the Industry of the Future, designed the certification system for universities which would like to be labelled as universities that educate for the future and develop the competences of the future among their students. This certification system is based on the following standard: (1) curriculum; (2) internal ecosystem at a university; (3) cooperation with an external ecosystem; (4) the teaching staff and (5) infrastructure at a university. The certification system provides and defines detailed criteria for each element of the standard mentioned above, as well as indicators that measure the fulfilment of these criteria.
... Self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-confidence, autonomy, and commitment are skills individuals will need to perform successfully in this changing society [7]. Self-efficacy is a competence that enables individuals to face emergencies and uncertain environments. ...
The Fourth Industrial Revolution requires global, structural, and technological changes in all economic and production fields. The most apparent adaptation requirements fall on Generation Z individuals, who will have more and more responsibilities within organizations. The international reports of the World Economic Forum and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development indicate that this training will mainly require a strong development of thinking diversity and lifelong learning skills. This study presents an analysis of the education in these future skills that these individuals will need to work successfully throughout their careers, taking into account the evolution of conditions toward the changes expected in the following years. The methodology used in this research belongs to the field of futures studies. Through strategies in the field of foresight, various scenarios are proposed that involve the expected changes in the short, medium, and long term, both in higher education institutions and in industries and companies, to ensure the adaptation of Generation Z individuals to changes in work, workplace, and workforce. The findings show the strong influence that other skills and attitudes, such as self-esteem, self-efficacy, initiative, emotions, and motivation, have on the capacity for self-managed development throughout professional life.
... Well-developed Future Skills go way beyond only indicated fixed skills, they are closely cross-linked with profession-specific skills and serve as a strong binder of both. Future Skills enlighten the conceptual model consisting of three interacted dimensions: a subjective -individual development-related, an objective -task and subject matter-oriented, and a social dimension -organizational and environment-related (Ehlers, 2020). The close interrelations of the dimensions reflect the importance of transversal competence in applying any knowledge and skills. ...
The promotion of competence development is one of the priorities of education systems in Latvia and Europe. An important driving force in competence development is higher education study programmes, where students acquire professional and transversal skills. Special attention is given to the significance of transversal competence in promoting competitiveness, social integration, and accountability of graduates in their everyday and professional lives. In the research project Assessment of Higher Education Students Competencies and the Dynamics of its Development Throughout Studies (Rubene et al. 2021), qualitative and quantitative evaluation indicators and an assessment instrument for six transversal competences (Digital, Global, Innovation, Research, Civic, Entrepreneurial) were developed. The instrument facilitates an assessment of the students’ competence level and development. International Business and Start-up Entrepreneurship (IBSE) is an international, interdisciplinary bachelor’s study programme at Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU). Its goal is to prepare highly qualified and creative specialists in international business, start-up entrepreneurship, and management, who will be ready to participate in the business development and transformation of the national economy. In the intended learning outcomes of the study programme the emphasis is put on the graduates’ ability to analytically collect information, evaluate it critically, identify trends and find creative solutions to problems, as well as participate in the development of the international business and start-up entrepreneurship in a global environment. In the framework of this study, the intended learning outcomes of the IBSE programme were mapped to the assessment indicators of transversal competence. Analysis of the curriculum map led to conclusions to what extent the six transversal competence are present in the curriculum, the succession of their acquisition, and their concordance with the education level of the study programme. Recommendations for improving study programme learning outcomes were identified to improve the acquisition of transversal competence within the study programme.
... Where frameworks are introduced to teachers in a one-on-one, peer learning situation, or where a voluntary, collaborative approach is taken to professional learning, uptake and meaningful reflection on practice have proven more likely to occur (Campbell et al., 2019;Persico et al., 2020;Seeto & Vlachopoulos, 2015). In addition, an active, self-organised approach to CPLD may be more effective for professional learning than passive attendance at standardised CPLD sessions (Ehlers, 2020). We have an opportunity now to promote and lead a culture of creativity in our departments and institutions to further our CPLD. ...
This book serves as a reference point to inform continuing professional learning and development (CPLD) initiatives at both individual and institutional levels. It serves as a guide for faculty engaged in online teaching within the higher education sector, in universities and vocational education institutions. It moves beyond a technology-driven approach by emphasising pedagogy and design as key issues in online teaching practice. It will highlight challenges to staff engagement and how they may be overcome, drawing on evidence-based examples and models of CPLD from institutions around the world. It is underpinned by a framework that emphasises the need for CPLD that is sustainable and adaptable to a range of contexts, particularly in professional learning and development. This book also highlights practices aimed at sustainable, continuing, learning, and brings together a range of solutions and suggestions to assist educators and institutions with CPLD.
... Where frameworks are introduced to teachers in a one-on-one, peer learning situation, or where a voluntary, collaborative approach is taken to professional learning, uptake and meaningful reflection on practice have proven more likely to occur (Campbell et al., 2019;Persico et al., 2020;Seeto & Vlachopoulos, 2015). In addition, an active, self-organised approach to CPLD may be more effective for professional learning than passive attendance at standardised CPLD sessions (Ehlers, 2020). We have an opportunity now to promote and lead a culture of creativity in our departments and institutions to further our CPLD. ...
One of the key outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic has been to move fully online teaching from a niche activity to the mainstream within higher education. This has required a radical rethinking of how higher education institutions support their faculty to develop their online teaching practice. In this introductory chapter, we discuss the reasons why continuing professional learning and development (CPLD) has never been more important in helping instructors who are new to online teaching to develop the requisite competencies and strategies to work effectively in this domain, as well as to support experienced teachers in refreshing and extending their online teaching practice. We acknowledge that there is no universally accepted approach to CPLD for online teaching and that diverse approaches are needed to address wide-ranging development requirements, such as staff capabilities, pedagogies and course design needs related to associated disciplinary and institutional practices. We present a CPLD model to capture these diverse sources of support, which forms the organising framework for this book. This model provides an overview of the different sources of learning development that are available to online instructors – both within and outside the teaching institution – and how they are interrelated and interconnected as part of a wider ecology of CPLD support to staff. We explain how these different sources of support may be combined to support personalised learning development pathways in online teaching practice.
In a rapidly changing world, the discussion on Future Skills is one of the most topical in educational research. The discussion on Future Skills has been going on for a long time (starting with studies on graduate attributes), is often intangible due to conceptual ambiguity about what skills actually are, and often only refers to digital Future Skills in a reduced way. The research presented here is based on a sound empirical approach, the multi-method, and multi-part NextSkills studies. The intention of the project is to explore the demand for specific Future Skills in more detail and then, in a second step, to substantiate them in terms of educational theory. These Future Skills are classified by the “Future Skills Triple Helix-Model of Capacity to Act in Emergent Practical Contexts.” More specifically, these are skills such as ambiguity competence, ethical competence, self-competence, and others.
COVID-19 hastened a trend that was already ongoing before the pandemic outbreak: the progressively increasing use of distance and online teaching and learning, alongside with lectures and classes. The potentialities of online teaching allowed a didactic continuity that would have been impossible otherwise, and this approach is likely to be maintained even after COVID-19 related restrictions end. From these remarks, it immediately follows that it is of great importance that teachers, students and other personnel, such as technicians and program managers, possess digital skills devoted to education. In the context of security and defence, areas with a strong international vocation, these skills are even more valuable. This research investigates the impact of COVID-19 on education in these contexts: the changes caused by the pandemic, the teachers' perception about some aspects of their job, such as the way they relate with students, and their ability to perform the same commitments in a different scenario. The research has been conducted based on the analysis of an online anonymous questionnaire with more than 500 responses. Results suggested the importance of the development of a training devoted to improving teachers' digital skills, since they live frontline in education, and they have been directly impacted by disruptive changes. This study is part of the European project Digital Competences for Improving Security and Defence Education-DIGICODE. Pursuing to the Digital Education Action Plan, the project aims at improving education quality in security and defence, by means of digital tools in didactics, and the development of teachers' professional competences.
There are known issues in authentic assessment design practices in digital education, which include the lack of freedom-of-choice, lack of focus on the multimodal nature of the digital process, and shortage of effective feedbacks. This study looks to identify an assessment design construct that overcomes these issues. Specifically, this study introduces an authentic assessment that combines gamification (G) with heutagogy (H) and multimodality (M) of assessments, building upon rich pool of multimodal data and learning analytics (A), known as GHMA. This is a skills-oriented assessment approach, where learners determine their own goals and create individualized multimodal artefacts, receive cognitive challenge through cognitively complex tasks structured in gamified non-linear learning paths, while reflecting on personal growth through personalized feedback derived from learning analytics. This pilot research looks to: (i) establish validity of all elements within the assessment design, and (ii) identify if application of assessment design leads to improved learner satisfaction. Results showed positive validations of all key elements of the GHMA assessment model, as beneficial factors tied to positive learner satisfaction on assessment delivery. There existed statistically significant post- and pre-treatment differences between experimental and control group satisfaction levels, indicating positive receptivity of GHMA authentic assessment design in digital education.
Higher education practitioners may find that conceptualising and developing an online course is challenging at the best of times. Given the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent accompanying changes to educational provision, more than ever we need assistance in envisaging and creatively shaping our pedagogical approaches for the online learning environment. Models that help us visualise learning designs, support us as creative teachers and contribute to our continuing professional learning and development needs (CPLD) may be particularly useful. Much can be learnt from the creative approaches of exemplary practitioners in the field. Examples from practice, CPLD principles, and adaptable learning designs are all useful tools to support praxis and enrich experience. In this chapter, I share an ecological model for designing for creative online learning that can also be used as a prompt for CPLD activities. The model is derived from lessons learned from practitioners in Australian higher education and illustrated with international examples of online adaptations implemented during the Covid-19 health emergency.
Das Projekt „Bologna (aus)gewertet“ (Suchanek, Pietzonka, Künzel & Futterer, 2012a; 2012b; 2013; Pietzonka, 2012) und eine darauf aufbauende Dissertation (Pietzonka, 2014b) hatte eine Bestandsaufnahme zur aktuellen Umsetzung der Studienreform an den niedersächsischen Hochschulen zum Ziel. Dabei wurden Auflagen aus Akkreditierungsverfahren ausgewertet und Hochschulmitarbeiter sowie Studierendenvertreter zu ihren Einschätzungen und Erfahrungen gezielt befragt. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Ergebnisse für die hochschulinterne Qualitätssicherung sowie deren Implikationen im Einzelnen und ausführlich dargestellt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen teilweise erhebliche Mängel und Schwächen bei der Durchführung und Auswertung der angewendeten Verfahren sowie bei der Verwendung der gewonnenen Daten auf. Die Programmakkreditierung ist nicht in der Lage, die Wirksamkeit der hochschulinternen Qualitätssicherung hinreichend sicherzustellen.
Zusammenfassung
Hochschulbildung wird von Arbeitgebern gemeinhin honoriert. Der Bologna-Prozess hat dazu geführt, dass Bachelorabsolventen in mehreren europäischen Ländern in Arbeitsmärkte eintreten, in denen eine nur 3-jährige Hochschulausbildung ein bis dato unbekanntes Phänomen ist. Schwinden für diese Gruppe die gut dokumentierten Arbeitsmarktvorteile von Hochschulabsolventen? In Deutschland lassen sich Arbeitsmarkteintritte von Personen mit ähnlicher Ausbildungslänge und ähnlichem Ausbildungsfach vergleichen, wobei sich die eine Gruppe für eine etablierte berufliche Ausbildung und die andere Gruppe für ein neues Bachelorstudium entschieden hat. Auf Basis des Mikrozensus finden wir, dass ein universitärer Bachelorabschluss mit einem höheren Einkommen assoziiert ist als ein beruflicher Abschluss und mit einem ähnlichen Einkommen wie ein beruflicher Fortbildungsabschluss. Hinsichtlich des Arbeitslosigkeitsrisikos zeigt sich, dass Personen mit universitärem Bachelorabschlüssen am häufigsten arbeitslos sind. Bachelorabsolventen von Fachhochschulen hingegen erreichen beides, hohe Einkommen und ein geringes Arbeitslosigkeitsrisiko. Insgesamt deuten unsere Befunde darauf hin, dass akademische Bildung weiterhin nachgefragt wird und sich lohnt – auch unter den neuen Rahmenbedingungen.
The predictive power of academic certifications for job success is eroding. It has never been outstanding but for a long time it was felt to be an important-at least hygienic-factor for job applications to have an academic or a good academic certificate. This starts to erode recently. More and more alternative credentials start to come into focus and develop value. Different pathways from the traditional higher education system emerge and become increasingly relevant for employers. These different pathways are often credentials earned in post-secondary education or professional training after initial academic graduation. Microcredentials are a fairly recent development that has grown in popularity in multiple discipline areas. They represent mastery of a limited set of skills or competencies rather than broader and interrelated sets of skills-like full bachelor degrees or alike-represented in current credentialing systems. Unlike these current and traditional credentialing conventions, usually summarized by a certificate or transcript with no connection to explicit evidence of the earner's competencies, micro-credentials are directly linked to digital artefacts that explain the nature and criteria of the credential as well as evidence contributed by the earner.
Zusammenfassung Digitalisierung in der Hochschule verändert das Gesicht von Studium und Lehre. Aber was macht das neue, innovative Element aus, welches teilweise mit Web 2.0 (Tim O'Reilly 2004, 2005) oder mit E-Learning 2.0 beschrieben wird-und derzeit nur noch unter "Digitalisierung" gefasst wird? Und vor allem: Hat diese Entwicklung Konsequenzen dafür, wie wir Qualität im E-Learning sichern, managen und entwickeln? Und wenn ja: Brauchen wir neue Methoden und Konzepte, um zukünftig die Qualität von E-Learning 2.0 zu gewährleisten und zu verbessern? Diese Fragen stehen am Anfang vieler Debatten, die rund um den Begriff E-Learning 2.0 geführt werden. Der vorliegende Beitrag geht diesen Fragen nach. In drei Schritten wird zu-nächst beschrieben, auf welchen Grundlagen Digitalisierung aufbaut und was sich verändert. In einem zweiten Schritt wird aufgezeigt, welche Konsequenzen sich für die Qualitätsentwicklung des E-Learning ergeben. Drittens werden exemplarisch einige Methoden beschrieben und praktische Anregungen dazu gegeben, wie sich Methoden zur Qualitätsentwicklung im E-Learning weiter-entwickeln sollten. In einem Ausblick wird diskutiert, ob eine neue Lernkultur auch zu einer neuen Qualitätskultur führt.
Für eine Schultheorie und Didaktik, die die Selbstbestimmung als eine der zentralen Bildungsdimensionen herausstellt, ist das selbstständige Lernen eine zwingende wie auch besonders herausfordernde Fragestellung. Sie resultiert nicht nur aus der Dynamik des (weltweiten) Wissenszuwachses und der zu fördernden kognitiven und emotionalen Verankerung in der zu erwartenden Zukunft, sondern auch aus der pädagogischen Notwendigkeit einer demokratischen Gesellschaft, die soziale, politische und kulturelle Urteilfähigkeit und Handlungsbereitschaft sowie Kritikfähigkeit ermöglicht und entwicklungsangemessen fördert. Das kann aber nur gelingen, wenn die Schaffung eines gemeinsamen, die Lern- und Lehrsubjekte verbindenden Fundaments an Vorstellungen über eine gerechte Gesellschaft durch eine innere Differenzierung der Lern- und Unterrichtsangebote zur Geltung gebracht wird, so dass die Heranwachsenden die Gemeinschaftlichkeit ihrer Vorstellungen durch die Wechselbezüge ihrer je individuellen Erlebnisse, Erfahrungen und Reflexionen erkennen können. Methodische Wege dazu werden am Beispiel von Wochenplan-Unterricht, Frei- und Projektarbeit anschaulich dargestellt.
How will higher education institutions have to position in order to prepare future graduates for the changing society and future work place? The Future Skill Report is based on a number of prior research studies on future skills – future learning and future higher education. It presents validated concept and elaborates a model of future skills, data on future learning and consolidated scenarios for future higher education.
With fundamental changes in the job market and challenges in our societies due to a global and technological drivers, research on future skills becomes increasingly relevant. However, many studies fall short on capturing the effects which technological advancements and global cooperation have today and will have in the future on higher education systems, skill development demands and labour market changes. They often reduce future skills directly to digital skills, which – as important as they are – only represent one side of the future skill coin.
The results presented from this Delphi survey are taking a broader view and go beyond digital skill demands. The approach elaborates on an experts’ informed vision of future higher education (HE), taking into account the demand for future skills, outlines the four signposts of change which will shape the learning revolution in higher education and presents a first model of future skills for future graduates.
It is part of an overarching research project series on “Next Skills” (www.nextskills.org) and collates opinions from an international experts’ panel of almost 50 experts from higher education and business. Experts were asked both, the degree of relevance, as well as the timeframe of adoption for future skills, future higher education scenarios and the driving pillars of change.