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Future Skills - The Future of Learning and Higher Education
Abstract and Figures
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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... Some authors mentioned that the factors that drove these new work trends were environmental sustainability, urbanization, increasing inequality, political uncertainty, technological change, globalization, and demographic change [1]. In 2019, the results of research that has been conducted following the Delphi methodology since 2015 was published, using as an instrument a survey of almost 50 participants of the educational field (lecturers, researchers, directives), the researchers defined 17 skill profiles, connected in a map under three dimensions: subject, object, and world, called the Three Triple Helix Model [3]. ...
... To analyze how the top 100 QS-ranked universities address skills and Future Skills, a comprehensive classification of skills was performed. This classification was based on the taxonomies provided by the Three Triple Helix Model of the Delphi report [3], the Future of Skills Employment 2030 book by the National Center for O*NET Development [14], and the Future of Jobs Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum [4]. The specific skills were identified and classified as shown in Table 2. ...
... The high rate of collaboration reflects the interdisciplinary nature of Future Skills research and the collective commitment of universities to advance skill development, enhancing the field's understanding through diverse perspectives. [3]. Interdisciplinary efforts fostered critical skill domains among universities, and regional context and institutional focus influence the prominence of skills, as well as universities' reputation in the ranking. ...
The purpose of this study was to examine how, in recent years, the top 100 universities in the QS ranking have integrated the development of Future Skills into their curricula to address the evolving demands of the labor market. The PRISMA methodology was used to conduct a comprehensive search and analysis focused on research articles and internal university documents, with significant contributions from American and European Higher Education Institutions. Various international reports by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have identified and organized Future Skills based on their analysis and research. Regardless of how these skills are defined, all the stakeholders agreed that higher education institutions must focus on fostering them in undergraduates to meet labor market demands. Our research identified a significant trend in skill adoption, with social and metacognitive skills emerging as prevalent among 59% of top universities in general searches. On the other hand, while cognitive-metacognitive and technical skills were more frequently mentioned by 35% and 29% of these universities, collaboration was emphasized in 74% of the documents, mainly within social and medical sciences. The main conclusion was that while most universities are currently incorporating these skills into student profile development, collaborative efforts in advancing the understanding and implementation of other Future Skills will become essential for the seamless incorporation of graduates into the workforce. This fact reinforces the urgent need for further research to ensure comprehensive skill development, mainly focusing on emotional skills in diverse academic disciplines, such as natural sciences, engineering, agriculture, and humanities.
... B. Brandhofer et al., 2018;Suessenbach et al., 2021;Wissenschaftsrat, 2022). So ist die Fähigkeit zur Selbstinitiative und einer damit verbundenen Selbstkompetenz zusammen mit der Kompetenz in Netzwerken kollaborativ arbeiten zu können (Arnold, 2017) bereits heute fast wichtiger als die eigentliche Fachkompetenz (Ehlers, 2020). Dennoch fokussieren Studiengänge noch viel zu häufig auf die Ausbildung homogener Studienkohorten, welche weder den Potentialen einzelner Studierender gerecht werden noch Antworten auf die disruptiven Bedürfnisse der Gesellschaft geben (Brandhofer et al., 2018). ...
... Dennoch fokussieren Studiengänge noch viel zu häufig auf die Ausbildung homogener Studienkohorten, welche weder den Potentialen einzelner Studierender gerecht werden noch Antworten auf die disruptiven Bedürfnisse der Gesellschaft geben (Brandhofer et al., 2018). Selbstorganisiertes Lernen als Zukunftskompetenz erfordert dagegen neue und besondere Modelle der Ausbildung, Unterstützung und Entwicklung (Ehlers, 2020). ...
Für die Wirtschaft wurden mit Working Out Loud™ (WOL™) und ähnlichen Methodenverbünden Angebote gestaltet, mit denen Fachkräfte ihre Vernetzungs- und Selbstorganisationskompetenzen weiterentwickeln. Aufgrund der Bedeutung dieser Kompetenzbereiche wird WOL™ daraufhin untersucht, wie es sich im Hochschulkontext anwenden bzw. adaptieren lässt. Die Studie basiert auf der wissenschaftlichen Begleitung einer neu eingeführten Lehrveranstaltung an einer deutschen Universität. Leitfragenbasierte Fokusinterviews mit studentischen Teilnehmenden bilden die wesentliche methodische Basis. Im Ergebnis zeigen sich beachtliche Potenziale und auch wichtige Entwicklungsbedarfe des innovativen Lehrformats.
... As flexibility increases, individuals become more responsible for developing their skills. This shift indicates a growing need for self-discipline and increased responsibility for one's learning [4]. Changes in the content of education are closely related to the standardization of educational paths. ...
... A systematic approach was adopted to determine the effect of different variables on the clustering results. A dataset containing key variables was analyzed -each variable was subjected to KMeans clustering with a fixed number of clusters (2)(3)(4), and a Silhouette score was calculated for each configuration of clusters. The results are presented in Table 6. ...
This study investigates rapid guessing behavior (RGB) in a microlearning environment, which has gained importance due to its growing user base in formal and informal education. The presence of RGB in question responses can distort the perceived difficulty of the content and skew the overall assessment of a student’s abilities. When test-takers respond without careful consideration, their scores may not accurately reflect their knowledge and skills, potentially leading to incorrect conclusions about student performance and the effectiveness of the educational content. The primary goal of this research is to evaluate whether methods designed for RGB detection in traditional testing environments can be effectively applied in microlearning–a low-stakes context that contrasts with traditional high-stakes testing scenarios. Three different approaches to RGB identification, represented by six methods, were selected for this study. These include the nominal time method based on average response time (NT10), visual identification of bimodal distributions in response times, and a group of methods that combine response time and accuracy (RTRA and CUMP). Additionally, the study aims to identify variables that can categorize students based on their behavior and performance and examine how these variables can improve the accuracy of RGB detection. Analyzing real-world data, the study focuses on student interactions with microlearning content, particularly regarding response times, accuracy, and engagement levels. The findings confirm that methods developed for RGB identification in traditional settings can be adapted for use in microlearning environments. Furthermore, the study reveals significant differences in RGB identification when students are clustered by reading speed and learning performance.
... Rogayan and Reusia (2021) Suggestions for renewing English education, such as: transforming pedagogy from teacher-centered lessons and individual student achievements to collaboration and welcoming and expanding educational opportunities for everyone, everywhere instead of thinking that learning happened only inside schools (UNESCO, 2021) were just a few of the reimagination that creates metaphors. English teachers must remember that all future education movements are by digital accelerations (Ehlers, 2020). It is encouraging for teachers to project their futures to restudy the curriculum practices to identify and examine how to restructure the school and curriculum through metaphors (Bateman, 2009). ...
... Since technology is part of the future, everyone should embrace its existence and that this technology is also part of the change. It was cliché to say that the future was volatile, however, it was said that everyone should be prepared to shape it and turn to its desired one (Ehlers, 2020), while educational institutions should consider and follow futures-oriented educational design to promote futures thinking (Chen & Hsu, 2020). ...
The researcher conducted this study to offer ways for English coordinators and teachers to advocate for education about and in the future. It introduced prospect-positive supervision and teaching futures manipulation and provided a framework to challenge traditional practices and promote strategic and futures-oriented conversations within the education sector. Semi-structured questions were used to gather the supervisors’ and teachers’ experiences in supervisory practices and teaching and learning strategies through interviews and focus group interviews. The questions were categorized into four CLA layers: Litany, Systemic, World-view, and Myth/Metaphors. Selected English coordinators and English teachers from public and private schools in Davao City were interviewed. The result enabled to recreate supervisory policies and develop renewed teaching practices suitable to the changing society. The metaphors created were supervision is an exam and English teaching and learning is a globe. These metaphors became the basis for open discussion and help foresight practitioners in individual research or workshop settings as they perform their duties and restructure educational policies in supervision and teaching-learning the English language. It also led to the co-created futures in education as the “school of virtual reality”, where AI- generated (supervision) and metaverse (teaching and learning) play an explicit role in supervision and the English teaching and learning process.
Keywords: Causal Layered Analysis, English language,
futures studies, metaphors, supervision and teaching
... For future competitiveness in a rapidly changing digital world for the new skills set, seven main skills are used in this study for the development of a decision tool for open university support staff. These skills can be groups as follows (Annica et al., 2020;Ehlers, 2020;Nesrin et al., 2021;Leopold et al., 2024): ...
The future of work is rapidly evolving owing to the swift developments in technology and societal changes. While failure to adapt signifies being disrupted, those who do adapt become the disruptors, impacting economies, societies, environments, and education. Traditional work skills may no longer suffice in the current world of work, necessitating the rapid adaptation and development of previously unknown skills. Due to the underdevelopment and debatable methodological framework for the skills necessary to work in the future, the problem of linking future work skills of support staff. This study aimed to conduct a factor analysis to identify the skills necessary to work in the future and survive the onslaught of rapid technological advancements and digital disruption seen over the years.
... In this context, knowledge encompasses a comprehensive array of facts, theories, and principles pertinent to a specific field of work or study; skills denote the practical capabilities essential for executing particular tasks with proficiency; and abilities to possess the sensory, physical, psychomotor, or cognitive means necessary for effectively undertaking a given study or task [7]. Notably, these Future Skills are intricately intertwined with the knowledge of emerging technologies [8]. • Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP refers to the branch of artificial intelligence, specifically artificial intelligence, that works with text processing capabilities to understand texts like humans do [9]. ...
Natural Language Processing (NLP) combines linguistics, computer science, and AI to enable computers to understand and interpret human language, making it crucial for analyzing large amounts of language data. This technology -paired with predictive models- has significant potential to forecast the relevance and evolution of skills needed in the industry, enhancing skills acquisition and alignment with job market demands and playing a key role in workforce development and educational planning. This paper comprehensively analyzes skills acquisition using NLP and predictive models. This analysis highlights significant advancements in NLP, showcasing its transformational impact on extracting and interpreting data from textual content. We conducted an extensive literature search under the systematic review guidelines, from which we selected the most relevant works for this analysis. This work examined how NLP techniques are used and adapted to extract meaningful insights from the textual content and identified which NLP models are employed to create taxonomies or classifications of skills. It explored how these models predict behaviors or outcomes in specific areas. The obtained findings show that NLP has constantly evolved in recent years, encompassing techniques that reinforce textual information extraction and underline the adaptability of NLP to various disciplines and contexts. Creating taxonomies and structured knowledge organization was a significant focus, highlighting its applicability in multiple fields. Finally, we discuss the ongoing evolution and adaptability of the NLP models to different disciplines and their integration with predictive models, which offer valuable insights that enrich the interactions between textual data and AI.
The report presents the FLECSLAB toolkit, a tool for implementing lifelong learning (LLL) in higher education institutions. Developed by the EUTOPIA alliance of universities, the toolkit offers guidelines and materials for teacher training and the creation of flexible learning communities. A case study of a workshop on combating disinformation aimed at older people is included, illustrating the practical application of the toolkit. The approach is based on collaborative, transdisciplinary and learner-centred learning, with the aim of creating a sustainable and inclusive LLL model through the delivery of workshops aimed at older adults through peer-to-peer and train-the-trainers modalities.
Collaboration in interdisciplinary projects is essential for working on complex societal challenges. Challenge-based Learning (CBL) enables interdisciplinary learning and aims to prepare learners to tackle societal challenges in interdisciplinary teams. Student engagement in CBL can contribute to the development of relevant self-efficacy beliefs in interdisciplinary project management by targeting sources of self-efficacy in the instructional design. However, this might only be possible in teams sharing a positive perception of interdisciplinarity and the diverse perspectives in their team. This study examines the influence of the perception of interdisciplinary team composition on student engagement (RQ 1) and the influence of student engagement in CBL on interdisciplinary project management efficacy beliefs (RQ 2). In a cross-sectional design, N = 87 students in CBL courses were surveyed using standardized scales. The path model shows significant paths for the perception of interdisciplinary team composition on all components of student engagement. However, the results indicate that not every component of student engagement influences every efficacy belief relevant to interdisciplinary project management. The potential of CBL as an innovative learning environment to stimulate interdisciplinary learning to develop interdisciplinary project management skills is discussed, and implications for research and educational practice are derived.
This note is an attempt to describe the competence of Futures Literacy more clearly. To help create clarity it uses a well-established structure: competence = knowledge, skills, and attitudes. The note touches on neighboring concepts such as future skills and links to measurement. The core of the note are descriptions of six sub-competences of Future Literacy and four competence levels.
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.