Use non-traditional learning methods to reach n...
A hallmark of the fourth industrial revolution is that established workers will need to re-skill on a large scale or be left behind.The same is true for those who have left education without suitable qualifications. The potential of online education to help address this challenge is clear: it enables people to build skills on their own time and at their own pace. It also fosters training for the precise skills that employers want.
Two formats are beginning to gain traction. One is “nano-degrees” that guarantee that those who complete a six-to-twelvemonth course of study have mastered the work; popular courses include digital marketing, robotics, and web development. One of early movers in this space, Udacity, works with companies —including China’s DiDi — to develop course content. The cost is typically low, and graduates get an industry-recognized credential; employers get new hires who can prove that they know what they are doing.
China’s XuetangX, the brainchild of Tsinghua University, is also reaching out to skill the under served. In 2018, XuetangX teamed up with major delivery services, Meituan and Dianping,to create a “rider’s classroom”. This offers more than 500,000 food-delivery riders free accounts, to help them figure out how to forge a more promising, less-tenuous work life. And XuetangX is working with the military to help build an online education alliance to ensure that soldiers can build a bridge to civilian success. From the private sector, Taobao University is an online and offline training service platform of the Alibaba Group. Taobao University trains people in how to succeed in online commerce,and has reached more than 5 million people since it launched in 2003. It has also reached out to under served populations, such as prisons and rural areas, dozens of whom have become such enthusiastic converts that they are known as “Taobao villages”.(https://www.daowen.com)
Digital education, however, can only extend as far as there is access. China has made striking progress in this regard, but the internet penetration rate in rural areas in 2016 was 34 percent, less than half that in urban ones. While it might seem like a separate issue,then, strengthening the digital infrastructure is a critical part of strengthening skills development.
Bootcamps are another non-traditional approach worth looking at. These are rigorous, skills-oriented programs that usually take place offline, in physical spaces. Bootcamps for coders have taken off in the United States, and have become an accepted (and well paid) source of talent for some of the world’s most prestigious tech companies. Public-private partnerships with employers could help establish similar programs in other fast-growing fields.