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Better reskilling can future-proof jobs in the age of automation. Enter SkillUp's new coalition.
Coronavirus layoffs are a glimpse into our automated future. We need to build better education opportunities now so Americans can find work in the economy of tomorrow.
09 July, 2020
Image: metamorworks / Shutterstock
- Outplacement is an underperforming $5 billion dollar industry. A new non-profit coalition by SkillUp intends to disrupt it.
- More and more Americans will be laid off in years to come due to automation. Those people need to reorient their career paths and reskill in a way that protects their long-term livelihood.
- SkillUp brings together technology and service providers, education and training providers, hiring employers, worker outreach, and philanthropies to help people land in-demand jobs in high-growth industries.
<p><br></p>
<p>With COVID-19 ravaging our economy—leaving 40 million workers seeking unemployment benefits and<a href="https://www.stradaeducation.org/publicviewpoint/" target="_blank"> 55% of Americans</a> reporting lost income—the country desperately needs a better set of solutions to help workers reorient in the face of an uncertain future.</p><p>Employers have historically provided outplacement services to employees they lay off. Outplacement is a $5 billion industry in normal years that spikes dramatically during recessions. Companies that provide outplacement services typically charge <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alextaub/2016/09/13/meet-velvetjobs-transforming-the-5-billion-career-transition-industry/#1fea8472b42e" target="_blank">$3,000 to $10,000 per worker</a>.</p><p>But the standard offering is paltry. Employees who have been laid off or are about to be laid off receive a bit of coaching, access to job listings, and resume reviews—and that's about it.</p>
<p>Yet we know that a couple of short coaching sessions, job listings and resume reviews don't result in jobs. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/27/how-to-get-a-job-often-comes-down-to-one-elite-personal-asset.html" target="_blank">Research shows</a> that 70% of all jobs aren't posted on job sites, and 80% of jobs are filled through connections, not blind applications.</p><p>Nor do these services result in the sort of higher paying jobs that allow individuals to become more productive working members of society on sounder footing, ready to navigate the twists and turns of a future that will see more technological unemployment and a vastly different set of required skill sets to future-proof jobs.</p><p>Instead, those who are laid off require something more: reskilling, relationships, and navigation to step it up and make progress in their lives.</p><p>Against this backdrop, a new effort, <a href="https://www.skillup.org/" target="_blank">SkillUp</a>, is launching to help workers select and prepare for career paths that align with the economy of the future. SkillUp is a non-profit leading a coalition of technology and service providers, education and training providers, hiring employers, worker outreach, and philanthropies to support laid off and furloughed workers.</p>
<blockquote>The coalition SkillUp is assembling is ultimately more than a set of solutions around outplacement that should persist past the current pandemic, but the coming promise of a more flexible, affordable, and convenient set of solutions to support individuals' upskilling and reskilling throughout their lives to fulfill their <strong>human potential.</strong> </blockquote>
<p>SkillUp offers a three-pronged approach:</p><ol><li><strong>Career navigation:</strong> Technology tools and coaching resources to help workers choose a productive pathway and orient around jobs and careers that will grow in the future of work.</li><li><strong>Training programs</strong><strong>: </strong>The coalition helps workers find educational and training programs matched to their career goals to help them upskill, so that they do not just go back into frontline or entry-level roles, but can make progress in their career and fortunes.</li><li><strong>Job opportunities: </strong>Using relationships with hiring employers and technology to match workers with open positions, SkillUp pairs workers with available opportunities.</li></ol><p>In addition, SkillUp is leveraging the technology of Next Chapter, an offering of Guild Education, where I'm a senior strategist, as well as Guild's partner network of large employers—many of whom are in a position to hire employees—and education providers. These relationships will help SkillUp move quickly to serve workers with a ready-made solution.</p><p>SkillUp's solution shows how employers can transition parts of their workforce to more productive pursuits over time. Employers have an incentive to drive this work to refresh their workforces in intentional ways that manage employee churn; to bolster employee morale; to preserve their company brand; to aid in personnel recruitment; and to ultimately help power the country's consumption-driven economy.</p><p>The coalition SkillUp is assembling is ultimately more than a set of solutions around outplacement that should persist past the current pandemic, but the coming promise of a more flexible, affordable, and convenient set of solutions to support individuals' upskilling and reskilling throughout their lives to fulfill their human potential. What that necessitates is a much broader shift in postsecondary education and a reshuffling of how higher education works.</p><p>Rather than just bank on existing colleges and universities and sources of debt-driven funding to disrupt themselves, the future of higher education will also rely on novel programs and arrangements, like SkillUp.</p><p>New funding mechanisms to pay for more education—from leveraging employers' willingness to pay in order to reap a return on investment to income share agreements that align incentives around the success of learners—will emerge to fund the education of learners.</p><p>On-ramp and last-mile programs along with hybrid colleges that marry online, competency-based learning with learning model innovations, no-excuses mindsets, and non-academic supports are emerging to alter how we prepare students to enter the workforce. Mobile learning solutions are making learning far more bite-sized and accessible on the job.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQ0NTY4OS9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzODkxODQ1M30.D410ne123uFlY13fF-tG-mfz4AMSEH9kyPoAi5JFaa0/img.png?width=980" id="f2b83" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4f7b97cdbfabea668df1de365ca0da15" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Source: McKinsey Global Institute analysis [PDF]
<p>Work in understanding the skills at the heart of the new digital economy is leading to novel assessments that allow individuals to prove mastery to faithfully represent their abilities—but also to give weight and stackability to the emerging ecosystem of micro-credentials that make education more seamless across time and education providers. And we are seeing the beginnings of a renewal in the liberal arts, focused on building human skills in affordable ways that are accessible to many more individuals and far more effective.</p><p>Amidst these dark times, there is much opportunity to refresh the nation's education and training solutions to support the success of individuals and society writ large.</p>Michael Horn is the author of:
<div class="rm-shortcode amazon-assets-widget" data-rm-shortcode-id="628545219b2b1636ffdb74fac778bf9d" contenteditable="false"> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119570115?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank"> <img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qvW7Foe+L.jpg" class="amazon-assets-widget__image widget__image"> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__description"> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__title" style="display: block;">Choosing College: How to Make Better Learning Decisions Throughout Your Life</div> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__by-amazon"><!-- <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/1119570115?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank">by now at amazone</a> --></div> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__list-price"><span class="grey">List Price: </span><span class="list-price">$13.47</span></div> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__new-price"><span class="grey">New From: </span><span class="new-price">$14.95</span> <span class="grey">in Stock</span></div> <div class="amazon-assets-widget__used-price"><span class="grey">Used From: </span><span class="used-price">$9.49</span> <span class="grey">in Stock</span></div> </div> </a> </div>
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Does conscious AI deserve rights?
If machines develop consciousness, or if we manage to give it to them, the human-robot dynamic will forever be different.
08 July, 2020
- Does AI—and, more specifically, conscious AI—deserve moral rights? In this thought exploration, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, ethics and tech professor Joanna Bryson, philosopher and cognitive scientist Susan Schneider, physicist Max Tegmark, philosopher Peter Singer, and bioethicist Glenn Cohen all weigh in on the question of AI rights.
- Given the grave tragedy of slavery throughout human history, philosophers and technologists must answer this question ahead of technological development to avoid humanity creating a slave class of conscious beings.
- One potential safeguard against that? Regulation. Once we define the context in which AI requires rights, the simplest solution may be to not build that thing.
Learn to think like an engineer with the help of these courses
Math can become intuitive with a little practice.
07 July, 2020
- Engineering is the foundation of society, from physical infrastructure to every device in your possession.
- Electrical engineering is one of the most in-demand occupations in the technological age.
- The Mathematics for Engineers Prep Bundle teaches you how to think like an engineer.
<script async="true" src="https://widgets.stackcommerce.com/js-deal-feed/0.1/widget.js" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Have you ever felt like you're just not good at math? Many people feel they don't have the intuitive sense needed to grapple with mathematical concepts. Yet no one is born a math genius. As with everything, it takes time and patience.<br></p><p><a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/the-mathmatics-for-engineers-prep-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-mathmatics-for-engineers-prep-bundle&utm_term=scsf-402383&utm_content=a0x1P000004sTZtQAM&scsonar=1" target="_blank"><strong>The Mathematics for Engineers Prep Bundle</strong></a> teaches you how to think like an engineer through a range of math concepts, including applied calculus, machine learning, data science, and Algebra 2. This nine-course bundle will help you acquire that intuition you seek.</p><p>The first four courses are dedicated to applied calculus for engineers. Through 219 lessons you'll learn the principles of beginner to advanced calculus. Practical knowledge will be applied to 3D coordinate systems. You'll also learn how to perform mass calculations to varying densities and take a deep dive into aerospace and robotics.</p><p>With 165 lessons devoted to data science and machine learning, you'll be schooled in linear equations, single matrix, vectors, determinants, and more. The complete guide to Algebra 2 is an education in fractions, exponents, inequalities, and surds. A course on linear algebra will help you brush up on basic matrix operations and computer determinants.</p><p>Aerospace and robotics engineer Mark Misin leads you through these 560 lessons. Misin has taught thousands of people the fundamentals of math over the course of his career. You could be the next.</p><p><a href="https://shop.bigthink.com/sales/the-mathmatics-for-engineers-prep-bundle?utm_source=bigthink.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-mathmatics-for-engineers-prep-bundle&utm_term=scsf-402383&utm_content=a0x1P000004sTZtQAM&scsonar=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><strong>The Mathematics for Engineers Prep Bundle</strong></a> is on sale now for just $28.99 – 97% off the original price.</p><p><em>Price subject to change.</em></p><h3><strong>More from the Big Think Shop</strong></h3><ul class="ee-ul">
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Is AI a species-level threat to humanity?
Some of the world's top minds weigh in on one of the most divisive questions in tech.
29 June, 2020
- When it comes to the question of whether AI is an existential threat to the human species, you have Elon Musk in one corner, Steven Pinker in another, and a host of incredible minds somewhere in between.
- In this video, a handful of those great minds—Elon Musk, Steven Pinker, Michio Kaku, Max Tegmark, Luis Perez-Breva, Joscha Bach and Sophia the Robot herself—weigh in on the many nuances of the debate and the degree to which AI is a threat to humanity; if it's not a species-level threat, it will still upend our world as we know it.
- What's your take on this debate? Let us know in the comments!
Scientists create robot skin that stores liquids
The smart skin can "sweat" like human skin and also self-heal.
26 June, 2020
Danqing Liu/Eindhoven
- Scientists have recently created a robotic skin that can be made to release stored liquid on demand.
- The skin could one day be used to apply medicine as needed to wounds or to keep surfaces at a precise level of dryness.
- More work is needed before it comes to a bandage near you.
<p>When you think about it, our skin is kind of weird. It not only protects what lies underneath it, but emits secretions to cool, strengthen, and odorize itself. Other creatures have skin that can change color or secrete mucus to reduce friction with the water.</p><p>The ability for parts of our bodies to interact with the environment and respond to changes is something that "smart" materials seek to emulate. To that end, a team of scientists at the Eindhoven University of Technology has created an <a href="https://techxplore.com/news/2020-06-artificial-skin-wounds-robots.html" target="_blank">artificial skin</a> that can secrete liquids on <a href="https://www.cell.com/matter/pdf/S2590-2385(20)30248-4.pdf?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2590238520302484%3Fshowall%3Dtrue" target="_blank">demand</a>. </p>
Robotic Skin? Next stop, Westworld!
<p>The skin, made of liquid crystal molecules, is solid and features many very tiny pores. These pores store a liquid of the scientists' choosing.</p><p>Liquid crystal molecules, which are also used to make LCD television screens, react to environmental stimuli. Of importance in this case is that they can be made to respond and move when bombarded with radio waves. When the radio waves are produced, the particles that make up the membrane start to move and the liquid comes out of the pores. </p><p>Lead author Danqing Liu described the mechanism to <a href="https://www.tue.nl/en/news/news-overview/24-06-2020-artificial-skin-heals-wounds-and-makes-robots-sweat/" target="_blank">Eindhoven News</a>, "When the radio waves are turned on, the liquid crystal molecules move direction and therefore wring the liquid out of the pores. The coating even sweats more as the radio signal becomes stronger."</p><p>When the waves are stopped, the liquid can be reabsorbed. This allows for a measure of control as to how wet or dry the material becomes. </p>Why use radio waves?
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="MPDgBr40" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="b8f0802eb8023ac84f4d4d6c70a85d49"> <div id="botr_MPDgBr40_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/MPDgBr40-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/MPDgBr40-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/MPDgBr40-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div> <p>Liu explains why radio was used as a trigger rather than electricity: "The high frequency we use was invented for the electrical car. It cannot penetrate the body, and therefore it is completely safe to touch. It is already a common frequency in the health care industry, for example in electrical therapies." If this skin is ever used to deliver medicine directly to a wound, being safe to the touch is a big deal. </p>What possible applications will this have?
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="HsqK5wIJ" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="310c05dc9c3a23683ddec62e25095f5d"> <div id="botr_HsqK5wIJ_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/HsqK5wIJ-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/HsqK5wIJ-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/HsqK5wIJ-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div> <p>The authors of the study speculate that possible applications include "robotic handling of reactions, medicine release, and transfer of chemicals" and the "alteration of tribological properties of surfaces or removal of unwanted species."</p><p>Imagine it. One day you might wear a robotic bandage that secretes medicine to your wounds automatically, scientists might use tiny robots to deliver chemicals to hard to reach areas to begin reactions, and dangerous chemical spills may be neutralized by solutions brought in and emitted by machines. Further study areas include trying to make this work with sunlight and determining if a second agent can be reabsorbed.</p><p>If these obstacles can be cleared, the number of applications will go even higher.<br> <br> Don't count on getting any of this tomorrow, though. Liu warns that the next steps will likely take years to accomplish. Oh well, I guess my plan to become a cyborg might have to wait a little while longer. </p>
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