Curated by the Knowledge Team of ICS Career GPS
Education
How can Digital Transformation in Education save this industry?
Excerpts from an article by Preetipadma on analyticsinsight.net
Digital transformation is not restricted to industries anymore. It is real, and it is impacting sectors like healthcare, education, fashion, and others. There are certain trends that are likely to take center stage in the field of education in the coming years. These are:
Personalised Learning Environment
This is defined by the US Department of Education as the “instruction that is paced to learning needs (i.e. individualised), tailored to learning preferences (i.e. differentiated), and tailored to the specific interests of different learners”. Here, students can set the pace of their learning. In this system, educational institutes can personalise content and educational experiences in innovative ways. Plus, it is used to deliver customised solutions to meet the learning needs of particular individuals. E.g. helping dyslexic students “write” their papers using voice, ensuring that their answers are not limited by their ability to spell or write. Another example would be learning via audiobooks.
Contactless Attendance
If the Pandemic has taught us something, it is the importance of maintaining a sanitary and contactless lifestyle. This is why one can expect thermal screenings and contactless attendance systems at educational institutes. Thermal imaging equipment can detect if a student’s or teacher’s body temperature is above the normal range. If that is the case, the authorities can suggest them to visit a doctor for treatment and also trace the people they have been in contact with. Replacing biometric attendance systems with contactless attendance can help prevent the spread of pathogens. Institutes can also use IP or CCTV cameras to capture a person’s face and mark their attendance through facial recognition.
Gamification
This involves the blending of gaming technology and learning. There is indeed no better way for students to learn than through gamification. It is not only fun but also interactive, encouraging students to attain set goals. This technology aims to make learning a difficult subject matter more exciting and interactive. These games mirror certain life aspects and then ask students to make use of their skills to solve them. Further, via gamification, students may be presented with additional levels, progress bars to access advanced content and more.
Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality
The immersive world of AR and VR can also transform the educational backdrop. For instance, using AR, students can “dissect” a frog without the mess, sanitation concerns, or squeamishness. Even devising Google Expeditions AR can make classrooms more attainable with a wide range of experiences available via simple phone apps. Currently, Expeditions already offers some 900 different expeditions, including visits to the Louvre and Mt. Everest. As of now, Virtual Reality still has some bottlenecks in terms of costs and content, and AR is considered a more accessible technology, as it requires just a mobile phone. However, in the end, both help students learn more effectively than traditional teaching methods by overcoming language barriers and accommodating visual lessons. These technologies help to break the limitations of geography and foster remote learning.
Career
mothers pay a large career penalty. Image: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni
1 in 4 women are considering stepping back from their career because of COVID-19
Excerpts from an article published by the World Economic Forum. The article is a part of the Jobs Reset Summit.
By now it’s well-established the Covid-19 crisis is hitting women particularly hard. Working mothers bear the brunt of the childcare responsibilities brought on by shuttered daycare centers and Zoom classrooms. A new report quantifies the extent of the problem: One in four women are considering leaving their jobs, cutting back hours, or otherwise scaling back work as a result of the pandemic and its fallout.
The annual report by McKinsey & Company and Lean In surveyed more than 40,000 employees at 47 companies in the US and Canada. “If there was a panic button, we’d be hitting it,” Rachel Thomas, CEO and co-founder of the nonprofit LeanIn.Org and a co-author of the report, tells Quartz. She notes that if women follow through on downshifting their careers, it would be a major setback for the progress that’s been made toward gender diversity in the years since the study began.
Indeed, the report shows senior-level women are feeling particular strain at work, and are 1.5 times as likely as men to say that they’re thinking of scaling back because of Covid-19—largely because of burnout. In addition to the parenting responsibilities held by good number of women in high-level positions, the report notes that “women are often held to higher performance standards than men, and they may be more likely to take the blame for failure—so when the stakes are high, as they are now, senior-level women could face higher criticism and harsher judgement.”
Unfortunately, the “motherhood penalty” faced by women at work is very real. Thomas and her report co-author Lareina Yee, a senior partner and chief officer of diversity and inclusion at McKinsey, say there’s a lot employers, managers, and colleagues can do to help alleviate some of that stress. Installing flexible work-hour policies is a major help, as is the simple gesture of showing support and understanding if a child makes a surprise guest appearance in the midst of a Zoom meeting. And managers should reassess performance and productivity expectations in light of the highly unusual circumstances in which many workers now find themselves.
Given the economic pressure many companies are facing, there’s no one-size-fits-all prescription as to how to accommodate working mothers. What’s important is that every company proactively take steps to accommodate workers who are overwhelmed and rightfully worried about the judgment they may face if they admit it. “What we need companies to do is experiment with different types of ways to rewrite play books,” says Yee. “Whatever they were doing before is not enough.”
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the above mentioned articles are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of ICS Career GPS or its staff.)
Like this post? For more such helpful articles, click on the button below and subscribe FREE to our blog.
