Reframing technology’s role in education for future of work

Around half of today’s occupations require some kind of digital proficiency.

By 2030, that percentage will have risen to 77 per cent, thanks to several other new technologies that are transforming not only the types of employment available but also the skillsets required to thrive in them.

The next generation of children in the MENAP region (Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) will enter a dramatically transformed labour market, according to McKinsey’s August 2021 Opportunity Youth report. Students will require more than just a diploma; they will also require digital and real-world abilities that will make them more employable in the future workplace. As a result, educational institutions will need to foster traditional IQ as well as digital literacy and skills, as well as provide learners with the tools they’ll need to independently innovate, create, and collaborate in a global digital economy that demands nimble, resilient mindsets.

During the pandemic, we saw first-hand how ministries of education, Microsoft, and donors like UNESCO, UNICEF, and the Global Partnership for Education worked together to deliver remote learning options. Indeed, the pandemic provided an opportunity for much-needed educational reform. According to a recent YouGov survey commissioned by Microsoft, 82 per cent of educators feel that technology has accelerated the pace at which innovation in teaching and learning has occurred in the past year.

Covid-19 provided a paradigm shift that goes beyond technology as a mere vehicle for learning delivery. Technology should be considered a powerful tool for fostering culture and a method to rethink learning to stimulate creative, cognitive thinking and independent invention. Technology should be used not only to facilitate instruction but also to enhance the learning experience.

Promoting active learning through technology might help students in a new remote or hybrid teaching environment become more engaged.