The rapid evolution of the workplace and changing skills demands are driving calls for better lifelong learning provision. For universities, this means re-examining traditional teaching practices and course design to ensure that students can benefit from continuing education throughout their careers. It requires more flexible, accessible, bite-sized learning that can be completed in tandem with other professional and personal commitments. But how can this be offered in a coherent, joined-up way without sacrificing quality? From Moocs to microcredentials, these resources offer advice and insight into how lifelong learning opportunities can be developed and improved for future generations.
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Lifelong learning is the continuous voluntary pursuit of education and skills throughout a person’s life, far beyond the end of their formal education. It is essential for addressing global employability issues.
Higher education institutions can take actions to ensure an environment that supports this process. In her resource, Cheong Fan proposes key components of a lifelong learning culture and how these could be put in place.
With global challenges constantly changing the educational landscape, the issues students learn about at university are likely to change in future, argues Kevinia Cheung, assistant educational development officer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The answer? That students “learn to learn”, which involves building a range of cognitive, metacognitive and social skills. In her resource, she explains the techniques she uses to develop students into effective lifelong learners.
For those who haven’t yet dared to dip their toe into the alternative credential pond, where should they begin? And how do you ensure these courses meet quality standards? Tim Blackman, vice-chancellor at the UK’s Open University, and Kemi Jona, assistant vice-chancellor for digital innovation and enterprise learning at Northeastern University, speak to us about how the field is evolving and how universities can explore these alternative credentials.
Already decided to pursue the microcredential route? Read the steps you need to take to design and build them, broken down by a team of experts at Monterrey Institute of Technology.
AI can capture the skills needed for a job (arguably the best kind of real-time career guidance), where a student or graduate is in terms of professional skills and courses needed to bridge any skills gaps that exist. It can then prompt students and graduates to address these gaps to keep up to date on skills required for their desired jobs and recommend specific courses so they are empowered to upskill accordingly. Read more on this by Teck-Hua Ho at the National University of Singapore.
In this podcast episode, we hear from an institution that has managed to get alternative credentialling right in a big way: the University of Edinburgh. Melissa Highton, assistant principal of online and open learning at the university, tells us about their strategy behind developing Moocs, how they remain relevant to millions of learners and the secret behind their commercial success.
How can we prepare students for a job market transformed by digital innovations? A team at the University of Queensland argues that embedded in the curriculum, a three-in-one approach of an entrepreneurship education explicitly incorporating design-based thinking and authentic real-life contexts would instil and evolve lifelong learning and the 3Cs: cognition, character and career, and enhance employability.
