Break Out Group 2
Documentation:
Gallery | Video | Writing : Forum 1 : Break Out Group Reports | Live Reporting
Knowledge Economy and Exchange
Costs/pressures on employment
We talked about Knowledge related jobs in general in the UK and further afield a
If the knowledge exists here in the UK- should it stay here or be exported? We need to acknowledge issues of job safety and also the growth of knowledge areas outside the UK- in Europe/Asia and the US
What are the opportunities out there for the mass of knowledge workers? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledge_worker
i.e. you can now be a one woman or one man worker- out there working- this means very little overhead/capital costs and so more economical.
We are creating mass micro enterprise potential where people are learning in the process of doing. This could be referred to as ‘valuable learning’ rather than ‘static knowledge’.
We must continue to look to the next generation for technological developments- things are moving at great pace- the young people are the ones who need to be on top of innovation and technology shifts as well as older generations.
What is the skills list for next generations for 2020 onwards? We are just starting to touch on this list and these areas at the Robots and Avatars Forum
Current Education system- “Facts vs. Skills”
The discussion moves on to look at skills economy, the management of knowledge and also the breaking down of traditional ownership ideals vs. democratisation. We now need to think about ourselves as our own micro-economies.
- How do you market yourself?
- What are the means of production?
We talked about education structures and systems as they are now. The notion that “kids are taught far too many skills these days and not enough facts?” We discussed some issues of learning facts vs. learning skills and agreed that we intuitively use far more skills everyday than we realise.
Some of the young people in the session felt that there were just too many facts to remember, and how really do we use this fact knowledge base in future workplace environments? Really why bother to memorise hundreds of facts when you can access them now immediately via the internet- fast to find and process
It seems very out of date and old fashioned now to talk about bodies of knowledge contained in a ‘box’ which is ‘Science’ or a ‘box’ which is ‘Maths’ etc- we need to be talking about skills and knowledge areas which cross over and mix together.
Some of the young people present in the session are part of the Harris Learning Commission which investigates some of the most powerful teaching and learning practices from the UK and internationally http://www.harrisfederation.org.uk/index.php?page=epage30
Can we begin to look at new ways of learning- what are some examples of these?
It’s only when you move away from X, Y and Z at school you realise the skills needed in ‘The Real World’ and these are by no means taught out there currently in schools across the UK.
How can we start to looks at skills that will be needed on ‘other worlds’ such as the world of Robots and Avatars? What are some of these new skills that will be needed in the future? What will the working day for today’s 15 year old be like?
What is expected from employers and organisations in the future of young people coming through? Do we need qualifications and what sort of experience is needed?
These are just some of the questions we are asking ourselves today.
For some of the young people in the room they had thought long and hard about degrees and whether or not to go to University (most of them are at A-Level stage at present). It was one YP view that by having a degree it was a level of safety, something to fall back on if all else fails.
Some of the people who run organisations in the rooms commented that great CV’s could come in through the door, but you would be more likely to be asked ‘What have you done before?’, ‘What have you produced/what is your experience’? as opposed to ‘how many good grades do you have’?
Experience is what is needed but how do YP get their feet in the door to be able to gain experience? In this globally competitive world?. At certain companies it is now all about the results and proving what you have done before- not so easy for YP just out of education perhaps.
Impact of video games industry on knowledge and learning
A reference was made to Henry Jenkins who is an expert in “games for learning” and who wrote the book ‘What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Jenkins
We talked in some detail about the impact of video games on knowledge skills. The games industry is worth 50 billion- and there are new modes of learning and skills development coming through every day. How will games make money? We talked about the future of virtual goods? Rewards systems within gaming and online worlds. Creating knowledge credits and rewards?
The conversation moved back to Robots or specifically Avatars as we asked the question “Would you employ an avatar”? In fact would you employ someone you hadn’t even met? The consensus in the room was divided, some said yes they would others not, and that still person to person meet up is important.
Next on to innovation and technology futures – what is the future of innovation? How will it continue? Will the investment continue? What are the advancements? Will we just keep getting smarter? Where does it all end? (We took a brief look to the future and talked about 2030 and the potential of working with nano bots http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanorobotics)
One thing we would like to see is the application of technological developments into helping mass social occurrences like flooding etc? It would be good to look at this otherwise we end up putting more efforts into solving augmented reality problems instead of real happenings taking place out there.
People, Planet, Profits- how can we all get a better understanding of the bigger picture? We talked a little about principles of sustainability – but also can we ensure we are more sustainable at an individual, personalised level?
