Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

"Nowadays," writes Justin Bariso, "it's all about skills. Not degrees." Thus when an organization like Google begins offering its own courses it offers the promise (at least according to this article) of 'transforming' education. Companies will ask themselves, "do we have the resources to design our own online training, to help increase our pool of qualified candidates and simultaneously provide an additional source of revenue for our business?" (causing George Siemens to quip, "So instead of a paid internship, it's a 'you pay' internship"). I think education is about more than skills, so the six-month program can't exactly replace a university education. But it should be concerning to universities who are promoting skills and jobs as their primary value proposition. As Dave Truss comments, "job specific skills training and certification programs are sprouting up and challenging the need for many to go to university."

Today: 1058 Total: 1062 [Direct link] [Share]


Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 8:30 p.m.

Canadian Flag Creative Commons License.

Force:yes