I shared a YouTube video in my social media class today. It shows how fast technology and our knowledge evolve in this age. There are some seem-to-be-terrifying statistics related to higher education:
- The top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.
- We are currently preparing students for (future) jobs that don’t yet exist (today).
- Using technologies that haven’t been invented in order to solve problems --- we don’t even know (what) are (the) problems yet.
- For students starting a 4 year technical degree, this means that half of what they learn in their first year of study will be outdated by their third year of study.
If that is the case, what is good about high education? What should be taught in college?
I believe that colleges and universities in general are the places to develop future leaders and that research institutes are designed to create new knowledge and innovative ideas. It is good that students can learn the latest technology and information. Accordingly, we should at least keep our students informed with the industry updates and trends even though we may not be able to constantly change textbooks.
Considering the fact that there is always “newer” information available, however, I argue that it would be more important to teach students the core values/principles as well as the transferable skills through the process of learning, such as leadership, problem-solving, critical and independent thinking, communication skills, and the ability of learning on one’s own. Hotel and restaurant operations, for example, jobs can be re-designed; organization can be re-structured. Yet, the philosophy of taking good care of employees and customers or running an efficient business has never changed.
In my social media class, we will for sure talk about Facebook’s and Twitter’s business implications. In my human resource management class, we will go over the legal issues, but who can guarantee that Facebook
and Twitter will continue to dominate the network or that the Congress will not pass new regulations?
and Twitter will continue to dominate the network or that the Congress will not pass new regulations?
If you are an employer, what do you expect from a college graduate? If you are a student, how do you cope with information explosion? What do you expect to learn in class besides the subject itself?
New messages can be sent out quickly nowadays. Therefore, it becomes critical to capture information that is useful to an individual. Knowing that information is constantly changing is terrifying. It makes me think that if I don’t keep myself updated, my mind will be “out of fashion”. Being out dated harms a business a lot because customers are always looking for new things. If I were an employer, I would certainly hire someone who knows the trend in the business. I subscribe to several websites, thinking this will help me know the top news. However, I often skim through these articles from e-mails and miss the most important part. My goal for this class is to learn how to use the media wisely and get comfortable using different media sites.
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After having seen the video, Did You Know 3.0, I am now more aware of what is quickly becoming of our world. Information is updating at such a rapid speed that if you or someone you know is not up to date on the newest technology or social media, they are most likely going to miss out. It is extremely crucial for an employee to always be in the know of what is going on around the world at all times, and constantly keeping up with information as it quickly changes everyday. If i were an employer, I would expect a college student to be well aware of all of the technological trends going on throughout the world and in relation to the business itself. However, as a student it is difficult to constantly keep track of the information explosion as it is set to change everyday. Since, this is a fad in todays world, it is much easier to keep yourself in the loop because no one wants to feel left out of important information, or even any information at all.
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