More Than Just Learning: Closing the Digital Skills Gap
On October 26, 2018, Sberbank Corporate University together with the European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) held the Third International Conference 'More Than Just Learning: Closing the Digital Skills Gap'.
Top-3 theses of the Conference are handed down here by Veronika Belousova, head of Unit for Intellectual Services Market Research (Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge, HSE University), and Ivan Krechetov, head of Laboratory of Instrumental Modelling and Learning Systems at the TUSUR University.
1. Convergence of the corporate and academic streams:
a. IBM: introducing a personalized learning system by using artificial intelligence and mentoring options.
b. Pemandu: creating a balanced team of stakeholders in order to solve different tasks and participate in co-working for 6 weeks, as well as accepting the new KPI system by this team and regularly monitoring it.
c. Skolkovo: problem solving through implementing research projects, supervising younger students by elder ones.
d. Sberbank: creating digital educational environment, meeting the current and future needs of business and academic communities, students’ career paths.
2. The key to the professional success is an ability to deal with uncertainties:
a. Corporate sector: desired skills include an ability to analyze global trends, to “drift” in accordance with these trends and be able to overcome the challenges, which a particular organization copes with. Moreover, there is a need to be tolerant to criticisms, be able to focus on the main things (to prioritize them becomes essential), to possess the practices of effective time management.
b. Academic environment: desired skills include an ability to frame a research question, discover relationships among graphic images, communicate in a digital environment, structure information and protect data, develop creative and critical thinking, be able to learn quickly and interact with others. All these will determine the image of future digital culture educational programs. The development of digital competencies among students will be facilitated by a unified educational system built on predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and various teaching strategies.
3. Hard and soft skills: in pursuit of balance
a. Corporate sector: automating employee’s feedback, developing individual educational paths with the reference to career goals and position requirements, expanding the list of contacts and linkage of employee’s personal experience with real life.
b. Academic environment: mutually enriching project groups by teamwork and focus retention on the fundamental education, receiving regular feedback from students with an active use of “flipped classroom” technology, implementing the principles of Industry 4.0 technologies to study processes.