EdTech Update - February

The month of January is over and with that BETT is over too. It's been a busy one and my colleague Tara has already written about Makematic's key takeaways from BETT. I found a lot of interesting articles over the last couple of weeks to share with you all, but I thought I would focus on this blog on education and the workplace.

It appears that in a time where we have a demand for data scientists, sustainability specialists, driverless car engineers and social media managers, teenagers seem to be narrowing down their choices and going with traditional career options. There's a huge gap between today's career market and career guidance and coaching at schools. Read more on this in the OECD's report on the future of work.

AI continues to be mentioned in all contexts and I found this interesting interview with Daniel Susskind, who has written a book about the impact of AI on future jobs. His crude career advice is; 'either you learn to be good at the sorts of things these systems and machines cannot do or you try to build the machines.' He does, however, see a place for more traditional professions in the workplace of the future. As long as you're open to the opportunities these new technologies offer.

Finally, if you'd like to find out more about how AI is influencing schools and teaching, you can listen to this debate. Is teaching becoming more robotic anyway or will AI give teachers an opportunity to focus on creativity and problem-solving in the classroom? Whichever side you're on, AI is happening right now.

Enjoy reading and listening.