How to Prepare Students for the Jobs of the Future

VR and AR equipping students with the skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow

In 2020, the World Economic Forum published the top 10 skills for the jobs of the future, outlining the key competencies required within the global workforce by 2025. These skills included:

• problem solving
• self-management
• skills centred on working with people
• technology use and development

The following year, the University of Miami Herbert Business School’s Executive Director of IT, Zheng Fan, outlined his methods for teaching critical skills to the professionals of tomorrow. While Fan’s advice focused on future-proofing the career options of learners in an AI-focused environment, his guidance shed some light on broader issues in the workforce — namely, that the professional climate is changing quickly and today’s students and educators need to be ready.

A tech-literacy program that goes far beyond the basics was high on Zheng Fan’s agenda, as were data analytics training, digital credential programs, partnerships with vocational training providers, and the development of emotional intelligence, creativity, collaboration and other soft skills.

Reimagining Teaching: Understanding a Changing Classroom

The message is clear: the current employment climate is evolving, and so education must evolve to keep pace with this. At the heart of education is the classroom, and this will continue to be the case. However, the classroom must be disrupted and reimagined — completely overhauled from the current status quo to remain in step with the changing landscape. How do we go about this? Let’s take a look.

Achieving a Location-Agnostic Set-Up

Wherever you are in Australia, you need to be able to access the same resources. This means students gain access to the same opportunities, whether they are learning in a rural environment or in a state capital. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality teaching solutions like Lumination Learning Labs (LLL) bring these learning opportunities to the students themselves, eliminating the barriers of geography and budget.

Embracing Next-Gen Technology

Understanding the positive benefits of immersive learning — and that this form of learning is 4x more engaging than traditional educational practices — is a crucial early step in adopting a forward-thinking approach to technology. To put this into practice, you’ll need the tech infrastructure that makes this immersion happen for real. This is why the team at Lumination has been working to make this tech accessible to more schools around the country, becoming a true enabler for educators.

Developing an Inspirational Space

The classroom needs to do more than inform — it needs to inspire. This is because we are talking about future vocations — profound life choices for our students. These are big decisions, so we have built LLL to be inspirational and awe-inspiring, achieving maximum engagement on a vital topic.

Bringing a New Mindset to the Classroom

The Socratic method of teaching is long-established, but it can still be easy to slip into a lecturer-listener dynamic — something that may be insufficient to deliver the skills that young learners need. Preparing students for the jobs of the future requires a shift away from the ‘sage on stage’ model to a ‘guide on the side’ approach, utilising immersive technologies and concepts.

In fact, the LLL is purposely set up as a collaborative environment. This means users — both teachers and students — can see and experience what everyone is working on and support each other through solving problems and the learning process.

Achieving Ongoing Educational Agility and Flexibility

The jobs market has changed, it is changing, and it will continue to change in the future. So, what happens when the skills of tomorrow’s workplace are no longer the skills of tomorrow and are replaced with new concepts and capabilities?

1. The learning setup needs to adapt to these changes. With LLL, we have created something that is fully multi-purpose and can be reconfigured with just the touch of a button.
2. The system takes on a ‘plug and play’ aspect. As new AR and VR teaching resources, modules and materials develop, bringing together resources that keep education fresh and relevant is key.

Focusing Education on Personal Goals and Styles

Teaching cannot simply be uniform. Instead, it must be fluid. Individual students have their own goals and their own learning styles and preferences, and these must be accommodated to ensure they all have the same advantages. This has always been a key tenet in the development of LLL.

Lumination’s Role in the Classroom of Tomorrow

Lumination’s focus on AR and VR-based learning puts us at the very forefront of development in the field of education. Our educational products — such as LLL and LeadMe classroom management software — are designed to explode the traditional boundaries of the classroom, placing students within an immersive environment that greatly enhances the learning experience.

At all stages of education, from primary learning through to on-the-job industrial training, we have found that this immersive approach is critical to accelerating progress toward learning goals. In fact, “acceleration” is only part of the advantage — the entire process of education becomes more rewarding for all stakeholders, and key objectives are achieved with greater ease and reliability. Students of all backgrounds, and with all educative needs, are supported by this future-focused technology. No one needs to feel cast adrift or marginalised by the new normal — Lumination is helping to ensure everyone can share in the benefits of a digital tomorrow.

Discover more about Lumination, the role of AR and VR in education and how immersive technology is preparing students for the jobs of the future. Check out our recent post on Immersive Technology in Education take a look at some of our case studies and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for the latest trends on immersive EdTech.