The Future of Lifelong Learning
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The Future of Lifelong Learning Designing for a Learning-Integrated Life D2L Whitepaper Contributors Jeremy Auger, Chief Strategy Officer Emilee Irwin, Vice President, Strategy & Public Affairs Brendan Desetti, Director, Government & Stakeholder Relations Howie Bender, Senior Director, Government & External Relations Alexander Craney, Government Relations & Public Affairs Manager Special thanks to André Côté, Principal with Côté & Company Strategies, for his contributions to early drafting and revisions of this paper. About D2L D2L develops software that makes the learning experience better. Our cloud- based platform is easy to use, flexible, and smart. With Brightspace, schools and companies can personalize the learning experience to deliver real results. Brightspace is used by learners in higher education, K-12, and the corporate sector, including the Fortune 1000. Learn more about D2L for schools, higher education, and businesses at D2L.com. /D2Linc EUROPE @D2L 6th Floor, 2 Eastbourne Terrace @D2L_EMEA London, England W2 6LG GLOBAL HEADQUARTERS ASIA-PACIFIC 151 Charles Street West, Suite 400 1 Queens Road, Suite 1144 Kitchener, ON, Canada Melbourne, Victoria 3004 N2G 1H6 Australia © 2020 D2L Corporation. The D2L family of companies includes D2L Corporation, D2L Ltd, D2L Australia Pty Ltd, D2L Europe Ltd, D2L Asia Pte Ltd, and D2L Brasil Soluções de Tecnologia para Educação Ltda. All D2L marks are trademarks of D2L Corpo- ration.Please visit D2L.com/trademarks for a list of D2L marks. 22 The Future of Lifelong Learning | Designing the Lifelong Learning System of the Future TABLE OF CONTENTS About D2L ...........................................................................................................................2 Executive Summary ..........................................................................................................4 The Growing Call for Lifelong Learning .........................................................................6 Defining the Learning-Integrated Life and Mapping the Current Landscape ........9 Mapping the Lifelong Learning Landscape ...........................................................................10 What forms does lifelong learning take? .......................................................................10 Where is lifelong learning happening and who is participating? ...........................12 What factors and trends influence access to lifelong learning? ............................12 What is the present and future demand for lifelong learning? ...............................13 The Vision: The Lifelong Learning System of the Future..........................................16 Enabling the Learning-Integrated Life .................................................................................... 17 The Profile of a Learning-Integrated Life ................................................................................22 Where to Go from Here? Conclusions and Recommendations ................................26 Recommendations ..........................................................................................................................28 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................32 Endnotes ..........................................................................................................................34 The Future of Lifelong Learning | Table of Contents 33 Executive Summary The "future" of work and learning is not looming in the distance, but a reality of the here and now. The D2L whitepaper series on the future of will be best positioned in a globally competitive work and learning describe the Fourth Industrial environment. At its core, a system of lifelong Revolution and the future of skills as the implications learning creates globally aware, locally active of disruptive technologies and rapid change in learners with experiences that will allow them education, industry, and society are becoming to be continuous participants in the workforce clearer for our jobs and the workforce at large. and in their communities. These whitepapers, and other recent research, reveal a vast shift in the skills required of individuals In practical terms though, lifelong learning is not in the workforce, and a growing need for continual clearly understood as a concept, nor is it obvious skills development throughout careers to keep up. what an effective system of lifelong learning would They also highlight that the systems of learning actually look like at a national or international scale. today are not adequately addressing this changing For instance, what forms does lifelong learning skills landscape. take? Where do systems currently exist and for what purpose? And how can our systems of education, Faced with these challenges, many are suggesting training, employment, and workforce development there is a remedy: lifelong learning. In the broadest be adapted to offer more opportunities for lifelong sense, it has been described as the learner’s learning calibrated to the skills demands of ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated pursuit of employers and the needs of workers? knowledge and skills development through life; whether for personal or professional reasons. This whitepaper, the third of the D2L whitepaper Beginning with education at the primary and series on the future of work and learning, will focus secondary level, lifelong learning is putting greater on the critical questions about lifelong learning to focus on the opportunities for education and inform and spark debate around one of the central training through adulthood (pre-, during, and even issues of the future of work and learning. The first post-employment) that lead to specific outcomes half of the paper will define and map the current of employability, career fulfilment, and personal landscape for lifelong learning and briefly recap the growth. Lifelong learning opportunities include both growing body of evidence and thought leadership formally credentialed and informal, unstructured around why it is necessary. The second half will offer forms of learning. an ambitious vision for a future system of lifelong learning as a point of departure, with practical At the same time, enabling continuous learning conclusions and recommendations for policymakers, opportunities is increasingly becoming a necessary industry leaders, educators, and other stakeholders. element in community economic development. Communities, regions, and countries that make strategic investments in systems of lifelong learning 44 The Future of Lifelong Learning | Executive Summary The Future of Lifelong Learning | Designing the Lifelong Learning System of the Future 55 The Growing Call for Lifelong Learning The future of work and learning and its impact In more specific terms, changes in the landscape of on individuals, employers, and countries is one of skills and work are reflected in some notable trends: the major issues of our time. The Third Industrial 1. Working individuals are changing jobs or Revolution saw the emergence of human-to-machine vocations more frequently in their careers, communications through personal computing by choice and out of necessity, due to and digital technologies that radically changed technological advancement. how we work, interact, and live. In the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is the emergence of artificial 2. Employability is determined less on general intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, and genetics credential attainment and more on the ability research, amongst others, that is accelerating the to demonstrate the necessary skills for the job. transformation of industries, labour markets, and lifestyles.i The first D2L whitepaper on the future of While academic qualifications remain an important work and learning describes how these forces and consideration when assessing job candidates, a the interactions between them will “permeate all growing list of global firms no longer require a aspects of our society.”ii While we cannot forecast postsecondary degree as a prerequisite to a job. the future with any certainty, it is clear that there As of 2018, the list had grown to include Google, is an increasing importance on the education and Apple, EY, Whole Foods, Hilton, and Bank of America, workforce development sectors to prepare working and cut across sectors ranging from technology and individuals for the jobs of both today and tomorrow. finance to consumer retail and publishing. IBM’s Vice President of Talent reported that about 15 percent of the company’s hires in 2017 did not have a four-year college degree, with hiring managers prioritizing hands-on experience through coding boot camps and vocational training.iii 66 The Future of Lifelong Learning | The Growing Call for Lifelong Learning This is not to say hard skills are no longer valued of IBM new hires did not in the workplace, but industry leaders and 15% have a four-year college employers are increasingly valuing the soft skills degree in 2017 and competencies that contribute to adaptability, 15 interaction, and resiliency in any work environment. D2L describes these as “durable skills”: cognitive Along with new hiring trends is an explosion in the and non-cognitive skills that range from essential sheer number of distinct skills demanded of the skills, such as literacy and numeracy, to higher order workforce along with the rapid advent of entirely skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, emotional new occupational types,