The COVID-19 pandemic not only caused havoc on our personal lives but there were significant societal changes, especially in education. Schools shifted to remote learning practically overnight. Traditional universities are facing challenges around enrollment and one of the major impacts of COVID-19 is the increased interest in online learning.
GSV Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on digital education, forecasts that “online-first pedagogy will become normalized for virtually every college student” and all growth in higher education until 2030 will happen online.”
The Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute hosted a webinar highlighting the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on higher education and what this might mean for universities’ futures. A representative of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona discussed actions the Department of Education is taking to address recent trends:
- Create pathways for students from high school into postsecondary education and into good jobs.
- Ensure college is accessible—with an emphasis on tackling the student debt crisis, which disproportionately affects Black students.
- Support students during the pandemic and open campuses safely.
Anant Agarwal, CEO of edX which was acquired by 2U, described similar trends to watch for in the next year including increases in blended learning; more modular, stackable credentials such as boot camps, micro bachelor’s, and micro master’s degrees; skills-focused courses that get learners “job-ready on day one”; and learner-centric education.
Graduating work-ready students is increasingly important to businesses facing challenges from the pandemic. According to a recent Strada-Gallup survey, 96% of academic leaders think they are doing a good job preparing students for the workforce compared to less than half (41%) of college students and only 11% of business leaders.
The World Economic Forum released a widely cited Future of Jobs Report 2020 report on the jobs and skills of the future, tracking the pace of change. A theme running through the report was the continual need for re-skilling as technology advances. Many found it surprising that critical thinking and problem-solving topped the list of skills employers believe will grow in prominence in the next five years.
The pandemic has rapidly increased interest in online learning and reskilling. “Between April and June this year, Coursera saw a fourfold increase in the numbers of people seeking out opportunities themselves.” (Whiting, 2020)
The pandemic has rapidly increased interest in online learning and reskilling. “Between April and June this year, Coursera saw a fourfold increase in the numbers of people seeking out opportunities themselves.” (Whiting, 2020)
More and more employers are providing online learning opportunities for their workers. Amazon just announced an expansion of its Career Choice program which offers college tuition to its 750,000 hourly employees in the U.S. by partnering with more than 140 national and local universities to provide tuition to its 750,000 hourly employees in the U.S.
Skills-based hiring has been on the rise since “early in the 2000s, a significant number of employers began adding degree requirements to the descriptions of jobs that hadn’t previously required degrees, even though the jobs themselves hadn’t changed.” (Fuller, Langer, Seligman, 2022) An analysis of more than 51 million jobs posted between 2017 and 2020 found “employers are suspending the use of degree completion as a proxy and instead now favor hiring on the basis of demonstrated skills and competencies.”
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