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Great list of books on global education

September 25, 2012 by Andy Hines Leave a Comment

I was forwarded a list: 14 Best Books about Global Education [link removed per organization's request, sorry] and it is definitely worth passing on. The impact of globalization on education ought to receive more attention than it does. It’s a clearly and emerging issue of vital importance to the future. For some, it is “old hat” already — pockets of the world are all over it. Yet for so many in the mainstream of education, it is somewhat of an alien concept. This phenomenon is not unique to the issue — many times we have emerging issues entrenched in the fringe but unable to reach the core….yet, we should add. (Daresay we add Coursera and open education to this list?).

ConsumerShift readers might enjoy considering what “values types” inform the perspective being presented in these works. Are the works about how we can all learn together in win-win’s? Or is there concern or even panic about new upstarts who are going to beat us? Or practical ways to achieve the best results? Andy Hines

Filed Under: Education, Foresight, Values Tagged With: Consumershift, coursera, education, emerging issues, global, values

What’s your value-add? (Future of Work)

April 1, 2011 by Andy Hines 1 Comment

The best way for re-trainers to help their clients get back into the workforce may be to help them see their “value-add,” and then working on enhancing that value-add. That was my conclusion in preparing and then talking about the future of work in my “12 surprises” talk for the Department of Labor Employment Training Administration’s Retooling for the Recovery Forum on March 31st.

One of the big issues or challenges in the future of work is figuring out the value of information or knowledge when “information wants to be free.” Organizations are rethinking their business models as digitization provides a wealth of information, but also enables what used to be a sell-able commodity to be “free.” The search for value is focusing its eye on the contribution of workers as well. What, precisely, does one “bring to the party.” In an era of global workforces, if that value is similar to the value that someone overseas brings, but they bring it much more cheaply, then….Yep, competition will often be brutal.

At the same time, there are great opportunities for individuals to rethink and retool their individual value proposition. We talked about “the return of the crafts,” in which there is demand for products that have a personal touch and story behind them. We talked about how individuals can build a name for themselves in the blogosphere. We talked about all the continuing education and lifelong learning opportunities.

But it all stems from one key “mind change.” The assumption that has to shift is when an individual believes the world owes them a living. This is often a deeply held assumption, and for re-trainers, can be a very difficult one to challenge. But as long as it is present, my sense is that individual will struggle in the emerging world of work. Step one is to clearly assess and be aware of one’s potential contribution to projects or employers. Knowing one’s value, and understanding how that is viewed by others, is the essential beginning to positioning oneself for success in the emerging world of work. Andy Hines

Filed Under: Work Tagged With: Department of Labor, global, jobs, values, work

Which Energy Future?….Youtube Clip

December 16, 2010 by Andy Hines 2 Comments

My good friends at Harvey Nash were kind enough to post a short Youtube video clip of me after my Which Energy Future? talk, in which I synthesize the essence of the Q&A. It covers issues on the mind of human resources professionals in attendance, such as where they are likely to find energy industry talent as the industry globalizes. Andy Hines

Filed Under: Forecasting, Media, Talks Tagged With: clip, energy, Futures Studies, futurist, global, Harvey Nash, human resources, talk

Forecasting and Wild Cards with Exchange Students

November 22, 2010 by Andy Hines 19 Comments

I recently had the opportunity to spend a morning talking about the future of science and technology with some exchange students from China. I had them review some of the forecasts that my colleagues and I made in 2025: Scenarios of US and Global Society as Reshaped by Science and Technology that we wrote back in 1995, and I revisited last year in a piece “How Accurate Are Your Forecasts?” I noticed that they seemed to believe some of the developments I saw as breaking closer to 2025 were “already here.” Perhaps the optimism of students (or the pessimism of the professor) or perhaps the achievement orientation in China that is bullish on science and technology?

Another interesting aspect of the morning was their ranking of six proposed wildcards (low-probability, high-impact events) in terms of which seemed the most likely to occur, relatively speaking. They were given 100 poker chips to “bet” with. Here’s how the rankings turned out:

Super-Longevity

Self-Assembling Nanotech.

The Singularity

Global Pandemic

Brain Enhancement

Ecosystem Collapse

Pretty strong belief in the stretching life expectancy and in the prospects for nanotech — interestingly, both of these views were mirrored in my undergrad class of UH students. — Andy Hines

Filed Under: Forecasting Tagged With: 2025, brain, China, ecosystem, forecast, Futures Studies, global, longevity, nanotechnology, pandemic, scenario, science, Singularity, society, technology, wildcard

Great list of books on global education

What’s your value-add? (Future of Work)

Which Energy Future?….Youtube Clip

Forecasting and Wild Cards with Exchange Students

Hinesight

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