What Skills for the Brave New World? | Huawei European Talks

ANGELIKI

Hello and welcome to another Huawei European Talks. Today our guest is Dr Alex Grech, director of the Commonwealth Centre for Connected Learning.

Hello Alex.

ALEX

Hi. Greetings! I haven't seen you for a while.

ANGELIKI

Nice to see you again.

So, today's discussion will be about the importance of digital skills and how organizations work together to tackle digital skill mismatches and gaps in Europe.

I know that recently you offered a report about the digitalisation of vocational education training and skill system so I would like actually to elaborate a bit more and tell us why do you think that digital skills are important?

ALEX

Digital skills are important because in a way they underpin so much of how modern work is conducted and also how we manage our lives and increasingly how we manage our identities. I mean digital skills really are probably essential skills that's what we should call them within the kind of context within which I operate in in Europe, digital skills are sometimes also called digital competencies.

In fact, there are many reports you Google that you know digital competence frameworks became something direct for instance for the ec2 to publish over the years. I mean if i want to look at for example the definition from UNESCO, it says that these are skills that we need to use digital devices or communication applications or networks. I think that's a key word though. It's both to access and manage information and I’d like to keep this information at the back of your mind.

If you look at skill sets normally, digital skill sets are important because there are two sets; one is very foundational digital skill sets so let's say it's the ability to use the technology, to navigate the Internet, to communicate properly like we're trying to do here online, also to handle information and contact and to stay safe online and also to operate legally.

Then and I think the more interesting ones are these advanced skills which is about creating and sharing content on social media and which gets us into things like social media marketing, the whole world of influencers, the whole world of user experiences, AI and all the way to critical approaches to understanding how information is dependent on the rules of the social media platform of choice and again, this brings in issues of identity and also, well-being. I mean what we need to remember is that we live in a digitally connected world, so information has long been transformed, converted in a way, from a physical to a digital format. So, if you think of the times we're living in now in the covert world when we're encouraged to both socially distance, know and work and learn online, even create value online, just think of all the old business models which are being destroyed and the likelihood of needing to lever on digitisation to improve business processes, let alone add the challenges of whom can we trust and not trust online when it comes to information.

I mean it gives you an idea of why digital skills are needed now by all citizens and you know whether people engage on a foundational basis or advanced basis and digital skills are now associated with things like digital innovation, digital adaptation and digital transformation. These are big words. It's essential skill sets…that's what we're calling digital skill sets. These are skills which are needed in the home and in the boardroom.

ANGELIKI

Thank you very much Alex for these interesting insights.

I would like to know, as you mentioned a couple of digital skills, but I would like you actually to name three important skills that everyone should have nowadays.

ALEX

If I had to look at the skills which are most important right now, I’m assuming most people have foundational technology skills: we all know how to use our mobile phone and I guess even use things like you know these conferencing tools. I think the most important skill right now which I can associate with this moment of change and deep transformation you know and I’m saying transformation from the little small changes that the change is being done right now by nation states. I would hop back to the need for truthful information in challenging clients and this is something called digital literacies.

So, these are the critical skill sets that we need to both use information which is served to us online but also create content ourselves and know how, when and where to use this content, who to share it with and I think also understand the rules of the platforms that we use, from the various Facebooks to the TikToks of this world.

So, I would say the most important digital skill we need right now is digital literacy, that's the word.

ANGELIKI

One of the challenges that nowadays we're facing is the gap between education and the labour market.

In this context, do you think that this skills gap exists in the EU and in general, how would you describe this situation?

ALEX

Yes, this is this has been ongoing in a way. Even in terms, as I said, you look at the term digital skills which the EU in a way repurpose the digital competencies. I mean just think about it.

On one side you've got the affordances of digitalisation. So, all this emerging tech, the Internet, mobile devices, open education resources for instance. These are the options for all of us to learn online. And then think on the other side, you've got the technical, vocational and educational training sector. There are events like that. And in Europe, it's almost like you've got what is provided on one side and on the other side, this sector and in which you have various stakeholders, so, you've got the education and training institutions, students, the labour market, social partners and the government. All of these different players have very different expectations of what they think digitalisation is all about and what they want out of it.

And in a way, this is what the reports that I co-wrote with Anthony Camilleri for the ILO and UNESCO tries to dive into. And what we found from interviewing many policy makers, but also, people in business, is that there's a huge difference in a way in terms of low level- what you can do with very low-level technologies. Now we like these, we're using Zoom for instance at the moment. But as you get into more sophisticated technologies, a lot of people fall by the wayside and the people that fall by the wayside are not necessarily people who are not necessarily clever or even educated.

One of the challenges that the pandemic has revealed to us is that when people were forced to go into emergency online education, the biggest fears came from the education sector. Teachers who suddenly had to admit that they were not comfortable in front of a screen, interacting in front of a screen or even trusting the screen as a medium. So, does the digital skills gap exist in the EU? Yes, it is deep and just having access to the technology is not enough. It's knowing how to use the technology mindfully which is missing because we are not really taught that at school. It is assumed that just because you have technology in your life, you know how to use it mindfully and in practice, we don't.

ANGELIKI

What trends do you see when you look at the adoption of these skills?

So, what kind of skills do people need to acquire in order to cope with the digital transformation?

ALEX

I don't want to get too technical and in fact, I want to start from the idea that digitalisation changes the way we work, the way we create value, the way we create things in a way, even the way we live, maybe even the way we want to love.

So, we need to start from that in terms of trends. But if we want to focus a bit more on this because skills are associated with the labour market. There's a word called industry 4.0, it's a buzzword and what it really relates to is that we are living in this age where there is this convergence of the physical, digital and biological worlds, as a result of these disruptive technologies. Some of them mundane, some of them very sophisticated and if you have to look at this, this has created issues that a lot of technology companies, similarly, even Huawei, are trying to look at issues related to the interoperability of the technologies, issues related to virtualisation.

In terms even of backgrounds, I am here in my home right now in Malta, but I could have put up a fancy background and pretended I was somewhere else.

Issues related to decentralisation- here I’m thinking specifically of the blockchain for instance, where it is possible that we move away from the idea that technology belongs to one entity or one state, but it's actually decentralised.

Issues related to real-time capability, issues related to modularity and I guess emerging technologies are really contributing to the future of production and this is where I think we're at this interesting phase in our lives where things which used to be, in a way in the academic sphere, augmented reality being one of them, are virtual realities- I mentioned the blockchain. In my country for instance, every single child aged 15 or 16 has a certificate which is notarised on the blockchain. Now that seems like something which would not be happening in a small island state like Malta but that happens as a default. So, there are many areas I guess in terms of emerging tech, which are now starting to have an impact on our lives.

I mean in terms of 3D printing for instance, when Covid happened one of the first initiatives I saw happened was that one IT company started producing shields-face shields for people using 3D printing and these were available within weeks for instance. So, I think there's elements where the future of production is in a way being fast forward becoming the now and then I think the other issue is this issue related to learning. So, when in terms of trends of looking at digital skills, the pandemic has forced distance learning, assessment simulation, flipped classrooms, even gamification for instance.

But suddenly for things that we used to think were in the realm of something which is going to happen tomorrow, we were forced to look at these things today and that is something which I think is very interesting. So, it's all ongoing right now. The crisis actually holds promise for digital skills to become needed.

ANGELIKI

I know you have cooperated with major organizations like the European Commission and more specifically, employment and social inclusion, but also, with the International Labour Organization in the context of this report that we just published together with them.

So, in this context I’m sure that you have great insights regarding how digital skills in general contribute to reducing unemployment but also at the same time, how they can drive economic growth.

If you can please just tell us a bit more about your opinion on this.

ALEX

We're going to have to also rethink the whole issue of unemployment because of what's happened and it's still happening in 2020 and will happen in 2021 because of the pandemic. There are many people who have been laid off or furloughed who have had skills which were very useful before the pandemic hit. I think in terms of people who are operating in the travel sector, in the tourism sector and the hospitality sector.

So, people who were in huge demand before March and suddenly find themselves unemployed

at home because the bars are closed, because the restaurants are closed or because of social distancing. So, let's look at unemployment within that kind of sphere, I think. So, I think we now need to focus on giving people the skill sets that the market needs now, and the market now is increasingly online now. You can't travel virtually can you? I miss the fact that I can't go to Rome and have a prosecco in a square, I can't replicate that. But one of the things which people are trying to do for instance and I’ve observed, is they've been looking at cities, small cities for instance and using things like Google maps and getting people to-this is this project called Skills Lab for instance, and it's based in Holland - where they're trying to get data from people from a user-generated perspective to submit their skills and say I know how to teach English, I know how to teach French, even though I used to be in X sector, or I’m prepared to deliver food online to someone.

So, there's a huge…in a way, rush right now to use the technologies which are available or even workable technologies like the blockchain to try and get supply to meet demand. And if we had to think of the jobs now that we need, we need to pull away slightly from the pandemic and we need to think in terms of digital acceleration. So, we need to now start to invest in new skills which will create these new jobs in the same way that policy makers need to work on adapting themselves to the new digital and by coming up with new regulations and new policies.

I think we're going to have to get very pragmatic, specifically in terms of the education sector now which is where I continue to operate. The old world of bricks and mortar education is in trouble right now. In the US you have organizations where they're already trying to figure out what to do with the real estate; some universities have opened and had to close immediately.

What do you do now with this notion of education? Is education going to remain online? If it's going to remain online, what skill sets do educators and learners need to learn quickly? When I say quickly, it means there are graduates coming out right now into the labour market and wondering if they're going to be unemployed. Knowing quite a lot about how new media works and how social media marketing works are those skill sets which are needed right now. I think we're going to have to look at education increasingly within the life-long learning paradigm, rather than just you go to a university, you get a degree, you're out and there's a job waiting for you. That job might not be waiting for you. Even if say you've been in the tourism sector or in tourism school for the last five years.

So, it's a roundabout answer to your question. We now are in emergency unemployment mode. The world is not going to go back to the way it used to be. It doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be a terrible world from 2022 onwards. We need to prepare now. Investing in every citizen's digital skill set is a must right now because the world is going to increasingly turn to digital as opposed to the old physical, I’m afraid.

ANGELIKI

Well it's been great having you as a guest on Huawei European talks today Alex. Thank you so much for joining us.

ALEX

Thank you, it's good to see you.

ANGELIKI

That's all for now.

I hope you'll join us next time for a new edition of Huawei European talks.

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Bye for now!