In Austria, too, there is concern about the need for rapid action to deal with the many crises. In front of an impressive backdrop, representatives of various stakeholders discussed the challenges of digital literacy, which must primarily be met by the workforce as a whole.
In addition to the classic, simple application of diverse, digital technologies, communication and collaborative skills are just as necessary today as an understanding of data, AI, cybersecurity, automation, etc. Lifelong learning is more important today than ever, only:
According to OECD 2021 research, only six in ten people in member countries participate in – and do not plan to participate in – adult learning.
Why is that so?
Many people simply don’t know how important their learning is to the common good, he said. And workplaces would not yet be ideally developed as inspiring places for learning, according to Andreas Schleicher, head of the OECD’s education department.
So there should be a change in people’s mindset towards digital technologies, away from thinking you’re just entering numerical codes to program, to thinking you’re solving world problems.
Here, companies, but also the educational institutions, should make better, motivating demands on themselves. They need to think about how individual learning can benefit the holistic common good – and make this clear to their employees.
So an arc must be drawn, toward the great issues of our time. This seems to me to be a good approach.
Article published on piqd on October 24, 2022 as a reference to the DerStandard article How digital skills can solve real world problems