future

Even the Best Future Plans Take Surprising Detours – TUB-Thump 033

tub-thump-logo-small

 

Where do you see yourself in five years?

Wait, don’t answer that. No matter how well you have your future planned, things never turn out quite that way.

For some, the outcome is mostly as expected. But you’re still been dealt a few surprises along the way.

For others, the outcome isn’t even close to what you imagined it to be.

And don’t forget those who don’t have a clue what their future holds. The mystery all but guarantees a surprising ride.

Even a steady path can see a sudden change in direction.

Take Brooke Storer-Church, for example. A decade into a restaurant career wasn’t enough to stop her trading it all in and moving back towards higher education.

Take technological advances, for another example. Who knows how you’ll live your life and what type of jobs will be needed a decade down the line?

When you do look back in five years, in a decade, or when you retire, you’ll have a story to tell. That story will be a bit more certain and easy to tell than the reality as you were living that story.

That’s why I wanted to take a few words from Brooke Storer-Church as inspiration for Episode 033 of TUB-Thump.

Wherever you see yourself in the future, get ready for an exciting ride of worthwhile twists and turns.

Here are the show notes for the 5-min episode:

  • 00:45 – Brooke Storer-Church on how varied work experience improves graduate prospects.
  • 01:00 – You look back in time and create a story that looks like you had a clear, linear path to now. That’s fine in hindsight, but the reality is a bit different.
  • 01:50 – Immense value in those bends…
  • 02:30 – No matter how much you like what you’re doing now, that could change. It could take a year, 5 years, 10 years…And if it does change, that doesn’t mean you need to worry about it. It could even be a blessing.
  • 03:50 – It’s interesting to see how people change as they develop. The process can be slow and disjointed, but can also be necessary.
  • 04:30 – We don’t know what’s around the corner in the general context of the world, so how would we know how our own life will shape up until we’ve actually lived it?
  • 05:00 – Whether you feel like everything is sussed out, or you haven’t got a clue what your next moves are, seek out the value in all the twists and turns you encounter.

Music for TUB-Thump is Life, by Tobu, which is released under a Creative Commons license. Check out more of Tobu’s great sounds on Soundcloud, YouTube, and his official site.

TUB-Thump is part of the Learning Always Network.

Keep being awesome!

How Your Current Tasks and End Goals Help To Support Each Other – TUB-Thump 032

tub-thump-logo-small

Why are you going to that lecture? Why are you taking those notes? Why have you got things on your mind?

Everything you’re doing right now has some sort of end goal attached to it. Do you know what your end goals are?

Episode 032 of TUB-Thump takes a look at the importance of combining future context with the present moment. Focus on the end goals in order to achieve your best in your current tasks.

Here are the show notes for the 4-min episode:

  • 00:40 – Keep the end goal in mind to better understand the best way to tackle your current task.
  • 01:00 – This works with everything you do. Find the future context in the present moment.
  • 02:00 – What do you need in order to excel and reach the end goal?
  • 03:30 – Things get easier with an end goal in mind.

Music for TUB-Thump is Life, by Tobu, which is released under a Creative Commons license. Check out more of Tobu’s great sounds on Soundcloud, YouTube, and his official site.

TUB-Thump is part of the Learning Always Network.

Keep being awesome!

Career Goals Trump Career Roles – TUB-Thump 022

tub-thump-logo-small

You’ve probably heard at least one person say that many of today’s jobs won’t necessarily exist in 10 or 20 years, while many jobs in the future simply don’t exist right now. So what’s the point, they argue, in chasing a particular role when it may soon be obsolete?

You could take it further. What if your dream role sticks around? Should you chase that job/career no matter what?

The reality may be to skip thinking about an individual route to a specific job.

In today’s TUB-Thump, I suggest that it’s more important to set career goals than it is to seek specific roles.

No matter what the job market looks like in years to come, you can build tangible, relevant skills right now. As you build your goals and list your growing achievements, you can shape yourself into whatever areas make most sense when the right time comes.

  • Each small career goal is attention to detail. Work on these now and keep taking more steps as you go.
  • Your career path is the bigger picture. Keep the path wide open until it’s time to pounce.

You may not be graduating for a few years. But you can start chasing career goals right now.

Much better than latching on to the possibility of a role that may or may not exist when you do graduate.

Here are the show notes for the 4-min episode:

  • 00:35 – Instead of thinking about your future career roles, think about your future career goals.
  • 01:00 – Roles can change over the years. By looking at goals, you can start right now. Better still, you can adapt as necessary.
  • 01:50 – There are many goals to work on right now. Achieve as much as possible while you’ve got a chance.

Music for TUB-Thump is Life, by Tobu, which is released under a Creative Commons license. Check out more of Tobu’s great sounds on Soundcloud, YouTube, and his official site.

TUB-Thump is part of the Learning Always Network.

Keep being awesome!

How Will Students Live and Learn in the Future? #HEFutures

Last week, I attended the launch of “Living and Learning in 2034” [PDF] about the future of higher education. I was part of the project team, so I didn’t want to miss the event!

The report looks at how the student experience could change in coming years and considers the future wants and needs of students under a number of scenarios.

Visions of the future. Not quite like this... (photo by seemann)

Visions of the future. Not quite like this… (photo by seemann)

There was loads of great discussion on the night, including a great question and answer session that you can see highlights from below.

Student Living

Mark Allan, Chief Executive of UNITE Group, kicked off the evening by explaining why student living is at the heart of HE. Why not simply the student, as the government’s 2011 White Paper suggested? Because the experience is broad and all-embracing. Allan said that it’s important to try to understand and interpret future student interests, especially since students are not all the same.

While there is a current trend of seeing university as a necessity for employability and future success, that doesn’t mean everyone looks to higher education in this way. It also doesn’t mean the future will play out this way. However, this document does recognise current trends coming into play and uses them as a base (ten key trends are described in the report).

Study Patterns and Ethos

Paul Harris, Group Strategy and Commercial Director at UNITE, then talked about the prospect of new stakeholders making a huge impact on the higher education sector in coming years. It is not clear where that will take matters, he explained, because there are already fundamental uncertainties that will make an impact on HE futures.

He also questioned whether shorter and more intensive study patterns were on the horizon. Three year degrees may be the norm now, but shifting needs may speed development of 18-month and two-year courses.

Harris concluded with a strong point on ethos. While general attitudes within society are not always the most obvious consideration, they are a key issue that can make a huge impact, both nationally and globally.

We respond to each other and are aware of opinions that are forming. As such, a local economy could be booming or busting, but the final say on how that is perceived could be down to how the public react and respond to the circumstances. Even a bleak economic outlook can be played positively, so it would be wrong to ignore the ethos in society.

Ruled by Technology

One highlight from the event was one student’s dystopian vision of what could occur if technology pushed our minds (and our time) further away from our control. Does technology drive people or do people drive technology?

An abridged version of the student story can be found in the report. I told Cameron, the author, that I found his portrayal vivid and amusing. However, I continued, I’d stop laughing if his story became a reality.

Continue the Discussion

The end of the evening saw some brilliant questions from the floor. It helped the idea that the document is very much a living discussion. Among the questions and subsequent answers on the night were:

Might students in the future want to study in more than one place in the world?
Climate change may force people to stay closer to home in the future, forcing the hand on this one. But if travel continues to happen as it is, some students may prefer to get a range of experiences nationally and even around the globe. What we see as modular today may expand to single modules in several different institutions, but all part of a particular qualification.

Which scenario is currently most likely to play out?
We have no reliable crystal ball. Even as the report was being researched, opinions on the most likely scenario seemed to be changing. In addition, there’s nothing to say that different parts of the country could see different scenarios based on local circumstances.

These scenarios each impact attitudes to education and lifelong learning. Will universities plot out possibilities based on each scenario?
The hope is that the conversation will continue and expand. We must be prepared for many outcomes and it would not be sensible to assume a single course, no matter how obvious it appears to someone. Ignoring possible risks is a risk in itself.

Students discussing accommodation on TheStudentRoom focus very much on value for money and location. How will this change in the future, if at all?
If environment can bring more success, value will be drawn out and noticed. Success means different things and that can be drawn out from a person’s environment. That hasn’t been cracked yet in this country and there are many opportunities.
With £9k fees, students are now looking much more closely at what type of experience they want. Is it employer based, international, lifelong and learning focused, or something deliberately unique to a person? Universities in the United States are focusing on the student experience a great deal at the moment and some pointers could be taken from there. However, with spiralling costs, it is important to also be careful.

Your Thoughts?

A blog has been set up for the report, which will feature more ideas and content, over at hefutures.wordpress.com. There is already a graphic showcasing four of the possible students of the future.

What is your vision of the future? Leave a comment here or tweet your thoughts with the hashtag #HEFutures.