“5 Ways to Increase Your Job Security and Salary in an Uncertain Economy,” by in Philly Magazine

“Vana Zervanos, Ed.D, associate dean in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s, who pioneered their new stackable MBA program, believes that, due to the number of new and evolving skills in an increasingly specialized job market, employees should look for the ability to create a customized certificate.

“ ‘We’re embracing certificates and allowing faculty to create new programs in real-time to address new challenges as they come up,’ she says. ‘We’ve created a model that responds to the needs of the market as it evolves.’ […]

“It’s important to remember, however, that as industries rapidly evolve, the concept of ‘leadership’ does too. As specialty skills become increasingly commonplace, companies are looking for people who can communicate between and manage employees who need to work together, but come from entirely different spheres. As issues like diversity and inclusion continue to gain steam within the business community, this also becomes critical for the culture of the workplace. The complexity and subtlety of these challenges make real-world experience critical—something Zervanos seeks to address at St. Joe’s”

“ ‘We give you real time practice working in teams to teach you about managing different people and situations, and navigating ethical questions in the workplace,’ she says. ‘That isn’t something you can learn from a textbook alone.’”

“Most importantly, the degree is structured so that you earn certificates along the way. You can take each certificate on an individual basis, or apply those credits to your degree. This allows you to achieve immediate progress in your career, but proceed at the pace you need. If you need to shift your focus as your career evolves (say you’d like to pick up a finance focus when you were studying management) your previous courses will go toward an interdisciplinary degree.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

A stackable MBA suggests some design principles for the future of learning:

1. The LEGO Principle. Rather than big, bundled credentials (eg, Masters in Business Administration), shift to small, semi- or unbundled credentials that can be combined and recombined in new and creative ways.

2. Experiential Learning ≥ Classroom Learning. To paraphrase Dewey, we learn from reflecting on experience. Don’t limit students to what they can read in a book, watch in a video, or discuss in a circle. Ensure that hands-on experience constitutes an essential part of the learning.

3. Agility. As Dr. Zervanos said, be prepared to “respond to the needs of the market as it evolves.” Here the “market” need not be the employment marketplace—it can be the broader market of human needs in the world.

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“DeepMind’s protein-folding AI has solved a 50-year-old grand challenge of biology,” by in MIT Technology Review

“The breakthrough could help researchers design new drugs and understand diseases. In the longer term, predicting protein structure will also help design synthetic proteins, such as enzymes that digest waste or produce biofuels. Researchers are also exploring ways to introduce synthetic proteins that will increase crop yields and make plants more nutritious.”

“Many drugs are designed by simulating their 3D molecular structure and looking for ways to slot these molecules into target proteins. Of course, this can only be done if the structure of those proteins is known. This is the case for only a quarter of the roughly 20,000 human proteins, says Thornton. That leaves 15,000 untapped drug targets. “AlphaFold will open up a new area of research.””

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

If you missed it, this article is a must-read. AlphaFold has created the conditions for breakthrough solutions to enduring biomedical problems.

Which means that there is a new field of science for students to explore.

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“The Demographic Cliff: 5 Findings From New Projections of High-School Graduates,” by Eric Hoover, in The Chronicle of Higher Education

“Given recent improvements in graduation rates at public schools, Wiche now anticipates that the national peak in high-school graduates in 2025 will be about 10 percent higher than its earlier projection indicated. This suggests that graduation totals in 2026 and beyond will also be higher than previously thought.

“But that doesn’t change the key storyline: After 2025, there will be fewer prospective high-school graduates, the result of a decline in birthrates during and after the Great Recession.”

Why does this matter to the future of learning?

Equally important—the percentage of students of color will continue to rise.

Is your school ready to be more diverse? If so, are what are you doing now to practice true inclusion, equity, and justice?

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