Through a user-centred design thinking process we are co-creating Skill Bursts with key stakeholders, experts, and innovators.
On November 22, 2023, we hosted our Innovation Day Event, inviting some of the brightest, most innovative, and creative minds from various fields to help us design a solution, code-named ‘Skill Bursts’.
Since the end of the pandemic, we have been exploring how miFuture can better prepare young adults for the future of work and unlock the skills employers actually want.
Key Insights:
Generation Z: They lack awareness about future skills, roles, and sectors, and struggle to visualise higher-valued career pathways.
Stakeholders: There is a mismatch in understanding the skills that are and will be in demand and how to build them. Future-focused skill development is crucial.
Improving these areas will help tackle the dire skill shortage and increase the volume of future talent for Welsh organisations.
We envisage “Skill Bursts” as a new offering, a microlearning experience that helps learners acquire new skills or improve existing ones, and understand their place in the local labour market.
The Challenge
We need to create a digital solution addressing the problem statements identified during our Audience Discovery Phase (spring and summer 2023), where we conducted research and interviews with young adult learners, employers, stakeholders, and educators.
🤔 Problem Considerations:
How might we help learners discover their skills gaps and learning needs?
How might we motivate learners to engage in skill bursts and complete them?
How might we provide learners with feedback and recognition for their skill bursts achievements?
How might we connect learners with relevant opportunities that match their skills and interests, at the right time?
💡Solution Parameters:
Digital: Accessible, scalable, and adaptable
Skill-Based Microlearning: Learners can learn at their own pace and level.
Clear Assessment Method: Learners can measure their progress and outcomes.
Gamification Mechanics: Learners can enjoy the learning process and be rewarded for their efforts.
The Process
Our innovation day was the first step in creating a solution, utilising the brilliance in the room to co-produce a proposal for a solution, through ideation to presentation.
We divided participants into three groups, ensuring a mix of skills, knowledge, and experience. The groups included tech experts, tech students, stakeholders from earlier activities, employers, educators, adult learning providers, creatives, and game designers.
Stakeholders and experts, such as FE college leaders, business leaders, senior recruiters, AI innovators, and university leaders, circulated throughout the groups, offering their unique insights and perspectives.
Ideation.
The day started with sharing learnings, anecdotal testimonies, and problem statements from our extended Audience Discovery Phase. This set the scene and provided context for the challenge. Each group then considered ideas for a possible solution using various tools and techniques, such as mind maps, sticky notes, and sketches.
Proposal.
Throughout the day, we had speakers delivering 10-minute expert keynotes on topics related to the challenge, such as findings from the Audience Discovery, Learning and Assessment, Gamification in Learning, AI in Learning and Assessment, and Neurodiversity and Digital Platforms.
Presentation.
At the end of the day, each group presented their proposal to the rest of the participants, stakeholders, and an expert panel of judges. The judges provided constructive feedback and teased out further thoughts on the user journey.
The Next Steps.
We were so impressed by the creativity and innovation of the participants, and we are grateful for their valuable contributions.
We plan to take elements from all three proposals and combine them into a demo that, in true co-production style, will meet the needs of multiple stakeholders. This demo will embrace gamification elements, such as badges, leaderboards, and challenges, to motivate and reward learners. We’ll also consider the concept of mentoring and the nuance of connecting learners with relevant opportunities, such as tutorials, courses, and experiences based on their skills and interests.
In Spring and Summer 2024, we aim to test the demo with young adult learners accessed through our stakeholders to gain further feedback and suggestions for iterations.
We are just beginning! Testing and iterating a digital solution will take time, and the more input we can get at an early stage, the more accurate a solution we can build. If you want to be part of the journey, please reach out. We are open and keen to work with stakeholders in this space.
Thank you partners 🫶
A big thank you to Stable, Oh Blimey, and Ufi; our visionary partners, for your support in this exploration into 'Skill Bursts', your collective expertise and passion has made this journey possible.
Gem Hallett, miFuture Founder
miFuture.co.uk | @miFutureHQ
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