Online Education Lightens the Gloom Over Jobs Prospects

By Yossi Sheffi

This month the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future published its initial findings. Over the past year, the Task Force has been working to understand the impact of technology on work and how this relationship is likely to shape up over the next decade.

People are pessimistic about employment prospects at a time when there is a jobs boom; a phenomenon referred to as the “Paradox of the Present” in the Task Force report. A 2018 Pew Research Center study found that 65 to 90 percent of the individuals surveyed in advanced economies believe that robots and computers are likely to commandeer jobs currently done by humans. Less than one-third of respondents believe that new, better-paying jobs will emerge from the rise of digital technologies.

While the Task Force suggests that the rate at which jobs will be automated out of existence is exaggerated, “Economic history confirms that this sentiment is neither ill-informed nor misguided.” In other words, judging from recent history, the economic inequality that plagues countries such as the United States may worsen as technology reshapes the workplace.

However, such an outcome is by no means inevitable. “By taking bold actions to invest in its people, lead in innovation, and protect and augment workers, the United States can cultivate this historic opportunity to generate broadly shared prosperity,” the report says.

One of the many ways to put us on a more positive path is to invest in innovative educational models that help individuals to share the bounty of economic growth and fulfill their aspirations.

Here, there is cause for some optimism, I believe.

New models

The new generation of online education programs, commonly known as MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course), is evolving rapidly, and the implications for the future of education are very encouraging.

Says the Task Force report, “innovation in online education and training tools will ultimately lower the cost, boost the efficiency, and broaden the accessibility (and perhaps even the appeal) of educational offerings directed at all age and skill levels,”

These benefits are already visible, as evidenced by a MOOC I helped to create and develop called the MITx MicroMaster Credential in Supply Chain Management. In October 2019 it will be four years since the launch of this pioneering program. I can report that it is well on the way to fulfilling its mission to democratize education in a growing field.

Importantly, MicroMaster shows the potential of the MOOC model to create innovative education programs geared to specific professional audiences. Moreover, the knowledge educators are gaining from MOOCs could revolutionize future programs.

Important insights

MicroMaster consists of five courses and a final capstone exam. It represents the equivalent of a single semester’s worth of coursework at MIT. There is no formal enrollment in the Credential; learners simply register for individual courses. The MicroMaster program broadened its scope with the launch of the Blended Supply Chain Program, a new type of hybrid master’s program that offers exceptional MicroMaster graduates the opportunity to apply for a place on MIT’s residential Master’s in Supply Chain Management program. Students can also apply to any of 21 other universities that recognize and give credit for the MicroMaster credential.

More than 300,000 learners from 192 countries have enrolled in at least one MicroMaster course, and over 25,000 individuals have attempted one or more full courses. These statistics reflect the unprecedented reach of MOOC-based professional education. 

Since MOOCs function in an online environment and automatically track student participation, these programs generate a flood of data on the learning process. MicroMaster generates hundreds of thousands of data points on various aspects of the program, such as the effectiveness of course content and the pace at which individuals learn.

The insights gained translate quickly into program improvements because it is much easier to modify an online course than its traditional, classroom-based equivalent. For instance, we create feedback loops to evaluate specific issues measurably; something that is not easy to do in conventional programs. Also, we use machine learning to analyze the data on learner performance.

While online education cannot reproduce the physical interactions that take place in the classroom, it can provide immediacy in other ways. Featuring industry leaders to provide professional instruction and using video to take learners into facilities such as plants and warehouses, are two examples. This content is updated regularly to keep it timely and topical – critically important in a world of fast-paced change.

The blended MicroMaster program has shown us that non-traditional learners need not be disadvantaged if they enter the physical classroom. Last year, the first learners in the hybrid master’s program graduated, and they performed just as well as their traditional classmates even though they do not have the same academic background. This observation may seem somewhat surprising, but it takes considerable dedication and commitment to complete all five MicroMaster online courses and pass a capstone exam with distinction while holding down a full-time job as a supply chain professional. This is an important lesson for educators. Dedication, thirst for learning, and tenacity are important characteristics that show up in the online world, but are not always evident in a transcript or standardized test.

First steps to optimism

Our experience also highlights the challenges that the MOOC model still faces. For example, while these programs offer a low-cost route to education for learners, the cost to create them is far from low. Bringing a credible, high-quality MOOC into existence requires a considerable investment in time, money, and subject expertise. Scaling up a successful MOOC and maintaining the level of quality is no easy task. For example, someone has to answer the thousands of emailed queries that come in every day from learners. Another challenge is continuing to meet expectations. Just as online consumers have come to expect one-day delivery as the norm, the service expectations of MOOC consumers increase with the success of the program.

However, we do not doubt that MOOC-based education will play a key role in meeting the demands of a changing workplace. The model is already changing traditional education. For example, incoming students on the residential Supply Chain Master’s program at MIT are required to complete the introductory portion of the MOOC to bring their skills in critical areas such as probability and statistics up to speed. This requirement streamlines the onboarding process and provides a minimum knowledge that follow-on courses can build on. Moreover, we have incorporated some content from the MOOC in our residential program: Our introductory “Logistics Systems” course requires students to watch online lessons while the classes focus on case studies, current events, and extensions.

As the MIT Task Force emphasizes, more research on the role of online education models is needed. “Given the importance of such learning for individuals, companies, and society as a whole, there is a remarkable lack of evidence about what kind of learning is effective,” says the Task Force report.

However, the MOOC movement provides an excellent start as well as a platform for creating educational models that will help us to counter the pessimism caused by the march of automation.