In my last entry, I talked about the IT professional in two dimensions. There is a third dimension that we must talk about – context. Businesses are increasing needing people who not only have the business and technological skills but also have a third dimension of knowledge in context. You will see the context is really knowledge in a particular industry along with the business and technical knowledge. Increasing, programs that are interdisciplinary in nature are needed to satisfy this need of employers.
In my last blog entry, I talked about the new professional and what that person looks like. Lets just take a slice of the model and just look at the IT professional. There has been a shift from a traditional IT professional who just was a programmer, developer, technician, etc to an one that is an architect. If you look at the graphic below, you will see the changes which I will explain shortly.
In the bottom right hand corner of the graphic, you will see where the traditional IT professionals exist. Now, I have not included all of them just a small sample. You will also see the line that goes between the business axis and the technology axis. Today, IT professionals need to have more than just technical skills. They need to have the business and soft skills necessary to be successful. They need to learn to straddle the fence between business and technology. That line between technology and business is where architecture sits. Architecture is about delivering enterprise systems solutions to businesses. Architecture is the holistic systems view of how the technology fits into the business. I also listed some sample job roles along the axis to show the new kinds of roles in a purely technical sense that exist. In a two-dimensional view, you will have a super-techie who understand the business and also deeply understands the technology. This professional delivers solutions to customers and clients based on their needs. This is a simplistic view and one that has changed even more. The whole reason for the third dimension is the architecture line is not as simple as portrayed here. There is another dimension that is of critical importance today. You will find that the new professional must have a deep technical background but also a deep background in the context as we will explore in another entry. Now, do not think there is not a career progression here. There is but we must educate the upcoming professionals to understand what they will need to be successful in the future marketplace. A professional may start at one end of either the business or technology spectrum but over time they must either gain more business acumen or more technical acumen to be successful.
As we enter the creative age and ideas drive the world, I believe we are entering a technological renaissance, where form and function are equally important. In the past all technologies were driven on introduction of features (function). The design of the technologies are important and sometimes more important to people. Also, the addition of understanding where people fit into the process is also important. I have a vision for the new professional that I want to reintroduce -
“The new professional has deep business and technical skills, interdisciplinary expertise, and the ability to deliver the value of those skills to customers or clients.”
This statement is a pretty loaded but I want to introduce to you a 3D model of this new professional.
The new professional needs to have both business and technical skills and a context to deliver those skills in. The context can be the natural sciences such as biology, chemistry, nanotech, etc. or financial, health, gaming, movie, etc. This allows the new professional to be more interdisciplinary in nature than in the past. The context is becoming an increasing important piece to a new professionals knowledge and skillset. More and more employers are looking at professionals today to have this interdisciplinary expertise. With biotech, nanotech, chemtech, energy tech, and other applied science disciplines becoming more critical to today’s economy. In those contexts, professionals are going to need to be able to bring innovative ideas from an idea to product/service and then into the marketplace. These new professionals need to understand innovation and how innovations are introduced to a society/community. This new creative age is bringing about about a new renaissance. Anything new being introduced is going to need to have both form and function and something that will appeal to customers or clients.
Marc Prensky in July blogged about verbs versus nouns (http://www.marcprensky.com/blog/archives/2009_07.html) when talking about lasting skills versus technology. From my doctoral work in the studying of Activity Theory, I came to the understanding that technologies are just tools for a subject uses to work towards a goal. In activity theory language, these are called mediating artifacts. They are a means to an end and not an end in itself. In Prensky’s language, he calls the technology the “nouns”. “Nouns” change all the time. We know that the technologies change every six months or so. But, “verbs” or the skills such as “doing presentations” do not change as often. The tools, or the nouns, change but the actual skill does not. So, when we are developing programs we need to think about the “verbs” or skills that we need to be teaching the next generation of technologists versus just focusing on the tools. Prensky’s post was a good explanation of a topic which is interest of mine. I will be honest that I was focused too much on the “nouns” in the past but now I look at this a little differently now. The challenge we have as educators is that students look at the “nouns” when they are looking into programs. They care about whether or not we are up to date in our technologies when we know that the skills are more important because those will be portable and last when the technologies change before our eyes. Students need to realize that the “nouns” will change more than a few times while they are in school and so they need to stay up to date on the changes but master the skills that use those technologies mediating to accomplish the goal. So, technologies are a means to an end. The skills are the end in themselves. The skills use the technologies to get things done and yes students need to make sure they can use the tools and stay current with them.
I’m back. Sorry for the long delay in blog posts. I am now going to provide a concept map of learning through experience. Learning is more than just sitting in a classroom, taking tests, and getting degree. It is about becoming a professional. Becoming a professional is about being immersed into the activities of a community of professionals. Immersive activities is about the learning experience. Learning takes place through experience. The learning experience consists of practice fields and real fields. Think about how different sports get ready for games, the real field. They practice. They are put into simulated experiences and also do deliberate practice. Simulated experiences are like scrimmages. Deliberate practice is like practicing techniques over and over again until they are mastered. Simulated experiences and real fields consists of a coach, activity, and a learner. The biggest difference between a simulated experience and a real field is about identity. Practice allows learners to practice a professional identity but it is the real field where becoming a professional takes places under real world conditions. Nothing can replace the actual experience but simulated experiences are good to help learners practice skills under a controlled environment. The coach is the teacher in this model and their provide just in time teaching and assess performance during practice and real fields. There are many ways to assess the experience of a learner through performance assessments. We will review different kinds of activities in a later blog post. We will also explore the role of a coach in a later blog post.
In my previous posts, I put together a definition of creativity and innovation. You will notice that these skill sets are not hard skills but soft skills. How do you teach this skills to learners? Teachers can not stand in front of the classroom and transfer creativity and innovation to learners. They must model and demonstrate these skills and they need to demonstrate them.
This is much different from learning as we know it in a traditional classroom. It is all about learning by experience. I am convinced that the only way to prepare learners for the next generation of jobs is through practice and real world experiences. The traditional way we would look at this would be to design a class in creativity and innovation and put slides together on what it is and test learners on the concept of creativity and innovation. I know this is a simplistic view of how this is done but it will help get my point across. Learners would never acquire the creativity and innovation skill doing this. We need to look at this in a completely different way. We need to ask ourselves what kinds of experiences do we need to design to allow learners to be able to practice creativity and innovation skills?
Of course, I believe that we need to do this in a context. Since I am a technologist and a runner, I will stick with what I know when I describe this.
Before I go any further in the innovation skills realm, I want to describe a systems worldview that will be the focus on my blogging from now on. Systems inquiry is three interrelated domains – systems theory, systems philosophy, and systems methodology. Systems theory is about the science of wholeness. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The new Science that Margaret Wheatley talks about in her writings falls into systems theory. Systems philosophy is a systems worldview; systems thinking is an approach to new ideas and possibilities. The systems philosophy I will use is the cultural-history school of psychology. Systems methodology are the methods used in systems investigations and the tools for application of systems theory to problems. I will use activity theory and appreciative inquiry as the systems methodology. Systems consists of both hard systems and human systems. You can not look at the world with only a hard systems or a human systems lens. I will look at the systems using a holistic approach. Systems require looking at the people, processes, and technology of the system. You also need to consider the culture and community. When I talk about systems, I will be using the community as a system in my posts. I feel that the community is central to understanding innovations and the adoption of innovations. Sometimes innovations will create a new community around the innovation which to me is a disruptive innovation or a new process and/or technology is introduced to a community which transforms the community. Activity theory is used to show activity of a community and the transformation of a community. Each individual has an unique identity in a community. The innovation skills that I have talked about up to this point focus on the individual skills needed for innovation. A person can not exist in isolation but belong to some community. Now, an innovator could create their own communities if they do not exist but they usually come from some community where their identity is formed. So, you can not isolate the innovation from a community. They coexist. To be successful, an innovation needs a community to be a successful innovation. Remember the innovation must be of value to be useful to a community. This is line of thought I will use when discussing innovation in my blog.
The last two key skills in innovation are communication and collaboration. Communication can be broken down into listening, dialogue, and discussion. You need to be able to listen which can be a hard skill to master for some. Dialogue is about an open ended conversation. Discussion is about communication that leads to a decision. You need to master both. Dialogue does require listening along with participating. Collaboration is about working with two or more people towards a common goal. Teamwork is a part of the ability to collaborate.
In this next post, we will investigate community and culture. I will treat them together because they really belong together.
A community is a group of people who share a concern, dialogue, work, and learn together. A special kind of community that I will blog about is a Community of Practice. We all belong to communities of practice and we all have our own special identities in each of these community. Identity is an important concept in a community. From newbies to old timers, each member of a community lend their expertise. A practice is always social in nature and it is a domain of expertise. Communities have histories, artifacts, and activities that allow members to participate. Identity, activities, and practice are the key terms in the community language.
The last term of importance is culture. Communities develop a culture over time. A culture has customs, tools, values, beliefs, practices, and behaviors. Members must conform to the culture to fit in. Member either buy into the culture or they do not participate in it.
In Innovation, communities and cultures are important concepts for you to master. You can not bring an idea from conception to adoption without understanding the community and culture that you are trying to introduce the innovation into. You must understand these concepts to figure out how to get members to adopt an innovation. Some innovations can cause a community to transform. Healthy communities do transform themselves over time.
We will explore curiosity today as a skill of innovation. To be curious, you need
* to be inquisitive
The ability to ask questions and use Socratic questioning in an area of interest.
* to explore
The ability and eagerness to explore a topic in detail. This includes researching and playing with ideas/possibilities.
* to investigate
As part of exploration, you need to investigate. You almost need to be an investigative reporter trying to get the details you need in the area of interest.
* to learn
You need to eager to learn more about an area of interest and get into that area in depth. You must go beyond the surface understanding of a topic. You must do a deep dive and get into depth. You must learn as much as you can.
* to experiment
You need to be willing to experiment with new possibilities and ideas to see they are of value or not. If the experiment is successful, then you move the idea forward. If not, you need to be wiling to let it go.
