Some synergies to the Microsoft – LinkedIn union are beginning to show in the area of education. LinkedIn owns Lynda, a source of many courses for acquiring skills – and of course Microsoft delivers skills building courses. Much more might be made of this.
Education looms big in shared dreams of LinkedIn, Microsoft by Zara Kessler, Bloomberg News via Seattle Times (July 5)
With LinkedIn’s data at hand, Microsoft could control the currently fragmented corporate-training market, education consultant Michael Feldstein suggested to Quartz. On-the-job training has changed, with the employer now “pushing the training cost back onto the employee, in a sense, and demanding more evidence of work-readiness at the point of hire,” said Jeff Strohl, director of research at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
There are new educational paradigms emerging. It won’t mean the end of university undergraduate degrees, but it will but more onus on the individual to take on self-training and acquire a few badges to build skills and show initiative and persistence.
