ABSTRACT

In the next half century, some occupations will disappear, and new roles will appear in national economies shaped by globalization, environmental crises and challenges to sustainability. Both students and workers today face not only evolving jobs requiring expanding skill sets, but also multiple careers, many of which do not yet exist. “Lifelong learning” must be reconceptualized to center on developing people’s capacity for unceasing reinvention to face an uncertain and changing workplace and for success in occupations difficult to imagine at present. Achieving lifelong learning and employability will require developing educational and economic policies and practices that provide organizational and societal mechanisms by which people can upskill throughout their lives, particularly when they do not have the time or resources for a full-time academic experience that results in a degree or certificate. Immersive media for simulations and personalized AI-based tutoring systems are promising technologies for accomplishing this. Overall, using transformation and unlearning as central principles for change is essential in developing new models of organizational structures for lifelong learning.