The future of learning for the future of work

FUTURE OF WORK | TEXT: DAVID J. CORD

“One of my favourite courses is the Science of Well-Being,” says Anthony Tattersall, Vice President Enterprise, EMEA at Coursera. “Two others I really like are Learning How to Learn and AI For Everyone.”

Coursera offers more than 5,200 online courses from over 275 universities and companies, so it can be difficult to pick favourites. People can learn specific job skills such as Data Science from the IBM Skills Network and hobby related skills such as photography from the Museum of Modern Art. People can also pursue personal development, like improving communication skills with the University of Pennsylvania.

Lifelong learning is critical today, particularly in an economy which is continually evolving. Organisations know having the right talent is one of the keys to success, so they turn to Coursera to develop the skill sets they need for their employees.

“Companies can attract more talent by partnering with us. People earn a co-branded certificate with your company’s name on it and share it on social media. You are seen as the go-to company for people to learn new skills,” explains Tattersall.

Organisations can also retain the talent they have, he says, by helping them develop new skills. People are happier to remain at a company if they know they can continue to develop their careers there.

“Businesses can also improve their outcomes,” says Tattersall. “They can make and follow KPIs such as profit, margins, productivity or internal mobility, and watch how these are positively impacted by their staff developing the right skill sets with us.”

In the future we will see even more collaboration between industry and university to develop study programmes for the right skills.”

– Anthony Tattersall Vice President Enterprise, EMEA, Coursera

Massive corporations such as Capgemini and Siemens use Coursera for Business to upskill their entire workforce, while smaller organisations can use Coursera for Teams to build specific competencies. People can also earn full degrees or professional certificates through Coursera. Building on those Professional Certificates, Career Academy provides role-specific training from industry leaders like Google and Meta. Flexibility to fit the needs of busy people is key.

Coursera’s courses are delivered through a variety of formats, such as traditional lectures or guided projects which include applied learning. One of the newest is Clips, a collection of over 200,000 short videos and lessons. For example, 80% of employees using Coursera for Business need to learn something specific in the next month to advance their work. They could use Clips to learn how to perform specific tasks in Excel or how to make a successful presentation.

“In the future we will see even more collaboration between industry and university to develop study programmes for the right skills,” says Tattersall. “Many under-represented groups now have access to better education, and this will improve their career prospects as well as provide more talent to companies.” |

If you are interested in learning more, please get in touch with Ceyda Redjeb, credjeb@coursera.org or go to coursera.org/business