Preparing The 21st Century Workforce

"This book covers the essential role of community colleges in developing a skilled workforce via varying educational opportunities that include, degree completion, workforce development, and skill enhancement"--

Strengthen workforce and employee engagement in today’s “new normal” organizational environment! Today’s workforces, today’s companies, and today’s business environments have all changed radically: even if the economy improves, companies will stay lean, and continue to rely heavily on contingent workforces. Engagement is more crucial than ever, but old approaches to achieving it simply no longer work. In Practices for Engaging the 21st Century Workforce, Bill Castellano presents a comprehensive, innovative model of engagement that responds to today’s new realities, and helps you anticipate tomorrow’s. Drawing on 25+ years as a pioneering HR innovator, practitioner, and researcher, Castellano offers a crystal-clear definition of engagement, identifies its real drivers, and specifies achievable strategic outcomes of engagement. He presents powerful new research on how to engage today’s multidimensional and changing workforce, in an environment that’s as complex as today’s workers are. You’ll learn how to develop adaptable organizational structures and multidimensional HR management systems tailored to the needs of today’s workforces: systems that not only strengthen engagement but also deliver the business performance benefits promised by greater engagement. Throughout, Castellano supports his insights with profiles and case studies from many of the world’s leading organizations, including IBM, Ernst & Young, Google, SAS, Whole Foods, American Express, Colgate-Palmolive, and ARDEC (US Military R&D Center). An indispensable resource for every HR leader, strategist, practitioner, and student.

What counterintuitive lessons can we learn from the meteoric rise of Mindset Theory in education? Why have computers so overwhelmingly failed to become the academic panacea many expected them to be? How can the simple act of assigning grades drive student narcissism and damage teacher professionalism? In this book, brain and behavioural research is combined with respected philosophy in order to place ten widely accepted yet rarely examined aspects of education under the microscope. - Teacher Expertise - Evidence-Based Practice - Grading - Homework - Mindset - 21st Century Skills - Computers - Rewards - Daily Organization - Function This book aims to inspire teachers, leaders, and parents to question many commonly held beliefs and empower them to re-think the role of modern schooling.

Community colleges are essential in preparing the 21st century workforce. Research has indicated that there is a shortage of individuals prepared for skilled workforce opportunities, such as plumbers, electricians, and many others. In fact, while college is essential in workforce development, it is not the only route that can lead to a successful livelihood. Developing a skill that transfers into an essential trade is a route less taken. Community colleges are ideally situated to respond to the shortage of a prepared workforce by providing an array of programs that reach a wide range of individuals with talents that may not include a college degree. Community Colleges and Workforce Preparation in the 21st Century: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a comprehensive reference source that covers the essential role of community colleges in developing a skilled workforce via varying educational opportunities that include degree completion, workforce development, and skill enhancement. Readers will benefit from the book’s ability to advocate for the need for individuals with skillful trade options, provide different areas to consider as trade options, discuss the role of community colleges in preparing a workforce, examine the challenges that can arise for individuals with a trade, and present a global outlook on the workforce of the 21st century. Covering topics that include career pathways and STEM programs, the book is especially valuable for academic institutions that are looking to provide options for talent expansion. Leadership and education scholars, leadership practitioners within community college and university settings, leaders within workforce development sectors, researchers, and students will also find this reference useful for developing a skilled and competent workforce.

"Building Better Students discusses issues surrounding workforce readiness in the 21st century. Leading experts from psychology, education, and the workforce present cutting edge research on the topic. By synthesizing the latest thinking on a febrile topic, this volume stands at the forefront of offering promising new directions for reducing the emerging skills gap"--

CNN host and best-selling author Fareed Zakaria argues for a renewed commitment to the world’s most valuable educational tradition. The liberal arts are under attack. The governors of Florida, Texas, and North Carolina have all pledged that they will not spend taxpayer money subsidizing the liberal arts, and they seem to have an unlikely ally in President Obama. While at a General Electric plant in early 2014, Obama remarked, "I promise you, folks can make a lot more, potentially, with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art history degree." These messages are hitting home: majors like English and history, once very popular and highly respected, are in steep decline. "I get it," writes Fareed Zakaria, recalling the atmosphere in India where he grew up, which was even more obsessed with getting a skills-based education. However, the CNN host and best-selling author explains why this widely held view is mistaken and shortsighted. Zakaria eloquently expounds on the virtues of a liberal arts education—how to write clearly, how to express yourself convincingly, and how to think analytically. He turns our leaders' vocational argument on its head. American routine manufacturing jobs continue to get automated or outsourced, and specific vocational knowledge is often outdated within a few years. Engineering is a great profession, but key value-added skills you will also need are creativity, lateral thinking, design, communication, storytelling, and, more than anything, the ability to continually learn and enjoy learning—precisely the gifts of a liberal education. Zakaria argues that technology is transforming education, opening up access to the best courses and classes in a vast variety of subjects for millions around the world. We are at the dawn of the greatest expansion of the idea of a liberal education in human history.