Skills for the Future Workforce
Educators, administrators, and policy makers can help students build the mindsets and skill sets needed for the modern, tech-driven workplace by integrating technology-based activities into existing curricula and everyday teaching.
The Changing Workplace
The modern workplace and job landscape are shifting dramatically as technology continues to advance. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this pace, and now amid the Fourth Industrial Revolution—which converges digital and physical systems while increasing human-machine interaction—virtually every career will be impacted by technology and require new skill sets.
A 2018 McKinsey report projected double-digit increases (US and Europe) by 2030 in the time spent using advanced technological skills and in the demand for social and emotional and higher cognitive skills.1 Data from the 2020 World Economic Forum (WEF) Future of Jobs Report stated that companies expect to restructure their workplace, digitalizing working processes, in response to the adoption of new technologies. Machines and algorithms will be applied to data retrieval and processing and repetitive tasks, while human workers will focus on decision-making, reasoning, communication, and management activities.2
As adults, we can develop new skills while already immersed in certain industries, but what about students in school? With rapid changes in technology, it’s critical that students learn about modern technology at a similar pace. At Intel, we believe introducing youth to technology-supported, skills-based learning practices in their learning environment can prepare them for any future career they choose to pursue.
Building Future Skills
The Intel® Skills for Innovation (SFI) Framework focuses on developing the key competencies needed in the workplace of tomorrow.
Mindsets
Mindsets refer to the unique lens through which we see the world, navigate life, and approach problems. These horizontal capabilities apply to multiple contexts and enable students with the skills they need to work alongside and collaborate with others. Social-emotional skills, design thinking skills, and computational thinking skills can be viewed as mindsets.
Skill Sets
Skill sets refer to abilities that help us carry out tasks. They are vertical capabilities that enable us to perform a task to solve a specific problem. Simulation and modeling skills, data science skills, programming and coding skills, and AI and machine learning skills can be thought of as skill sets.
Skill Sets to Match Upcoming Needs
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is transforming not just manufacturing, but also professions including medicine, agriculture, education, legal services, and more through the use of data and intelligent technology. In order to be prepared for the related job market and to become the next generation of innovators, students will need skills and experience in the areas driving this transformation.
Autonomous Robots and Drones
Some emerging industrial technologies include autonomous mobile robots and drones. Using sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning to interpret and navigate through their environment, these devices ensure precision and safety as well as maintain commercial inspection and data collection.
Distributed Systems Integration
High performance computing (HPC) architecture and system design are in high demand, raising the bar for computing and memory performance. No longer limited to on-premises infrastructure, HPC systems can now even extend to the cloud.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The Internet of Things allows enterprises to capture more data, analyze it, and act on it—all at the edge. IoT devices can be used in a variety of industries, such as healthcare, education, manufacturing, and environmental services.
Information Security
Security is an incredibly important sector in the information technology (IT) industry. Every business needs modern security and IT services to protect data, negate cyberattacks, and prevent ever-evolving threats from hacking.
Cloud and Mobility
The cloud computing industry is growing exponentially, and the latest advancements can give businesses greater flexibility, efficiency, and security.
Virtual, Mixed, and Augmented Reality
While mostly popular in video and online gaming, virtual, mixed, and augmented reality can be used for a plethora of other use cases, from training medical staff in surgical simulations to showing movies and films with unique experiences.
Big Data and Analytics
Nearly all companies use data, which is why organizing and accelerating it with analytics is so important. Data analytics transforms raw data into insights that can be used by developers, advertisers, and manufacturers.
Innovating for the Future
Intel is prepared to help K–12 students and adults around the world transition, adopt, and learn through modern lessons in technology, engaging them with tech-centered lessons and activities to best prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.
Intel® Future Skills
Intel® Future Skills help build confidence and skills for today’s youth through technology and innovative experiences. By expanding opportunities that prepare students for future careers, students can learn skills in problem-solving, entrepreneurship, robotics, and innovation.
AI for Current Work Force
Intel's AI for Current Workforce Program is designed to enable existing employees with AI skills for the workforce of the future. The program’s goals are to help users gain AI technical confidence, have them cocreate AI solutions, and identify opportunities with AI that can impact businesses.
Intel Education Success Stories
Learn directly from these educators on how Intel’s education programs bring opportunities that enable teachers and students to learn with technology unlike ever before.
Brentwood Academy: Interactive Learning Platform
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brentwood Academy in Nashville, Tennessee, launched a distance learning initiative by introducing a hybrid teaching solution called the myViewBoard Classroom. From ViewSonic, and powered with Intel® technologies, the myViewBoard helped Brentwood Academy re-create the classroom experience by displaying dynamic interactive lessons, using live annotation, and allowing students to collaborate online and learn from anywhere.
SFI Case Studies
The Intel® SFI program has impacted schools from the US to Singapore, enabling teachers with tools and resources to help them become facilitators of learning. See what educators and principals are saying about the Intel® SFI Framework and professional development suite, including not only how it helps them teach their kids, but how they’ve learned from the programs directly.
Intel® Skills for Innovation
Intel offers a large collection of resources—including planning tools, a lesson plan library, professional development courses, and more—to help you learn about and integrate the Intel® Skills for Innovation Framework into any learning environment.
Intel® SFI Framework
Intel developed the Intel® SFI Framework in response to the growing demand for a technical transformation in education. Our vision for the future of education embraces critical skill sets and mindsets that are immersed in technology. By reinventing the role technology has in education today, we believe we can best equip students to meet the challenges of the careers of tomorrow.
Intel® SFI Starter Pack
The Intel® SFI Starter Pack allows educators and administrators to integrate new, technology-based learning experiences that can build students’ higher-order cognitive skills in schools. This pack helps students engage and become interested in their curriculum subjects with hands-on activities that are suitable for remote or in-class learning.
Intel® SFI Professional Development
With Intel® SFI, educators transition from “adapters of technology” to “mentors of innovation.” The Professional Development Suite, which consists of 80 hours of eLearning and in-person workshops, provides educators with the tools and skills to create technology-infused experiences that are up to date with technological trends that will impact the next generation.
Education Technology to Support Skills Development
Education technology is central to the modern learning and teaching experience. Having the right tools available to support teachers, students, and staff leads to increased collaboration, better-prepared students, and powerful outcomes.
Choosing the Right Devices
Schools incorporating technology in the classroom face daunting challenges—especially now that “the classroom” includes students’ homes. Selecting the right computers for education can help teachers and students reach their goals.
Interactive Whiteboards
Interactive whiteboards deliver engaging and interactive learning that enriches classrooms with dynamic student experiences. They’re enabling new approaches and helping enhance outcomes across grade levels.
Get Started
If you’re ready to get started with Intel® Skills for Innovation in your classroom or school, get in touch with us today.
Product and Performance Information
“Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce,” May 2018. McKinsey and Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/skill-shift-automation-and-the-future-of-the-workforce.
The Future of Jobs Report 2020, October 2020. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2020.