With the rapid pace of innovation continually disrupting business models, and in many cases entire industries, how will online learning keep up to provide the relevant courseware for today's and tomorrow's workforce? This will be essential for economic growth and to support a thriving, college-educated workforce that's equipped with the very latest knowledge, ideas and technology. In the future, I believe that institutions at the forefront of online education will be recognized via several capabilities which will have digitally transformed today's EdTech market. They will include a powerful combination of omni-channel learning pathways, cognitive courseware, virtual counselors and AI-enabled course development and grading. These innovations, underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI), will help to provide students the ultimate choice in their courseware – including up-to-the-minute courses on high-interest/high-growth subject matter – as well as highly-innovative digital services that support them every step of the way to help maximize their success and personal objectives.

With the rapid pace of innovation continually disrupting business models, and in many cases entire industries, how will online learning keep up to provide the relevant courseware for today's and tomorrow's workforce? This will be essential for economic growth and to support a thriving, college-educated workforce that's equipped with the very latest knowledge, ideas and technology. In the future, I believe that institutions at the forefront of online education will be recognized via several capabilities which will have digitally transformed today's EdTech market. They will include a powerful combination of omni-channel learning pathways, cognitive courseware, virtual counselors and AI-enabled course development and grading. These innovations, underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI), will help to provide students the ultimate choice in their courseware – including up-to-the-minute courses on high-interest/high-growth subject matter – as well as highly-innovative digital services that support them every step of the way to help maximize their success and personal objectives.

Photo by Andras Vas on unsplash Previous posts in this series have highlighted the importance of human intelligence and emotion in education. We have traversed several emerging ideas, including the use of virtual teaching assistants (chatbots), ultra-personalised learning and machine intelligence, but the most important component in education is still the human element. Other jobs in society may already have been supplanted by robotics and artificial intelligence. Mostly, they are repetitive, low level or dangerous jobs, but replacing teachers with computers is neither desirable nor expedient. However, replacing some aspects of what teachers do is both effective and inevitable.

With the rapid pace of innovation continually disrupting business models, and in many cases entire industries, how will online learning keep up to provide the relevant courseware for today's and tomorrow's workforce? This will be essential for economic growth and to support a thriving, college-educated workforce that's equipped with the very latest knowledge, ideas and technology. In the future, I believe that institutions at the forefront of online education will be recognized via several capabilities which will have digitally transformed today's EdTech market. They will include a powerful combination of omni-channel learning pathways, cognitive courseware, virtual counselors and AI-enabled course development and grading. These innovations, underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI), will help to provide students the ultimate choice in their courseware – including up-to-the-minute courses on high-interest/high-growth subject matter – as well as highly-innovative digital services that support them every step of the way to help maximize their success and personal objectives.

This is the full interview that David Joyner, Course Developer at Udacity, has conducted with Rob High, IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, IBM Watson. This is the full interview that David Joyner, Course Developer at Udacity, has conducted with Rob High, IBM Fellow, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, IBM Watson. Excerpts of this interview are included in https://www.udacity.com/course/... more