Page 40 - INC Magazine-November 2018

p

SURfacInG
nanodegreeS

Technological change
vastly outpaces universi­
ties’ ability to adapt, and
future workers will need
continued skills­refreshers
to stay relevant. Enter
nanodegrees: hyper­
specific learning programs
that offer certifications
for tech­based skills and
increasingly important
alternatives to traditional
four­year degrees. Nano­
degree institution Udacity
has schools of business, faShIon StateMent
data science, artificial intel­ Jessie Zeng was able to connect
ligence, and autonomous consumer likes on social media with a
network of factories in China to
systems, in which 50,000
produce custom apparel on demand.
students spend an average
of 10 to 15 hours a week in
challenging courses built
to rival the big schools’.
Its competitor Coursera
offers certificates in hun­
dreds of subjects. These
programs’ fees are gener­
ally far cheaper than even
community colleges’. And
next­generation nano­
degree programs may soon
include adaptive learning
tools that apply machine
learning to map individual
students’ strengths and
weaknesses and the pace
at which they grasp key
objectives—and then per­
sonalize curricula to them.
Future job applicants
may have a constellation
of nanodegrees rather
than one diploma from a
single institution–and the
most­qualified students
may take different paths
from high school to the
workforce, and still possess
skills that can be put to
immediate use. Currently,
only certain licensable
professions—like medi­
cine—require continuing
education to maintain
professional standing. It’s
possible that, for other
degrees to stay current,
we’ll be supplementing
our educations with nano­
degrees every few years.
—A.W.