The Future of Work MOOC: Preparing for Disruption

The future of work is an area, where a number of innovations are underway. As such, it rapidly transforms our day-to-day lives and brings about a new set of skills, needed for workers to remain competitive in their jobs. Modern advances in technology have changed the way we do business, communicate, and lead our lives, disrupting the world of work and traditional industries. This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), designed by the World Bank Group in the framework of its Open Learning Campus initiative, addresses the need to develop human capital as a response to these changes and automation, especially in the context of lower-skilled jobs. 

Course structure and objectives 

The Future of Work MOOC is structured in 5 main chapters:

1. Factors behind the changing nature of work
2. World Bank’s new Human Capital index and its methodology
3. Lifelong Learning: what new sets of skills required for future workforces
4. Social protection & assistance programs and insurance schemes
5. Investing in social inclusion and policy measures available by governments

Learning outcomes

During the course, participants learn new sets of skills through the use of several resources, such as Ted-like talks, podcasts, readings, interactive quizzes and scenario-based exercises. Many topics concerning the future of work will be touched upon, including: Artificial Intelligence (AI), the gig economy, the labour market and labour force, the digital economy, machine learning, emerging technologies and others. Learners will also have an opportunity to share their knowledge frequently with their peers and gain new skills straight from experts in the field (including practitioners, government officials, academic and private sector)

The aim of this course is also to introduce participants to forward-thinking approaches that will be paramount to build their new set skills that the 21^st century will require to employers, including: 

• Critical analysis
• Problem solving
• Soft skills (such as teamwork, work ethics or emotional intelligence)

Future participants can enrol on the course in the edX Platform.