by Hugh C.n. Miller | Jul 20, 2020 | Uncategorized
When Madiba was guest of honour at the 1996 graduation of ORT SA Technology students, he said,
“One tool that will enable people to rise above their circumstances is education, particularly education that leads to the acquisition of marketable tools.”
We continue this legacy during the ORT SA Mandela Week by extending the opportunity to you to join us for 3 amazing webinars that will lead you to acquire marketable tools.
Join us by clicking here for the 3 webinars:
Tuesday 21st July 3 pm -4:07 pm: How to be a Cyber Ninja
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpf-ivrTgiE9afCQXGsAyzXm-ldtK8BIQ4
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Jun 19, 2019 | Uncategorized
WHAT IF OUR ANCESTORS WERE INVITED TO A TECH SHOW?
By Ariellah Rosenberg, Chief Executive Officer, ORT South Africa
If we were to organise an exhibition of current technologies and invite our ancestors and descendants from the past to attend, what would their reaction be?
Our forefathers walked in the desert for 40 years to reach their desired destination. Imagine! After all the suffering, starving and struggling in the harsh climate and tough terrain to find out that with ‘flying technologies’ they could have made the journey within an hour! Moreover, with global positioning satellite (GPS) technology, it would have been so much easier to navigate their way. And oh! How crazy they’d think we are, counting our steps, with IoT devices, and sending information to a ‘cloud’…not to ask for direction from G-d but to…monitor our health!
Imagine Florence Nightingale, known for founding the modern discipline of nursing, and a key figure in introducing new professional training standards for nursing, visiting a robot display to reveal moving machines replacing the service of human care. Japan’s aging population (30% of its population is older than 65), faces a crisis of shortage of human resource in eldercare. To resolve this predicament, robots have been placed in nursing homes. Robots that move, cry and cuddle are replacing the human work force, from lifting people from bed to entertaining them, with much success. The elderly absolutely love them!
All those involved in getting our internet to where it is today! Who would have imagined that with all the impact of the internet on our culture, commerce, communication and technology that it will also generate the biggest crime, globally? According to the latest information, cybercrime will cost the world more than six trillion dollars annually by 2021. It will be more profitable than the combined global trade of all illegal drugs!
However, if we had Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein entering some of the current classrooms, they’d most probably see no difference from their own classroom, a hundred or so years ago. They will also notice that not much has changed with teaching and assessments, using a curriculum that is mostly outdated with techniques and pedagogies that prepared children for the industrial jobs of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Companies invest in enormous amounts of research to explore the use and impact of new technologies in the global economy (McKinsey, World Economic Forum and so many other papers and reports have been published on the topic.) But what about education? Isn’t it time that we explore transforming education to keep up with the pace of change and to prepare our future generation for the world of work?
We now know more than we knew in the past on how children learn and we know that new technologies are transforming jobs as we know them. But we continue to skill our children for jobs that soon will vanish.
It is time that industries, corporations, governments and educationalists work together to transform education through updated policies, curriculum and implementation of technologies as tools to assist with the digital transformation. It is time that we start implementing the use of technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science and IoT in emulating successful methodologies and incorporating them in our classrooms.
The return on our investment will be higher than any business will ever generate. And who knows, – the fruits of these investments could
be showcased one day in an exhibition featuring future technologies produced by our own future generation.
@Ariellah @ORT_SA
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Mar 20, 2019 | Uncategorized
“Last year, we promised a series of Career Guidance talks and we have actually done more than that. We have, in fact, developed the ORT SA CareerHub,” says Ariellah Rosenberg, ORT SA’s CEO, who is the visionary behind the idea.
Through a series of talks and workshops, the CareerHub will help high school students, university students, parents, teachers and even those who feel ‘stuck’ in their path, to “Explore, Expose and Experience” their way through the quagmire of choosing a career.
“The choices can be daunting ,” says Rosenberg, “You’re 18 years old, finished school and most probably, experiencing the ‘end of childhood’ as you knew it. You are faced with a life-time decision, or so you feel, about your career path. All of us have been in a similar situation… ‘the road not taken’… ‘jobs of the future’… so much pressure for relatively young souls that have being part of the schooling system for more than a decade. A system where almost everything is dictated, including your dress code, the time you wake up and the curriculum. Now, you have to decide yourself which path to take. If to learn: what to learn, where and when? “
The ORT SA CareerHub will be focused on Exploring the individual’s skills, attributes and strengths when seeking a career path, Exposing participants to the jobs of the future and giving them the Experience with practical workshops.
The CareerHub is launching on 2 April 2019 with ORT SA’s IT Ambassador, the internationally renowned writer, analyst and technology commentator, Arthur Goldstuck and ORT SA IT Ambassador, speaking about ‘jobs of the future’.
Booking essential: ora@ortsa.org.za
The next in the series will be on 16th April 2019 at 6pm: Lorraine Silverman on Career Assessments.
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Feb 21, 2019 | Old News
Ariellah Rosenberg, CEO of ORT SA writes about how to prepare ourselves and the next generation for the unknown future workplace.
It seems that the more technologies bring relief and comfort to our life, the more we get confused about what the future holds for us.
I remember myself, as a child in the seventies, getting excited about TV broadcasting in colour, waiting anxiously for my favourite programme, which I could only watch on a specific day and time. Nowadays? The internet has brought about changes that impact on everything we do. Open Source Technology has enabled us to watch our favourite series anytime that suits us, anywhere, as long as we hold a device with connectivity.
Whether we are baby boomers or Generation X, we can witness the difference between us and Generation Y and Generation Z – those who were born into the mobility of technologies and their ubiquitous manner (presence everywhere or in many places simultaneously). Technologies have transformed how we trade, how we communicate, how we monitor our health and our finances. The list goes on and on. The internet changed the way we talk to each other (no need to talk, there is WhatsApp), the way we let everyone know about a special event (WhatsApp Groups) and even the ways in which we buy presents (online shopping).
What does this mean for the workforce of the future? The thing is, that we do not really know what the future will look like due to the continuous exponential growth of technologies and how they endlessly impact our lives in ways we never imagined.
The present schooling system was formed during the 1st Industrial Revolution to equip a specific kind of workforce. Moving from hand production to machines required workers that fit the manufacturing industry. This is different from what is expected to evolve through the 4th Industrial Revolution. But this same 250- year old set-up for education delivery is still used nowadays and everyone agrees that it is not relevant to the workforce of the future. How can we as educators, policy makers and parents adjust to those changes? I believe the answer lies in three fundamental factors:
Personal Development, Mental Development and Equipping young learners with the basic skills of coding and programming.
For details, see our following blog post.
by Hugh C.n. Miller | Nov 22, 2018 | Uncategorized
There are very few organisations that are able to effectively combat social issues faced in many communities, including unemployment. ORT SA seamlessly manages to do this through its various programmes while producing measurable results.
The collaboration between ORT SA and the YES (Youth Employment Services) campaign has ensured that 200 young hopefuls have been placed into companies and schools as administrators for a 12-month workplace experience, that maximises their potential. The collaboration has created an essential platform for youth to develop their skills and tap into their potential.
Hilda, Botlhale and Thabiso are interns at Puo Media which is a performing art’s school specialising in dance, music and drama at the Pretoria State Theatre. “The interns are learning on the job and are very useful to the company,” said their manager.
Nondumiso and Bongi are being trained to become young, successful all-round entrepreneurs as they are receiving the necessary exposure into the world of entrepreneurship through the Gooie Café food truck based in Sandton, Johannesburg. The owner of the food truck, himself an alumni of an ORT SA Business Training course, is confident that these two individuals will be equipped to begin their own businesses in the future.
A huge thank you to all the businesses that took on these young people, for the support in enriching the lives of others. From here on, it can only be onwards and upwards!
Written by ORT SA’s YES intern, Molebogeng Assegaai
