“Girls! Tech industry needs you…”

Throughout their school lives, girls tend to excel across all subject areas yet when it comes to pursuing a job in computer sciences, they end up being greatly outnumbered by their male counterparts at university. According to the Guardian, a survey conducted revealed that 73% of both men and women believe that the tech industry is sexist. Many people like to put blame on or find reasons to point fingers at companies who are purposefully being gender biased – but that really isn’t the case. When you take a closer look into the problem, the solution isn’t to encourage the industry to hire more women, it is about encouraging girls to take an interest in technology. Not only using the newest tech gadgets but also develop them.

General statistics show that in Europe alone less than 7% of tech positions are filled by women₁. Needless to say, there is a prominent gap which isn’t helped by the fact that women also only account for 20% of tech leadership positions₁. As the jobs themselves are already very male dominated, this can discourage women from joining as well as keeping the jobs. According to the Center for Talent Innovation, of those who do make it into a STEM field, women are 45% more likely to leave their jobs₁. This can be down to several factors including an overall feeling of not belonging and isolation or even not getting enough support especially when choosing to start a family. This is where many media sites try to divert the attention to and label it as the ‘problem’ as if this is the root of the issue. However, this is more of the effect rather than the cause – the real issue arises much earlier.

Only 1 in 20 girls consider tech jobs compared to 1 in 5 boys. ¹

If we want to close this massive gender gap, we need to get more girls.

More girls means more women – logical, right?  Currently, many girls don’t discover an interest in technology which then translates into less women pursuing STEM subjects at university level. It’s not that companies aren’t choosing women, it’s just that there aren’t enough women to choose from. There are, of course, cases of in group favouritism, where a mostly male committee will choose to hire other males but again this would change if the inflow of women was much higher than it is now. From a very young age girls tend to gravitate towards creative areas whereas boys towards logic either by nature or external factors. For this reason,  it all comes down to how we choose to raise our kids and the paths we open up for them. Many girls have the idea that tech jobs are completely logic and math oriented, which for the most part it is, but we need to encourage girls from early on that coding is more than that – it is creating and they are more than capable of doing it. Often girls aren’t even given the opportunity to try out coding which denies them the chance to make their own initial judgement. It is vital that this is done  in an environment where they aren’t  influenced by what the media portrays is ‘correct’ for their gender. We need to start marketing these tech jobs in ways that target both the interests of girls and boys alike.

Companies can benefit greatly from having more gender diversity. As girls are on average more creative- minded, so are the ideas they bring to the table. This can increase innovation as well as profits. Businesses with a high representation of female board directors can expect an increase of 42% on return on sales as well as higher valuations in initial and final fundings (64% and 49% respectively)₁. There are many courses and programs online that are trying to reach out to young girls like girlsintech.org or girlswhocode.com. The goals of both are clear, give girls the confidence to join this massive industry. Even here at Techspark, we offer many camps and courses that are open to both boys and girls and we are always on the lookout to encourage more young women to join. The tech industry is quite vast and there are aspects that will repel as well as interest girls. The image of a coder on the other hand is so narrow but what many girls need to realise is that there are so many exciting jobs within the industry. Here are some, just to name a few:

Web Developers and Web Designers: You don’t just need a good coding background but also need creative and design skills. You are able to design the overall look of a website or app and how the features should be displayed. In a way, a web designer/developer is an artist but you paint with code and not brushes.

UI/UX Designers: These designers have to think about how the users interact with the app. It is all about aesthetic and creating the best experience for the user.

Animators or Game Developers: As the title suggests, you work with creating exciting video games or even have the opportunity to work in the film industry. Women are often misrepresented, especially in video games, and having more female game developers could have a massive impact on how girls are portrayed.

Engineers: Like with the tech industry, engineering covers a wide range of areas including; agriculture, biomedical, chemical, transport and many many more. Here you have the opportunity to uncover how things work and how to create or produce things which can benefit our society in several different ways.

Women and girls are more than capable and more than welcome to join these “male dominated” industries, we just need to start giving them the support and encouragement to allow them to do so. If we start putting blame on the industry, we aren’t going to evoke any change. Girls have more to offer than they think and will be a vital part in improving the conditions for future generations.

Written by Malti Redeker (16 years old) – TechSpark Academy 2019 Girls Coding Ambassador

TechSpark Academy – Why we join – #SwissDigitalDay

References:
¹Next Generation. “Why Aren’t There More Women in Tech?” Next Generation, Aug. 2018,

In our rapidly changing world, it’s important to keep up with emerging demands – at home and work – through lifelong learning. Trends like self-management and self-absorption (on social media) reflect deep societal shifts away from collective commitment and towards more individual focus. Against this backdrop, who is responsible for lifelong learning?

There are some 4.5 million workers in Switzerland, where participation in the labour market of women (59%) and of older people (76%) is comparatively high. The Swiss are also keen adopters of lifelong learning, with 62% actively pursuing this philosophy. Motivation to learn can be professional or non-professional, although the former slightly outweighs the latter. Pursuit of lifelong learning solely for professional reasons is significantly higher among men than women.

In Switzerland, the Federal Act on Vocational and Professional Education (VPETA) clearly encourages professional improvement through lifelong learning, and underlines the Swiss system’s flexibility for moves between educational fields.

Throughout Switzerland, the cantons are responsible for ensuring that vocational training is distributed and implemented. But private companies also need to invest heavily in lifelong learning, and the need will become more pressing. Indeed, 69% of Swiss workers already report that they want their employer to take care of developing training opportunities. This was one finding of the 2018 Adecco Future Skilling Study, which also found that only 19% of workers have acquired digital skills recently, but 48% have acquired technical or job-specific skills. Finally, 61% of Swiss workers see themselves as personally responsible for acquiring new skills.

According to Deloitte, self-assessment by Swiss employees shows that they perceive their greatest weakness in the area of hard skills. Just 17% consider themselves to have advanced IT skills, 23% to have good technical skills and 26% good language skills. By contrast, more than half believe they have adequate soft skills in areas like teamwork and problem-solving and see no need for further training in these areas to protect future job prospects.

How realistic are self-assessments like this, though? In Deloitte’s study, HR experts direct particular criticism at this optimistic self-assessment of teamwork and problem-solving skills. Many employees are failing to recognise the need for further training to keep pace with today’s fast-moving, digitalised environment, which is already challenging traditional work models.

Individual responsibility has long been discussed in philosophical debate, and is fully relevant to the theme of lifelong learning. According to Hans Lenk, in Philosophy Now, there are at least four dimensions of responsibility:

1. Responsibility for actions and their results
2. Task and role responsibility
3. Universal moral responsibility
4. Legal responsibility

Applied to the individual career or even citizen perspective, the onus is therefore on each individual to produce results, whether by understanding how e-voting or online banking work or committing to lifelong learning to perform better or move on in a job.

In reality, the consensus seems to be that lifelong learning is a shared issue. An organisation is responsible for employee training, while responsibility for employee development is shared  between management and the individual employee. Management needs to provide the right resources and an environment that supports the growth and development needs of each individual employee.

Empowering employees to request further training in the workplace, and apply for time and financial support as appropriate is associated with financial outlay for companies. But it’s certainly worth it in terms of safeguarding skills and job satisfaction in the workforce of the future.

Ultimately, each person’s commitment to lifelong learning is an investment that pays off – both collectively and individually.

According to the CIDP/EDK, “the concordat of 29 October 1970 on school coordination represents the basis for the Swiss legal and political framework for the joint action of the cantons in the field of education. It serves as a general framework for political, administrative and scientific activities devoted to the development of education as well as to seek consensus on issues that go beyond the possibilities offered at the cantonal or regional level. It is also on the basis of the concordat that the cantons’ collaboration is based on with the Confederation in the field of education and training. This mandate for collaboration (between cantons and between cantons and the Confederation) has been explicitly enshrined in the Federal Constitution since 2006. According to Art. 61a, the latter requires the Confederation and the cantons to jointly ensure, within the limits of their respective competences, the quality and permeability of the Swiss education sector.”

A recent survey of 503 global education professionals from over 50 countries by HolonIQ identified that in mature markets such as Europe, there is a real risk that institutions fail to evolve to meet future needs. Considering the time it has taken to develop a consensus around digitalisation (Lehrplan 21 and Plan d’études romand) and then to implement this in schools across Switzerland, this concern could be very real. However, it is linked to teacher skill gaps, too, as teachers who are not at ease or have not been trained in digital skills will not implement them in their practice. For example, how does a Latin teacher implement technology in class to best effect for improved learning outcomes and not for technology’s sake? Or, why do rising numbers of children and parents select home schooling in the Canton of Vaud (some 40% of all home-schooled children in Switzerland come from the Canton of Vaud)? Are the institutions really evolving in terms of school room disposition, teaching methods, technology and skills set training?

The above-mentioned survey also defined other major risks to global education like lack of innovation, poor economic sustainability, teacher shortages, unequal access and escalating cost. Of course, this depends on region and country: in Europe, the top risk is teacher shortage and skill gaps. In Switzerland, this is compounded by the fact that the education system is fragmented and follows cantonal political agendas, if not local ones. Indeed, according to the study, the second highest risk for European countries is that the political process anchors and delays innovation and progress in education. The probability of this happening is around 75%, according to the study. Given the time it has taken to develop a consensus around digitalisation and its implementation in teacher training institutions and schools across Switzerland, it is strongly likely that Switzerland is neither teaching for future skills nor preparing teachers for future skills, unless major efforts and structural changes are made.

As Switzerland prepares to vote later this year, it is to be hoped that budding and confirmed politicians will put education at the top of their political agendas. As education budgets are cut across Europe, Switzerland must make sure to keeps up its standards and spends significantly on education. Instead of a downward spiralling education budget, there needs to be a well-considered upwards spend: it should cover not just technology purchasing, but also teacher training, continuing teacher education, more work on harmonisation across cantons, and higher investment in changing classrooms from 19^thcentury-style to more dynamic and inspiring environments. Switzerland has a great education system. It needs to keep it that way!

“How should we integrate digital solutions in our corporate training?”, the HR director of a bank once asked me. I replied with a question: «What are the main problems in your bank?»
«We don’t have any problems», the director proudly replied.
«Then don’t invest in digital training» was my conclusion.  

When I meet managers of corporate training, I am often surprised that the process to identify training needs remains so “unscientific”. Business analytics provide strategic knowledge to the head of sales. Help desk statistics provide critical information to the customer relationship manager. Sensors along the production chain enable engineers to optimize design and production. But the decision to create a new training programme generally emerges from informal discussions or is inspired by looking at the courses offering of external providers. Chief learning officers have to actively lead and conceptualize a programme, but they are expected to drive a vehicle without seeing the road.

Why is there no process to develop corporate training by analyzing a company’s existing data? I am afraid you will not like the answer: because often training is seen as an unavoidable expense, instead of an investment that can improve products and processes or enhance customer and employee satisfaction. Too often, corporate training is seen like paying taxes: they must be paid but the aim is to pay the legal minimum. The solution is rather simple: companies do not have to commit to grand statements, but develop problem analytics, i.e. statistics that synthesize the company’s problems which trainings should then address.

At the end of a training session, the quality of the course is usually assessed by a questionnaire handed out to participants. Several trainers reported that the most frequent comments from participants regard the quality of coffee or food during the seminar. Unfortunately, answers like “I really enjoyed the beauty of the location” won’t help a CEO to see training as a worthwhile investment. Instead, the identified problem that triggered the need for training should be tested after the training. If it is rated as less important or resolved it can be used as a KPI that can be understood by all managers.

Of course, problem analytics, i.e. implementing a data flow from operational problems to training programmes is complex. The main difficulty we encountered in our partnership with companies is the quality of their data. As things stand, chances are high that data such as help desk records do not contain enough insights that could be automatically extracted using artificial intelligence to define training needs. It is therefore critical to collaborate upstream with department leaders (sales, production, marketing, …) who generate the data to ensure the collected data will contain useful information.

When it comes to finding answers to questions or problems, we often feel challenged and overwhelmed – as individuals, as businesses and as a society. I believe computational thinking is a methodology that can not only help us now, but also prepare the next generations to meet future challenges.

The complexity of certain problems can result in a difficulty to address them in a solution-oriented way. What’s more, the rate of change in the environment and customer requirements is constantly accelerating. At Swisscom, we meet this challenge head-on with new thinking and work models; we are increasingly implementing agile collaboration methods and exploring computational thinking.

The objective of computational thinking is to formulate problems and solutions in a way that both humans and machines can understand them. A problem is broken down into smaller parts, so patterns can be identified and rules formulated to enable an efficient solution. Individual stages of the solution process are simplified to the extent that they can be implemented fully or in part by a computer. We are convinced that this methodology can create effective collaboration between humans and machines.

As Switzerland’s leading ICT company, we need employees who tackle problem-solving by thinking innovatively, that is why we provide training in computational thinking. In the first half of 2019, about 120 colleagues attended a training course offered in collaboration with the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). We plan to run this professional development course again this year. Wherever feasible, we try to apply computational thinking to our everyday operations.

Future generations will be far more affected by the increasing complexity of our world than today’s workforce. Digitalisation is changing every aspect of our lives and businesses – fundamentally, in some cases. But what do children need to learn now to prepare for the challenges of tomorrow?

Various studies have tried to come up with precise skills for the jobs of tomorrow. But assumptions about future job requirements obviously involve a lot of guessing. It is therefore crucial for children and young people to acquire skills and abilities that will enable them to adapt easily to different types of workplaces and manage a variety of work conditions. I believe that computational thinking introduced through play can make a real contribution.

The new school curriculum in German-speaking Switzerland, Lehrplan 21, includes – possibly unintentionally – important elements from computational thinking. Schools are required to provide more informational education, with a subject matter like “Media and Informatics” spanning holistically throughout different grade levels. But where do you start? And how? Understandably, many schools find it difficult to embrace new approaches and tackle subjects such as programming, robotics and computational thinking.

This is why we, together with digitalswitzerland and other partners, have launched the Computational Thinking Initiative. The Swiss schools project ‘Thymio geht in die Berge’ is part of this initiative. It supports and inspires Swiss school children to truly embrace digitalisation rather than approach it in a haphazard way. By making learning fun, the project sparks children’s curiosity about the key skills required for the future. The project complements current curricula in a useful and future-oriented way, while both harnessing and encouraging children’s creativity.

I believe that the ‘Thymio geht in die Berge’-project and learning the ropes of computational thinking is an investments in the future that will benefit everyone. We also endeavour to ensure and encourage skills training, preserve jobs and increase the appeal of Switzerland as a place to do business. But it’s not just about robots, programming and promoting IT courses. More importantly, it’s about ensuring that for our children, the future is bright – both for them as individuals and all of us as a society.

Roger Wüthrich-Hasenböhler, Chief Digital Officer, Swisscom

Nobody really knows what the future will be like and what skills will be required to maneuver it. A common suggestion is to rely on the “4C” competences (critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication). It could be argued that computational thinking could be added as the fifth “c”. Especially since it can be noted that several of these four competences overlap with computational thinking anyways.

A central element of computational thinking is understanding how algorithms work. According to P.J. Denning, computational thinking is just a new term for another concept, algorithmic thinking, which clearly distinguishes it from coding. Computational thinking is not just about programming, but an entire way of thinking. Computational thinking enables you to work out exactly what to tell the computer to do. This also requires knowledge about what algorithms can and cannot do. Learning to think computationally can ideally promote new perspectives and solutions to problems in many other disciplines.

The curriculum of German-speaking Switzerland, “Lehrplan21”, includes several learning goals in computational thinking. However, the term “computational thinking” is not explicitly mentioned. One of the learning goals for informatics states that “Students can analyze simple problems, describe possible solutions and develop them into algorithms”. This echoes a common definition of computational thinking.

In addition to these learning goals, the curriculum “Lernplan21” also includes a new module called “Media and Informatics”. This new module consists of three parts “Media”, “Informatics”, and “Applied competencies in specific subjects”. There is no strict separation of the three parts as they are all thought of as separate subjects, but also integrated into other subjects. For example, the efficient use of a search engine requires knowledge about search algorithms and engines (informatics) as well as knowledge about the business models and filters of search engine providers (media) and applicable knowledge how to use specific search engines (applied knowledge).

In order to teach the new subject “Media and Informatics”, teachers require certification. Pre-service teachers received training and certification as part of their program, however, in-service teachers are required to enroll in a post-graduate certification course. There is a time window of five years to complete such a certification course. Each teacher-training institute (PH) developed their own certification course, which led to programs differing in length and depth. To provide a consistent and comparable quality of teacher training, a more coordinated approach would be welcome. Pre-service and professional development programs are crucial to training teachers about computational thinking. Ideally, teachers would receive ongoing professional development as well as on-site support by pedagogical ICT-specialists.

Swiss schools across the country are currently implementing a broad range of activities to teach computational thinking. A common approach is making algorithms tangible by using robots. Students learn how to break a task down into separate steps that can then be turned into an algorithm. Such an approach aims to combine theoretical knowledge with actions, a core element of competency-based education.

However, schools still differ in their implementation of computational thinking activities. While some schools are trailblazing, others are just getting started. It is important to have projects like the “Computational Thinking Initiative” that give schools access to well-developed and practice-tested activities. Sharing examples of “good practice” allows schools to learn from one another. As author William Gibson once said “The future is already here – It’s just not very evenly distributed”. To ensure high quality education across the board, it is necessary to continue developing all schools in the country, which requires coordination as well as adequate time for professional development, innovative teaching material and up-to-date infrastructure. Let’s all work together to make it happen.

Dr. Beat A. Schwendimann is Head of Pedagogy, Federation of Swiss Teachers (LCH)

Traditionally, an exchange is a system or market in which commercial transactions involving items such as currencies and shares can be carried out within or between countries. The worldwide web has offered entrepreneurs an opportunity to build new platforms, notably exchanges, business models and approaches, which range from cryptocurrency to tokenization of art, using blockchain technology. The question is, does this mean that everything will now be tokenized?

Switzerland has long been a leader in finance, and the Swiss FinTech sector is booming. “The digitalisation of the financial sector is the latest in a series of technology-based economic developments. New markets are being created and the rules of the game are being turned upside down for the entire industry”, writes Martin Hess on the SwissBanking website. Not only banking is changing, as it is no longer just about currencies and shares; the entire ecosystem that deals with money, analog and digital, is affected.

The recent MBA Fintech competition organised by SIX, University of St Gallen Business School and digitalswitzerland, asked MBA students from across Europe to make recommendations on how best to launch a SIX digital exchange. The challenge included thinking about the tokenization of non-bankable assets: “to make previously untradeable assets tradeable.” This is particularly relevant to the segment of the ultra and high-net-worth individuals (HNWI), who notoriously tend to be early adopters of new technologies and investment opportunities.

It hast to be stated that there is a long-term increase of the HNWI population and wealth in general. There is also a growth in knowledge about non-bankable assets such as real estate, art, vintage cars, rare watches, gems, yachts, aircraft, and private equity. To give an example of the scope of one non-bankable asset market, in 2016 there was an estimated $3 trillion worth of fine art in safe storage, of which about $65 billion are traded annually through auction houses. The online art market represents €3.27 billion and could reach up to €9.58 billion by 2020, according to art insurer Hiscox. In 2018 alone, 9.8% growth was seen in online art trading.

When there is money to be made, there is crime. The claim that blockchain provides and secures end-to-end traceability may be true; to date no system has proven to be completely hack-proof. While it is more likely that hackers gain access to personal data by hacking big companies, Lisk Academy writes that “despite blockchain technology being decentralized, there are still centralized aspects to it, such as cryptocurrency exchanges. This means that hackers can attack a single point in the hope of gaining access.” A more positive outlook on this matter is expressed by the Global Blockchain Business Council: “No matter setbacks on the path, blockchain continues to inspire innovators to question unexamined systems and norms historically accepted as adequate. The technology is compelling a generation of new solutions specifically built to address perennial inequities and foundational frictions across geographies and industries.

Exchanges are not limited to financial exchanges, particularly in the digital world. Just like in the analog world, in which wherever there are humans there is commerce, the same is true in the digital world, where trade and commerce are upheld by online exchanges. For example, there are multiple human resource exchanges, interpreted as either a platform for opinion and for best practice or as a payroll, compensation and benefits tool, or again as a recruitment tool. There are several diamond exchanges, which are the basis for diamond pricing and trading. There are gold and silver exchanges, which complement financial exchanges. What will be different about them in the future, that’s the hope at least, is that they will provide higher security standards by making use of distributed ledgers.

Considering the tokenization of non-bankable assets like the ones mentioned above, one can wonder how far tokenization will be taken in the future. One could imagine a world where footballers will be tokenized as non-bankable assets. Perhaps the next promising investment will be Messi’s foot or Mbappe’s leg?

The labour market is not tender to the youngest and oldest. On the one end of the spectrum, the 16- to 25-year-olds struggle, on the other end, the 50- to 65-year-olds do too. In May 2019, the Federal Council in Switzerland proposed measures to assist these particular populations, conscious that with the ageing of the Swiss population, there will be a severe lack of qualified professionals in Switzerland within the next fifteen years.

Recognising that people over 50 have valuable qualifications and, at the same time, great difficulty finding work again if laid off, the Federal Council has proposed access to vocational assessment and guidance and cost-free career advice for people aged 40 or older. The Federal Council furthermore stated that training and lifelong learning should be more easily validated and that over people over 60 should have easier access to training and employment measures. Furthermore from 2020 to 2022, CHF 62.5 million will be allocated annually in the unemployment office (ORP/RAV) stimulus programme for the elderly unemployed.

According to the WEF, “businesses are set to expand their use of contractors doing task-specialized work, with many respondents highlighting their intention to engage workers in a more flexible manner, utilizing remote staffing beyond physical offices and decentralization of operations.“ Furthermore, there will be severe workforce transformations, which become apparent in “1) large-scale decline in some roles as tasks within these roles become automated or redundant, and 2) large-scale growth in new products and services—and associated new tasks and jobs— generated by the adoption of new technologies and other socio-economic developments.”

“Already, up to 162 million people in Europe and the United States — or 20 to 30 percent of the working-age population — engage in some form of independent work.” Indeed, McKinsey qualifies four groups of independent workers: “free agents, who actively choose independent work and derive their primary income from it; casual earners, who use independent work for supplemental income and do so by choice; reluctants, who make their primary living from independent work but would prefer traditional jobs; and the financially strapped, who do supplemental independent work out of necessity.” Redundancy and the reluctance to permanently hire older workers in Switzerland may be contributing to the rise of independent workers, so older workers need to have the skill sets to set up shop as independents.

According to WEF, “The extent to which the working population — both today’s and tomorrow’s — acquires the right skills to carry out the tasks required of them in the workplace is one of the most impactful and uncertain variables for the future of work.” Within this context, lifelong learning becomes an imperative for survival in an increasingly digitalised and fast-moving technological world.

The Institute for the Future, states baldly: “To be successful in the next decade, individuals will need to demonstrate foresight in navigating a rapidly shifting landscape of organizational forms and skill requirements. They will increasingly be called upon to continually reassess the skills they need, and quickly put together the right resources to develop and update these. Workers in the future will need to be adaptable lifelong learners.”

Everyone needs to pull in the same direction: The Federal Council’s measures are a beginning, but only if we make use of them. When are you signing up to your next training course?

According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), universal primary and secondary education worldwide will need to recruit 69 million teachers by 2030. Can technology help fulfil this mammoth task by taking on the teacher’s role? Certainly not. Nevertheless, technology is changing how society works, lives and learns and will also leave its mark on education. Teachers may evolve into coaches, who accompany the learning process rather than fill children’s minds with knowledge; at the same time, educational technology (EdTech) tackles issues in learning from K12 to lifelong education. EdTech encompasses gaming, virtual reality and augmented reality, and is set to change the role of teachers and the learning approach for children and adults alike.

HolonIQ, a company specialised in edtech data, foresees that “Global education and training expenditure is set to reach at least $10 trillion by 2030 as population growth in developing markets fuels a massive expansion and technology drives unprecedented reskilling and upskilling in developed economies.” Indeed, a 2018 Adecco/BCG study states that “workers are extremely concerned about the profound impact of technological changes in their jobs (and whether they will even have a job in the future), with two-thirds of respondents seeing their job changing significantly at least every five years because of technological advances.” In the report recommendations, technology plays a crucial role: “Increase willingness to learn through engaging formats: Applications, gamification, virtual reality and augmented reality are means of attracting the attention of training participants.” What technology can do is to move learning from textbooks and blackboards to more exciting and interactive formats that appeal to both children and adults. More importantly, for working adults and homebound individuals, it also provides more flexibility: of time, place and topic.

2006 saw the emergence of wide-ranging open online courses (MOOCs) that lay the foundation for an exponential expansion of online learning. Moving from a simple set of online lectures, institutions went on to create interactive courses with user forums, quizzes and rapid feedback loops linked to the MOOCs. Today, the number of MOOC learners worldwide exceeds 100 million. In parallel, the EdTech sector has grown, too. In Lausanne, EdTech Collider, launched two years ago, now hosts some 80 EdTech companies, each addressing a particular market from kindergarten to lifelong learning. The startup accelerator based in Zurich, Kickstart Accelerator, has a dedicated EdTech focus area. digitalswitzerland and the FSEA/SVEB co-organised an event at the Paul Klee Museum in Bern last year, to showcase technologies used in lifelong learning, especially for non digital natives who need to adapt to new technologies. digitalswitzerland’s educationdigital.ch offers courses for all walks of life to encourage continued adult education.

In 2004, Peter Jarvis wrote in his textbook on adult learning that “Now we take it for granted that adults should continue to be educated throughout their lifetime.” But do we really? According to the Swiss Federal Office of Statistics, “The share of working time devoted to continuing vocational training is lowest in the extractive industries (0.3%), hotels and restaurants (0.3%) and water production and distribution (0.4%). The field of “Specialised, scientific and technical activities” is the one where the proportion of working time devoted to continuing training is the highest (1.6%).” Less than 2% of working time is devoted to lifelong learning. That is clearly not enough.

Socrates’ statement “I know that I know nothing” is perhaps a good starting point. Ponder also Einstein’s “the more I learn, the more I realise how much I don’t know”, which should encourage us all to keep learning, lifelong. Learning can be hard work but it can also be fun. It can be challenging but it can also broaden our perspective. We need to change our mindset to stay alert, be curious and remain employable. University degrees are no longer enough; they are building blocks of a longer journey.

Digitalisation appears to produce new buzzwords every other week. Many don’t live up to their promise and disappear just as fast. Computational thinking, on the other hand, is here to stay. We’ll take a deep dive in this topic in our upcoming blog mini-series. We will focus on answering questions like: What is computational thinking? How can you learn it? And why does it matter? To really provide insightful information, we recruited thought leaders and pioneers from the field to answer these questions. This way, we will give an expansive introduction to an important competency that will only gain relevance in the future.

Computational thinking analyzes complex problems and dissects them into smaller packages that can be understood and processed by computers. Mastering it involves critical thinking, creativity and coding, which makes computational thinking on the one hand, a tool, and on the other, a way of thinking. It enables the use of computing power to help solve all kinds of complex challenges. For a more detailed overview on what computational thinking is and how it works, you can look forward to a deep dive blog post by EPFL, one of the leaders in this field.

Increasing automation and digital transformation sometimes foster concern about computers, algorithms and robots, while they should be used as useful tools. The fear of robots replacing humans in the job market has been discussed for years: with computational thinking, the opportunity to create synergies is emphasized instead. How computational thinking plays a crucial role in the competitiveness of our economy will be illustrated in a blog written by experts at Swisscom – a company whose power to innovate is deeply connected with its employees’ ability to apply computational thinking.

Where should one start with computational thinking and how complicated is it? The good news is that first interactions with the concept do not need to be complicated. In fact, it can even be as playful as a toy where kids can experiment with easy-to-use robots.

Computational thinking can already be introduced in primary schools thanks to a robot called “Thymio” developed under the lead of Prof. Francesco Mondada from the EPFL.

The following video (available in German only) will give you a peak into how Thymio and computational thinking can be implemented in a classroom:

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Dr. Alberto Piatti is director of SUPSI-DFA, the educational college in Ticino. In this capacity, he is also the head of the “Alp Project” in which five schools – including the primary school in Malvaglia that is shown in the video above– are supported by experts in introducing computational thinking in the classroom.

As part of the Alp Project, five schools based in five different alpine cantons receive hardware like Thymio, the teachers get hands on coaching by the regional educational colleges and Swisscom supports all participating schools with tech support, as well as funding to make this great initiative by Dr. Alberto Piatti a reality. More on the topic of how computational thinking can be implemented in schools and everyday classroom situations will be covered in a future blog-post by Dr. Alberto Piatti.

With computational thinking being a powerful and important educational approach in the future, digitalswitzerland founded the “Computational Thinking Initiative” (CTI) in partnership with the EPFL, SUPSI and Swisscom in October 2018 and launched the initiative at the second Swiss Digital Day. The goal of CTI is to join forces and enable teachers in Swiss schools to introduce computational thinking to their students.

The Alp Project is the first project of the CTI, which plans to onboard many more significant projects over the coming years to ensure that computational thinking reaches all kids throughout Switzerland. The goal is to give them competencies to make computers their Swiss army knives, enabling them to solve the challenges of the future.

Learn more about the CTI on our website or get in touch if you want to contribute, all inputs are welcome! Until then, stay tuned for insightful upcoming blog posts by the thought leaders involved in this great initiative.