Abstract:

This paper examines the role played by sharing economy platforms framed within the learning field in the continuous learning of workers, mainly through the courses offered within them, as a potential additional service to the actual superior education.

Today's society demands workers to be in continuous training and this, with the current organization of official education, is not feasible for educational institutions. An average career involves 4 years of studies, with contents that, although are updated annually, cannot keep pace with the demands of companies, mainly due to the rigidity of the system, affecting both students and teachers. Since this training cannot be found in official institutions, people are finding an ideal alternative in learning platforms, which have the advantage of being a young, innovative idea with great flexibility and adaptability.

In general, these platforms offer courses on demand, mainly focused on language training or on very specific and highly demanded skills in jobs, such as data mining or web development. Although most of the courses are focused on professional development, it can be also found courses that are more focused on hobbies or personal skills. These platforms have different types of users and approaches. On the one hand, there are platforms that simply serve as a common space among users to facilitate contact and interaction between them, while others, in addition, serve as a means of dissemination for the different learning materials.

The target audience of these platforms is mainly adults who want or need to complement their education on the latest trends, but who do not necessarily require a degree derived from it. This leads them to look for a type of education that allows them to have absolute flexibility to do it and covers that specific knowledge. Learning platforms not only cover these basic premises, but also allow to enhance the value of knowledge and create collaborative communities and groups around it, which can generate collaboration networks between different users, companies, or organizations.

The Sharing Economy is modifying consumption patterns all along with countries and industries, and this revolution goes hand in hand with a change in the mentality of users and the society in general. Specifically in the field of education, where non-regulated learning is rapidly growing in popularity. This is leading to alternatives such as vocational training, or the type of courses made through platforms, which address in an innovative and open way the knowledge to be acquired. So much so that it is now possible to see universities and foundations as collaborators on learning platforms.

Although the primary target audience is end-users, some platforms offer plans for companies, so they can make available to their employees the courses and materials necessary for them to continue their education in their free time and advance within their professional career. By doing this, they can ensure that their employees are up to date on the latest trends and are part of the learning community created within the company, which allows them to share their achievements, motivate each other and share the ups and downs of the learning process.

Keywords:

Sharing economy, continuous learning, platforms, collaborative learning.