Abstract:

The changing landscape brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has ushered in an exponentially transformative era that is reshaping all facets of life. Key to this are innovations that are reshaping access to knowledge and knowledge management systems, ever-evolving technologies that are reshaping the world of work and entrepreneurial opportunities that harness the changing dynamics of digitisation and digitalisation. In a nutshell, being responsive to these transformations is the impact of the technologies on the innovations that give rise to an innovation driven economy, where new types of jobs are created that give a new definition to the future of work. There has been an increase in the number of Tech Companies that are creating innovative platforms that translate to the need for new skills to learn and make changes to the sphere of digital economy (digiconomy). This new area of digital economy uses information and communication technology (ICT), knowledge codification, commodification of information and organising work and products in emerging ways thereby creating a hyperconnectivity of people, firms, and systems.

The focus of this paper will be on the people aspects of the digital economy with the purpose of investigating if our currently existing pedagogies fit with the currently fast paced digiconomy’s education and skills needs. The changing economic environment requires a critical examination of educational paradigms suited to learning methodologies that take cognisance of the demand for an innovation-driven economy that will enable firstly the entrepreneurs, corporates and businesses to become more efficient, productive and responsive to the continuously evolving digiconomy and creating new jobs, secondly the technology companies who create innovative platforms that translate new ways of doing work and need new skills to learn and understand the role of the technologies in the new work spaces, lastly the customers whose success in the platforms is a function of how skilled they can get in order to achieve their expected benefits from acquiring the technologies.

This paper delves into the imperative need for higher education (HE) to rethink pedagogy in response to the challenges and opportunities posed by the 4IR. Recognizing this, the exploration of integrating emerging technologies and innovative teaching methodologies becomes paramount. Leveraging AI, machine learning, and augmented reality offers promising avenues to reimagine pedagogy. The study uses a qualitative research methodology with focus group discussions held with customers and entrepreneurs where challenges that the stakeholder groups face in the implementation of the digiconomy. Literature review and document analysis is conducted to provide an in-depth analysis of opportunities available to close the gap between the conventional pedagogies and the requisite shifts in fostering a workforce capable of thriving in an ever-evolving economy. The study concludes that there is a need for educational institutions and policy makers to reassess and adapt policy frameworks to close the gaps between educational outcomes for an innovation-driven economy that is catalytic to creation of future jobs for inclusive participation in the economy.

Keywords:

Higher education, future skills, micro credentials, online education, innovation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality.