News Byte: To Succeed, Businesses and Schools Need to Adapt Their Tech Skills

In the Tech-Agility: The Must Have Skill to Succeed in School and Business webinar hosted by Schneps Media, Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D., dean of NYIT College of Engineering and Computing Sciences, shared insight on how the COVID-19 pandemic caused businesses and schools to adapt their technology and for employees to advance their technological skillset.

“[COVID-19] has not necessarily changed the future but accelerated the future,” said Beheshti. There have been immediate impacts in the business world due to the pandemic, and one of those changes is the sudden switch to employees working remotely from home. “Employees need to be more agile and self-reliant to teach themselves new techniques and concepts to keep functioning in a business environment that’s now operating remotely,” he said.

To keep up with the rapidly changing technology, Beheshti advises professionals to have the mindset of lifelong learning and to join professional organizations to network, learn about trends in technology, and to participate in conferences and workshops. “Be in the mindset that you are in charge of your learning. Self-paced, self-managed learning throughout…we are constantly learning,” he said.

Schools are also feeling the pressure. In March, colleges and universities were thrown into emergency remote teaching (ERT) and made significant investments to infrastructure and bandwidth, remote access to software licenses, audio/visual, tablets, and learning management systems as well as the training that goes along with it. He explained that faculty need to adjust their teaching techniques. In this new remote setting, faculty should take on the role of facilitator rather than a lecturer and make a shift from the traditional lecture format to a more collaborative learning environment.

Read more and watch the webinar.