IFTF's 2016 research map—Learning is Earning in the National Learning Economy—argues that the landscapes of working, learning, and living are increasingly blending together. The map focuses on “working learners”—people who are working to support themselves while also pursuing formal education— and explores the question, “What will the world look like for them in 10 years?” Based on extensive research on drivers of change and evidence-based innovations happening today, the map identifies eight “zones of innovation” that together represent what’s ahead on the second curve of working, learning, and living.
Since 2013, California Community Colleges have been using the Doing What MATTERS for Jobs and the Economy (DWM) framework to motivate and structure system-wide efforts to close the skills gap. The analysis in this new report uses the Learning is Earning map as a way to understand the innovation investments undertaken as a part of the DWM framework and to determine the California Community Colleges’ trajectory as they prepare to better serve the students of the future. The report walks through the eight innovation zones—each described as a transition from today’s first curve to the new paradigm of the second curve—and describes projects and investments DWM is taking on today that will chart the way for the second curve.
