Posts Tagged ‘Virtual Training’

Exploring Career Paths with zSpace: AR/VR in CTE | 2024 Fall Meeting Platinum Sponsor: zSpace

Friday, October 11th, 2024

In today’s evolving educational landscape, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) are transforming traditional learning. Leading this change is zSpace, a company that uses immersive AR/VR technology to help learners in Career Technical Education (CTE) explore careers and build skills. This post highlights how zSpace supports career readiness through career awareness, exploration, and preparedness.

Career Awareness: Introducing Possibilities

A challenge in education is helping learners grasp the variety of careers available to them. Traditional methods often struggle to engage learners with real-world experiences. zSpace changes this by allowing learners to virtually explore careers—from marine biology to architecture—giving them hands-on insight into day-to-day job responsibilities.

zSpace’s interactive simulations let learners visualize themselves in various roles, sparking curiosity and helping them make informed career choices.

Career Exploration: Engaging in Real-World Simulations

After sparking interest, zSpace enables deeper exploration of specific fields. Learners interested in healthcare, for example, can use virtual anatomy applications to diagnose ailments or explore muscle movements. Those leaning toward engineering can design and test prototypes in a virtual environment, gaining practical knowledge of product development.

This active learning helps students build critical thinking and problem-solving skills, boosting their confidence and readiness for the next step.

Career Preparedness: Building Skills for the Future

As learners focus on their chosen fields, developing the right skills becomes crucial. zSpace offers virtual training modules that help learners practice industry-relevant techniques, such as virtual welding or automotive troubleshooting. These simulations provide instant feedback, allowing learners to master competencies at their own pace.

zSpace’s content is aligned with current industry standards, ensuring learners gain up-to-date skills valued in the job market. This prepares them for certification exams and career success.

Preparing the Next Generation

By combining career awareness, exploration, and preparedness, zSpace equips learners with the tools needed for future careers. With AR/VR shaping the future of workforce development, learners using zSpace are better prepared to pursue careers that drive innovation.

The journey from classroom to career has never been more exciting, and with zSpace leading the way, students have the opportunity to explore, learn, and succeed in a fast-changing world.

Unlock your learners’ potential in your state with zSpace’s immersive AR/VR career exploration before opportunities pass them by. Contact zSpace today for a personal demonstration: https://info.zspace.com/what-is-zspace-cte

Michael Carbenia, Senior Executive Director of Workforce, zSpace [email protected]

The views, opinions, services, and products shared in this post are solely for educational purposes and do not imply agreement or endorsement by Advance CTE, nor discrimination against similar brands, products, or services not mentioned.

By Layla Alagic in Meetings and Events
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Centering CTE in the Time of Disruption: A Conversation with SHRM’s Dr. Alex Alonso

Friday, May 17th, 2024

Advance CTE held a ‘fireside chat’ with Dr. Alex Alonso, Chief Knowledge Officer of the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), and Advance CTE Executive Director Kate Kreamer at our 2024 Spring Meeting that saw over 200 state Career Technical Education (CTE) leaders in attendance last month.

The two tackled this burning question of the future of work: How will Career Technical Education (CTE) continue to be the solution to ensuring success and security for all learners, especially amidst the imminent impacts of AI, the green economy, and evolving workplace trends?

Key Trends for the Future of Work

Dr. Alonso first presented newly released research conducted by SHRM drawing from data collected from a vast network of 2000 HR professionals, which, with the help of LLM (Large Language Models), aggregates major trends in the future of work and identifies the challenges facing employers today. Dr. Alonso unpacked several of these major trends, including:

Balancing Operational Efficiencies and Talent Needs

The challenges and problems companies face continue to become increasingly complex. That means that as the skills gap grows, the depth of that gap, or the “skills crater,” also grows, necessitating an even greater urgency for faster and more effective skills development. At the same time, amidst current inflationary pressures, there is a growing imperative to strike a balance between ensuring fair compensation for this high-demand talent and maintaining operational efficiency.

Training an Evolving Workforce

Because employers have a renewed focus on upskilling and reskilling, steps must be taken need to ensure alignment between training programs and the evolving needs of industries. This is a critical opportunity for CTE to be a leader and to meaningfully partner with industry.

Later on, during the fireside chat, Dr. Alonso elevated that the delivery of CTE programs might need to evolve to meet these trends and demands, not just in terms of content but also in how it’s delivered. Kate noted the shifting perspective on digital apprenticeships and virtual work-based learning– what was once seen as a compromise for accessibility is now being reconsidered as a viable content delivery option, especially as more jobs transition to partial or fully virtual settings. 

Realizing the Full Potential of AI

AI has changed and reshaped the way that work is happening. Because it’s evolving right before our eyes, the challenge for employers and educators is to keep pace, all the while ensuring responsible integration into the workforce, particularly given the high potential for its misuse. 

These challenges all point to one major takeaway, in Dr. Alonso’s words: 

The 5th Industrial Age is here, where all facets of work, the workers, and the workplace are re-imaginable.

 

Embracing Change through AI

A significant portion of the fireside chat focused on the specific challenge of realizing the full potential of AI, and the broader theme of embracing change. 

It’s a common worry: the idea that AI could eliminate job opportunities. Kate raised a crucial point: How do we leverage AI to create more opportunities rather than take opportunities away?

Dr. Alonso highlighted that while many job roles may diminish due to technological advancements, even more new jobs will emerge in the economy in the coming years. His argument: AI complements human intelligence rather than replacing it. AI should be viewed as a tool to aid in the creation of these new roles in tandem with human intelligence— “AI plus HI

This dynamic shift isn’t about a loss of jobs, instead, it’s an evolution of industries and professions. Dr. Alonso also noted the attitude toward AI is changing as well; there’s a noticeable transition from apprehension to curiosity. People are increasingly inclined to engage in dialogues about AI, recognizing its potential to enhance both their industry and personal lives.

As we embrace these challenges and opportunities, CTE has a unique opportunity and advantage to equipping the future workforce. Explore further insights on SHRM’s research in their 2023-24 State of the Workplace Report.


Preparations are underway for Advance CTE’s 2024 Fall Meeting in Phoenix, AZ, October 21-23! Visit the event page to save the date and learn more.

Layla Alagic, digital communications associate

By Layla Alagic in Advance CTE Spring Meeting
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