Talent Stack – the sum of all of your skills
Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, coined the phrase Talent Stack referring to the sum of all of your skills and he attests that one’s goal should be developing a variety of skills that work well together. Why is this important? According to CNN, the new normal is that today’s workforce will have four job changes by the time you’re 32. Regardless of your industry, developing additional skills adds value to your resume and your employer. What if you are in a career, such as education, and your path is set? Awesome! There are tons of great skills you can add to your “stack” that will help you engage students and bring new strategies into the classroom and by stacking your talent, you can stack the talent of your students too! Remember, your students are going to have many, many jobs in their future and the more diverse their experiences are while they are in the classroom, the more talented they become. Consider acquiring or honing some of the skills below. Oh, and, the courses below are FREE unless you want a micro-credential or certificate.
- Design Thinking – Learn from the Smithsonian Design Museum
- Innovation – Leading Educational Innovation & Improvement Microcrediential – University of Michigan
- The Science of Learning – How to use current neuroscience research to improve classroom outcomes – Columbia University
- Gamification – Learn the tools to support gameful learning environments that foster personalized, engaged learning in schools (archived) – Univerity of Michigan
- Minecraft, Coding, and Teaching – Learn how to teach coding skills to your students by using Minecraft – UC San Diego
- Personalized Learning in Kindergarten – iPads – iTunesU
- Digital Sketchnotes for Visualizing Learning – iTunesU
- Drawing Nature, Science, and Culture – Learn how to see and draw nature like an illustrator – University of Newcastle Australia
- Learn to code – Codecademy, Code.org
Peruse edX and iTunesU courses and build your talent stack today!
Sources:
Heather Long. “The new normal: 4 job changes by the time you’re 32.” CNNMoney. 12 Apr. 2016. Web. 3 Jun. 2017.
Ty Weaver. “What’s your talent stack?.” LinkedIn Pulse. 31 Jan. 2017. Web. 3 Jun. 2017. <https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-your-talent-stack-ty-weaver>