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Coursera

Designing the Future of Work

University of New South Wales via Coursera

Overview

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The workplace of tomorrow is an uncertain place. We live in a rapidly changing world, and design innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and big data are rapidly changing the fundamental nature of how we live and work. As these technologies continue to evolve at an exponential rate - it is becoming critical to understand their impact on contemporary work practices, and for businesses and employees to understand how to design a secure future amidst this disruption.

What new, disruptive technologies are on the horizon? How will jobs change? What challenges will employers and employees face? How can the design process help businesses and employees to create innovative solutions to overcome such challenges?

The course is a collaboration between UNSW Sydney Art & Design and AMP Amplify, AMP's innovation and ideas program. It brings together leading business and design thinking to help answer these questions, and investigates design strategies that businesses, employees and designers can adopt to find new opportunity in such a rapidly changing professional landscape.


WHAT WILL I LEARN?
The course provides you with a unique, authentic, and industry relevant learning opportunity. You will have access to current theory, industry examples and expert advice from leaders in the field. This course will help you to:

• Recognise how the integration of design approaches are shaping technology and business practices, and how these changes bring immense possibility and uncertainty to the future of work
• Analyse important skills and attributes that designers, employees, and businesses need to be successful in a speculative, technologically enhanced future
• Understand the importance of unique human attributes in increasingly automated workplaces
• Evaluate challenging issues related to potential change in processes, people and automation that might impact the future of your own employment or business
• Plot your own possible, probable, and preferable trajectories, and synthesise a design strategy to maximise your ability to adapt, grow, and realise opportunities in your own work future.


WHO WILL MY INSTRUCTORS BE?
You will learn effective design thinking strategies from leading UNSW Australia Art & Design academics. You will also examine case studies from business and service design perspectives that demonstrate how design can transform business processes to become more adaptive to and predictive of technological and social change, and this can help to capitalise on new opportunities. Direct from our industry partner AMP’s innovative Amplify program, you’ll hear personal insights and advice about how to develop attributes and skills that will give you an advantage in the workplace of the future, from the following business leaders, futurists, entrepreneurs, and innovators from around the world:

• Sean Brennan, Head of Design & Innovation, AMP
• Megan Dalla-Camina, Co-Founder/CEO, Lead Like a Woman - via Amplify
• Susan David Ph.D, CEO, Evidence Based Psychology - via Amplify
• Dr. Norman Lewis, Director, Futures-Diagnosis Ltd - via Amplify
• Heather McGowan, Author & Advisor, Work to Learn - via Amplify
• Ramez Naam, Exponential technologies, Machine learning, Artificial intelligence, Singularity University - via Amplify
• Dr. Andy Polaine, Regional Design Director, Asia-Pacific, Fjord
• Michael Schrage, Research Fellow, Innovation Thought Leader, MIT Sloan School's Center for Digital Business - via Amplify
• Chris Shipley, Curator, MIT Solve. via Amplify
• Sue Suckling, New Zealand Qualifications Authority, Chair of Callaghan Innovation, Chair of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority - via Amplify
• Professor Nick Wailes, Director, AGSM, and Deputy Dean, UNSW Business School. UNSW Sydney.

Syllabus

  • What is the Future of Work?
    • This week we will explain the scope, focus and assessment of the course, and introduce you to your instructor and the industry experts who have contributed to the content. The trajectory of technological disruption in the workplace will also be discussed, as well as explaining what impact these changes may have on your own professional context. We will explore some practical frameworks to help you analyse and forecast possible work futures, and discuss the importance of embracing the challenges they present.
  • The Importance of Being Human in a World of Automation
    • This week's content discusses what unique qualities make us human, and how these will become increasingly important in the workplace of the future where automation and artificial intelligence may begin to take over more routine tasks. Strategies for understanding how to develop effective human-machine relationships based upon types of tasks in your job are explored.
  • Designing the Future of Work
    • This week's content explores the principles of design thinking, and explains how you can use this technique to better understand the challenges your work faces due to technological disruption, how to better predict where the future will take you, and how to devise a strategy to ensure that you are in control of your own work future.
  • Industry and Academic Expert Video Profiles
    • Watch video profiles of the industry and academic experts who have contributed their insights and wisdom to this course. Get to know who they are, where they work, and what they do.

Taught by

Associate Professor Simon McIntyre

Reviews

4.7 rating at Coursera based on 260 ratings

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