There has been an accelerated adoption of digital business platforms in the past few years, driven in large part by the necessity to create virtual environments for all aspects of home, work and school. The University of Ottawa literally shifted to a virtual program delivery model over one weekend towards the end of our Winter Term in 2020. While the first classes looked very much like a broadcast version of the preceding in-class version, that has changed over the past few years.
Changes in the workplace are no less dramatic as workers will need to have greater literacy in digital technologies and an aptitude for using it to solve a range of organizational and community problems. It appears that technology savvy has become the difference maker for many organizations and re-skilling is an important source of talent.
University of Ottawa has launched an online master’s in engineering management program that teaches critical new skill areas to experienced working engineers, augmenting their technical capabilities with a variety of experiential lessons in leadership, management, product development, project and operational management, and data analytics. This program represents a potential model for future programs because of how it is designed, who is involved, how it is delivered and the fact that students never set foot on the campus.
This presentation provides an opportunity for the audience to see how digital technologies are being harnessed to prepare the workforce of the future.