Free MIT online course on "Shaping Work of the Future" launches March 19

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., February 28, 2019––What can we learn from past technological disruptions? How is technology currently disrupting such industries as retail, manufacturing, healthcare, logistics and transportation? What type of education and skills do current and future workers need to navigate these changes? And how can we create a new, shared social contract that ensures gains from technology are equitably shared? MIT’s free online course, Shaping Work of the Future, will tackle these questions, along with how best to develop a personal plan for lifelong career success, over the course of eight weeks starting on March 19, 2019. The course is made available through MITx on edX. Participants may also sign up to receive an MITx Certificate upon completion of the course.“

If we take the right actions, we can shape the future of work in ways that meet the needs of new and seasoned workers, families, and their economies and societies,” says MIT Sloan School of Management Prof. Thomas Kochan, who co-directs the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research at MIT Sloan. “To do so, we first need to understand how work is changing, how firms can compete and prosper while still supporting good jobs and careers, and how to update the policies, institutions, and practices governing the world of work.”

Prof. Kochan, along with Lee Dyer, Emeritus Professor of Human Resource Studies at Cornell University, have taught courses on the future of work for several years both online and residentially at MIT Sloan and Cornell University. This year, Elisabeth Reynolds, Director of the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, will co-lead the course. Sessions will cover:

• Class 1: Challenges & Opportunities for Work: Today and Tomorrow
• Class 2: The Past Century of Work
• Class 3: How Emerging Technologies are Changing Work
• Class 4: Rethinking Skills and Education
• Class 5: The Role of Business in Shaping Work
• Class 6: The Role of Labor in Shaping Work
• Class 7: The Role of Civic Institutions and Government in Shaping Work
• Class 8: Discussion of a New Social Contract

Shaping Work of the Future will feature interviews and talks from a wide variety of experts including MIT Sloan Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson, co-director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy; John Van Reenen, Professor of Applied Economics at MIT Sloan; Barbara Dyer, MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer on and Executive Director of the Good Companies, Good Jobs Initiative at MIT Sloan; and many more.

To learn more or register, please visit: https://www.edx.org/course/shaping-the-future-of-work-0

About MITx on edX

MITx on edX offers free, online, high-quality courses to learners around the world. MITx course are developed and taught by MIT faculty members and certificates of completion are available for a nominal fee. MITx aims to expand access to quality educational opportunities worldwide, enhance on-campus education, and advance the understanding of e-teaching and learning through research. Find MITx courses at https://www.edx.org/school/mitx or learn more about us at http://odl.mit.edu/

About Prof. Thomas Kochan

Thomas A. Kochan is the George M. Bunker Professor of Work and Employment Relations at MIT’s Sloan School of Management and co-director of the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research. From 2009 to 2011, he served as Chair of the MIT Faculty. In 2010, Prof. Kochan led the formation of the Employment Policy Research Network, an online think tank on the subject of employment. In 2015, he was honored by the Aspen Institute with a Faculty Pioneer Lifetime Achievement Award for his research and teaching on business practices that contribute to an economy that works for all. Prof. Kochan is the author of Shaping the Future of Work: What Future Worker, Business, Government, and Education Leaders Need To Do For All To Prosper (Business Expert Press, 2015) and Restoring the American Dream: A Working Families' Agenda for America (MIT Press, 2005). He is the co-author of numerous books including An Introduction to Collective Bargaining & Industrial Relations, Labor Relations in a Globalizing World, and Employment Relations in a Changing World Economy. He holds a BBA in Personnel Management and an MS and a PhD in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin.

About the MIT Sloan School of Management

MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.