Free MITx online course on Shaping the Future of Work to start on March 28, 2017

MIT Sloan professor’s course will explore ways to improve U.S. and global job opportunities along with developing a personal plan for career success

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 16, 2017––In our changing economy, there currently are not enough good jobs or affordable educational opportunities in the U.S. or globally for all who want and need to work. But what needs to happen in order for employers, workers, governments, and regulators to come together to forge new policies? And what type of skills and knowledge are crucial for personal success in the contemporary workplace?In Shaping the Future of Work, a free MITx online business and management course, Thomas Kochan taps into 40 years of experience gained as a professor of work and employment research at the MIT Sloan School of Management to answer these and other crucial questions. Shaping the Future of Work, which kicks off on Tuesday, March 28, will run for a total of eight weeks, with an approximately three- to five-hour per week commitment.

Additional faculty contributing to the course are MIT Sloan Prof. Zeynep Ton, author of The Good Jobs Strategy: How the Smartest Companies Invest in Employees to Lower Costs and Boost Profits; MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer Barbara Dyer who serves as Executive Director of the Good Companies Good Jobs Initiative; and Lee Dyer, a professor of Human Resource Management and Chair of the Department of Human Resource Studies at the ILR School, Cornell University.

Areas Shaping the Future of Work will cover, among others, are:

• A historical perspective and overview of work and employment policy in the United States and around the world
• How the roles of firms, employees, and public policy have changed and created the labor market we see today
• The status of the current labor market in more detail: What does it look like? What types of jobs do we have, and what skills are required? What are emerging trends in how firms organize work, and in the role of labor market institutions such as unions?
• How globalization and advancing technologies will change the way we work, which jobs may be eliminated, and which jobs could be created in their place 
• How we might influence the way technology is designed and used to improve the quality of work
• Resources and tools you can use to plan your own career paths now and in the workplaces of the future

To register for this free course, please visit: https://www.edx.org/course/shaping-future-work-mitx-15-662x-1 If they so choose, those who successfully finish Shaping the Future of Work may receive a verified certificate from MIT for a fee of $49. 

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 eteaching 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 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.