We are no doubt going to see the rise of screens to educate our youth—and our youth is going to come to expect it. Gen Z—or Screeners as I like to call them—is currently in school and has come of age during a shelter-in-place crisis.

Today, they are spending an inordinate amount of hours on a screen such as a phone, tablet, or computer. On average this generation receives their first smartphone at the age of 10, and a study released in October from App Annie shows 98% of Gen Z owns a smartphone already. They also control an estimated spending power of $143 billion annually and they influence an estimated $600 billion in spending. These individuals are digital natives, as they have experienced the internet as part of their everyday lives since the moment they were born.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a child received little or no supervision for several hours, as parents tried to work. (Look for more about the generations discussion and Sustainability in my new book coming shortly.) But for today’s blog post, I want to take a closer look at how education might change as a result of this younger tech-savvy generation.

Here at Constructech, we have been talking about the shortage of qualified workers in construction and the opportunities that exist with trade schools and on-the-job learning that offer real opportunities in a different format—and it seems people might be listening to us.

Between the 2007/2008 school year and the 2017/2018 school year, prices for undergraduate tuition, fees, room, and board at public institutions rose 31%. In contrast, private nonprofit schools rose 23%, after inflation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Prices are skyrocketing.

As this is happening, enrollment is falling. The amount of fall enrollment in postsecondary institutions was 26% higher in 2007 than 1997, while there was only an 8% increase between 2017 and 2007. If we look at the numbers a little bit deeper, we see between 2007 and 2010, there was still a 15% increase, but between 2010 and 2017, there was actually a 6% decrease in fall enrollment. No wonder universities are raising their prices at rates faster than ever before.

This is presenting us with an interesting dichotomy. If you look at how our young generations learn today, something isn’t going to add up in five to 10 years. The traditional education model doesn’t fit our up and coming generation.

We are at a crossroads with our education right now. There are some interesting examples of how technology is already disrupting education in the trades. Many CTE (career and technical education) professionals are developing creative methods to teach hands-on content and skills in a remote environment during this pandemic. We are seeing the rise of AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) to help students visualize and interact with data in a very real way.

For example, zSpace recently announced the release of CTE content that allows students to earn up to 33 industry credentials. It also supports 12 out of the 16 federal CTE pathways and is being used in school districts, career centers, and community colleges. As another example, startup Transfer VR simulates on-the-job experience for workplace training and skills development. The company just received a whopping $12 million in series A funding to scale training programs. Even higher education institutions are tapping into AR and VR technology.

Being able to learn a skill remotely using AR or VR certainly is an emerging trend to watch, especially amid this pandemic, but there is another potentially bigger disruption coming to education that we all need to be watching closely.

We know in construction, there are huge opportunities in trade schools or alternative forms of education—something Google is looking to get in on. I am sure many of you have already heard of Google’s recently announced Career Certificate Program. The premise here is students can earn the equivalent to a four-year degree in about six months. The courses are taught by Google employees and currently include fields such as IT support specialist, data analytics, project management, and user experience design. Google promises to connect students with more than 50 different employers including the likes of Walmart, Bank of America, and more.

The reality is while this seems like an innovative concept, it is not. Google is just repacking the concept of a trade school, which first emerged back in 1879 when Calvin M. Woodward was appointed the director of the newly formed school, the St. Louis Manual Training School of Washington University. This set into motion the Trade School Movement, which saw the first school to offer specific trade training with supplementary studies in 1881, with the New York Trade School founded by Colonel Richard Tylden Auchtmuty.

Still, as we all know, when technology companies get their hands around a concept like this one, disruption is likely to follow. Google already sees the opportunity. Others are soon going to follow.

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