May 12, 2021

In this episode Lee and Dan speak to Eimer Henderson from skills company Prodigy Learning.  We learn about all things from AI to Minecraft and how everyone is a learner.

Here is a link to the Prodigy Learning website: https://www.prodigylearning.com/ and Coding In Minecraft.

Link to Cert Matters Live which is a global educator event where they will be joined by Anthony Salcito VP of Education Microsoft who will be speaking about AI in general globally: https://certmatters.com/

Programs they are involved in here in Australia: Microsoft Traineeship Program, DSO Pilot and the news section in their website has some more!

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TRANSCRIPT For this episode of The AI in Education Podcast
Series: 4
Episode: 5

This transcript was auto-generated. If you spot any important errors, do feel free to email the podcast hosts for corrections.

Welcome to the AI podcast. I'm Dan and I think Lee.
And I'm And I'm Lee and I'm here. Yes, Dan. It is It's good to be back again, isn't it? It just feels like so long in between each of these calls. I know it's not, but it feels like so long in between them.
I know, doesn't it, Jess? We've had so many interesting people already as well and so many comments. online and on social about the the content the series where we were looking back at uh and not looking back but looking back and forwards about the kind of context of AI and people really doing things and actually really trying to find out what's going on in the environment right
look we have and you know what I was thinking about and it's it's completely unintentional but it's awesome is that in this season we're now five six episodes into this season we've had five amazing women on board tell us their story and it's just fantastic that we've been able it's been We've been able to find so many women who are contributing to this conversation. It's awesome.
That's very true, actually. Well, how's your week been? Has it been okay? It's nice and sunny in Sydney today.
It It's It's sunny, but I wouldn't know because I've been just moving between rooms to room to room and building to building. I did my first trip on the light rail today actually in Sydney, which was something new for me, which is actually just as easy as I expected it to be. Um, but mate, I've had a busy week. Lots and lots going on. Um, you know, they're just constantly having conversations and what's Lots of conversations about AI. Thankfully, lots of conversations about the ethics and the trust and the application of AI in the human experience, which you know, without getting too deeply into that is is awesome for me. I'm constantly having to remind people that even though my job is the chief technology officer, I don't actually talk about the technology very much. I talk about the way technology impacts people. So, that's been awesome. Um, I've got a couple of other big bits of news I'll share in a second, but what about you, Dan? What's been going on with you?
Oh, well, I like Yeah, I've I've been doing lots of strategic stuff with some large consulting companies this week. You know, obviously the trend uh in my area where I'm working in education is is very much around data and data warehousing and connecting things together at the minute and looking at insights I think and and you know that that's been kind of taking up a lot of my time over the last month which has been great. But one thing that's really happened which has been an epiphany for me this week is um one of my colleagues uh mentioned a tool in Microsoft SC that we've got called Viva Insights and um it's built on back of a I and my analytics, right? And um and I I went in there last Friday and what it does, it looks across your diary, puts focus time in and then actually people can't get hold of you in those times. So, actually, it's really freed me up this week to get on with the actual business of connecting with people and and reaching out and doing my actual work rather than get caught up. And even even got to a stage of today, it reminded me that I had to do a well-being um it's like a it's called a morning commute. I don't know if you've even tried these, but I was driving the car this morning into the office and it gave me a five minute meditation and like a one minute well it started off with a one minute breathing exercise which is fine when I was driving. Then it's a way to close my eyes and visualize my day and I thought I better not do that cuz I'm in the car. But it was a it was a it was really refreshing. So it's been really busy the last couple of weeks um with work with me and it's been quite frantic. Um and it really the AI has really made a significant impact on my working this week, which I was really surprised at, especially by putting that focus time in. So, I'm going to click on it after this episode recording today because we recorded on a Friday and then I'm going to go through it all again and set up all those commutes and the focus time. So, yeah, I was I was absolutely blown away by it to be honest with you.
That's that's awesome. I mean, I've seen the be and I mean your point about the car and meditation and it's an interesting issue around any kind of form of sort of data or artificial intelligent based system is context is everything and you know should the car should the device have known you were moving at a particular speed that would be probably a car and therefore not a good time to do it. It's interesting how far you take these things. I get those Viva pop-ups. It creates that interesting dilemma. I don't know what you thought when I first saw this one. Um because it popped up in my inbox and said, "Hey, Viva sees that you talk a lot about a piece of it was a particular customer of ours." Um and obviously, you know, because it's obviously looking at how I communicate, meetings I make and things like that, which is really powerful, but I guess on one side of it I can see how
some might look at that and go hm you know what else what's it learning about me what's it starting to figure out with me so that you know it sits right on that cusp of super valuable you know impacting your well-being your mental health your life your balance
um and you have to give up some data for that you know and that's that always that perennial challenge of of artificial intelligence and and the relationship with data
yeah but good so I have to tell you because I'm super excited I'm also very very humbled by it but I have to tell you my uh Um, this last uh I guess what it was a couple of weeks ago now, but um I was privileged and honored to be selected to be on the New South Wales uh AI advisory committee. So I sit on a membership of uh fantastic 10
10 people um in in in New South Wales. Uh 10 very impressive people. I certainly don't feel like I'm the right person to be in the room sometimes, but but I'm there and that's great. Um and we really come together. You know, I obviously can't talk about that much about what we're doing in the committee, but this idea that it's, you know, our our state government is building the mechanisms to think about how AI should be used is truly for me and as as a New South Wales citizen really great to see and I'm I'm very honored and privileged to be on that uh that board and um participating. So yeah, super exciting news for me personally.
Fantastic. That's that's fantastic. So to today's episode then, so keeping with the theme of fantastic women in technology as well, um today we've got Ema Henderson from Prodigy Learning. Hi Ema. Hi Don. Hi Lee. Thank you so much both for having me on the podcast and you're very kind with your words there about fantastic women. So yeah, I'm delighted to be on today.
Looking, you know, we've been working with you for quite a while and and seeing the kind of things you're doing globally and the impact you have in yourself and and with the organization you work for around skills and and actually really trying to drive at the skills and the workforce specifically for us. We're concerned in this podcast I suppose for for Australia itself. So tell us a bit about yourself and and how you landed in the role.
Yeah, thanks. Um, so I'm Handerson as as you mentioned, Dan. Um, an Irish expert living here in Sydney, um, Australia. So, I've been here just over 17 months now. Um, and just a bit of background um, before I get into my role. Um, I I worked on the education team at Microsoft Ireland um, previous to um, joining my current company which is Prodigy Learning. Um, and I'm not long out of university. Um, I have a degree in IT um you know where I study computer science and business so I just absolutely love all things to do with technology um and certainly this podcast um I'm I'm a fan of the podcast so um yeah so my current role then with Prodigy Learning um I'm currently working as an IT account manager uh with the main aim and goal I suppose of embedding IT skills and certifications into the curriculum throughout Australia um to really improve learning outcomes for students and help educators here close that skills gap and that we currently know exists in IT um especially in areas such as artificial intelligence.
Emma, I it's um it's awesome to have you. Welcome to the country and thank you for for bringing your your skills to us. Uh I'm not going to let you get past it though. You touched on briefly the fact you worked for Microsoft Island in the past, but you had what I think was one of the coolest job titles, Dreamspace program manager. You got tell us a bit about what that means and and what you did there.
Yeah. Yeah, that was a pretty um cool and fun and exciting job. Um so basically what the dream space is in Microsoft Ireland is an innovation hub for students in Ireland. Um it's in the Microsoft building and we actually had teachers working in that dream space hub to really introduce students in Ireland to um different technology experiences from my Microsoft. So things that they're not really maybe getting experience to in school um such as artificial intelligence. So one of the lessons that the teachers used to do was actually showing the students um facial recognition technology from Microsoft. Um so you know the students thought it was really great. They got to stand up in front of the class. They got to see their face and I guess their age um and stuff like that. So um yeah that was that's basically what the dream space is. And then OB being the program manager to that um I kind of overseen you know the content and what went on in the dream space. So um thinking of of different programs that we could run and we also ran a summer program um for students across Ireland on um the power platform. So students came in they developed apps on power apps and you know some of the things that they created was just absolutely amazing. I mean um the some of them were better better at myself in the power apps so it was really great. Um and obviously great to have an impact um on students in in Ireland and and yeah, I hope I can do the same here um for Australian students.
So tell tell us a bit it's fantastic, isn't it? What a job. But tell us a bit about that that that role in Australia now then about skills because I know you've been involved in so many sectors from education to kind of industry and when there was a car I think the South Australia Adelaide car factory the Holden car factory ceased production then you were involved in trying to get the adult population skilled there. Tell us a bit about your role and the projects you've been doing.
Yeah, so um Prodigy Learning are um suppose give some context first. They're an edtech company. Um they've been serving educators over the past 20 years worldwide. So um the UK, Ireland, the US and and also of course Australia um which is my main focus. So um as a business we're all about providing as I mentioned IT skills certifications um and also innovative online platforms for assessment. Um so you know some work going on there at the minute with with AI and assessment which is um pretty good. Um but we work with companies like of course Microsoft um Adobe Autodesk and we also have our own coding in Minecraft um certification program. So at the moment in Australia what we're really trying to achieve is um to close the skills gap that I mentioned. So it's obviously no surprise um you know skills exist all around the world um but in Australia Um there was recent research brought out that there is going to be an estimated 161,000 workers needed in Australia by 2030 in areas in AI specialist areas. So that's just AI alone. That's just one, you know, segment of technology. So what we're really looking at doing is how can we provide educators with the tools um you know with the curriculum that they can really deliver these programs um so that they can give their students the best chances of succeeding in in the workplace. Um so yeah, a current of a couple of the programs um and projects that we have running at the moment um just recently in February, we actually had what we called Azure Summer School um in partnership with Microsoft. So this is um led by Yasmin GMT which is the future um skills lead at Microsoft. Amazing. Another amazing woman. Um so yeah, this involved hundreds of students across Australia engaging in a week of workshops and insights and all things Azure cloud AI and data. Um, and the students gained a Microsoft certification at the end of that week to really prove their skills. So, and the really amazing thing about that was this was a direct to student um approach. So, it it showed that there's actually a need and demand from students themselves. You know, there was over hundreds um that signed up to that and hundreds in particular actually gain the AI certification. Um so that was that was the most popular um certification there.
No, it was it was an amazing piece of work that summer school. I'm glad that we were able to partner with you on that and and I was lucky enough to present a session at I did a session on responsible AI and the application of responsible AI
and what was really interesting to me and you know I think the whole focus on STEM and educating students as they come up through that on first principles is really important but the just I find it fascinating when you see students and you must see this all the time in the you do that young people uh just embrace the learning process but also are so attuned to the the challenges of societal impact of technology today they you know when I do the responsible AI they kind of really understand the issues of fairness inclusivity um I don't know has your experience been that here in Australia that you know STEM and young people are really engaged in in learning
yes definitely and I think that's one of the great things about the programs and and the certifications that we offer um you know the more recent ones the Microsoft certified fundamentals um yes they focus on the core technologies of you know what AI is machine learning you know NLP all of these terms but they also cover the human side of technology and AI which is ethics you know furnace um bias all of that so it's all in there and people I think really um grasp to those more human elements and then they're able to more apply that easily to work and that they're do and to their learning as well. So, um I think that's you know really good obviously for students to pick up and h you know even better for educators because they can then use what's in that um content and really roll it out um you know in university or TA or wherever it may be
and and from a from a um like an industry point of view like I know you know obviously education is it's great to know that the that's that's moving forward quickly with the younger generation coming through through and uni grads and stuff. What about the people who are currently in jobs? Cuz the bit the bit that I'm wrangling with is in my mind, you know, we're a bit biased on this podcast. We're a lot biased because it's called an AI podcast, right?
If you search for it on Spotify,
yeah, exactly. So you search for AI education on Spotify is is the only one there. But um you know, we're a little bit we're a little bit a lot by us then. But
you know, you were seeing this from industry, right? So what what is the appetite a for for people who are already in that industry to get certified. Um, but also from governments and things, are they what what is their view on it and what are they pushing and asking you for as as a certification provider?
Yeah, that's a really interesting point and definitely both in government and and people who are already in the workforce both have this need and and they're pushing um these IT skills. So I mean the Australian government obviously um have have some great programs there recognize you know that there is a skills gap. Um the digital skills organization just recently launched a pilot to um employ you know people in um data. So another partner that we work with um Gana Education they're actually currently running a program for indigenous Australians um and Australians that have been maybe out of work for a few months you know maybe they're women on maternity leave and they're doing is up in um data So um data fundamentals all of the the Azure data stack. So there's definitely that need and demand there and you know governments are really pushing um companies and organizations and academic institutions to you know use new innovative approaches of how we can um upskill the workforce um as well.
Another another question for you which is another loaded question I suppose is because that's fascinating but when you're talking there how does Australia in your opinion compare then because you're a global company and he talked about the US and the UK. Um I know when I came from the UK um to Australia, the computer science curriculum was about a year maybe even 18 months in front. It had just been made mandatory in the UK and it hadn't been in Australia. But but I feel you know with the with the bias of actually living here now I feel as if Australian business seems to be more agile and mature to to move into those directions. You know things like service New South Wales where we've got electronic driver licenses, you know, the things we're doing around COVID, um, you know, the the New South Wales testing apps and things like that. Um, you know, all the check-in things. It seems to be because it's smaller, it's so agile. So, I just interested for your perspective on skilling. Is there a is it a pattern you see? Is it countries better than others at the skilling game?
Um, yeah. So, I definitely think Australia um in terms of skilling like there's obviously the statistics out there and you have the numbers of the skills gap and we know that there's a long way to go to close that skills gap but I think at the moment Australia have definitely realized that there is a skills gap and everyone wants to do something to make it better. So no matter who we talk to you know educators um you know executives everyone has the same vision and that vision is you know that we want to essentially provide these skills. So There was um research done recently as well um and in Australia technology skills I have this written down we're currently ranked at 59% when ranked with the rest of the world. So it's not bad but it's also not cutting edge. So there obviously still is a skills gap here. Um but yeah it's it's pretty similar um on a similar scale um to what we're seeing in the UK as well.
Well on that I mean I the skill I didn't know the number you just provided. It's interesting to hear and but certainly acutely aware of the skills gap we see in the market because we know when we talk to customers or we're out in the field there's this challenge of getting getting people. What's your thoughts on uh and I know it's not your domain of area domain of expertise but what is your thoughts on the brain drain problem we have in Australia and we see a lot of people getting skilled here or do sorry let me phrase that as a question do you see a lot of people getting skilled in Australia but then moving offshore to leverage those skills in you know the US or Silicon Valley or even other countries like the Middle East and Israel and others. Yeah. Well, I think at the moment that's that's not really much of a problem. No one can go anywhere.
Well, true.
Definitely. I think though that's that's kind of a common theme around the world. So, you know, people especially um you know um people like my age coming out of university, what we want to do is travel and and go see different parts of the world. So, there is definitely um a brain drain there, but I think it's not necessarily a bad thing because We need diversity in the workplace and if you are Australian and you're going to go to the UK, you're going to bring a different culture and you know a different approach to things. So yeah, I think it it's not necessarily a whole bad thing um in that aspect.
It's interesting. I mean it's a it's a good way to look at it because we're often seeing it as a bit of a negative and certainly when I you know we talk in terms of the industry around how do we stem the flow of of good skills out of the country. I guess the positive effect to that is there's probably good skills coming in as well and we're exporting good Australian skills. So maybe it is more of a you know exchange of goods as opposed to a one-way trip.
I think I think it's important isn't it that that we pivot in because I know lots of tech companies in Australia and and as a parent in Australia. You know I look generally at where you know we we've managed to buffer a lot of the economic crisis in the past. We've managed to buffer a lot of the COVID stuff because we're an island but also because we we digging a lot of the the wealth out of the ground. and um we're still dependent on a lot of that. So this is really really important for us to kind of completely pivot and become a digital country. Right.
Yeah. And I think one thing as well to mention um Australia obviously coped like so so well with um co and from that you know is is kind of ahead in the thinking that technology you know everyone had to pivot overnight and and use technology. So um you know how how can we use that as a positive. Um I think when you look at at the UK and other countries um were everything in education just stopped. You know the final assessments at the end of the year no one could set their exams. Teachers had to give their students a grade based on you know their their personal opinion of that student. Um so I think that's one thing that Australia has done really well and you know to combat those issues that's what kind of what I was mentioning at the start is um you know influencing AI into assessment as well. Um, so yeah, I definitely think that's one one thing that Australia have obviously done really really well.
Cool. Um, sorry, I want to make sure I got this. You did you've been you said you've been here 17 months, Emma, so you you've been here throughout throughout the whole of COVID as it were.
Um, at least I think that's all of it. Um, did you see was you know, did co as a was it an accelerator? You know, we're talking about COVID was accelerating digital transformation. All of our customers went digital from the smallest coffee shop to the biggest corporate. Did you see a real uptick in the desire to do skilling and reskilling and learning kind of as people had time to do it. Was there a correlation you maybe saw between COVID and skilling?
Yeah, definitely. I think at the start, you know, everyone obviously kind of panicked and and there was a bit of a freeze in in in everything that was going on. But certainly towards, you know, the the second half of last year whenever Australia kind of had everything under control, there was a lot of demand coming in. You know, we had a lot of inquiries um especially from individuals as well as organizations wanting to upskill them. themselves. So I think definitely people have realized, you know, people are spending more time online. They're seeing all of these buzzwords and and key terms in technology. So no one wants to be left behind. Everyone's just trying to do their best to, you know, stay stay relevant, I suppose.
And a question on that, you know, one of the things that I always ask people working in the tech space is how do you scale? Because I suppose you care about the individual, but you also care, you know, it's also about trying to, you know, do mass testing as it were, you know, with using a COVID analogy, you want to do mass skilling and testing um but you also want to cater for those individuals in remote areas in Australia. Is have you got a have you got a plan about how you scale or what's your secrets to that success?
Yeah, I definitely think that's one of the areas that we um are considering and have been considering. You know, it's not just about the the major cities where we should be targeting. It's also, you know, regional and remote areas. So, how do we do that? Um and you know, how we do that really is through is through our our our great partners um you know such as Microsoft. We obviously um look to set up programs and also um work with communities that are maybe under represented do some pilots and yeah just give everyone I suppose the same chance to develop those skills
and and what you talking about the different representations then and obviously as we introduced at the beginning being a being a female in technology you know how do you feel about that current climate and and being a female in in the technology sector How do you feel about it in Australia?
Yeah, so I think um there's really two sides to that. Um obviously we know that there is a gap of women in technology and not just here in Australia but globally. You know, we see the statistics. We might see it in our own workplaces. Um I certainly experienced it in university. You know, there's a handful of girls on my course and majority um boys. So in from the outside looking in, you might see you might say, "Oh, you know, companies aren't hiring women, you know, there's a big problem. But on the other hand, I I personally feel that I've always felt encouraged um as a woman in tech. So, you know, previous colleagues, current colleagues that I work with. Um and I feel that society has definitely come a long way in that as well. So, people are recognizing more the need for diversity. It all plays into, you know, fairness and ethics and all of that. And there's so many groups out there these days that you can join. um as a woman in technology celebrating women in tech um you know on meet up on things like that you can attend webinars um I was actually recently just at an event in TFSA um and I was on a panel of you know amazing women um in technology and their IT department really set that up to celebrate um the women in their organization um you know and and also encourage South Australians women to get into tech. So I definitely think it's come along where
it's good to hear and it's it's um it's it's almost sometimes a little hard, you know, to be brutally honest from someone like myself or Dan's point of view to really understand that the nature of that challenge other than to talk to people like you and listen to it. Um but I have a daughter and I have a 11-year-old daughter who is who's deeply into technology. She loves programming, she loves coding, she loves toys and technology technology based toys. Um so I'm sort of I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about because you mentioned it earlier on your own inecraft coding tools that you have at Prodigy. I'm really keen to explore that idea because she loves Minecraft as a as a place to play, but I said she's learning through that process as well and you know in terms of what she does. So maybe share a bit about your thoughts on Minecraft as a as a learning tool.
Yeah, Minecraft um obviously great as a learning tool. You know game based learning there is studies to show that it it's better for collaboration for teamwork. Um so the Minecraft certification program that we have really focuses on students learning um programming skills first starting off with blocked based coding. So um using mech code um similar to scratch and then what happens is as they go through and pick up those skills fundamental skills you know loops variables they will then um apply those skills to text based coding either in JavaScript or Python and at each stage of the way they're they're actually learning these skills in a Minecraft world. So, you know, they're they're using their controls. They're going over um to to the guys and they're they're clicking on the notepad and they're getting the task to do. So, um it's really, you know, immersing them in a a familiar environment essentially and and they're learning coding skills along the way. So, it just makes it um a familiar for the students and and more fun, I suppose.
It's good. Yeah, it's interesting that I hadn't sort of connected the the coding piece. I know we have the Minecraft for education platform which does kind of connect those dots, but I see her playing it and I see skills around collaboration, around communication, around empathy and kind of what we traditionally call soft skills, but I think they're actually pretty hard skills to be honest. But, you know, we see that, but I hadn't really seen the coding side of it. So, I guess there's a you sort of the way you guys uh Prodigy have looked at it is that Minecraft is the kind of the first step towards, as you say, kind of more traditional coding in the in its natural way.
Yeah, exactly. Because students are are in the Minecraft world and and they're learning programming fundamental computational thinking skills, let's say, but they don't even necessarily think that they're learning those skills and then by the time they get up a bit in school, they already have this, you know, ingrained in them. So, it's easier to understand um those skills.
Well, my um my brilliant analogy with that when I was teaching was I used to always struggle with well, not struggle, but trying to teach kids how binary switch would then be, you know, extrapolated into computer. So, I used to I used to have a light in my classroom the light on and off. And then I had multiple lights in the classroom and you know and then in Minecraft when when uh redstone was put in there and then kids were making I remember watching one of my nephews at the time playing um Minecraft and he created a switch to open the door and then multiple switches and then he'd created like an and gate and a or gate you know so you had to stand on the plate and click the switch to open it and then suddenly I had this epiphany moment and gone wow he's just Like there's a eight-year-old doing NAND and and and he was in Minecraft and my my like I'm doing switches in in a classroom who like 15 year olds and they still don't understand it. So it's like wow they're already doing it.
Yeah, I know. It's it's crazy. It's sometimes some of the things that students show you, it's like how how did you actually do that?
I I I find it just amazing to think I mean because I think I don't know statistically correctly the number but Minecraft is sort of Now it's one of the the largest user bases or the most downloaded or something of that nature.
And just to think about how new it is in real terms. I mean what is it now nine years old as a product yet it has completely transformed education. It's transformed uh the way in which it's transformed the game playing. It's spawned an entire generation of it. I just can't imagine that Notch at that time when he built that sort of simple blockbased game really had a view to where how much it would impact uh your people. Yeah, exactly.
Absolutely. And on lots of levels as well. I'll just share a quick anecdote with you as well. I remember um one of our colleagues Megan and I went to Darwin and we were doing some um some teacher training up there on Minecraft and you know the the impact of it and the the I suppose the custodianship of Minecraft's really important from a Microsoft point of view. And you know as as as always in big tech people always kind of say well you know big tech have bought up smaller companies and consume them and then you know spit them out. kind of thing. And I think the the process around um the Minecraft, you know, uh I suppose culture and values has been preserved in such a way that that it can have a profound effect on people and and you know, it was really interesting when when we were doing this session that uh you know, I didn't realize that what effect it would have on people, but it had a psychological effect on one um female teacher who just could not um be in the game at night and then suddenly I thought hold on this has got this is bigger than just a game this is like a something that encapsulates more than just a game it's like a community and actually can actually have a effect on you you know she actually left the session she's I can't you know I'm struggling to cope with this so from then on I think in Australia when we were talking about Minecraft we were more mindful about the way and we put things inside the game that actually meant the smaller kids you know they didn't have to deal with the spiders that appear at night and the creepers and things that which is you know which is a really interesting learning and that was just from adults.
Yeah, definitely and I think that's one of the the considerations that you know our team had or our our our delivery learning specialists had when they were creating this certification. Um yes, the students are in the Minecraft world but the Minecraft world has been designed to be focused on the task. So the student can still navigate around but it's very focused. It's it's pointing them towards you know the learning objective. Um, so yeah, that that they're not being afraid and and not being able to sleep at night.
My 11-year-old still doesn't like survival mode much, but you know, I make them do it just just to build up some skill. Um, I wanted to kind of come back to the coding piece if I can just to kind of keep us back. We could spoke Aris about Minecraft.
So, one of the things I get asked a lot in my job, uh, Emma, is um, what what skills are important today in the industry? What do people need to know to be to get a tech a career in technology? And one of the things, you know, I talk a lot about the soft skills that I just mentioned because I think they are super important. But the one I always say is coding has become reemerged itself as being like a core basic skill. If you can code then you can branch into all factors of technology because it's become such a big part of the science and AI world. What's your advice? I mean what do you think about as being those foundational skills that are key to the tech industry or or a role in technology in any industry I should say?
Yeah, I definitely would agree with you there in saying that um you know coding from a young age even if you're not, you know, text based coding, even if it is block based, you know, scratch or mech code that you're learning the computational thinking skills behind them. So, you're actually learning, you know, how to logic, yeah, logical reasoning,
um problem solving, all of those key skills that you learned through programming, through coding, you know, through applying these processes um are definitely key um at that young age.
What about um like building on that then and kind of going beyond the sort of the school level education of it. The other thing I think a lot about is basic comput skills and I mean like networking and how communication happens, how networking occurs, how you know when I was you we learned about the OSI stack, we learned about how TCP addressing works, that kind of stuff. Do you find that is that skills that people are still learning and and is that valuable?
Awesome.
Yeah, definitely. That was actually a part of my course as well in our networking um module. So yeah, quite familiar with that. But um I think you know what you mentioned there the basic computer skills as well that can strip right back to basic digital literacy skills. So um you know really just learning about what is a computer you know what are the different um what's a software you know what's internet all of these things and there are programs out there as well and then moving on from that you can you can focus on more productivity side skills. So every you know every business really across the world probably use an office or or some form of that. So learning those productivity skills Excel, Word, and PowerPoint um are going to be key as well for everyone, you know, going forward in the workplace um to close that digital skills gap as well.
And I think that's really important because although we focused on talking about AI and things like that, the amount of people that ask for Excel um yes that like that that Excel is like uh you know just a such a sought after skill and and actually even there's some amazing AI you can do in Excel, you know, it connects into um Azure uh machine learning. So there machine learning models you can bring into Excel. It's just phenomenal for kids. I remember we did a project with Seymour College in South Australia and it was predicting breast cancer. Um you put in specific um uh data and the model was already preset but they could put that in and it would give you uh ratings depending how old you are um and and if you smoke and drink alcohol and things like that like the the the stuff you can get. So I think we we sometimes get caught in the glitzy side of a I and technology and fancy things like Python but then actually there's a big need for people you know especially people who have come out like that automotive manufacturing project that you did with Holden down in South Australia there was a lot that I was focused around getting them upskilled on office right
yeah exactly because office like those skills that you learn in Excel even you know doing formulas and learning how to arrange data analyzing data well that's going to then you know transfer into if you want to go down a career in data, if you want to go down a career in artificial intelligence, you know, it all all of the basic skills that you learn on those tools will also apply to the more in-depth and specialized um career roles as well.
I think we we could talk for hours about just the the the things out there, Emma. There's so much going on. It's really excit but it is exciting to see that that the investment in skills is is happening and people are, you know, engaged in it and growing those that their skills. I I guess for me, Dan, I don't know if you got anything else, but I'd love to know what's what's next, Emo, like where what's happening next in skilling? What do you see as the kind of the future for how skills are delivered and how how do we get that? Was it 160,000 new AI based jobs we need in Australia? How are we going to get there?
Yeah, that's a a really good question. Um, something that I ask myself every day as well. Um, but I think the what's next in skilling is like the technology industry is just going to keep evolving and evolving. So, We need to constantly stay on top. We need to be agile. You know, our educators need to be agile in developing curriculum, taking on these certifications and really rolling them out because we can't wait, you know, two or 3 years anymore for you know, training packages or curriculum to be updated. I think um you know, just as technology updates itself, so too does um you know, our our educational curriculum. So um yeah, who knows what the next techn techology will be in five years. But um yes certainly at the moment the those in demand skills artificial intelligent cloud um you know programming all of those are are top of the list.
And so um to kind of give you an opportunity to maybe plug a little bit but for listeners out there who who are interested in the Minecraft things you do or any of the training that you do, how do they get in touch with Prodigy? How do they work with you or how do they get take advantage of your great offerings?
Um yeah, so we have a website It is prodigyarnarning.com.au and if you go on to our website um we also have the office contact number for Sydney um you know reach out send us an email um you know we would love to work with you um to provide you know skills to students um on Australia as well.
Well Ema this has been fascinating today and thank you so much for for all the input you know thank you for the input and the impact that you have in Australia and globally with the with the goal you've got, you know, you know, as from everybody in Australia. Thank you for that because I think you you're in exactly the right place at the at the right time, exactly what we need. So, thank you so much and thank you for being on our podcast today.
Thank you. Thanks for having me both. It was really great.
No problem.
Was a pleasure. Thanks for your time.
Now, I didn't want to set camera, but I just about a week ago, maybe two weeks ago, I watched the last episode of Dairy Girls on Netflix.