Outreach: Helping schools and industry prepare for workforce changes in the face of new technologies – Ed Toolbox for Ipswich

October 17th, 2019

Recently, several school principals and industry members from Ipswich gathered at CSIRO’s QCAT (Queensland Centre for Advanced Technologies), to learn about the ED Toolbox, an online portal designed to help students and parents better understand their study and options in the face of challenges from a wide range of new technologies.

The ED Toolbox maps the impacts of 20+ new technologies on 400 business categories across 19 sectors. ED Toolbox is working with High Schools in the Ipswich region to help students better plan their future through practical experience – by engaging with local business, TAFE, University, CSIRO and the ICT, robotics, drones, aerospace and 3D printing industry.

The aim is to show students local employment opportunities, case studies of technology – robots, drones, software, aerospace, AI, and demonstrate how local businesses are using technology in their workplaces.

Robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, 3D printing and many other technologies are changing the nature of work. So students, parents, teachers and employers need to start thinking about study and work options differently in order to be prepared.

The meeting introduced the Ed Toolbox “School-to-Work” project, which includes specialists in innovation (CSIRO), regional development (RDA’s), educational institutions, industry clusters and businesses. ED Toolbox is responsible for program management and the technology platform for participant communication and monitoring.

CSIRO will provide technical and STEM expertise to participants in the program. RDA Brisbane is responsible for financial governance and program supervision. Business Participants, TAFE and University will be responsible for events and related activities designed to promote future study, employment and entrepreneurship.

High Schools will be responsible for connecting students to events, and linking project activities back to internal educational assessment criteria. The project will then roll out across other regions of Australia.

After an introduction to the Ed Toolbox project by John Sheridan, the group toured our facilities to learn about our latest work in robotics and autonomous systems.