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Coursera for Business Expands to Latin America, Announces Government and Enterprise Partnerships in Mexico and Colombia

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Coursera for Business Expands to Latin America, Announces Government and Enterprise Partnerships in Mexico and Colombia

By Leah Belsky, SVP of Enterprise, Coursera

The unprecedented rate of technology advancement is disrupting companies and jobs everywhere. It is also disrupting skills. 42 percent of core job skills are predicted to shift by 2022, pressuring companies and governments worldwide to prioritize the upskilling of talent to secure the competitiveness of their industry or country. This shift is right at the heart of Coursera for Business, which has partnered with 2,000 businesses and governments worldwide to transform their talent in the face of accelerating change. Today, I’m excited to share the next chapter in our global growth: Coursera for Business is available in Mexico and Colombia as part of our expansion in Latin America.

Colombia and Mexico have incredible potential to become innovation drivers for the region but have economic challenges to overcome. The steep unemployment rate in Colombia makes it challenging for individuals to find stable jobs and for companies to acquire sufficient talent. Mexico similarly faces rising unemployment, while also challenged by automation (more than half of jobs are at risk). These economic hardships also contribute to a skills proficiency deficit, with Mexico and Colombia behind in critical skills like data science and technology, according to our Global Skills Index. 

Coursera for Business is committed to partnering with companies and governments in both countries to equip citizens with the skills needed to advance their careers, boost employability, and stimulate economic growth. Our expansion in Colombia is marked by a strategic partnership with the Colombia Ministry of Information and Technology Communication to equip more than 2,200 citizens with the skills needed to succeed in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The program trains university professors and engineering students in key artificial intelligence skills. It is helping to close talent gaps in this high-demand field, while also preparing the Colombian workforce to participate in the next phase of economic growth driven by AI. 

Coursera’s enterprise expansion in Colombia is also led by a partnership with BNP Paribas Cardif to equip citizens with job-relevant skills. As the leading B2B insurance company, BNP Paribas Cardif is offering Coursera to customers of its unemployment, fraud, and kidnap insurance bank partners. Each customer receives access to a Coursera course related to data science, business or IT skills, in addition to career resources like job-boards and resume counsel.  

Qualfon, a global business process outsourcer company founded in Mexico with operations in five countries, has similarly partnered with Coursera for Business to invest in the career growth of its 14,000 employees. Qualfon is offering Coursera courses in leadership, computer science, and business in an effort to fulfill its mission of “making people’s lives better” and reduce turnover rates, which are notoriously high among call centers. 6,000 employees have benefited from the program so far, with 94 percent having applied their newly acquired skills to their personal and professional life. 

We are dedicated to providing businesses of all sizes access to transformative learning and we’re thrilled to have more than 40 businesses in Colombia and Mexico already using our self-serve platform to learn and grow. 

As we scale in the region, we will continue to cater to our Spanish-speaking learners that already benefit from the 400+ courses available in Spanish. Recently, Universidad de Los Andes, a leading institution in Colombia, announced plans to develop a master’s degree in software engineering on Coursera. This will be Latin America’s first fully online master’s degree in software engineering from a top-ten university and the first Spanish-language degree on the Coursera platform.

Latin American governments and companies have an exciting opportunity to drive economic change from within by equipping their workforce with the skills needed to innovate and compete. We couldn’t be more excited to be their strategic upskilling partner on that journey.

Learn more about Coursera for Business. 

 

Word + Quiz: palliative

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Word + Quiz: palliative

adjective: moderating pain or sorrow by making it easier to bear

noun: remedy that alleviates pain without curing

_________

The word palliative has appeared in 64 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on June 7 in “The Elderly Are Getting Complex Surgeries. Often It Doesn’t End Well” by Paula Span:

Dr. Schwarze helped care for a woman, 77, who contended with multiple health problems, including heart failure, weakened kidneys and emphysema.

… Her surgeon, Dr. Schwarze’s colleague, carefully explained to the woman that her odds of surviving surgery were about 50 percent (“which I think was a little optimistic,” Dr. Schwarze noted). Afterward, the patient would likely require ongoing dialysis and might remain indefinitely on a ventilator.

The surgeon made clear that, alternatively, she could choose a palliative approach to maintain comfort. Despite his concerns, the woman opted for surgery.

_________

Missiles, Hummers and Tanks

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Missiles, Hummers and Tanks

What do you think this image is saying? How does it relate to or comment on society or our world today? Can you relate to it personally? What is your opinion of its message?

Tell us in the comments, then read the related article to learn what this illustration is all about.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Weekly News Quiz For Students: Felicity Huffman, Purdue Pharma, Justice Kavanaugh

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Weekly News Quiz For Students: Felicity Huffman, Purdue Pharma, Justice Kavanaugh

Above is an image related to one of the news stories we followed this past week. Do you know what it shows? At the bottom of this quiz, you’ll find the answer.

Have you been paying attention to the news recently? See how many of these 10 questions you can get right.

Have You Ever Had a Significant Friendship End?

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Have You Ever Had a Significant Friendship End?

Have you ever ended a friendship — or had a friend end a relationship with you? If so, how did it happen? Do you still think about it? Do you wish it had ended differently, or not at all?

In “How to End a Friendship,” Lauren Mechling writes that few relationships are meant to last forever:

The 16th-century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne believed friendship should operate similarly, one companion at a time. For the “perfect friendship,” he wrote, “each one gives himself so wholly to his friend that he has nothing left to distribute elsewhere.”

Friendship these days is more like polyamory. We start aligning with people in early childhood, and our collections only grow. As we move through life we make friends for every occasion — college friends, work friends, mom friends, climbing-gym friends, divorce friends. We are told to nurture old relationships even — maybe especially — when new ones are formed, to “be there,” no matter how busy, or uninterested, we find ourselves.

But our social lives are never stagnant, and even bonds founded on that rare, deeply felt psychic connection between two people, such as the one that sustained me in early adulthood, are bound to fray. New romantic partners enter the picture, as do children, geographic relocations, unforeseeable victories and catastrophes. Priorities tilt in new directions.

And new friends come along. We are wired to pursue friendship: In the company of our favorite companions, studies have found, our brains release dopamine and oxytocin. The early stages of friendship are their own romance; when my husband finds me bent over my phone, absorbed in a finger-flurrying text exchange, the person on the other end is invariably a fascinating woman I’m still getting to know.

There are scandalous transgressions or betrayals that can kill a friendship. But more often, there’s no accounting for a friendship’s demise. The atmosphere changes; a sense of duty creeps in. Conversations that were once freewheeling shift into that less than enjoyable territory of “catching up.” Soon you realize social media is the only thing keeping a no-longer-friendship on life support.

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public. You can find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Lesson of the Day: ‘Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand?’

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Lesson of the Day: ‘Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand?’

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Featured Article: “Does Hispanic Heritage Month Need a Rebrand?”

This week marks the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month, which lasts from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. But some Latinx people wonder if the tribute needs a rebrand, starting with the term “Hispanic.” In this lesson, students examine the history of and issues with the way Latinx communities are represented and honored.

Sept. 15 marked the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month. How does your school recognize, honor and celebrate Hispanic heritage?

For example, do you learn about the history of Latinx people in the United States and abroad? Read books, watch films or listen to music by Latinx artists and authors? Are there special exhibits dedicated to the contributions of Latinx people in your community? Anything else?

Do these remembrances take place only around this time of year, or all year round?

How do you feel about the way Hispanic heritage is honored in your school or society at large? Do you think Latinx people are fairly represented? Why or why not?

Read the article, then answer the questions below. As you read, you might underline the various issues the article’s author and interviewees bring up about Hispanic Heritage Month.

1. Isabelia Herrera begins the piece by writing that the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month on Sept. 15 means that “any day now my Instagram stories will be packed with cringe-worthy ads targeted at the Latinx community.” Why does she describe these ads as “cringe-worthy”?

2. Why do some Latinx people find the term “Hispanic” problematic in 2019?

3. Where did the term “Hispanic” come from? Why does G. Cristina Mora, an associate professor of sociology, describe it as an “imperfect compromise”?

4. Janel Martinez, a multimedia journalist, says that the use of “Hispanic” in the federally observed commemoration “goes deeper than terminology.” What does she mean by that?

5. Saudi Garcia, a racial justice activist, says that Hispanic Heritage Month needs “a shift in intent.” Do you agree? Why or why not?

The article’s title asks a question: Does Hispanic Heritage Month need a rebrand? Consider some of the ideas and suggestions given in the article to make the month more meaningful and relevant in 2019. Then think about the role that heritage months and weeks play in our larger society.

For example, February is African-American History Month — a celebration to raise awareness of African-Americans’ contributions to history. Irish-American Heritage Month, in March, honors the achievements and contributions of Irish immigrants and their descendants living in the United States. National Women’s History Month is also held in March, and National Deaf History Month extends from mid-March to mid-April.

What experience have you had with various history and heritage months? How have they played a role in the life of your family, school or community? Explain.

Do you think these celebrations generally accomplish their goals of spotlighting the nation’s attention on a group that might have otherwise been overlooked or even ignored? What suggestions or ideas do you have to make these history and heritage months even more meaningful?

Related Lesson Plan: “La Vida Latina: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month With The New York Times”

Neighborhood Celebrations

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Neighborhood Celebrations

This is a scene from a New York City block party, a tradition that goes back as far as the 1860s, in which residents across boroughs take to their streets with lawn chairs, pools, bouncy castles and tables full of food, to enjoy the summer together.

What kinds of parties or get-togethers does your neighborhood or community host? What do you like best about them?

Tell us in the comments, then take a look at the related photo essay that shows 65 block parties that took place this summer.

Find many more ways to use our Picture Prompt feature in this lesson plan. You can find all our Picture Prompts in this column.

Word + Quiz: galumph

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Word + Quiz: galumph

: move around heavily and clumsily

_________

The word galumph has appeared in five articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on March 7 in the exhibition review “T. Rex Like You Haven’t Seen Him: With Feathers” by Jason Farago:

Surprisingly cute in his youth, more intelligent than his peers, he eventually grew into a ruthless, bloodthirsty wrecker who made you want to run for your life. No, we’re not talking about a relationship gone wrong. This is a piece about tyrannosaurs, the undefeated bosses of the Cretaceous Period, stomping and chomping their way across earth’s northern supercontinent.

…. Though T. rex galumphed in what is now western North America, it has a New York pedigree, too; it was curators at this museum who first discovered this massive predator, and brought its bones from Hell Creek, Mont., to Central Park West. (“The prize fighter of antiquity,” tooted this newspaper when the skeleton first went on display in 1906.)

_________

Do Video Games Deserve the Bad Rap They Often Get?

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Do Video Games Deserve the Bad Rap They Often Get?

Find all our Student Opinion questions here.

Are video games bad? Are they a negative force in society?

Until Eve Peyser began playing video games with her boyfriend, that’s what she thought:

When I reached my early college years and began to fancy myself an intellectual type, I adopted the familiar cerebral framework about why video games are bad: They’re culturally worthless and — while not the source of mass shootings, as conservatives argue — a drain on young men’s brains, maybe even their humanity, hobbling their ability to form real bonds.

But after she actually got the hang of how to play, she writes in her recent Op-Ed, she began to see video games in a completely different light:

It took a couple of months to crack me, but my view began to change with the first game my boyfriend persuaded me to play, Earth Defense Force: You get to be soldiers fighting aliens that look like massive bugs, horrific creatures dead set on total world invasion. They sprayed fatal toxins at us as we tried to kill as many of them as possible with guns and explosives.

Initially, I was terrible at it, hopelessly smashing the gazillion buttons on the controller. But for the first time, I was playing a video game with somebody who loved me, who wanted to teach me how it all worked. All so we could have more fun together. And we did.

My boyfriend’s gaming never actually put a strain on our relationship, but when I started playing with him, it went from being one of his boy hobbies I could never possibly understand to an experience we could share, something that highlighted why we worked so well together.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

  • Are you a gamer? What do you like about playing video games?

  • If you’re not a gamer, why not?

  • Ms. Peyser used to think that video games were a “drain on young men’s brains” that hobbled “their ability to form real bonds.” What do you think? Do video games get in the way of forming real relationships? Or can they actually strengthen relationships and promote social interactions, like they did for Ms. Peyser? Have you ever had an experience where video games brought you closer to someone — or got in the way of a relationship?

  • By the end of her Op-Ed, Ms. Peyser argues that video games are “more stimulating than bingeing Netflix?” Do you agree? Are they “a whole new type of media” that even more of us should be exploring together?

  • Does gaming still have “a long way to go in connecting to women,” as Ms. Peyser writes? Ms. Peyser acknowledges the “problematic gender dynamics” in many video games, such as in Grand Theft Auto, but she was able to get past them simply because playing the game was so exciting. What’s your experience?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

What’s Going On in This Picture? | Sept. 16, 2019

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What’s Going On in This Picture? | Sept. 16, 2019

Teachers: Register now to join our free webinar about teaching with photos — or watch it on demand. And if you love using “What’s Going On in This Picture?” with your students, please share your story. Email us at LNFeedback@nytimes.com.

Students

1. After looking closely at the image above (or at the full-size image), think about these three questions:

2. Next, join the conversation by clicking on the comment button and posting in the box that opens on the right. (Students 13 and older are invited to comment, although teachers of younger students are welcome to post what their students have to say.)

3. After you have posted, try reading back to see what others have said, then respond to someone else by posting another comment. Use the “Reply” button or the @ symbol to address that student directly.

Each Monday, our collaborator, Visual Thinking Strategies, will facilitate a discussion from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time by paraphrasing comments and linking to responses to help students’ understanding go deeper. You might use their responses as models for your own.

4. On Thursday afternoons, we will reveal at the bottom of this post more information about the photo. How does reading the caption and learning its back story help you see the image differently?

More?

• See all images in this series or a slide show of 40 of our favorite images.

• Learn how other teachers use it.

• Read our introductory post.

• Find out how teachers can be trained in the Visual Thinking Strategies facilitation method.

• Want to make sure you never miss a photo? Add What’s Going On in This Picture? to your Google calendar to receive weekly reminders and see our full publishing schedule for the 2019-20 school year.

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