An in-depth look at each of the major nine shifts currently taking place; an explanation of the resulting outcomes that will become predominant by 2020; the implications of each shift for business and work, life and education.

Chapter 6. People Work at Home: Shift One
Knowledge workers do not want to waste 25% of their work time commuting. Employers want to be able to recruit nationally. Soon telecommuting will become common, as employers realize that home workers are more productive.

Chapter 7. Intranets Replace Offices: Shift Two
With supervision accomplished better online, cost-effective intranets that can link workers regardless of location replace costly and inefficient physical offices.

Chapter 8. Networks Replace the Pyramid: Shift Three
Companies and organizations restructure themselves. Moving from the pyramid structure where information is limited to networks where information is shared and work is more efficiently done.

Chapter 9. Trains Replace Cars: Shift Four
Time becomes more valuable. Since one cannot work and drive at the same time, knowledge workers migrate to trains where they can work and travel at the same time.

Chapter 10. Communities Become Dense: Shift Five
To conserve time, knowledge workers move to neighborhoods that have shopping and light rail within a twelve block radius. Suburbs decline as the location of choice for knowledge workers.

Chapter 11. New Societal Infrastructures Evolve: Shift Six
New societal infrastructures are built, so that the inequalities of wealth in society are adjusted to the benefit of both business and the middle class. A variety of win-win programs are created, including new privacy laws and Individual Learning Accounts.

Chapter 12. Cheating Becomes Collaboration: Shift Seven
New values, work ethics and behavior of the 21st century take over, including collaborative work, peer-to-peer sharing, and self-discipline.

Chapter 13. Half of all Learning is Online: Shift Eight
With the need to spend one to two hours a day in learning, online learning is not only efficient, but provides a superior way to gain information and positively transforms the traditional face-to-face classroom.

Chapter 14. Education Becomes Web-based: Shift Nine
The brick-and-mortar school building and college campus yields quickly to a web-based structure, just like the rural one-room schoolhouse was replaced 100 years ago.

References

Annotated Bibliography

About the Authors

About LERN