Almost thirty years ago a friend involved in the education profession told me that in his estimation much more was "caught" by students outside of classrooms than was "taught" within those hallowed walls. This statement has stuck with me through years of personal schooling, working as a high school teacher, working in management, serving as a management consultant and trainer, and facilitating learning on university campuses across the US, eastern Europe, and Asia. Learning by doing is certainly something most people have experienced. But the fact that there is more opportunity to learn more things today as never before (with knowledge doubling every 20 months) makes learning by doing more complicated. As organizations move to respond to the rapid changes in their environments, people within those organizations must face the uncertainty and ambiguity that comes with such conditions. The one thing most futurists agree on is that the future will be very different than the present. Exponential change has become commonplace. Companies used to worry about redefining their goals and specific describing their place in an industry. Today, in order to survive, they must be constantly addressing the issues inherent in redefining their industries.

The workplace is changing drastically these days. As a consequence of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution, new economic activities emerge, the production process changes, people use different communication tools, and organizational structures are adjusted. All these changes relate to the heart of business and economics, and there is no doubt that they will also influence education in these areas. Of course ICT provides new technologies to facilitate learning, but a changing workplace also requires a renewed focus within the curriculum of economics and business education. If ICT is leading to profound change in the workplace, is innovation then only a matter of introducing more technology in education? Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true. The translation of changes in the workplace into an improved curriculum requires serious analysis of the essence of the changes at the work place, and the way technology may enable student learning. For example, relevant knowledge is changing faster and faster. Does this mean that we have to adopt the curriculum faster and faster? Perhaps not, as students will have a labor market career of 30 or 40 years. Focusing on today's knowledge - even if it is very up-to-date - loses more and more value if the life cycle of knowledge becomes shorter. Increased speed of change also implies a decrease in the value of knowing all these things.

The workplace is changing drastically these days. As a consequence of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution, new economic activities emerge, the production process changes, people use different communication tools, and organizational structures are adjusted. All these changes relate to the heart of business and economics, and there is no doubt that they will also influence education in these areas. Of course ICT provides new technologies to facilitate learning, but a changing workplace also requires a renewed focus within the curriculum of economics and business education. If ICT is leading to profound change in the workplace, is innovation then only a matter of introducing more technology in education? Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true. The translation of changes in the workplace into an improved curriculum requires serious analysis of the essence of the changes at the work place, and the way technology may enable student learning. For example, relevant knowledge is changing faster and faster. Does this mean that we have to adopt the curriculum faster and faster? Perhaps not, as students will have a labor market career of 30 or 40 years. Focusing on today's knowledge - even if it is very up-to-date - loses more and more value if the life cycle of knowledge becomes shorter. Increased speed of change also implies a decrease in the value of knowing all these things.

Almost thirty years ago a friend involved in the education profession told me that in his estimation much more was "caught" by students outside of classrooms than was "taught" within those hallowed walls. This statement has stuck with me through years of personal schooling, working as a high school teacher, working in management, serving as a management consultant and trainer, and facilitating learning on university campuses across the US, eastern Europe, and Asia. Learning by doing is certainly something most people have experienced. But the fact that there is more opportunity to learn more things today as never before (with knowledge doubling every 20 months) makes learning by doing more complicated. As organizations move to respond to the rapid changes in their environments, people within those organizations must face the uncertainty and ambiguity that comes with such conditions. The one thing most futurists agree on is that the future will be very different than the present. Exponential change has become commonplace. Companies used to worry about redefining their goals and specific describing their place in an industry. Today, in order to survive, they must be constantly addressing the issues inherent in redefining their industries.