Education and Training in the Technological Era: Adopting the Head, Heart, and Hand Approach for Effective Social Media Usage

Abstract

The various industrial revolution from the first industrial revolution birthed water and steam-powered manufacturing facilities, the second industrial revolution birthed electrically powered mass production, the third industrial revolution led to the birthing of computers and Robots, while the fourth industrial revolution welcomed Cyber physical systems and the internet. The advent of computers and the internet has led to the use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, which can be used for work and for communication. The workers who will need these platforms will be those who are already employed, as well as those who need to be employed Hence, requisite skills (which could be both hard and soft) are required to use these platforms effectively. This study is based on the use of secondary data sources such as articles and journals using inductive and semantic approaches and thematic analysis. The study aims to promote the effective utilization of social media for work and communication through the Head, Hand, Heart Approach to Education and Training. The study reveals that the Head and Hand approach, which is cognitive learning and practical doing, provides the workers with the necessary hard skills to use social media. The Heart approach, which is affective learning, relational knowing, and emotional involvement, provides workers with the necessary soft skills to use social media for communication. The study contributes to scholarly discussions on workforce education and training in the digital era, as well as empirically contributes to the effective management of the workforce of the future.