As the pace of technological change accelerates and the half-life of skills continues to shrink, what students must learn is becoming less specifiable, predictable, and verifiable ahead of time.

The implications for colleges are many, but one of the clearest is that the importance of learning by doing will continue to elevate in importance. As a result, colleges will need to create more connections to the world of work—whether through projects, apprenticeships, internships and externships, or work-study.

This background is what makes former Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift’s latest career move to assume the president of Education at Work, a non-profit that partners with businesses and colleges to offer students jobs during school, all the more noteworthy.