An item from a neo-liberal…  This one is an item from a business professor with little direct experience in education, but who believes free market economic principles are the answer to education’s (and pretty much all other society’s social) problems.

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THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION Win-Win for Students and Employers: The Power of Mutual Benefit at Western Governors University

PREVIEW

Win-Win for Students and Employers: The Power of Mutual Benefit at Western Governors University

MICHAEL B. HORN JAN 24 ∙ PREVIEW

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Who are the “customers” of higher education—students or employers? Scott Pulsipher, President of Western Governors University, joined the Future of Education to give his take on this age-old question and discuss how colleges can achieve mutual benefit for both parties. Scott analyzed how the needs of students and employers overlap; the measures that matter to drive outcomes for both, and how to identify the skills of the future in a dynamic and fast-changing landscape. As always, subscribers can listen to the episode, watch the video, or read the transcript.

Time. Topic

1:08. Ensuring mutual benefit of students and employers

6:11 Equipping students with the skills of the future

11:01 How skill identification differs across fields

15:16  Mutual benefit at WGU

19:31 Deep dive on student and employer outcomes

23:55 Communicating mutual benefit to other stakeholders

 

Michael Horn:

Delighted you’re joining us to continue to explore how we can build a world in which all individuals can build their passions, fulfill their potential, and live a life of purpose. And to help us do that today we have a special guest, Scott Pulsipher. He’s the president of Western Governors University. For folks who’ve followed my work for a long time, you’re probably sick of hearing of Western Governors University because I find them to be such a powerful example of disruptive innovation and competency-based learning to really make sure all learners succeed and master what they are trying to do so that they can get ahead in the workforce. So first, Scott, thanks for joining us. It’s great to see you.

Scott Pulsipher:

Great to see you, too, Michael. It’s always a privilege and a pleasure, and I certainly hope that your listeners aren’t sick of hearing of WGU, but we hopefully are always providing something new and different to spur their own innovation and things that they can do to serve their students better than they currently are.

Michael Horn:

Well, amen to that. And they better not be sick of it, I suppose, because I’m not going to stop talking about it. So that’s the other reason. But today I really want to explore this idea of mutual benefit with you. This concept that doing things that benefit others but also benefit yourself and finding these areas of overlap really actually strengthens both sides of the equation, if you will, and leads to more lasting value and progress for people. And the part of this that I want to explore is that Western Governors University, the original design wasn’t just to have this incredible competency-based learning model for learners, but it was to make sure that what they were learning was aligned with what employers actually wanted. And so you all, as I recall back in the day, would have boards of employers in different sectors you worked, you’d bring them together, they would help you understand the skills and competencies required to do the different jobs, and then you all would design degree programs effectively around those competencies and make sure, of course, as I said, students are mastering the key ones. How has that work evolved over time? And how are you working specifically with employers now?

Scott Pulsipher:

Yeah, there is little doubt that the founders of WGU and we that are still carrying on that purpose are always trying to ensure that we’re doing maybe two things. One is to help individuals change their lives for the better by helping them advance into the opportunity. But we’re also wanting to ensure that those that are completing their credentials at WGU, that they are, in fact, ready for the roles and the work that is, in fact, defining the future of the sectors that we serve really well. And so to do that, actually, even, sorry… As a quick aside, that even became one of our core differentiating things is the quality and relevancy of the learning to the work, and even really the future of work. And to make that a reality, like you noted, is that from our beginning, we really have tried to partner closely with those that are representing the employer’s perspective, representing the workforce, representing the trends and changes that they are seeing. And so we’ve always been really good at aligning with subject matter experts and employer counsels and even program level counsels. By that, what I mean is the right representatives that can help us define the learning outcomes at a credential program, at a degree program level, so that the skills that an individual has demonstrated competency in can in fact be directly ready for those roles that these employers anticipate in the future. I think that’s actually, we’ve tried to elevate that even further, because some of the things that even those employers, those individual subject matter experts that comprise their counsels, if you will, they aren’t always masters of all the data that is needed to understand not just how one role at one employer is needed, but really how the sector is changing, not just regionally, but nationally as well. And so we’re taking advantage of some really powerful tools that are available today, like the Lightcast library of skills, that you can actually scrape all those roles and all those definitions and identify specific skill sets that are starting to emerge in certain job descriptions, in certain fields of study, and that we can ensure that we have a better sense then of how our subject matter experts define that or help us define it into actual curriculum outcomes. And we’re always trying to make those skill connections, so there are job skills analysis surveys also help us ensure that the voice of industry is evident in our program planning and designs. I’ll just give a simple example, is that when we really saw the future of healthcare, what was certainly emerging is how this coordinated care that had to exist across all the interactions that individual patient may have with a primary care physician, with a hospital or a health service provider, a health center, with even at home care, that you also knew that what was needed there was a more holistic view of an individual patient. So out of that emerged our credential programs around health services coordination, and value-based healthcare. And what were the capabilities that were needed in the individuals to do those roles really well, rather than targeted more acute care of nursing in an emergency room or something like that. And so those things emerge. Other things I think I would note today is that the reaffirmation that maybe exists around some of the skills that are more core human skillsets and how to communication and problem solving, et cetera, how do those get better articulated as to exactly what those skills look like in particular fields of study? And it’s not exactly the same if you’re going into accounting versus if you’re going into cybersecurity versus if you’re going to healthcare, because even those skills manifest differently. And so we’re always making sure that how we articulate the learning outcomes are relevant to the world of work in which our graduates are entering into.

Michael Horn:

Super interesting to hear you say that, because something that makes sense, but frankly, a Clay Christensen saying, right, if you listen to your best customers, you focus maybe on what they want now, but maybe not where the future or where the puck is going.

© 2024 Michael Horn