Education Futures

“We talk a lot about grit in higher education. Grit only goes so far if you’ve never experienced success and grit only goes so far if you have no idea what to do next. What this partnership does is it teaches them what to do next. It gives them confidence.”In this interview, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Dr. Karen Ferguson, Provost and VP of Enrollment at Salem University, about the challenges and opportunities in serving non-traditional and rural students.  Dr. Ferguson discusses her own educational journey as a non-traditional student, and what access to education really means.Salem University: www.salemu.edu

Careers often take a winding path. TEL's Director of Curriculum knows this first-hand. Brooke Heard took the helm of TEL’s Curriculum department earlier this year and is helping the non-profit organization find options that meet students where they are. In this conversation with Executive Director Rob Reynolds, they discuss some of the reasons why TEL is adding options such as course bundles and certificates to meet the needs of employers and adult learners.

Being poor should not be a barrier to education. Dr. DeWayne Frazier grew up in rural Appalachia. He was the first in his family to graduate from high school, much less go to college. Even before becoming a higher education administrator, he understood the importance of education. And he knows first-hand the extra hurdles poverty can create during a student’s academic journey.In this podcast episode, Dr. Frazier talks about his passion for making education accessible for any student who wants it. As the University Provost at Iowa Wesleyan University, Dr. Frazier outlines what the school is doing to help all students reach their goals of a college degree. 

“This is directly from [OKWU President] Dr. Dunn: 'Educating the head, but also the heart, the hands, and the habits.' So this is the thought of educating the whole person. That can't just be something that is done outside of the classroom, where the professor is in charge of the head and we'll let other people in the university deal with all these other aspects. It has to be integrated into our pedagogy, and integrated into how we are interacting with the students.”Oklahoma Wesleyan University is working to put the student -- the whole student -- in the center of education. In this podcast, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Dr. Dalene Fisher, Assistant Provost, Dean of Arts and Sciences and Assistant Professor of English, about how educating the whole person goes beyond the four years they are earning a bachelor’s degree. They discuss the importance of dual credit for students in high school as well as internships and mentorship during and after college graduation.Oklahoma Wesleyan University:

"That's exactly where I see asynchronous learning going. It's not necessarily capital A asynchronous. It's maybe lowercase a [asynchronous] with some support from the institution where the student enrolled."Dr. John Morrison is TEL's Director of Product Vision, helping our teams coordinate our products and services while also growing and expanding what we offer to schools. In this interview with TEL's Executive Director, John shares why he is so passionate about helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds and how he's helping TEL grow.

“Our goal really from the beginning was to administer the test, to make sure it is a fair test and that all students were operating under the same ruleset. It wasn't about catching cheaters. People have this idea that people online cheat more than they do in the classroom. And that's just not true from my experience. If you provide the proper supervision and replicate or make it comparable to the classroom, you're going to see students put in their best efforts. Truth of the matter is, it's a very, very small percentage of people who actually cheat.”In this podcast, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Don Kassner, President of MonitorEdu, the third-party proctoring service that TEL uses for our courses. They discuss how online proctoring has evolved with technology, and why live proctoring can provide a better experience for the student and the school. MonitorEdu: https://monitoredu.com/

"We have some people that come to us that maybe they tried college 20 years ago, and life happened, or it didn't go well, or they made some bad decisions, whatever it is, but just respecting them for coming now and knowing that they bring strength and experience to the table. How do we honor that, walk alongside them, and give them confidence as they re-enter higher end?"In this episode of the Education Futures Podcast, Rob talks with Dr. Sada Knowles, the Dean of New College at Oklahoma Christian University. Dr. Knowles discusses how the New College focuses on ways OC is helping students who take different paths to their degree, including dual credit and assessing prior learning for adult students looking to reskill or finish a degree.

"On top of this learning that you are doing about content that you are also learning this layer about being a better learner, being connected, gathering tools that you will use for the rest of your life."In this second podcast conversation with Executive Director Rob Reynolds and Chief Information Officer Stacy Zemke, they go deeper into the Student Learning Dashboard and the specific features students can expect. Starting now, students can take advantage of the tools to make learning visible through badging and skills pages. Later in the spring, TEL will launch the more reflective pieces, such as journaling and goal setting. 

"That's where backward design is really valuable because it's not starting with, 'What textbook are we going to read?' or 'What assignments are we going to do?' It really starts with what do we want the students to be able to do."Dr. Cat Jackson is TEL Education's Chief Learning and Research Officer and manages the curriculum team behind the TEL courses. In this podcast with Dr. Rob Reynolds, they discuss the foundations of our curriculum and how they focus on helping students show mastery. These mastery standards are the foundation for our Learning Dashboard, which is launching this spring.

"The whole idea of the dashboard is to make all of those invisible things visible. To give them a place where they can see, 'Oh, okay, I took these classes and these classes are tied to these skills. And hey, I'm making progress on learning that skill. That's kind of cool. I can see that now.' There should be no mystery in what they are learning."For several years, TEL's Executive Director Rob Reynolds and Chief Information Officer Stacy Zemke have been talking about how to make learning visible for students. This Spring, with the launch of the Learning Dashboard, they will make it happen. In this podcast, Rob and Stacy talk about the genesis of the Learning Dashboard and how this will help students more clearly understand why what they are learning matters.

"I'm starting to see [the non-traditional students and traditional students], they've been blended together in a significant way through this whole pandemic and I don't know if they will be teased apart in the same way that they were before."As the Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships and Digital Learning for Evangel University, Mark Fabian has had a front-row seat to the gradual then all-at-once transition to digital learning. In this conversation with Dr. Rob Reynolds, Mark talks about how Evangel University was able to focus on their students because of the work they started 10 years ago. They also discuss how the changes of the past nine months will continue to affect education long after the virus has run its course.

"A lot of passages have a progression of thought, a train of thought, that you can't just take a car out of the middle and expect it to be of any value. You've got to have the engine and every car in between in order for that thought to make sense."In this interview, we take you into our course creation process with Macy Johnson, the instructor for our Introduction to Christianity course. Macy was also our subject matter expert who helped organize and build the course. Macy and Rob discuss the major themes of the course and why it was important to create a course centered on understanding others.

"When you are a "non-traditional" student, you're an adult, you have family, a job, other responsibilities, online learning is almost a necessity. You don't have the time to drive to campus and sit through a two- or three-hour lecture. That's just not a possibility. So the advent of  online learning is really one of the reasons why non-traditional education has blown up over the last 15 years."With more than 1,100 of their 2,000 students enrolled in their online program and another 500 high school students in their dual enrollment program, Ohio Christian University knows every student's educational journey is different. In this podcast episode, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Jon Tomlinson, the Dean of Business and the Online School for Ohio Christian University. They talk about what makes a successful online program, the importance of instilling values in students, and Jon discusses his own family's experience with dual enrollment.

"We're teaching parents the rules of a game they didn't even know they were playing."Families Empowered, a non-profit organization in Texas, helps families understand all the different educational options so they can make the best decision for their students. In this conversation, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Zulean Cruz-Diaz and Ayla Dehghanpoor of Families Empowered about how the work they do and the conversations they have with families have changed in light of COVID-19.

"In the past, there were a lot of things that students get to do simply because of where they lived. That to me, I think, is probably the most exciting thing about education is that the doors are opening wide for every student."After spending time in the classroom and as an administrator, Sandra Powell has found the perfect role for her: Graduation Coach. In this interview with Dr. Rob Reynolds, Sandra talks about giving hope to students who are struggling to finish high school. They also talk about the opportunities students have now with the flexibility of online courses and resources.

"I tell my incoming freshman, when you find what you love, you are going to apply it with your whole heart and soul. But until then, know that you need to keep cranking it out so that you can get to that place, because you want to be ready." In this interview, Dr. Reynolds talks with Monica Epperson, Director of Academic Enhancement & Assistant Professor of Psychology at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, about the importance of finding a fit in your college experience. They also discuss OKWU Prep, a new program launching later this fall, to help high school students save money on their college credit and better understand what it's like to be an OKWU student.

"We are missing the boat on how we do online education. We are taking the worst aspects of traditional pedagogy and we're just transposing it to online."Brandon Tatum admits that he wasn't a great student in high school. But after a career detour led him to college, he found he could make an impact by helping students like the one he had been. In this conversation, Brandon, now the CEO of ConnectEDU and the Executive Director of the National Christian Schools Association, talks about his time as a classroom teacher and administrator and how that has given him the perspective to help schools be more strategic with degree programs. Brandon talks about opportunities with partnerships with industry to lower costs and create better pathing for students as well as how mixed reality will help students build relevancy for their future careers.

"One of the worst things I’ve ever seen is a 13-year-old [who is] hopeless. They’ve given up. And 99% of the time it’s because they didn’t get the support. They just get pushed aside or pushed along, and they get frustrated and drop out. At Dream Academy, we want to do something different.”In this podcast, TEL Education CEO Rob Reynolds talks with Jamie Maloney, President of Dream Academy, about bringing hope back to students who were left behind. Jamie discusses some of the ways Dream Academy is re-thinking education, from learning support to helping students graduate high school in three years while also earning an associate of arts degree.Dream Academy: https://www.dreamacademyschools.com/

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Nick Hathaway, the CEO of ELocker. Nick is a passionate innovator in the education space and, through ELocker, is working to connect learners and employers in the U.S. Our conversation ranged from the challenges facing universities in the COVID-19 crisis (Nick is the former Vice President of Administration for the University of Oklahoma) to exciting opportunities made possible by comprehensive learner records and learning data.