At the turn of the new year, Jeff and Michael dive into the predictions and trends set to shape the landscape of higher education in 2025. They discuss how this may be a year of reckoning for colleges and where changes will be required to make long-needed improvements. They dig in on infrastructure adjustments, reimagined degree programs, and what appears to be a new ultimatum for many struggling colleges: partner or perish. This episode made with support from The American College of Education, The Gates Foundation, and Ascendium Education Group.

“Which Colleges Always Lose Money?” by Robert Kelchen

“Where the Grass Is Greener” by Robert Shaw, Harvard Magazine

0:00 - Intro
01:49 - A Year of Reckoning for Higher Ed
09:57 - The Changes Needed
16:51 - Quick Hits: Athletes as Employees, Hostile Competition, and More
26:37 - Expanding Research Outside of Academia
30:58 - Shortening Degree Programs

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On this episode, Jeff sits down with one of the authors of Job Moves: 9 Steps To Making Progress in Your Career, Future U.’s very own Michael B. Horn. The two discuss the lessons that the book, which offers research-based guidance to individuals searching for new work, holds for students and the colleges that serve them. They then dive into discussing a topic they each get a lot of questions about: what it’s like to write a book. This episode made with support from The American College of Education, The Gates Foundation, and Ascendium Education Group.

Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career

Career and Technical Education for All by Michael B. Horn and Daniel Curtis, Education Next

0:00 - Intro
02:40 - Job Moves in a Nutshell
04:02 - How Job Moves Applies to Colleges
07:17 - Balancing Skills Development Against Credentials
09:26 - Helping Students Make More Informed Choices
16:16 - Next Steps for Higher Ed
22:43 - Michael's Process for Writing a Book
26:55 - Making the Time to Write
29:53 - Planner or Plunger?
32:36 - Working with a Publisher
35:49 - The Hard Part that No One Talks About
38:32 - Where to Find More on Job Moves

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More than a decade ago, a wave of research pointing to the inefficacy of remedial education was followed by a massive investment in rethinking how we prepare students who need extra support to access college. So why, after all that, does remedial ed still play such a big role on college campuses today? To help us tackle that question, we’re joined by Anne Kim, FutureEd Senior Fellow and author of a recent report on the remedial education reform movement. She discusses the history of remedial education in America and what it will take to move reform forward. Then, Jeff fields some provocative questions from Michael about who should go to college and how we can align incentives so no one profits off of unprepared students. This episode is made with support from the Gates Foundation.

Incomplete: The Unfinished Revolution in College Remedial Education by Anne Kim, FutureEd

Student Success 2.0, Future U.

The New Student Ready College, Future U

0:00 - Intro
02:49 - Remedial Education in Context
07:26 - Calls for Change
11:29 - A Wave of Reform
14:53 - Progress Stalls
16:59 - Recommendations for a Reform Rebound
19:33 - Responding to Criticisms of Remedial Ed
24:58 - A New System with More Options
31:00 - Correcting a Broken Business Model

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What does a community college in Idaho have to do with mounting economic tensions between the U.S. and China? A lot, actually.

On this episode of Future U., Michael and Jeff dive into what the CHIPS and Science Act—the federal spending package designed to reduce the United States’ reliance on foreign manufacturers for microchips and other advanced technologies—means for a segment of American postsecondary institutions that’s often forgotten in these conversations: community colleges. They talk with nonprofit and government leaders about how the CHIPS supports the education and training of a high tech workforce. They then go deep with the team at the College of Western Idaho to get a view of how they are developing these programs in collaboration with their corporate partner, Micron. This episode is sponsored by Ascendium Education Group.

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Technology is an increasingly important element of everything that colleges do, yet it remains a distinct and separate function at too many schools. Jeff visited the Educause Conference, focused on tech in higher ed, to chat with college leaders about how they are leveraging IT on their campuses. They discuss best practices in bridging the tech-academic divide, the role of data in decision making, how IT departments can support efforts to improve the value proposition of higher ed, and more. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group and the Gates Foundation.

Chapters

0:00 - Intro

5:49 - IT Then and Now

9:02 - The Disconnect Between Tech and Academic Teams

11:56 - Using Data Strategically

16:01 - Data-Driven v. Data-Informed Decision Making

24:02 - Public-Private Partnerships

31:50 - Communicating Across the Tech and Academic Sides

34:57 - Getting Started in Online Education

37:16 - Improving Perceptions of Higher Ed

42:31 - The Future of Tech in Higher Ed

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Regional public universities have been hit harder than most colleges by recent enrollment decreases. On this episode, Michael and Jeff sit down with President Jonathan Koppell of Montclair State University, a regional that has bucked this trend, to learn more about their success. They dig in on lessons Koppell learned as a dean at ASU, the college’s programs for underserved students, and how the college is competing for students. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group and the Gates Foundation.

Beating the Odds, Bain & Co.

00:00 - Intro
03:52 - Lessons Learned at ASU
06:52 - Attracting Students to Montclair
12:36 -Supporting Post-Secondary Attainment for Men
18:25 -How Colleges Can Win Back Engagement
24:33 -The Steps to Culture Change
27:40 - How to Fix the College President Job
32:06 - Addressing the Talk by Walking the Walk
33:58 - Aiming Above the Line
37:50 - Shifting Towards User-Centered Language
39:34 - Building Infrastructure around Differentiation
41:02 - Data and Innovation to Support Men in Higher Ed
45:49 - Providing Students with What They Need
48:53 - Coalescing Around the “Why”

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While college-going rates have increased over recent decades, completion rates have hardly budged. On this episode, Michael and Jeff sit down with one entrepreneur working to change that. Mike Larsson is the co-founder and CEO of Duet, an organization collaborating with an online university to provide on-the-ground coaching and physical space for students. They discuss the role wraparound supports play in supporting more students towards graduation, the keys to reengaging students who have stopped out, the nationwide spread of hybrid models like Duet’s, and more. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Philanthropy and the Gates Foundation.

College Reimagined by Jon Gabrieli et al.

0:00 - Intro
02:12 - The Founding Story of Duet
08:53 - Reaching Students with “Some College No Degree”
11:23 - A Personal Trainer for College
13:17 - Duet’s Outcomes
17:07 - “The Hard Policy Answer”
21:00 - The Growth of Hybrid College
24:39 - Affordability, Flexibility, and Disruption
29:46 - Leveraging Public-Private Partnerships to Better Serve Adult Learners
33:26 - Improving the Outcomes of Community Colleges

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On this episode of the Future U. Campus Tour, Michael and Jeff sit down with leaders from Western Governors University to learn about innovations around the university, with special attention paid to those at WGU’s fast-growing School of Education. They discuss the expansion of work-based learning with President Pulsipher and Provost Hills McBeth, examine the drivers of the Ed. School’s growth with Dean Ludwig Johnson, and hear from a WGU student (and 4th grade teacher), Madelyn Hurst, on how the college’s competency-based approach is shaping her teaching. This episode is made with the support of Western Governors University.

0:00 - Intro

03:26 - The History and Students of Western Governors University

09:48 - Drivers of WGU’s Growing Programs

16:36 - Expanding Apprenticeship-Based Degrees

20:52 - The Future of the Degree in Skills-Based World

24:10 - How AI Will Change the Work and Learning Landscape

29:47 - The Current State of K-12 Education

33:07 - How WGU has Evolved to Meet Changing Needs of Schools

36:17 - Taking the Long View

38:25 - The Downstream Effects of Competency Based Teacher Education

42:47 - The Growth of WGU’S School of Education

45:05 - How Apprenticeship is Transforming Teacher Education

47:35 - Closing Thoughts

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