The advent of COVID-19 is spurring innovation across higher education. But there is a common thread between the initiatives succeeding better than others: a focus on getting learners back into…
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COVID-19 Writes a Prescription for Change: Unbundling/Rebundling Learning
Holly Zanville | Strategy Director, Lumina Foundation Van Ton-QuinlivanStackable credentialing models provide the flexibility, responsiveness and student-centricity needed to support consistent engagement and employment outcomes, benefiting learners, employers and institutions alike. The traditional methods of higher education delivery…
As COVID-19 has been a wakeup call for institutions to prepare for natural disasters, itâs critical to rethink education and workforce training that will allow people to continue working and…
Developing Skills That Lead to Jobs: Designing the New Normal with a Four-Point Plan
Holly Zanville | Strategy Director, Lumina Foundation David LeaserLetâs play a game of Jeopardy. The category is Learn-and-Work Ecosystem for $200. The answer: pandemic, future of work, and recession. The winning question: What is the perfect storm of…
Lumina Foundation recently awarded a grant to Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) to partner with AAR, an independent provider of aviation services to commercial and government customers worldwide, to…
Conferences Need More Than Speakers: Leveraging Tools to Take Events from Good to Great
Theresa Anderson | Business Analyst, University of MinnesotaConferences and events have always been a hallmark of college and university offerings. Whether online or in-person, these events bring folks together, provide unique insight into professional development and support…
With the revamp in higher education in response to the pandemic, this could very well be the moment credential innovation was waiting for. Now is the time to use credentials…
Embedding Certifications into Bachelorâs Degrees Could Improve Transitions into the Labor Market
Holly Zanville | Strategy Director, Lumina Foundation Karen ElzeyThereâs a growing interest in embedding industry-recognized certifications into college and university degree programs. Workcred is working on a Lumina-supported project with the goal of improving studentsâ transition from college…
Based on statistics offered by UNESCO, 1.7 billion students and learners around the world are unable to attend school or university as of March 23rd, 2020. This number accounts for…
The Benefits of Being a Skilled Technical Worker and the Sub-baccalaureate Paths These Workers Follow
Susan Rotermund | Senior Research Associate, RTI International Xianglei ChenThe United States has a strong need for the skilled technical workforce (STW), a workforce that comprises workers in occupations that require significant science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) expertise…
Once labeled as flyover country, South Bend, IN, is having quite the renaissance. The city and surrounding communities forming the South Bend-Elkhart Region were recently designated as a 21st Century…
Evaluating Your Assessment Plan as You Move to a Virtual Classroom
Lauren Serpati | Assessment Specialist, Western Governors UniversityIf you are an instructor and you are faced with moving your course online due to COVID-19, you are not alone. Given the rapid shift we are experiencing, many may…
The learn-and-work marketplace is growing more complex and chaotic. If it were a highway, weâd describe it like this: there is a lot of traffic, innovation cars are moving at…
Human Skills: Critical Components of Future Work
Glenda Stump | Education Research Scientist, Massachusetts Institute for Technology George Westerman, Katherine HallIt is no secret that the workplace is changing. The shelf life of new technical skills is estimated to be three years (Auger, 2019), with core digital skills changing even…
Competency-based education (CBE) programming is becoming increasingly necessary in higher education. But creating and expanding CBE programs can be challenging, with barriers that go beyond the administrative level. Institutions are…
Challenges and Solutions of Research into the Quality of Online Learning: A Quality Matters Lens
Barbra Burch | Manager of Research and Development, Quality Matters Stella PortoThe existing literature showcases a vast amount of research on quality in online learning. Studies abound, diving deep into specific elements of design and delivery and their impact on various…
There was a mock commercial on Saturday Night Live a few years ago, featuring actor Sam Waterston selling insurance in case of robot attacks. âRobots are everywhere,â he warned, âand…
The Moral Imperative Driving Digital Credentialing
Kathleen deLaski | Founder and President, Education Design LabProfessional skills are becoming outdated faster than ever before and traditional education canât keep up. So, what role must colleges and universities play in helping individuals keep up with the…
Adults ages 40 and above represent over half of the labor force in the U.S. and that proportion is projected to remain constant through 2028. At the same time, the…
As Latino Enrollment Grows, So Does the Potential for Partnerships at the Institutions That Serve Them
Deborah Santiago | Chief Operating Officer and Vice President for Policy, Excelencia in Education Marie CiniLatinos make up an ever-growing share of the U.S. populationâand the workforce. As we look to a future in which jobs will require higher levels of skills and postsecondary learning,…
Most students enrolled in Canadian colleges and universities today should expect to return to school down the roadâprobably several times, hopefully for shorter, more flexible and affordable programs. Thatâs because,…
Optimizing Ontario: A Closer Look at the Provinceâs Performance-Based Funding Proposal
Alex Usher | President, Higher Education Strategy AssociatesBy 2025, 60% of funding for public colleges and universities in Ontario will be based on performance. Like the United States, Ontarioâs postsecondary funding was historically based on enrollment, but…
Collaboration. Collaborate. Collaborative. Collaboratively. Whether used as a noun, verb, adjective or adverb, the masterful use of collaboration as a leadership tool is undoubtedly at the top of every search…
The edX Model Is One Promising Route To Educationâs Future
Holly Zanville | Strategy Director, Lumina FoundationThere are two intriguing flight paths Iâve been watchingâboth stemming from grants Lumina Foundation awarded to edX, the nonprofit online education platform founded by Harvard and MIT: Build 30 competency-based,…
The American higher education system was designed around creating economic mobility and access for individuals of limited means, underpinned by the notion that the more educated a society was, the…
How the Jobs-to-Be-Done Framework Can (and Should) Drive Institutional Strategy
Michael Horn | Senior Strategist, Guild Education & Co-Founder, Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive InnovationColleges and universities today operate in a complex, ever-changing environment, and chief among those changes is the role, place and behavior of learners. Todayâs student doesnât fit a homogenous moldâthey…
To understand how American consumers value anythingâfrom the gadgets they purchase to their Uber rides or restaurant experiencesâwe simply ask them. So why not ask the consumers of education how…
How AI Impacts the Global Workforce, and What Higher Ed Can Do About It
Liz-Ann Gayle | Global Head of Learning and Innovation, Headspring Bob LittleArtificial Intelligence (AI)âin one context or anotherâseems to be in everyoneâs thoughts and on everyoneâs lips. To some, AIâs a threat to their jobs and way of life. To others,…
The language we use to describe the world shapes our very understanding of it. As detailed by Dr. Lera Boroditsky at UC San Diego, the affordances or limitations of our…
Extending Service-Based Learning Opportunities to Adult Students
Craig Kielburger | Co-Founder, WE.orgColleges and universities both play an essential role in their communities. They provide access to critical programming that help individuals reach their personal goals, whatever they may be. Higher education…