Welcome back listeners and viewers. Ron Stefanski here at Disrupt Ed where we talk to the do gooders and the determine the passionate and purpose driven. Who are seemingly ordinary people, but they're doing extraordinary things. And we've had with us. If you haven't listened to episode one, go back and listen to Michelle West forward and Jonathan allow both from in strike talking about upskilling is subject near and dear to me. I think one of the reasons why skilling is so important in my mind is because one of the major disruptive factors that I see in the workplace that I see in our communities at large is income inequality. Seven hundred people have more wealth than the rest of the planet. There's something fundamentally as skew here. And so how do you turn that almost seemingly rigged deck upside down? You get people in white horses and white knights out there, upskilling people waving a flag saying, wait a minute, There is one way to jump start this. There were there is an end run to income inequality, and guess what it is. It's education. And is skill driven because we know time and time again, the more educated people are and the more motivated they are to stay educated and up to date on their education. The better they do and the better their economic, situation. So let's talk a little bit in this episode about where you see this going because income inequality has only increased over the last five to ten years. And we may or may not be going into a downturn. But I do know from listening and getting feedback and engagement from our listening and viewing audience, that people are anxious. The world is changing around them. They're not sure that their job is as relevant as it once was. And they're wondering where they might fit in and what they need to do to make sure that their path continues to be bright and they continue to be able to find and hold on to and secure and develop in meaningful family supporting, life supporting jobs. So where do you see this going? So wow. What an intro run? I'm still just a, you know, I I admire so many folks in the industry that are also trying to transform, the way that we work today, but also the way that we consume learning. And there are, a few big themes or trends that we often think about, and and I would say I'd probably put it into five categories. Usually, people answer in threes, but I'm a little extra, so I'll add two more. So I would say the the first one is really around, you know, soft skills, soft skills, technical skills, and how we see that you know, evolving over time. And and one of the things that we like to do is often look inside our corporate partnerships and really look at that learner, and how has their role transformed or changed in any way? And take a delivery driver, for instance, and you probably can, you know, envision or picture the old mailman with a leather you know, bag that has a bunch of, envelopes in it, the the actual need of society has dramatically changed because of speed because of our ability to order things online and the ability to have things be delivered to our doorstep in you know, half a day, which is, you know, remarkable in itself. But if you think about the skills that are needed for a delivery driver, that's very different than your mailman thinking about how, there are tools that help you get to that delivery faster in in the most efficient route or a way to track your things and So the basically, the things that, folks need to learn from a skills perspective is one real big bucket that we're seeing. Another that that, like, second trend is really around, micro credentials. And you mentioned it in our first episode, Ron, but stackability, the way in which we can get, packaged in industry focused programming that eventually leads to a agree, but ways in which that, the industry is also very much, informing academia on what is important, to learn. So those micro credentials have been, something that has, really taken a turn in the last a couple of years, and and I'm inspired and also, optimistic that it'll continue to go in in a positive way for us to be able to measure the, you know, how good these credentials are or one compared to the next. Will that actually be a thing? And then I'm I'm really optimistic about that. The third real area or bucket or trend that we're seeing, is related to, adaptive learning and personalized learning. So being able to learn in a different way, recognizing that Jonathan may learn in a very different way than I do. We may have a similar outcome, but the way that he gets there, and he is thinking may be very different than the way that I get to my place and my thinking. And so how I learn, will need to be a little bit different than than another. And so being able to do that by advanced technologies and and AI and additional support tools that help me really personalized my learning experience is the third real big trend that we're seeing in the space. I'd say the fourth big trend that we're seeing is more around the remote learning. We touched upon it in in the first episode a little bit. But but it's really critical to not only how we learn, but also how we work. When we started in stride, we were in the office. Together. And then the pandemic happened, and, we went to our separate corners. And, we are now not all you know, distributed. You were were more distributed across the country. You're not all sitting in Los Angeles. And so as we thought about that, we're going to see those trends not only from the employer side where, corporate partners have distributed workforces but also the way that, learning continues to be a real thing online. Yeah. I wanna snap it there, and I wanna I wanna ask a question here. You know, the pandemic has certainly done a number on the way we all view work now. And what it's unleashed is, confidence among many that they can do their jobs remotely without being tethered to the company and without being in a chair, being watched, or or simply interacting with others and doing the work. And, I'm curious you know, at the same time, executives have weighed in and said, you know what? We still need people to come back because certain things are still better done in groups and in person. And so do you see a trend where the technology is gonna change that, or is it gonna end up being a balance of these things? Because, it is hard to see in some respects how the technology is is helping with that level of engagement where people will say, you know, I'm on Zoom calls all day, but I I don't think they're as effective as if we sat around in a room together and were face to face. So in two thousand and six, I started my dissertation on virtual leadership. And I was fascinated by a world in which we would actually be working and engaging, and leaders would be thinking about a virtual world. And it was very difficult for me to get a dissertation committee together because people thought I was absolutely insane who wanna study this, and the truth of the matter is that the same thing that came out of my research is the same thing that we see with online programming, which is If you design your experience intentionally, then you have a good outcome come. You can think about it from an online course perspective that you would, you know, include certain levels of engagement for your learner. You would have a very structured process in place similarly with the world of work, if you're intentional about setting up your meetings, if you're using technologies and tools to engage and interact, if you use the the Google, you know, shared drives and if you use things like, you know, Slack to be able to And those are really simple things, but there's, you know, hundreds of interactive collaborative tools that we can use to to better engage to make sure that we arrive to a meeting prepared so that we don't waste our time, you know, trying to figure out or or pre read, in a way that, is not efficient. And so I would say that we'll continue to get better at it, but it's really about that intentionality of design that makes the difference between, being efficient, in a virtual environment versus needing to be face to face for absolutely everything. Yeah. Sorry, Ron. Maybe just to add to that. I think the interesting thing is, as that will also it will be part of your talent strategy. Right, as a company, right, because people make their own choices. Right? In the same way, we believe that, like, you know, if you wanna offer a strategic workforce education program and your thoughtful and intentional about it that will then deliver business outcomes. Right? Companies that have that will attract a certain type of employee, right, employees that want to learn, employees that want to work for a company that cares about them, employees that want to work for a company that invests in them. I think you'll have the same thing. Right? A couple employees will seek out things that they think that they can be effective. So if you are an employee that says, Hey, you know what? I think I can be effective by being remote, and so I want I'm and that's important to me because I'm on to not commute for two hours a day. I want to live in certain places, but I believe that I can be effective, then I think they will seek out a certain type of company. Right? And if you are somebody that says, you know what? I actually want to go into the office. I, like, I thrive on working with people on whiteboarding which Ron, you know, I do. Right? And I love whiteboarding. Right? You know, that you will choose a different kind of company, and then other women might say, you know, I want a hybrid where I get to get the best of both. So I think that's what how this is going to evolve is that it actually becomes, right, and and I my hope is that this is in general a trend of just companies thinking much more around how their people and talent strategy is a big part of their strategy. Right? It is not a separate thing. It is not a CHR. Right. It's it's it's a strategic business imperative for every organization. I'm curious, you know, as you look at the enrollment trends and you look at things, you know, research is telling us that community college enrollments down. Four year universities down. Shortform courses, credentials, those kinds of things up. And so I'm curious if you see that happening in corporations as well. In other words, when the risk of a tuition is taken from the employee and the employer is providing, tuition assistance or, or, the education as a benefit. Many are you know, many employers are now, and you guys are involved in negotiating deals where, you know, an entire degree can be offered at a certain price point for a certain number of people. So it's driving the cost down. But when the employer's picking it up, are you seeing that people are more apt to say, you know what? I'm going to get my four year degree, simply because someone else is paying for it, and I didn't know how I was gonna be able to do it on my own. So, Ron, I think the push is really around time, and time to completion and and time to be able to do these things. And so we do see that, folks are still interested in a degree. They want ways to be able to get there in in shorter formats. And so, you know, every step of the way, they don't wanna lose time and also money. Right? So regardless of who's paying for it, it's that investment in time that becomes critical, that we really think about you know, can these credentials or can these short because we are seeing a rise in that, but can they actually work for everyone? And I think that's the difference that while we continue to see, that folks do want, shorter form, learning that that it's it's actually made possible to have the right outcome as well. I think, look, Ron, on on these It's it's an interesting, piece. Right? There's kinda push and pull. On one hand, right, I think, you know, working with corporations, we are kind of at least removing one of the barriers. We're trying to remove most of one of the barriers, which is we know as costs, right, and try to take that out of the equation. And so relative to kind of, I think, just if you think about a b to b audience or sorry, a b to c audience, where a learner just randomly goes to a website, etcetera, generally speaking, like, you know, the folks that we work with, those learners are much more likely to go pursue a degree, much more likely to complete their application much more likely to be able to go through, just because, right, they have a company that's encouraging them, right, and willing to pay for So I think relative to that channel, you would say, yes, it's, you know, you are saying more. I think the poll, the other factor, though, that happens in this is know, a lot, especially with this audience, I think, Rob, you talked a lot about the front line, right? So the audience is they're they're still this general. It's too good to be true. I don't know if I'm, you know, am I gonna, you know, is something gonna happen where I will get fired or laid off? Am I gonna be disposable? And so forth, like, if if bad things happen to the company, are they gonna suddenly pull this and so on back in the same situation? So I think there's still a lot of that And I think Michelle you talked about time, right, but it's, you know, it's this notion of time, belief, encouragement, right, all of those factors and saying, Wow. You know what? Maybe I I should do this quick thing because at least I get something, right, and at least something short term, and I know that even if they, you know, I don't end up having to stay here for two years, I still get something. Right? So there's a little bit of that, I think angst especially since many of these programs are still relatively new. Right? Versus I think where you've seen things like, for example, you know, the Starbucks program or some of these other longer standing programs that have been around a while, people know that it's a thing, they believe in it, and that they know it's gonna be a sustained It's actually more willing to then say, oh, yeah, let me go really go take something that's what I really, what I ultimately may really want right, and I have more faith that my company will continue to support that. So I think that's a little bit of just as we think we get these programs off the ground as people see more success stories coming out of it that people have been able to get through these, and be successful and that these are sustained programs over multiple years. Then I think you're gonna see more and more of, you know, more and more folks could ultimately choose what they really want as opposed to being swayed No. And I think that's really exciting because they can chart their own path. To our listening and viewing audience, this is disrupt ed, where we talk to the do gooders and the determine, and we've had the benefit of talking to Jonathan Lau. And Michelle Westport from Instride talking about one of my favorite subjects, which is upskilling. And upskilling in this ginormously, disrupted world of five g wired technology augmented workforce enabled, globally interconnected, pandemic interrupted world of work. Where everything's been turned upside down, and we're still managing to make sense of the world of work and learning. And you guys have been terrific in helping to shed a light on something so important as how do we set ourselves up to get the skills and the educational experiences that we want to in order to live our best selves and our best lives. And so thank you both Any parting comments of, before we, conclude this second episode of disrupt ed. Look, I think the work that you're doing, Ron, is, great for us all, to bring guests together to think through how we solve really big problems, but ultimately how we do this together. None of us are good alone. But for us to be able to adapt to the changing needs of individuals and industries, be flexible, push envelopes, push each other, to think differently. Thank you for having us. Well, ah, Shucks, I have to say that's, you know, Jonathan felt like his ego was being nurtured and I certainly felt that from that comment. Thank you so much Shell. Of course, we're gonna have you back because I've gotta listen to more about this. And Jonathan, any last thoughts for me? You know, just thank you for the time. Hope this was at least somewhat helpful. I think Michelle and I love obviously talking, as you can imagine here. So you heard a little bit about that. We can excel at all sorts of things, but I think look at the other day, Ron, I think you said it best. And, you know, I was thinking that. Right? You know, being in the education industry is amazing because we get to do something where we are helping other people solve problems. Right? If we can get more educated people, they can go solve the problems world. We know there are plenty of problems in the world to go solve. And, hopefully, we can make a little bit of a dent in it. And, you know, when you talk about when you actually get to talk to in the dual learners, especially those on the front line, right, education is honestly for them, hope for the future. Right? That is, I think, the most powerful an absolutely effect. Absolutely. Education is our strategy for hope. And, I'm so grateful for the work that you guys are doing, and I hope to see continued success. And I also hope to see you back here, Jonathan, so that you don't feel neglected. I think you have a lot up into this conversation, and we're gonna keep it real, and we're gonna keep it going. So to our listing and viewing audience, this has been disrupted, the education and upskilling addition, Your host, me, Ron Stefanski, bringing out the best out of some of the most interesting, seemingly ordinary people doing some powerfully extraordinary work out there. Thanks for joining us. Listen to our podcast. Give us feedback send and share your comments and get disrupted with us. Thanks so much, and we'll see you soon.
