Designing for the Learner-First Workforce

by Presidents Forum | Apr 17, 2026 | Video, Working Learners

Designing for the Learner-First Workforce

What is a learner-first workforce model

A learner-first workforce model starts with how students actually live and work today.

At Excelsior University, that means designing programs for working adults, military learners, and career changers who are balancing multiple responsibilities. Education is not separate from work. It must connect directly to it.

What employers need from graduates

Employers consistently point to a broader set of expectations. Technical skills matter, but they are not enough on their own.

Graduates must be able to communicate clearly, think critically, and collaborate across teams. These skills are often assumed, but they need to be built intentionally into programs and reinforced through applied learning.

Why flexibility is now essential

Many students are managing unpredictable schedules This is especially true for military learners and working adults.

Programs must allow students to continue progressing even when work schedules shift or life circumstances change. Without that flexibility, persistence becomes much more difficult.

Where the system creates friction

Barriers such as credit transfer limitations, rigid timelines, and complex administrative processes continue to slow students down.

These challenges add time and cost, and they often prevent students from completing credentials even when they have already made significant progress.

What a learner-first system requires

A learner-first system reduces friction, aligns programs with workforce demand, and creates clear pathways to employment.

When institutions design around real student experiences, learners can move more efficiently through education and into careers that support long-term mobility.

Transcript

00;00;04;19 – 00;00;38;21 Shalise Obray Welcome to the President’s Form podcast. This month we’re focusing on what we’re calling the learner first workforce, how institutions are better connecting education to opportunity while designing for the reality of today’s students, working adults, career changers and learners. Balancing multiple responsibilities. I’m joined today by David Stable, president of Excelsior University. David is a consistent leader in this space, and Excelsior has been at the forefront of building programs aligned to high demand industries while supporting learners who need flexibility, recognition of prior learning, and clear pathways to advancement.

00;00;38;24 – 00;00;50;25 Shalise Obray David, great to have you back with us. When you think about a learner first workforce. How is that showing up in the way Excelsior designs its programs and pathways?

00;00;50;27 – 00;01;23;24 David Schejbal So thanks. Good to be with you. So, you know, we, have many corporate partnerships, and we engage with employers a lot. And so we have a pretty good idea of what employers are looking for, and they’re typically looking not only for well prepared people by people who are actually practice ready so that they can go and work, the first day on the job so that the employer doesn’t have to do a lot of training.

00;01;23;26 – 00;01;55;12 David Schejbal So we’ve taken that, to heart. We are providing, our students not only with good opportunities to learn online, but also opportunities for intensive, in-person experiences at, some of our sites. And we’re also trying to provide our students with some of the, what I call cognitive skills that employers don’t talk about as much, but, but but we all know that that’s what they want.

00;01;55;13 – 00;02;02;13 David Schejbal Things like, critical reasoning skills, good communication, emotional intelligence, those kinds of things.

00;02;02;15 – 00;02;23;15 Shalise Obray That makes a lot of sense. It sounds like Excelsior has been really intentional about aligning your, your programs with high demand industries. And I know that you’re doing that even in some of your newer programs. What are you seeing work especially well when it comes to connecting learners to real job opportunities or job opportunities in real time?

00;02;23;17 – 00;02;57;21 David Schejbal Well, like I said, I think the practice really piece is really important. So, having, very detailed conversations with employers, and getting to the heart of what it is that they’re looking for, because an employer might say, you know, I really want somebody to know this particular programing language, but when you probe that a bit, what they really want is someone who can talk to different people, talk to programmers, talk to salespeople, talk to management, and have the technical skills, to be able to apply.

00;02;57;23 – 00;03;18;09 David Schejbal But it’s not the I think a lot of times employers will lead with the technical skills, whether it’s whether it’s, it or health care or business or whatever. But, but it’s the, the, the, the soft skills, the interpersonal skills that are often the ones that trip people up.

00;03;18;11 – 00;03;36;02 Shalise Obray Your students are often balancing work and education. And I know it’s not just your students, but I think the majority of students, at this point in time, what are the most important design choices that make it possible for them to succeed with, with that being the case?

00;03;36;04 – 00;04;03;26 David Schejbal Well, and and as you know, more than a third of our students, their work, balancing work means balancing military work. And so, what we learn from our military students that we certainly extend to all of our students is that, flexibility and, in an understanding of personal circumstances is really, really important. So in the military, it could be literally a life and death issue.

00;04;03;26 – 00;04;31;00 David Schejbal Right? So military students who are deployed often have to go dark. They cannot communicate. And so if they can’t communicate, with, their families, they certainly can’t get into online courses to do work and they can’t turn in assignments. So we need to be very understanding and flexible, with that. And, and we we need to be able to understand that with some of our other students as well.

00;04;31;01 – 00;04;54;21 David Schejbal Doesn’t mean we let students, get away with, dodging it. But, but we need to understand that people have really complicated, really busy lives and that education is one piece of their lives, but it’s not the only piece. Our students are an 18 year olds who’s, you know, who’s whose life consists of living in the dorms and having a beer on Thursday night.

00;04;54;24 – 00;04;57;09 David Schejbal Our students are juggling a lot of stuff.

00;04;57;11 – 00;05;23;01 Shalise Obray I think it’s really telling how you’re saying that. You’ve learned from your military students that how hard you’re trying to, be flexible and design around the needs of your of your students. Where do you see the biggest gaps today between what employers need and how at higher education is currently structured? I know you’re talking about sometimes employers don’t always say exactly what they what they need.

00;05;23;02 – 00;05;24;27 Shalise Obray Where do you see those gaps?

00;05;24;29 – 00;05;56;03 David Schejbal You know, I don’t think higher ed has been really good at focusing on the interpersonal skills that we’ve been talking about the communication, the the emotional intelligence, the ability to work across teams, the grit, inability to deal with ambiguity. We the the phrase that I always, excuse my faculty is that it’s it’s, faith based learning where we take it on faith that students are somehow magically going to learn that stuff.

00;05;56;05 – 00;06;23;10 David Schejbal They don’t magically learn it. You have to be explicit about it. You have to make exercises that help them practice those skills, because otherwise it’s unrealistic to expect them to learn it. But it’s those particular cognitive abilities, those those, interpersonal skills that are absolutely transportable from job to job and that become, increasingly more important as people, go up the food chain.

00;06;23;12 – 00;06;35;14 Shalise Obray I think they’re becoming increasingly important to, as we see what I can do or what technology can do, versus what we need people to do or how we need people to work together in teams.

00;06;35;15 – 00;06;36;26 David Schejbal You bet. Absolutely.

00;06;36;28 – 00;06;48;10 Shalise Obray If we were to get this right at scale across institutions, across the whole system, what would be meaningfully different for for learners, do you think?

00;06;48;13 – 00;07;13;00 David Schejbal Well, I think so. First of all, one of the things that we need to do is take the friction out of the learning experience. Higher ed has been great at creating a bureaucracy that’s student, unfriendly. And whether it’s credit transfer or, being able to take time off like I was talking about or sensitivity to personal, responsibilities and challenges.

00;07;13;02 – 00;07;29;12 David Schejbal We need to take some of that friction out of the system and make it easier for students to actually focus on learning, rather than having to spend time, and energy and frustration dealing with the bureaucracy. That has nothing to do with the actual learning process.

00;07;29;15 – 00;07;45;21 Shalise Obray I think that would be a huge relief for for many students. Thank you so much for talking to us today. This is exactly the kind of work that I know the forum is focused on elevating

00;07;45;22 – 00;07;47;27 David Schejbal Thank you so much. Always good to be with you.

00;07;47;29 – 00;07;59;24 Shalise Obray What we’re discussing isn’t theoretical. Institutions like Excelsior are already building models that connect learning directly to opportunity, and doing it in ways that reflect the reality of today’s learners. Thanks for listening.

A Student-First Model for Working Adults

by Presidents Forum | Apr 15, 2026 | Video, Working Learners

A Student-First Model for Working Adults

What’s happening

Eva Nodine, CEO of Purdue Global, says their designing higher education around working adults—not traditional students.

Why it matters

Most learners today are balancing jobs, families, and school. Traditional models weren’t built for that reality.

What stands out

1M+ credits for prior learning awarded in one year
Flexible pathways that move beyond fixed schedules
AI used to personalize support and progression

The bottom line

Institutions that align learning with how students actually live—and with the demands of the workforce—will define the future of higher education.

The Workforce Is the Classroom: How Colleges Must Redesign Learning for a Learner-First Economy

by Presidents Forum | Apr 13, 2026 | Uncategorized, Working Learners

By Dr. Justin H. Lonon, Dallas College Chancellor

The Traditional Model Is No Longer Enough

The traditional classroom model is no longer enough to meet the demands of today’s workforce.

At Dallas College, gone are the days of the classroom being confined to four walls. Students today need more than lectures and textbooks – they need real-world experience, industry connections, and confidence to lead. That’s why we’ve embedded workforce learning directly into our curriculum, transforming education into a launchpad for career success.

Dallas College sits at the intersection of education and industry, serving as a bridge to economic mobility for students and a workforce pipeline for employers. This guiding principle shapes every initiative we undertake.

A Learner-First Workforce Model

A learner-first workforce model means designing education around real-world application – where students don’t prepare for work, they do the work as part of their learning.

From logistics and automation to entrepreneurship and health care, Dallas College students are solving real business challenges through hands-on projects, apprenticeships, and pitch competitions. By connecting education and industry, we ensure that students don’t just earn credentials; they gain the skills, confidence, and networks to thrive in a competitive job market.

Learning Through Real-World Experience

At the inaugural Global Mission Summit, our students took center stage in the Global Mission Pitch Cup, presenting innovative solutions to real industry challenges while receiving mentorship from national business leaders. Similarly, our Start-Up Bootcamp equips students with the tools to launch and sustain businesses, fostering entrepreneurial thinking and leadership.

These experiences are more than resume builders; they’re transformational. Students who engage in workplace learning are 25% more likely to secure full-time employment within six months of graduation. Paid internships boost first-year salaries by over $3,000 and significantly increase student confidence.

Scaling Workforce-Aligned Learning

Since 2022, Dallas College has engaged 17,333 students in workplace learning, including:

2,754 in clinicals
6,069 in co-ops, internships, and practicums
8,510 in apprenticeships

Through strategic partnerships with Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas and the Dallas Regional Chamber, we’ve launched 10 industry sector partnerships connecting students with employers in high-demand fields.

Our School of Manufacturing and Industrial Technology offers embedded co-op models and fast-track programs like FAME (Federation of Advanced Manufacturing Education) and SACA (Smart Automation Certification Alliance) certification, with 100% job placement. In Health Sciences, more than 4,300 students have participated in experiential learning supported by $5.7 million in federal funding.

In our School of Education, 400 students have earned wages through paid work-based learning, including our K–12 teacher apprenticeship – the first of its kind in Texas.

These efforts have earned national recognition. Dallas College is the only Texas community college honored by the White House for scaling apprenticeships across 42 employer partnerships and 38 occupations.

Building the 22nd Century College

We’re proud of this progress, but we’re just getting started. Through our Outcomes Assessment Lab, we are tracking long-term job placement, wage growth, and employer satisfaction to ensure our graduates are not only hired but retained and thriving.

As we celebrate our 60th anniversary, we remain focused on building a 22nd Century College where every student earns a degree or credential, a network, and a clear path forward.

If we want a workforce that is ready to lead, we must design learning environments where students are already doing the work. At Dallas College, the workforce is the classroom, and that’s exactly the point.

What is Holding Back AI Innovation in Higher Education?

by Presidents Forum | Apr 10, 2026 | Innovation, Video, Working Learners

What is Holding Back AI Innovation in Higher Education?

What is holding back AI innovation in higher education?

Outdated regulations, especially those tied to seat time and “regular and substantive interaction”, are limiting innovation.

These rules were designed to prevent low-quality correspondence programs, but today they:

Regulate how education is delivered (inputs) instead of what students learn (outcomes)
Make it harder to scale self-paced, AI-enabled learning
Reinforce faculty-centric models that don’t reflect modern technology

Why does AI require a new model of learning?

AI changes how people learn in two key ways:

Students will start at different skill levels
They will take different paths to reach mastery

This makes fixed-time, one-size-fits-all education models obsolete.

How much will AI change jobs and skills?

A major takeaway from the Capitol Hill discussion:

70% of the skills in a typical job will change within five years

This means:

Nearly every worker will need to reskill or upskill
Learning will shift from “once and done” to continuous and lifelong

Can the current education system handle this level of reskilling?

No.

Today’s system is not built to:

Retrain the majority of the workforce at scale
Support continuous learning for people who already graduated
Deliver education efficiently enough to match the pace of AI change

What role should AI play in solving the reskilling challenge?

AI must be part of the solution.

According to Rajen Sheth:

We will need to train everyone on AI
And use AI to train everyone

That means:

Personalized learning tailored to specific jobs
Scalable delivery across millions of learners
Education embedded into real work contexts

What did policymakers on Capitol Hill understand about AI and education?

There are encouraging signs:

Federal agencies are already experimenting with scalable models (e.g., AI literacy via text messaging)
There is bipartisan awareness of the need to support innovation
Stakeholders across government, industry, and education are engaging together

However, coordination and speed remain challenges.

What needs to happen next?

To meet the scale of AI-driven change:

Policy must:

Shift from regulating inputs → measuring outcomes
Enable flexible, technology-driven learning models

Institutions must:

Build systems for lifelong learning at scale
Focus on skills, not just degrees

Technology must:

Deliver personalized, accessible learning for every worker

Bottom line: What is the biggest takeaway?

AI is forcing a shift from:

Static education → continuous learning
Standardized pathways → personalized mastery
Inputs → outcomes

The systems that adapt fastest will define the future of both education and the workforce.

Transcript:

00;00;05;13 – 00;00;30;24 Wes Smith As our audience knows, the President’s Forum was created to drive accountable innovation in higher education. The promise of innovation to improve higher ed by lowering costs and improving outcomes has never been more obvious. Our guest today is Rajan Sheth. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Kiran Learning. And last week we had the chance to cross paths in Washington, D.C..

00;00;30;26 – 00;00;33;02 Wes Smith Rajan, great to see you again today.

00;00;33;04 – 00;00;35;09 Rajen Sheth Hey, Wes. Good to see you as well.

00;00;35;11 – 00;01;05;25 Wes Smith Hey, one of the conversations that we had last week when we were together in D.C. with the President’s Forum, it revolved around some of the outdated regulations that are hampering innovation. And I just want to start with your reaction to hearing the president’s thinking around, rules and laws slowing down the adoption of AI and other innovation that could really improve the outcomes for students.

00;01;05;28 – 00;01;33;02 Rajen Sheth Yeah. Well, it was interesting for me as a technologist. It was a really enlightening conversation. I didn’t fully appreciate the barriers that universities run up against when they’re trying to do innovative things. What was interesting about that room is that you had the most innovative universities in the nation that were there, all who are open to innovation and who have been for many, many years.

00;01;33;04 – 00;01;52;12 Rajen Sheth But they’re running into barriers, with this. So, you know, I think one of the things that that really was interesting is when they started to talk about how there’s, how there is a, regulation on seat type, like, you have to be in class for X amount of time in order for it to be accredited.

00;01;52;14 – 00;02;33;28 Rajen Sheth And that is something that is just going to change rapidly in the world of AI. It’s just, you know, everyone’s going to start from a different starting point and they’re going to take a different path to getting to mastery. And that’s something that we’re going to have to plan for. With, with students that are out there. The other interesting thing that was interesting about the discussion is I came to appreciate kind of the coming soon that is coming with how every job is going to change, with, with AI and we’re going to need to make sure the regulatory environment is such that our best universities are most innovative universities able to educate those

00;02;33;28 – 00;02;37;17 Rajen Sheth students. And the scale of this is going to be massive.

00;02;37;19 – 00;03;07;09 Wes Smith Right, right. The conversation that you’re referencing, with the, the seat time, issues that that need to be resolved. It’s something that like insiders on, well, at least at the president’s forum are thinking about all the time. And it’s the regular and substantive interaction, regulation. The Department of Education was essentially trying to prevent, you know, low quality programs, from accessing federal aid.

00;03;07;11 – 00;03;31;03 Wes Smith And those used to be, you know, low program, low quality programs that were essentially, hey, this is this is, a program that you can send in. They’ll send you some material, you send it back, they’ll, you know, decide if you did well or not. And and they’re pulling down federal financial aid for programs that just weren’t very good.

00;03;31;05 – 00;04;05;01 Wes Smith And so it had a great intent as it started. But but it started regulating, the the inputs rather than the outcomes. And when you start regulating inputs, well, when the inputs become, more effective, delivered through technology, well, then your regulations are outdated. It kind of hard codes, faculty centric models and and it really hampers, you know, self-paced learning.

00;04;05;03 – 00;04;06;15 Rajen Sheth Yeah. So yeah.

00;04;06;17 – 00;04;12;16 Wes Smith Yeah, that’s the issue that we have to deal with. It really discourages technology enabled scale is what it does. Yeah.

00;04;12;18 – 00;04;33;06 Rajen Sheth You know I think it’s a really good point that yeah, it’s almost like you need to separate the of the intent from the execution. And, you know, in technology, a lot of times for particularly product management and technology, we try to separate out the what versus the how. So like for example, when we specify a product, we try not to specify the how too much.

00;04;33;08 – 00;05;00;13 Rajen Sheth We try to specify the problem and then let the engineers figure out the how in the most creative way that that that meets that requirement. And I think we got to do the same thing with policy. We need to understand the intent and then the how it’s going to change rapidly over time. But then, you know, as long as we’re going towards that intent, which is a strong good intent, then we’re going to we’re going to be able to meet it in different ways.

00;05;00;16 – 00;05;08;17 Wes Smith Yeah. I mean, in this case, we’re we’re functioning under regulations that were designed for correspondence courses.

00;05;08;22 – 00;05;09;05 Rajen Sheth Right.

00;05;09;06 – 00;05;43;18 Wes Smith Exactly. And we’re so far past that, the idea that you that you’re regulating that the how it’s done, you’re going to be perpetually, you know, behind with technology that’s just the fact unless you can figure out, you know, the, the why, the why is going to be really important. Okay. Exactly. So after our meeting, last week, after the president’s four meetings, you joined an effort to provide, insight to Capitol Hill staffers about the evolving technology, specifically AI.

00;05;43;20 – 00;05;50;01 Wes Smith And, and that was up on the Hill. Can you tell us a little bit about the event and what you observed there?

00;05;50;04 – 00;06;13;17 Rajen Sheth Yeah. Yeah, it was a wonderful event. You know, one, it was just interesting for me to be in the capital. That was the first time I was I was over there. And you know, you are. You’re in a place where so much history has been made and you can see the, the, the kind of, the intent of that is there for so many people to kind of adapt where we are to the new environment.

00;06;13;19 – 00;06;34;20 Rajen Sheth What was interesting about this, though, the forum was basically a set of companies that had been thinking about AI skilling, you know, how do we scale the workforce about AI? There are a variety of NGOs and nonprofits that have analyzed different aspects of this. And then there was, there were government. So there’s the, congressional staffers who were there.

00;06;34;20 – 00;06;59;07 Rajen Sheth There was the Department of Labor, Department of Education, that there were all there. And it’s the right group to bring this together. What was really striking to me is to understand the magnitude of the tsunami we are about to encounter. And like Lincoln was talking about how 70% of the skills of any typical job will change over the next five years because of AI.

00;06;59;09 – 00;07;26;26 Rajen Sheth And the vast majority of workers out there are going to have to be reskill, for this. And we also talked about how the existing environment, whether it be, you know, institutions, you know, learning and development training within corporations, it’s just not scale to deal with that. We’ve never had a situation where that portion of, you know, that giant portion of employees need to be rescaled.

00;07;26;28 – 00;07;52;00 Rajen Sheth And, you know, what was really interesting for me and what I talked about there was, we’re going to need to train every single person about AI and how you use AI for what they do. And we’re going to need to use AI to to train every single person. Like we’re going to need to figure out how do we extend our institution so that it is personalized for that person.

00;07;52;00 – 00;08;06;24 Rajen Sheth That’s an accountant in this particular organization that’s now learning how to use AI or a, you know, a, machinist in a particular organization that’s trying to use AI. You know, those are the things that need to happen if we’re going to, if we’re going to meet that scale.

00;08;06;26 – 00;08;21;03 Wes Smith Well, this is when I hear that, from, presents for perspective, the, the amount of reskilling that we’ll need. Did you say 70% of jobs will need to be updated?

00;08;21;06 – 00;08;46;06 Rajen Sheth What’s the what he said was the 70% of the skills for the typical job will need to be reskill. And what that means is, actually, it may be even more striking than that. It could mean the vast majority of people are going to need to learn how to use AI as part of their job. In some cases, in small ways, in a lot of cases, in very big ways, in order to still do their same job five years from now.

00;08;46;08 – 00;09;20;28 Wes Smith So I mean, when I hear that, what I hear is the current system that we have will never accommodate that kind, that scale of reskilling. So we have to think through how we can reskill individuals in a much, much more efficient way. And we have to I mean, when we’re looking at this lifelong learnings, a tagline that a lot of, in higher ed of have been saying a lot, you know, you hear, oh, yeah, we’re moving towards lifelong learning.

00;09;21;01 – 00;09;43;02 Wes Smith This is truly one of those areas where we’re going to have to incorporate back into systems. People have graduated with what they thought were terminal degrees and. Yeah, yeah, we’re done. And we, and they have to come back and reskill. They have to they have to upskill. They have to learn more about. And we don’t we don’t have the system that can do that right now.

00;09;43;05 – 00;10;03;10 Rajen Sheth Absolutely. And I think what’s interesting is that over the past, you know, ten, 15 years, lifelong learning is, is has gotten more traction. But it isn’t nice to have as a person must have. Upskilling has gotten traction, but it’s a nice to have as the person must have. Now all of a sudden, it’s going to be a must have.

00;10;03;17 – 00;10;19;05 Rajen Sheth Like you cannot replace all those people with people that know it because nobody knows it, and everybody’s going to need to, is going to need to learn. We need to get our systems to the point where, yeah, where they can be able to train that volume of people.

00;10;19;08 – 00;10;44;20 Wes Smith Well, I’m assuming that this was kind of shocking, to, to Hill staffers and government employees to say this is the kind of, of massive change that we have to prepare for. Did you get any sense from them? About their, you know, their preparation for this or how they’re planning to, you know, facilitate innovation through policy?

00;10;44;23 – 00;11;05;14 Rajen Sheth Yeah. Well, I was actually very impressed with how much they are understanding what’s what’s hitting and the kinds of things that they’re thinking about. The Department of Labor, talked about some of the things that they’re doing. They demo, for example, a, an AI literacy, module that they, they put out via text messaging.

00;11;05;14 – 00;11;25;05 Rajen Sheth So you just sign up for a text message and then it takes you through a ten day course, which I’m taking right now. I’m actually going through it right now. And it is, it gives you kind of the basics of how you think about AI. In with my other. Had I told you this before? I teach a class on intro, the AI at Stanford.

00;11;25;08 – 00;11;46;12 Rajen Sheth And it was interesting because a lot of the same principles that that I focus on there things that they were teaching via text messaging. And so their point was you can reach many, many more people via text, and you can, you can get them the right information to make them not afraid of AI. And I think I’m impressed that the people are starting to think about that.

00;11;46;14 – 00;12;09;02 Rajen Sheth However, it’s going to need to be a coordinated, coordinated thing between the government, between institutions, between companies to really actually solve this problem. It’s it’s, you know, one of the biggest things we need to solve. The other interesting thing is that they talked about, particularly LinkedIn, talked about the economic positive impact that could happen because of AI.

00;12;09;05 – 00;12;23;05 Rajen Sheth Like it could be an additional $4 trillion, in terms of adding to our GDP. So it’s a huge amount, but we have to do it in the right way. To actually get there.

00;12;23;08 – 00;12;45;02 Wes Smith Well, I’m impressed just by the idea that the Department of Labor is ahead of the curve on this text messaging, campaign. That’s that’s impressive to me. I mean, if somebody is thinking ahead and saying, hey, this has to be a huge focus for us, we need to start educating and facilitating a transition to an AI world.

00;12;45;05 – 00;13;12;02 Rajen Sheth Yeah, absolutely. They have a guy named Taylor Stockton that, is their chief innovation officer and been thinking about things the right way. And, you know, he comes from the startup world. He was a Google before as well. And, I’m impressed that they’re they’re thinking in a very agile way. And, you know, obviously it’s hard to get things done in, in, in the political world, but I think we’re all going to need to work together to figure out how to how to move quickly here.

00;13;12;06 – 00;13;46;14 Wes Smith Yeah, absolutely. And the meetings that we had on the Hill with presidents last week, I thought it was pretty remarkable how consistent the responses were from, Democrat leadership and Republican leadership with regard to, facilitating innovation. I think both sides, they understand the issue and they want to solve the problem. The next step is actually, you know, putting some of the solutions into legislation.

00;13;46;14 – 00;14;01;12 Wes Smith That’s the hard part in DC, right, is getting something through and signed and, and, it’s just inherently political. But, on this particular issue, it seemed fairly bipartisan to me. I don’t know if that was your experience with Hill staffers.

00;14;01;14 – 00;14;02;10 Rajen Sheth Yeah.

00;14;02;12 – 00;14;04;06 Wes Smith We saw something different.

00;14;04;09 – 00;14;23;18 Rajen Sheth No, I saw the same thing. I think everyone is realizing that this is going to be an issue, and that is not polarizing. Everyone knows this is coming. And so, you know, we know we will have a big problem with the job market if we don’t do something about this. And so, there was a lot of unity out there.

00;14;23;18 – 00;14;39;25 Rajen Sheth And I think now we got to see what kind of policy can we put in place, what kind of innovation can be put in place, how that can be rolled out, and how you involve the institutions, and, and the other companies into this to, to make it a reality.

00;14;39;27 – 00;15;09;29 Wes Smith Right. Okay. Well, I want to wrap this with your takeaways. So based on your experience and what you saw, at the Capitol last week, what would your takeaways be for specifically for higher ed innovators who are looking to incorporate, AI and other solutions into their work so they can lower costs and so they can, you know, increase the outcomes, the quality of outcomes that students experience.

00;15;10;02 – 00;15;12;27 Wes Smith What are your takeaways based on what you learned?

00;15;12;29 – 00;15;37;09 Rajen Sheth Well, I think that a lot of what we talked about in the president’s form about bringing down the cost of education, reaching more people, it’s going to become vital over the course of the next few years. And I think that we’re going to have to move quickly. We’re going to have to adopt AI in our teaching practices and make it such that we can really, truly personalize for every situation, every learner that’s out there.

00;15;37;11 – 00;15;50;25 Rajen Sheth And we’re going to have to remove the barriers from a policy perspective such that we can all move faster. There’s a lot of intent to move faster, but it’s really hard to do that right now. And so if we can do that, we can actually meet this challenge. It’s about faces.

00;15;50;27 – 00;15;57;05 Wes Smith Yeah. Well Rajan, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for the debrief on the time in DC. It’s been a pleasure.

00;15;57;07 – 00;15;58;24 Rajen Sheth Yeah. Thank you. I really appreciate.

What Does a Learner-First Workforce Model Look Like in Practice?

by Presidents Forum | Apr 8, 2026 | Innovation, Outcomes and Accountability, Video, Working Learners

What Does a Learner-First Workforce Model Look Like in Practice?

What does a “learner-first workforce model” actually mean in practice?

A learner-first workforce model starts with who today’s students are and designs education around their realities, not institutional convenience.

At Purdue Global, this means recognizing that:

Over 60% of students are age 30+
78% have family responsibilities
Most are working while enrolled

Instead of treating these as constraints, the model treats them as design inputs.

Example:

Purdue Global awarded over 1 million prior learning credits in 2024–2025, translating real-world experience into academic progress.

Why it matters:

This approach aligns directly with the Presidents Forum mission to “reinvent higher education around learner success” and expand opportunity for nontraditional students.

How are programs designed to align with workforce needs?

Programs are built starting from labor market demand, not academic tradition.

At Purdue Global, program design integrates three inputs:

Employer partnerships (real-time workforce needs)
Faculty practitioners (active in their industries)
Strategic foresight teams (future skill demand)

Example:

In advanced manufacturing, Purdue Global partnered with an industry employer to co-design curriculum tailored to specific workforce gaps, then validated that design directly with the employer before launch .

Why it matters:

This reflects a broader Presidents Forum priority: connecting education directly to opportunity and employer demand through collaborative innovation.

What role do employer partnerships play in shaping programs?

Employer partnerships are not advisory. They are co-design partners.

They influence:

Curriculum structure
Skill prioritization
Credential pathways
Delivery formats

Example:

Employer input shaped a manufacturing pathway that includes:

A 2-credit entry course
A flexible 3-course micro-credential
Direct pathways into bachelor’s degrees

Why it matters:

This ensures programs are “true, relevant, and legitimate” in the labor market, reducing the gap between education and employment.

How do stackable credentials improve student outcomes?

Stackable credentials turn education into incremental, career-relevant progress rather than a single high-stakes degree.

At Purdue Global:

Micro-credentials are embedded inside degrees
Each step delivers immediate labor market value
Students can stop and start without losing progress

Example pathway:

Introductory course → entry into field
Micro-credential → targeted skill building
Bachelor’s degree → long-term advancement

Even partial completion delivers value.

Why it matters:

This aligns with the Presidents Forum’s focus on “credentials at scale” and stackable pathways that connect learners to opportunity faster.

How are programs designed specifically for working adults?

Programs are designed to remove friction, not add it.

Key design principles include:

1. Predictable learning experience

Every course follows the same structure, so students don’t waste time relearning systems.

2. Continuous start dates

Students don’t wait for semesters. They start when ready.

3. Policies built for real life

Flexible options account for:

Work disruptions
Family responsibilities
Military deployment

4. 24/7 support ecosystem

Includes advisors, coaches, and AI-enabled assistance.

Example:

Military learners can continue coursework during deployment with faculty trained to support their context.

Why it matters:

This reflects a core Presidents Forum principle: education should adapt to students, not the other way around.

What is the role of innovation leadership in driving these models?

Innovation is not a department. It is a cross-functional capability.

The “innovation catalyst” role at Purdue Global:

Connects academic teams, employers, and system partners
Challenges existing models
Identifies new delivery and credential approaches

Example:

Innovation leadership enables rapid program iteration based on industry shifts (e.g., technology changes in nursing or accounting).

Why it matters:

This mirrors how Presidents Forum institutions operate collectively, using shared insight and collaboration to drive system-level change beyond any single institution.

What does this model signal about the future of higher education?

The learner-first workforce model signals a shift from:

Degrees as endpoints → degrees as pathways
Time-based learning → skills-based progression
Institutional control → student-centered design

Presidents Forum institutions are leading this shift by:

Serving working adults, military learners, and underserved populations
Embedding skills and workforce alignment into program design
Partnering across institutions and industries to scale innovation

Bottom line:

Higher education’s future belongs to institutions that design for real lives, real jobs, and real outcomes.

Transcript:

00;00;05;14 – 00;00;29;03 Shalise Obray Welcome to the President’s Forum podcast. As part of our April Focus on the Learner First workforce. We’re highlighting how member institutions are designing programs that connect directly to opportunity. Today, I’m joined by Marcelle Lawrence, who serves as innovation catalyst at Purdue Global, an institution that has been deeply intentional about aligning programs to high demand industries while supporting working learners.

00;00;29;08 – 00;00;45;07 Shalise Obray Marcelle, thank you for being here. We’re excited to dig into how you’re building these pathways. Let’s start at a high level. When you think about the learner first workforce model, what does that mean at Purdue Global and how does that shape the way you design programs.

00;00;45;10 – 00;01;10;29 Maricel Lawrence Next slide. Thank you so much for having me today. I would like to start by sharing that Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults. We serve as a vital component of the Purdue University system, leveraging 150 year legacy of excellence to make it an accessible tool, a diverse audience, and to support Purdue’s main brand mission.

00;01;11;01 – 00;01;47;23 Maricel Lawrence So for us, learner first means recognizing that over 60% of our students are over age 30 and 78% have family responsibilities. We value the life and work experience they bring. We are exceptionally good at recognizing this experience through prior learning. So for example, in 2024, 2025, we approved more than 1 million credits through this process. So with that in mind, our program design starts with the workforce needs of today.

00;01;47;26 – 00;02;17;04 Maricel Lawrence We build offerings with a skills first mindset that lead to degrees that employers respect in what we need immediate industry demands. Our strategic foresight team that was launched in 2021 also evaluates possible future needs. This allows us to build a future oriented curriculum that ensures our learners are not just prepared for the next job, but for the long term evolution of their industries.

00;02;17;06 – 00;02;31;18 Shalise Obray That’s really wise. I did want to ask you an innovation catalyst is a really unique title and not something we hear all of the time. How does that how does that work in practice? What does that mean to you to to have that title?

00;02;31;25 – 00;03;01;00 Maricel Lawrence Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that question. So, what my role does is works across the institution. And so we’re talking about new program development today. And that’s one of the areas that I have been supporting in. And what that means is being able to collaborate with the academic teams, connect with industry partnerships, connect with other stakeholders in the system to be able to support the needs of our students.

00;03;01;01 – 00;03;15;26 Maricel Lawrence And my role is to be able to say, it’s great that we’re doing the work that we’re doing this way. Is there any other models? Is there anything else that we can do to be able to innovate and and support the industry and our students as the world keeps evolving?

00;03;15;28 – 00;03;36;13 Shalise Obray I love that that’s a great that’s a great title and a great, portfolio to have. One of the things Purdue Global does particularly well is aligning programs to high demand industries. Can you walk us through how you identify those needs and how employer partnerships are shaping your program design and delivery?

00;03;36;15 – 00;04;09;08 Maricel Lawrence Yeah. So, Purdue Global, the new program development process can start in a variety of ways. So we rely on school advisory boards for new offering ideas. And I mentioned our strategic foresight team or year to year and emerging trends with academic teams. Now we also leverage our full time and adjunct instructors with deep field expertise. They are active in their fields, understanding real time evolutions.

00;04;09;10 – 00;04;40;13 Maricel Lawrence Think about the shift in technology, in nursing, or how, the current state of accounting is. And so they bring those needs directly to our teams to think about in mapping and evaluate. We also work closely with Purdue online. We collaborated as a system to offer content. This involves deep research with our joint R&D team to identify and explore ideas before bringing them to the academic teams to build.

00;04;40;15 – 00;05;17;13 Maricel Lawrence And, you know, we work directly with employers to support their specific needs. There is an example that we have, in advanced manufacturing sector, where we have partnered with a major industry leader to figure it out exactly how to support their unique workforce requirements through customized curriculum. And I’m happy to share more about that experience once we receive those ideas and we explore them, then we confirm back with industry to build a personal education that is true, relevant and legitimate.

00;05;17;16 – 00;05;30;15 Shalise Obray You’ve also taken a strong approach to stackable credentials. Can you share an example of how learners can start with a short term credential and build toward a degree, while staying connected to workforce outcomes along the way?

00;05;30;18 – 00;05;55;13 Maricel Lawrence Yeah, that’s a that’s a great question. So I would say there are several industry is bad. Because this has worked really, really well. I’ll share that at Purdue Global. We build micro-credentials that are typically embedded within a degree. And this ensures that every step a student take has immediate market value. Now, we don’t usually do this in a vacuum.

00;05;55;13 – 00;06;26;26 Maricel Lawrence Right. So we work hand in hand with employers to figure it out. The best way for, sort of the best pathway for a specific workforce. And so I mentioned the manufacturing, experience earlier in. So I’ll share that example in more detail and how we have done that step ability approach. So with that, that partner we design two credit introductory course to give us students fast, accessible entry point into the field.

00;06;26;28 – 00;06;51;10 Maricel Lawrence Then we build a three course micro credential that students can navigate in any order based on their immediate job needs. So students will start in the two credit courses to understand the foundations of manufacturing. And then they move through the micro credential in any order that makes the most sense for them. Now, if they complete the micro credential, that’s a win.

00;06;51;13 – 00;07;16;18 Maricel Lawrence But even if they don’t finish the whole sequence, they have gained the specific content that they need for that moment in their career. And now for those ready to move farther, we have a direct path into a bachelor’s in applied manufacturing. Or if they want to go into management, we say they can go into the bachelor’s in business administration and other types of of degrees.

00;07;16;20 – 00;07;42;13 Maricel Lawrence So there, you know, when it comes to industry partnerships, I would say manufacturing is one of those examples that we have seen a lot of a lot of value in in the conversation about stack ability in general as an Indiana based institution. We work very closely with Ivy Tech community colleges to create a seamless, strong pathway from an associate’s degree to a bachelor’s degree.

00;07;42;16 – 00;08;07;21 Maricel Lawrence And so we also provide scholarships for Ivy tech graduates to ensure that they have the support to to keep moving. And so this stackable approach turns education into a series of stable stepping stones that provide real opportunities for more and allows our students to build this experience that fits forward for their lives.

00;08;07;23 – 00;08;33;12 Shalise Obray That’s really smart design. Allowing students to to to have that value at every step of the process. We know that many, if not all of your students are balancing jobs and families, and other life things with their education. What are some of the design decisions that you’ve made? To make sure that these programs are working for working learners.

00;08;33;15 – 00;09;05;27 Maricel Lawrence Yeah. Thank you so much for that question. From our very origins, Purdue Global has been, built specifically for the busy adult learner. We, of course, offer online classes, and we have engineering ecosystem risk critical components. But we consider the minimum standard for adult learner success. One of our most impactful decisions or design decisions in our, work is the standardized course design.

00;09;05;29 – 00;09;38;07 Maricel Lawrence Every course follows the same structure so that students don’t have to waste time learning where content is located every time they start a new term, they can dive straight into their learning because they know where the content is located in our platform, and we don’t make the students wait months for a traditional semester to begin with. Classes starting constantly or learners can begin their program when they are ready.

00;09;38;09 – 00;10;08;13 Maricel Lawrence And I would say another component that I think is critical is that our policies are designed for life’s interruptions. Life happens. Right. And offering list of options when they are most needed is is critical. I always speak about, the unique challenges of our military students. For example, when a student is deployed, they need a university that understands that experience.

00;10;08;16 – 00;10;43;08 Maricel Lawrence Our faculty are specifically trained to work with the students, ensuring their education stays on track regardless of where they are stationed. And, we also provide a series of types of support for our learners, including academic advisors and coaches. And of course, now we’re leveraging AI and technology to ensure we are available 24 over seven media students exactly when they have a question, right, whether it is a noon or a two in the morning.

00;10;43;11 – 00;11;16;25 Maricel Lawrence We need to be there and support them. So we are we we are very critical about how we support different types of learners and the type of needs. So they have, I think about the needs of one adult learner with prior college experience, are vastly different from someone starting fresh. So we develop targeted interventions to meet each learner where they are ensuring all of the different type of audiences have the specific resources they need to reach their goals.

00;11;16;28 – 00;11;38;05 Shalise Obray Well, Marcel, what stands out here is the intentionality in designing programs that don’t just deliver content, but are worked around how learners live and how they need to learn and work. So thank you so much for sharing the work you’re doing. And, for, for talking with us today.

00;11;38;07 – 00;11;40;08 Maricel Lawrence Absolutely. In this match for the opportunity.

00;11;40;10 – 00;11;49;14 Shalise Obray And thank you to everyone listening. These are the kinds of ideas and approaches that are shaping what a learner first workforce can look like. We’ll continue the conversation soon.

April Update

by Presidents Forum | Apr 3, 2026 | Innovation, Video, Working Learners

April Update

Why it matters

Today’s students are balancing work, family, and career change. Higher education and public policy need to reflect that reality.

What we’ve been doing

Over the past month, Presidents Forum members have continued advancing work across innovation, workforce alignment, and student-centered system design.

In Washington

Last week, Forum leadership met with the Department of Education and Congress to reinforce a clear message: if we are serious about student success, policy must create space for innovation rather than constrain it.

What’s next

In April, we’re building on that momentum with a focus on the learner-first workforce: how learning connects more directly to opportunity, and how institutions, employers, and policy can align around that goal.

Bottom line

The opportunity ahead is not just to respond to change, but to shape a better system for learners. That is the work we will keep pushing forward in the months ahead.

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