What Is Military Tuition Assistance and Why Does It Matter for Workforce Education?

What Is Military Tuition Assistance and Why Does It Matter for Workforce Education?

by | Aug 28, 2026 | Innovation, Working Learners

What Is Military Tuition Assistance and Why Does It Matter for Workforce Education?

What is Military Tuition Assistance?

Military Tuition Assistance (TA) is a federal benefit program that provides financial aid for voluntary, off-duty education programs to active-duty service members. Administered by the U.S. Department of Defense, TA covers up to 100% of college tuition and authorized fees for courses taken at accredited colleges, universities, and technical institutes—up to specific annual per-credit-hour caps set by individual service branches.

Key Benefits of Military Tuition Assistance

  • Enhances Force Readiness: Provides service members with technical, analytical, and leadership capabilities that improve operational performance.

  • Drives Economic Mobility: Enables military personnel to build marketable skills and earn stackable credentials or degrees before transitioning to the civilian workforce.

  • Closes the Skills Gap: Connects higher education institutions directly with adult and non-traditional learners seeking high-demand career pathways.

  • Cost-Effective Education: Reduces the reliance on veteran benefits (like the GI Bill) during active service, allowing members to preserve benefits for future advanced education or family transfer.

How Tuition Assistance Supports Workforce Development

By providing funding for flexible, student-centered learning options—including online, competency-based, and asynchronous courses—TA serves as a powerful engine for lifelong learning. It aligns adult learners with industry-aligned skills, fostering economic growth and strengthening the broader workforce pipeline.

Transcript

Shalise (00:00.214)
You guys are rolling. Okay. I’m just gonna introduce the the podcast that we’re doing, and then I’ll bring you in. Welcome to the President’s Forum Podcast. Today we’re kicking off a new just one question conversation. Okay, I’m not able to scroll. Sorry. Okay, let’s try that one more time. Welcome to the President’s Forum Podcast. Today we’re kicking off a new just one question conversation with Jonathan Woods, the Forum’s Military Affairs and Workforce Education Policy Fellow.

Jonathan has joined us on the show before, but this is his first time in the Just One Question Seat. So welcome, Jonathan.

Jonathan Woods (00:36.273)
Thank you, Shalise. I’m happy to be here.

Shalise (00:39.042)
The question that we’re putting to you today is an important one. we’d like you to explain to us what is military tuition assistance and why is it so important.

Jonathan Woods (00:50.929)
Shalise, that could very well be the economic question of the century. for 80 years, the War Department has been quietly compiling one of the greatest weapons in our nation’s history. It’s not a kinetic weapon, but it’s an economic weapon, and it’s called tuition assistance. See, I don’t think the rank and file agency personnel really know the magnitude of the economic challenge in front of our nation, or rather, they don’t know the magnitude of the opportunity staring them in the face. From Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame to Michael Crow.

President of Arizona State University, to Secretary of War Pete Heggseth, to the president himself, all these people have stated that human capital in the form of a skilled workforce is the key that unlocks knowled the the knowledge economy. And so but there’s a problem. the problem is according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, the nation will need four and a half million new workers over the next ten years. These workers need to be skilled at the associates level or

higher or higher than our associates level to rebuild the nation’s industrial base. We’re talking about DIB and DIB adjacent jobs like advanced and additive manufacturing, physical and cybersecurity, semiconductor, transportation and logistics, energy production and distribution. That’s just to name a few. Now four and a half million across 10 years, that’s 450,000 per year. That’s new skilled workers. Where are they going to come from?

Numerically speaking, though, between 20% and 40% of the needed number transition off of enlistment contracts every year. But most are not ready for these exceptional jobs. That’s where TA comes in. TA, when we look at TA as a talent pipeline rather than a benefit delivery structure, the the system unlocks industrial capacity that just it can explode, and we are poised to set that off in the economy. But TA is going to need some tinkering.

And that’s why TA is so important. So to answer your just one question, pretty important. we we wanna unlock the talent pipeline potential and TA is the weapon to use that.

Shalise (02:57.708)
I love that answer and thinking about TA as a talent pipeline. That’s really insightful. That wraps up our Just One Question conversation with Jonathan Woods. Thank you so much, Jonathan, for helping us better understand tuition assistance, why it matters not just as a benefit, but as a pathway or a pipeline that you’re saying for service members to build skills, advance their education, and prepare for what comes next. For our listeners,

Jonathan Woods (03:22.051)
Absolutely. Okay. All right.

Shalise (03:23.18)
Sorry, okay. I’m gonna take that last line. I do want you to respond. So that’s great. Okay. I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna take that last line again and I’ll let you I’ll give you a space to respond there. let’s see here. Jonathan, thank you for helping us better understand. I’m gonna take that whole thing. That wraps up our just one question conversation with Jonathan Woods. Jonathan, thank you for helping us better understand why tuition assistance matters, not just as a benefit.

But as a pathway for service members to build skills, advance their education, and prepare for what comes next.

Jonathan Woods (03:57.435)
Thank you. So happy to pitch in.

Shalise (04:00.207)
For our listeners, you can learn more about the Presidents Forum at presidentsform.org.

The Perceived Quality Gap Is Closing: What Employers Really Think About Online Degrees

The Perceived Quality Gap Is Closing: What Employers Really Think About Online Degrees

by | Jul 23, 2026 | Working Learners

The Perceived Quality Gap Is Closing: What Employers Really Think About Online Degrees

For years, online education has had to overcome a perception challenge. Many assumed that if students had the option, they would always choose a traditional campus experience, and employers often viewed online credentials as somehow less rigorous or less valuable.

But higher education has changed dramatically. Today’s learners are increasingly working adults, parents, military-affiliated students, and career changers who need education that fits their lives, not the other way around. In fact, the traditional-age, residential student is no longer the majority of learners in higher education, and nearly one in three college students now take their courses exclusively online.

As online learning has become a mainstream pathway to education, employer perceptions appear to be evolving alongside that reality.

A new study from Ithaka S+R suggests that while some bias toward online credentials remains, employers are placing far greater emphasis on demonstrated skills, relevant work experience, and job readiness than on whether a degree was earned online or in person.

For institutions serving nontraditional students, that’s an encouraging and important shift.

Transcript

Wesley Smith (00:00.694)
Welcome to Just One Question with the Presidents Forum. I’m Wesley Smith, and today I’m joined by the Presidents Forum’s policy fellow, Amy Glyn. We’re going to explore just one question. Amy, there’s new research on employer perceptions of online credentials. What does it tell us about the future of higher education and the students that we serve?

Amy Glynn (00:26.933)
Yeah, Wes, thanks for having me again. You know, I think the biggest takeaway is that employers are becoming much more focused on outcomes and capabilities than educational modality. Right. And this is a really tremendous win for those of us who are familiar with the high quality and rigorous standards of more.

Of our online programs. So the research that you’re talking about, it was a study completed by Ithaca SR, where they surveyed more than 540 hiring managers and recruiters nationwide, and that they found that the difference in employer preference for entirely

in-person degrees versus online was really shrinking and has gotten quite small. An in-person degree increased the likelihood of a candidate selection by only two and a half percentage points over an otherwise identical online degree. And so by comparison, factors like relevant work experience and demonstrated skills are beginning to play a much larger role in the hiring decision that we’re that.

You know, that’s what they’re telling us. and it’s really significant because it suggests that the perceived quality gap between traditional and online education has narrowed. The study also found that.

Institutional selectivity mattered less than many of us in higher education might have assumed. Moving from a less selective institution to a more selective one changed the hiring preferences by only about five to six percentage points. So employers are, yeah, right? I thought it was interesting. I I know I just had a bias really revealed.

Wesley Smith (01:56.163)
Interesting. Yeah. I

Right. Yeah. I th I thought that the gap would be much larger than that.

Amy Glynn (02:06.719)
Yeah, and it’s because employers are increasingly asking, can this person do the job? Rather than simply where did they go to school? And for the students we serve, that’s incredibly important. For millions of working adults, parents, rural students, students with disabilities, military learners, online education isn’t a second choice. It’s the model that makes higher education possible. and our students are

Are often already employed. And so they’re leading teams, they’re serving in the military, they’re raising families, applying what they’re learning in real time. And they don’t just graduate with a credential, they’re graduating with experiences, resiliency, practical skills that employers are increasingly valuing. So, in many ways, our students are embodying exactly what this research suggests. Employers are asking candidates.

Who can demonstrate competency and contribute immediately in the workplace?

Wesley Smith (03:05.314)
This is this seems to be really good news for presidents forum institutions. What should their takeaway be from it?

Amy Glynn (03:12.021)
I think the takeaway really is the work we are doing right now is being recognized. and and the the programs we have to to be able to identify and for our students to be able to demonstrate the skills that they have gained or advanced within their education is going to really be an important part of the student presenting the portfolio to advance their career.

Right, so it’s no longer just the transcript, but how do we demonstrate the skills that a student has acquired to future employers? Or how do we help the students build that portfolio of demonstratable skills and present that information to employers either in the in the hiring or the promotion process?

Wesley Smith (03:59.416)
Right. Right. Well, Amy, we appreciate you taking time to review this with us. Of course, we’ll add this in in the show notes and we’ll encourage our not only the president’s forum institutions and leaders to look at it, but I mean gr encouraging information for all students to review before they decide on programs of study and what their options look like. Thanks, Amy.

Amy Glynn (04:21.93)
Absolutely. Thanks.

Designing for the Learner-First Workforce

Designing for the Learner-First Workforce

by | 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

A Student-First Model for Working Adults

by | 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

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

by | 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?

What is Holding Back AI Innovation in Higher Education?

by | 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.