Leaders on How Higher Ed is at an Inflection Point

On today's episode, leaders at the Modern Campus User Conference, discuss changes across the student lifecycle. This episode highlights the priorities, pressures and opportunities shaping how institutions serve modern learners.

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Shauna Cox: Hi, and welcome to Illumination by Modern Campus, your go- to podcast for conversations about transformation and innovation across higher education. I'm your host, Shauna Cox, and I'm excited to dive in today's episode. In this episode, we're doing something a little different. This past fall at the Modern Campus User Conference, we invited higher education leaders from across the sector to share their perspectives on the issues shaping today's learning landscape. Each participant selected a question from a list of timely topics and offered their thoughts on what they're seeing, experiencing, and responding to in the market right now. What you'll hear is a collection of those voices, brief reflections from leaders grappling with personalization, student success, lifelong learning, and the evolving definition of what it means to be a student today. Individually, each response offers a distinct point of view. Together, they provide a snapshot of where higher education is and where may be headed next.

(01:06):We began by asking leaders to reflect on communication, not just as a function or a tool, but as a foundation for personalization. As student populations grow more diverse and pathways become less linear, clear, timely, and intentional communication plays a critical role in helping learners feel seen, supported, and guided through their journey. So the question here is, what role does communication play in creating more personalized and supportive student journeys?

Speaker 2 (01:34):Communication is very important when you're trying to connect with your students. So communication specifically can apply in various manners, but you have to make sure that you're reaching them where they are in a timely manner, and also creating opportunities for them to not think and have to decide for themselves. So you're creating the what's next moment for them, and then they can select options instead of having to devise options themself.

Speaker 3 (01:59):I think I'm a director of student activities at esports at a small private arts institution. And so I think communication plays a central role in just making sure that, because I have the opportunity to build those one-on-one relationships. So good, genuine communication allows me to really understand what types of challenges my students are seeing, what needs that they have as far as academics and socially, as well as the ability to, I guess, transform programming to be less than a bunch of events on a calendar and experiences for students that are meaningful and that they'll remember. And they'll associate that to the university, which keeps them coming back when we think about retention and persistence and those types of things and we set them up for success. How I like to meet them at their own personalized journey and help guide them through that. And so I don't treat all my students as these cogs in a machine, but especially as the revolution of education is the personalization piece and the modernization and we want it to look more like Amazon and those types of things where I can go and pick and choose my education as I want.

(03:13): But you can't do any of that if you don't have real meaningful communication with your student body.

Speaker 4 (03:18):To me, the role of communication is really important because students need to be able to get the resources that they need and that needs to be communicated on a daily basis for the students' success. I believe that communication is key because it's the way of the world, whether it's eBlast, emails, social media, it's the way ... Even AI, it's the way that they learn to really communicate and stay connected to everyone and involved and engaged.

Speaker 5 (03:57):Yeah. I think communication plays a role in reference to making it more personable, talking to the student, calling them by their name, instead of just saying you or hey, know who your students are to create that sense of belonging because if you think about it, if you get more personable with them, it makes them feel valued and know that they're noticed and they're not just a body. So by doing that, it builds a better connection and make them want to get that education and be motivated.

Shauna Cox:From communication, the conversation naturally moved to personalization more broadly. Today's learners bring different goals, responsibilities, and expectations to their educational experience. These responses explore why personalization is no longer optional and where institutions can take practical first steps to make it meaningful rather than overwhelming.

Speaker 6 (04:50):So I believe personalization matters for our today's learners because a lot of our learners are not traditional. They're not 18 just out of high school. So we need to cater to our learners that have families at home, that work from home, that have to work that full-time job just to support their kids or their elderly parents. Being personalized can definitely help them to either work from starting with maybe three credits and work at their own pace. There's a lot of people that can do it all in one go, and there's a lot of people that can't. So we need to cater to everybody from that low extreme to that high extreme. Once we can talk to our students and get the kind of survey from them and see where they stand from that first day, we can learn from now until whenever to see how we can cater best to them.

(05:54):So I believe that making it personalized is the best way for us to move forward as not just an institution for learners now, but even high school, to get them to that point where they can be like, "Oh, okay. So if this is how college is going to be, then I'm go for it because we need to start at that high school level

Speaker 7 (06:19):Also." I think that personalization matters because they feel known. They feel as though it's custom to them, but also it helps them dig through some of the excess. They don't have to go hunting as much. For example, we use it on our admissions pages so that if you're outside of our area, it shows you the contact information for your specific rep based on your geolocation. I think that's a great place to start because now I'm not looking for the right person or trying to find somebody who can answer my questions. It's right there at the top of the page.

Speaker 8 (07:03):So I think personalization matters because today's learners expect experiences that recognize who they are, their goals, interests, and identities, and when engagement feels relevant and responsive, students are more likely to connect, persist, and thrive. I think institutions should start by using data and direct feedback to understand what motivates different student groups from there we can design campus engagement opportunities to meet students where they are through tailored experiences.

Shauna Cox(07:32):As personalization reshapes the student experience, it also challenges long held assumptions about who students are. In this next set of responses, leaders share how they see the definition of student evolving over the next decade and what that shift means for institutional models built around a more traditional learner.

Speaker 9 (07:50):So we definitely think the evolution of a student's going to be more of our adult learner. We're not seeing those students right out of high school coming in, especially at our university, although we are a larger university, we are adapting our programs to become that adult learner and more unionized. So we're bringing in a lot of construction unions and partnering with them. So I think we're going to see that older generation, that older crowd coming back to get those credentials in order to boost their portfolio and to look for that monetary upgrade in their compensation and their work hours and things like that. So I think we're going to see a boom in an adult learner along with that online cross country learner. A lot of online. A lot of online.

Speaker 8 (08:32):You're doing the new and online.

Speaker 9 (08:35):Yes. We're building a whole Rowan online kind of program. So they're offering specific unionized programs to online. So I think we're going to see that large boost in that adult student.

Speaker 10 (08:46):I think it's evolving already and so quickly, just like everything else is, I think that probably people will be learning all their lives and that's where I work is community education, but sometimes I think the credit side struggles to see them as an actual student. So I think that is where we have to adjust.

Shauna Cox (09:12):With those changes in mind, we ask leaders to zoom out. Meeting the needs of the modern learner requires navigating complexity, constraint, and constant change. In this section, participants identify the most significant challenges institutions must confront as expectations continue to rise.

Speaker 11 (09:30):I think it's going to be trying to implement AI in a way that individuals will not see it as a just complete solution to everything that they're going to face, but a tool in the process of obtaining whatever their end goal is. I think that's really the answer we're going to have to find in order to help people through that transition and integrating AI into everything that we're doing.

Speaker 12 (10:00):I think one of the biggest challenges is going to be keeping up with technology. Following the trends that are out there, especially AI, we talk about AI, but using AI in a way that supports what we're doing. Instead of changing it or replacing it, we want to figure out a way to support and include it in what we are doing. So I think universities need to find a way to do that instead of just moving from block A to block B and missing everything in between.

Shauna Cox(10:30):One challenge surfaced repeatedly, alignment between education and outcomes. Here, leaders discuss how institutions can more intentionally connect academic programs to real world career pathways, ensuring learners can see the relevance and value of their education, both during and after their time on campus.

Speaker 13 (10:49):So I know for our institution, we actually began utilizing the system that HAS offers through modern campus for the career pathways. And it's been interesting because it really does show the student and what they're doing, what they can do after graduation. And there are a lot of different programs that we have that maybe aren't as clear. So for instance, you have interdisciplinary studies, women and gender studies, things like that. So a student may really be interested in doing those type of degrees, but they don't really know what kind of career can I get. So what I'm hoping a lot of institutions do is they talk to their alumni. If we talk to our alumni in certain degrees like that, especially like our interdisciplinary studies, women and gender studies, things in the arts, see what our alum are doing, we can then customize that to show in our catalogs, how is it that you can use this degree in the future.

(11:43):So I think that's one way is just really helping our students to realize what our alumni are doing, and so then they can see where this degree can take them in the future. And I think that's something that can be helpful to them.

Speaker 14 (11:54):Yeah. So at our university at UW Stout, we're a Wisconsin's polytechnic, and so we have done a long line historical role in applied learning and industry focused. So that has really shaped and will continue to shape how we stay student focused and what industry and employers need. So that can be seen in so many different ways on campus and in industry with our program advisory committees and just hearing what is going on in the workforce and what the needs are, paying attention to data and having that inform our decisions. And also then, because we have so many lab spaces and so many applied learning areas in all of our programs, we also then are able to use donations and things and keep our labs really current with what our local industries are using and what's top of line.

Shauna Cox (12:47):Technology often enters the conversation as infrastructure or efficiency, but it also plays a powerful role in connection. In this set of responses, leaders explore how technology can help foster belonging, engagement, and community, particularly for learners who may not experience campus in traditional ways.

Speaker 15 (13:07):Community and belonging is strengthened on campus via technology because of the twenty four seven access and the ease of access. This gives students that on demand type of experience and the type of thing that they're looking for towards personalization, towards access, towards just knowing that the systems have their back and are thinking of them from all angles.

Shauna Cox (13:38):As costs, competition, and accountability increases, the question of return on investment continues to loom large. These perspectives examine what ROI truly means in education and how institutions can better articulate values in ways that resonate with today's learners.

Speaker 16 (13:55):Well, for myself, I'm an older student returning to the educational realm, and I would have never thought about doing that if I hadn't started working in education. I worked in many other industries for 30 plus years. I did my undergraduate 30 plus years ago. My kids are attending university and one just graduated last year and my other one's graduating this year. So being around that constant environment has just helped me realize you have nothing to lose and something to gain. Even if you don't use it, you're learning and life's too short not to learn. Exactly.

Speaker 1 (14:34):And you're the prime example of a modern

Speaker 16 (14:34):Learner. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm working full-time and I'm taking it slow. I only enrolled in one class to start because I want to make sure my brain still works. But yeah, I think it's a positive role model. I can kind of relate when she was talking earlier in the speech this morning about the roadblocks and I can definitely relate to that on being an employee as a student, all the different platforms you have to utilize to do things and the lack of communication sometimes. It's definitely a roadblock and I'm hoping with fresh eyes, I help navigate and change that. I'm working on creating tips for our faculty because the person I've stepped into the role, she'd been there for over 20 something years. That's a lot of institutional knowledge that no one's going to walk in and just assume. So I'm trying to share that and I'm the only one who does what I do at my campus.

(15:35):So I want faculty to have more clear instructions on how to navigate the software we do have because they're not going to read the instruction manual. So it's all about communication and sharing experiences. And I think you can do that whether you're 20 or 60.

Shauna Cox (15:52):Finally, we looked ahead. Lifelong learning is no longer a future concept. It's a present necessity. In this section, leaders share the innovations they believe will have the greatest impact on expanding access, flexibility, and relevance across the learner life cycle.

Speaker 17 (16:09):Well, obviously the biggest innovation out there right now, I think is AI, and that definitely plays into education, especially with our younger students who essentially have adopted it almost out of the cradle, right? I mean, they're growing up with it. They have not known a life without computer technology and AI is just an extension of that. So I think that using AI to better reach our students is going to be critical and we have to meet them where they are, where they already live. And we've learned that through social media. Now AI, again, is just the next extension of that. That's what they want to use and regardless of your stance on AI, whether you're hesitant to adopt it or not, it's something that's there. It's not the future. It's what's happening now. Just like social media was the thing of the future five years ago.

(17:06):No, it's here, it's happening now. You have to learn to adopt it because that's where our customers are and we have to meet them where they're at. So I think AI is going to, at least for the short term future, is going to be where we have to go and meet them and talk to them and reach them where they're at.

Shauna Cox (17:27):We'll close with a few reflections on the modern campus user conference itself, why these conversations matter and what it means to gather as a community committed to supporting modern learners in a rapidly changing higher education landscape.

Speaker 18 (17:41):I sat in my session yesterday with some students that were talking about their first year experience and I'm not the director of our first year experience set up, but I do have a lot of input into it. So one thing I did learn is that at least from this group of kids, we do a lot of presentations like most schools do for kids coming in as freshmen and you present all this information to them, overload them information, but the students did say, "What we do wish is that we could have a junior or senior year student, third or fourth year, be part of that, and that way they can explain their experience in the process." So I'm going to bring that back and introduce that to our directors and see if they want to include that in it. And one thing that I presented to them as well, to some of the people there, just to keep the kids engaged, because that's what the big problem was, they get tired and sleepy.

(18:31):Well, what I do in our presentations is we get donations from local restaurants for food and what student college kid doesn't like free food, right? And we also get three or four big prizes that we'll give away because they have to turn in a little cheat with their name and stuff when they come in and I'll let them know before we start. All right, so about every five or 10 minutes, I'm going to stop and ask some questions. And if you get an answer right, you get a free gift card for some food. And then we'll do a drawing later after all the sessions are over and then contact the students who won the prizes. And I promise you, from the first round that I was involved in, we didn't do that to the second round where I instituted that, the engagement increased by about 80 or 85%.

(19:14):It was awesome.

Speaker 19 (19:15):What I've enjoyed most about this conference is that we have used CMS at our institution for over eight years and just the evolution of products that have come about. We're diving into possibly adding calendar and looking at messaging, which we haven't had up to this point. I think it's going to greatly benefit our university. I've enjoyed the robust nature of all the information that has been given in the format that it's been giving, and I'm looking very forward to going home and presenting this to my colleagues and the higher ups in our institution.

Speaker 20 (19:49):The conference has been really nice to see other users that we have wanted to collaborate with, but really have never been able to make that connection, so we've been able to make a lot of connections. It's been useful for that.

Voiceover (20:04):This podcast is made possible by a partnership between Modern Campus and the Evolution. The Modern Campus Engagement Platform powers solutions for non-traditional student management, web content management, catalog and curriculum management, student engagement and development, conversational text messaging, career pathways, and campus maps and virtual tours. The result, innovative institutions can create learner to earner life cycle that engages modern learners for life while providing modern administrators with the tools needed to streamline workflows and drive high efficiency. To learn more and to find out how to modernize your campus, visit moderncampus.com. That's moderncampus.com.