Eric Morris (American Public University System) on Transforming the End to End Learner Experience

On today’s episode of the Illumination by Modern Campus podcast, podcast host Shauna Cox was joined by Eric Morris to discuss how institutions can reduce friction in the enrollment process while building deeper, long-term relationships that improve student retention and success.

Transcript

Shauna Cox (00:02):

Eric, welcome to the Illumination Podcast.

Eric Morris (00:05):

Thanks. Great to be here.

Shauna Cox (00:07):

I'm so excited to have this conversation. We are here to talk about higher ed and employers, that key partner in co-designing future-ready learning pathways. Very critical in today's time. So I'm going to kick off our conversation and first ask you, how should higher ed and employers rethink the way that they're co-designing future-ready learning pathways, especially when we're in a very AI-driven, rapidly changing economy?

Eric Morris (00:34):

Yeah, that's a great question. When I think about it, employers in higher education have a need to be more collaborative than ever before. Meaningful collaboration is really needed in order to keep pace with the fast-changing workplace needs. If either side really tried to approach this in a silo, they would continually be playing catch-up or get left behind, especially in light of that AI intense pace of change. New challenges are really emerging every day. We know that AI roles have significantly changed the landscape of the job market in recent years, and that AI skills and that literacy that's around it are touching almost all jobs, even those that aren't AI specific. This evolution requires that fundamental shift in how learning pathways are designed and delivered. Rather than those traditional models where curriculum updates could be infrequent or employer input might be limited, both sides need to engage in ongoing structured dialogue.

(01:31):

That dialogue should include things like regular feedback loops, joint analysis of labor market trends, and co-developed curriculum whenever it's possible would be great, including assessment tools that ensure learners are equipped with the most relevant and up-to-date skills. When I think about it in our partnership aspect, I think that meaningful partnerships between industry and education should move beyond that transactional arrangements, such as short-term projects or internships, but instead focus on strategic long-term collaboration. So this includes co-designing courses, embedding real-world projects in academic programs, and really establishing a cross-sector advisory council is one of the things that we really like to do that meets regularly and reviews anticipated skill gaps. Employers can play an active role, not only in validating program design, but also in mentoring students or sharing expertise and providing access to emerging technologies and data. Likewise, we think that institutions can leverage faculty expertise to research and help employers stay ahead of those technological disruptions.

(02:44):

So when I think about it, ultimately, the goal for us and for others should be to create those future-ready learning pathways that are flexible, responsive in nature, and aligned in both current and anticipated workforce needs. By working together, higher education and employers can really help ensure graduates are prepared to thrive in an economy that's now being shaped by AI with constant disruptions, and learning really remains lifelong, maybe adaptive in process. So here at APUS, we think about collaborating across all of our departments, everything from product to academics, to my team and strategic partnerships to evaluate new programs against robust sets of market indicators, hopefully incorporating industry input through our industry advisory councils, external research and insights from program evaluation systems and much, much more. But through those efforts and really beyond the other items we're doing for program evaluation, it helps us focus on market demand and the opportunities that are there, including those industry growth trends, market expansion, any emerging skills or needs that are in those industry spaces, whether it be technological or regulatory changes.

(03:58):

And that helps us think about those occupational demands and how that career outlook is being included and aligned, whether it be simply job titles or career pathways. But that keeps us focused on things like projected employment growth, wages and salary benchmarks and employer hiring demand.

Shauna Cox (04:19):

Absolutely. And I want to pull on this thread here that you mentioned before around structure because you also mentioned market demand. Correct me if I'm wrong, but curriculum models and review process in higher ed have traditionally been very long processes, very lagging, and it can't meet with today's demands, quite honestly, with the workforce. So how can colleges and universities build more agile curriculum models that are going to evolve at the pace of industry rather than lagging behind it?

Eric Morris (04:52):

Yeah, I think that's kind of been the question for a long time, and the faster the pace gets, the harder it gets

Shauna Cox (04:57):

To

Eric Morris (04:58):

Keep up with that. So when I think about it, I think about creating curriculum models that are truly agile and responsive to the industry needs. Institutions need to really think about going beyond those traditional slow moving processes and embrace a system that is more focused on continuously informed and being adaptable in nature. At APUS here, we have adopted an ecosystem approach that actively engages employers to stay up to date and think about the latest demands and skill gaps that are being created within the workforce. This approach is designed to ensure that our curriculum remains relevant, helps with scalability, and ensures that we have an efficient model to do so, hopefully responding quickly to change and industry requirements. So a big part that's central to that, to bring it down a little bit is those industry advisory councils that I spoke of earlier. So we call them IACs.

(05:55):

They operate both at our school level, we have across our five schools, and then we have at the program level as well, especially in fields where workforce needs are a little bit more significant at any given time. These councils are composed of industry professionals who offer expert guidance, hopefully share insights into emerging trends, and then advocate for curriculum enhancements for us that align to those current and future workforce demands. Their ongoing involvement really helps us try to guarantee that our educational programs maintain excellence while also preparing students for the realities of the modern workplace. For example, most recently, we collaborated with our department chair of nursing to help provide invites to key individuals in relevant roles within several of our healthcare-related partners. That helped us add some great members to our IAC within that space. And I get that a lot of institutions have IACs and things of that nature, and it might be something different in each institution.

(06:59):

So here at APUS, we think of IACs as a strategic partner to our academic space, so like our deans and our directors helping champion forward thinking approach to education, really by regularly reviewing and advising on our curriculum and the design and delivery of it. The councils ensure that our programs are not only meeting an academic standard or help ensure that, but also regulously being aligned with the evolving job market and the requirements that are coming out of that. That collaboration between academia and the industry allows us to foster strong connections, allows us to empower our graduates to thrive in that rapidly changing landscape and contribute meaningfully to the advancement in their chosen field that they're in. I would say that in summary, building that agile curriculum model, and honestly, just as importantly, keeping it current and relevant requires that ongoing structured partnership between educational institutions and industry leaders.

(08:05):

And by, in our case, leveraging advisory councils and maintaining open channels of communications, colleges and universities can create a proactive approach to adapting their programs and ensuring that students are equipped with skills and knowledge to succeed in that dynamic space.

Shauna Cox (08:25):

Absolutely. And in terms of the proactive element, I want to dive into the job market a little bit more because there are always new skills arising. And with the new skills that are being required of employees, at the same time, other skills are going to be obsolete or less important. So in this world where the technical skills are rapidly expiring, how should institutions balance the durable human skills with emerging AI and automation competencies?

Eric Morris (09:02):

That's a great question. Many of those technical skills are evolving almost at a constant pace. Certain skills, as you mentioned, are becoming obsolete. It's really essential for education institutions to find thoughtful balance between cultivating those durable human skills that you spoke of and teaching those emerging competencies and things such as AI and automation. Here at American Public University System, we're committed to building a holistic learning ecosystem that supports students throughout their entire academic journey, thinking about things from admissions and advising all the way through the course content, going into co-curricular type activities. That comprehensive approach ensures that students not only gain expertise in rapidly advancing technologies whenever it's relevant to their program, but also develops those foundational human skills that remain relevant regardless of the industry that they're in or how those industries shift. One of the best examples that we have, how we prioritize that and look at those types of skills is our signature skills.

(10:14):

Our signature skills are skills that are in all core classes. These skills include digital literacy, critical thinking, and a growth mindset. Signature skills at APUS really were established to create that consistent set of university-wide expectations across all programs that we have now been able to embed throughout our entire curriculum and on our focus has shifted more into each industry or specific area. We're drawing on the expertise of our faculty and many of whom are active practitioners in their given field, as well as the insights and guidance from those industry advisory councils that I just spoke of. So when we think about that, a key emphasis moving forward is really highlighting the interconnectiveness and importance of strengthening those skills like digital literacy, including AI along with critical thinking at the same time. So those closely involved with the project of signature skills often describe those two skills as the bicep and tricep of student success.

(11:25):

Both of those must be developed together to achieve an optimal performance. So thinking a little bit more in depth on our signature skills and to talk about how those are involved in each of our programs, digital literacy is meant to be something that enables students to confidently understand, utilize and critically access ... I'm sorry, critically assess digital tools and artificial intelligence, preparing them for success in that technology-driven world. At the same time, critical thinking really empowers students to analyze information objectively. We want them to challenge assumptions and make informed decisions. And then the growth mindset rounds it out with encouraging adaptability, innovation, that thought of lifelong learning and helping graduates thrive with ongoing change. So while degree requirements for each program provide that technical in- depth understanding, we are intentionally embedding all these signature skills across all aspects of the student experience. This means that students encounter opportunities to practice and refine their abilities, not just within their core coursework, but also through their advising experience, projects that they may be involved with or any of those extracurricular activities that we provide.

(12:45):

So we think about it in a way of by integrating durable human skills throughout their journey, APS graduates are hopefully better equipped to navigate complex professional environments, collaborate effectively and adapt to new technologies and roles. Also, we think about this approach, helping us ensure that we have well-rounded education that prepares students for both immediate workforce demands, but that long-term personal and professional growth as well. So ultimately, when students develop those technical skills alongside these enduring capabilities that we're talking about in the signature skills, they not only demonstrate mastery of current tools and platforms, but also signal to their employers that they can learn new systems, approach problems with a strategic lens, and drive innovation within teams.

Shauna Cox (13:34):

And one thought I've had while you were mentioning that, giving that response there is this world of lifelong learning that we're living in and how important interconnectivity is internally and externally. And from an external standpoint, employers and that relationship with the employers and the institution is so key in how programs are shaped and how prepared learners are to either reenter the workforce or go into the workforce. So what does a meaningful employer partnership look like, say, beyond an internship, because it's really scaled beyond that at this point. And then how can employers actively validate and shape a program's design to ensure the workforce readiness is going to happen at scale?

Eric Morris (14:22):

Yeah, so this gets to some of the core items that I deal with almost on a daily basis in our strategic partnership space here at American Public University System. And I said earlier, while internships have long been a staple of employer educated partnerships, truly impactful collaboration needs to go much further than that, really engaging employers in a dynamic ongoing process that directly shapes student learning and workforce outcomes. In my experience with strategic partnerships, the most effective relationships are those that extend well beyond those transactional agreements or that isolated internship opportunity, and instead they are comprehensive. They're set up to be consultative engagements built really on a mutual commitment to developing a workforce-ready state that meets both current and future demands. Our most successful partnerships are typically multi-layered involving a broad network of stakeholders on both sides, the institution and the organization. So we partner with over 120 employers and organizations directly.

(15:34):

And then in addition to that, we actually collaborate with many of the leading tuition assistance administrators, as well as many vertical channel partners that helps extend that indirect reach to more than a thousand organizations, and that helps with expanding our awareness and of our academic programs across those diverse industries. Some of these include working with large organizations like Allied Universal Security to more niche organizations like Charlie's Produce, as well as unique organizations like the British Columbia Hockey League, as well as pretty much everything in between. So in these, it includes not only access to things like talent pipelines, general networking opportunities, tuition savings is normally a staples of it, but also transfer credit pathways and deep collaboration with benefit leaders, learning and development specialists, talent acquisition, and key departmental managers. On our side though as well, it's important for them to engage. We ensure that these contacts within these organizations engage with our partnership strategists, our career services professionals, academic program leads, and of course our student support teams.

(16:42):

That holistic approach really fosters a close and ongoing communication between the parties involved, helping with alignment and sharing those workforce development goals, moving far beyond those traditional one-to-one education network models. A key aspect of any of these key partnerships for us is the identification and analysis of those workforce skill gaps that you were mentioning with the specific organization itself. Really recognizing such gaps exist is going to be inevitable, especially in that rapidly changing economy that we were just speaking of. We want to help our partners reframe these challenges as strategic opportunities rather than challenges. And then we also recognize that rather than simply hiring out of this through new talent, they need to address those deficits through upskilling and re-skilling and investing in that. In the data that we've reviewed, only about 54% of employers report satisfaction with their current talent pool. So that really highlights the need to not go and hire your way out of this and find a robust and a learning strategy that focuses on upskilling through education benefits, helping empower employees to sharpen both those technical skills as well as those interpersonal skills, contributing hopefully to career mobility, reducing turnover and supporting succession planning for the organization itself.

(18:13):

So once an organization has truly assessed its employee skills and identified some of those areas where they feel like they could have growth opportunities, we like to collaborate with them to align on relevant academic offerings within our space that helps align their learning and development objectives. With that, we have over 230 degree and certificate programs, as well as individual courses that can be tailored solutions to fit those unique organizational needs that they may have with a goal of hopefully providing a flexible, maybe stackable option for them to target those skill development within their organizations. Most often, one of the things when we approach people with these types of approach organizations with these types of offerings, cost associated with it is one of the most common things that comes up. And what's really nice about this is those financial resources are something that any learning and development professional is thinking about right now.

(19:15):

The realities are L&D budget shift. It might not be the most invested space within their organization at any given time. So we like to work closely with the partners to help maximize the impact of existing programs that might be there. For example, tuition assistance is very common. And by embedding those workforce development initiatives within traditional degree programs and those academic level courses, employees can often leverage their tuition benefits to pursue that relevant education, often supporting the organizational strategy and the individual career goals at the same time. One of the ways that we've most recently worked to accomplish this is a product that we call tuition-wise. It's an approach of essentially ensuring affordability and transparency for both the learners and the employers as we partner. So it aligns our tuition cost with their tuition assistance program, and tuition-wise then allows the organization to maximize the impact of tuition assistance programs, and it makes high quality upskilling accessible to more employees because of that alignment.

(20:24):

It supports both the organizational budget goals and the commitment to the workforce readiness that may be sometimes blocked by those financial barriers for learners.

(20:36):

So at the same time, when we think about you have such a great program and you have a way of paying for it, the next biggest issue typically is knowing about it. We find that only about 30% of employers report ... I'm sorry, that about 30% of employers report that there's low utilization of tuition assistance for those types of benefits. And it's oftentimes due to a lack of awareness or sometimes understanding that eligibility. So another key part of our partnership when we think about it in our day-to-day is addressing this. We assign each partner a dedicated partnership specialist. They're responsible for managing that relationship and really spearheading the awareness of what we're doing together. This includes providing turnkey resources for awareness around that, communication, social media, things of that nature, as well as doing events and promoting it within the L&D opportunities during the everyday interactions with their staff.

(21:34):

So we think that by building that multifaceted partnership, that it prioritizes clear communication, it focuses on continuous engagement, and it's really a strategic alignment that we're able to help eliminate barriers to participate and hopefully celebrate some of those successes together. This approach really helps foster a growth-oriented culture while ensuring that both organizations and their employees can thrive.

Shauna Cox (22:02):

Now I'm going to throw in a question here. You're welcome to answer or not. Totally up to you. But I'm very curious because in your role, you're working with strategic partnerships, there are so many stakeholders internally, externally, and the initiatives that you're doing obviously have that win-win scenario for everybody in the end, but I'm wondering, it can't just be a walk in the park. So I'm wondering, how do you get that buy-in from various departments, various stakeholders? What are the challenges in getting everybody on board? And maybe do you have some best practices or advice you could share to help bring everyone together to serve the mission of the institution?

Eric Morris (22:48):

Yeah, absolutely. When I think about bringing everyone together, you think about some of the things that are driving the reason why you're having the conversation in the first place. Typically, we talked about the skills gaps that may exist and how we could solve those, and I think it's figuring out what that need is for them, aligning it with our programs and figuring out who the stakeholders are within each of those spaces. It's very important to be able to measure the successes within each of those spaces and not just on credential completion, but focus on those tangible outcomes and demonstrated things like career mobility and lasting impact on learners. I think about how to evaluate if it's actually having an impact.

(23:42):

It's not just about is the skills developed, but also are they still utilizing those skills? Is it still relevant to the reason why we started this in the first place? We talked about things shifting at the beginning of this conversation. There's a continuous feedback loop that's essential to that, and employers should really, in that partnership, share and feel like this is a partnership, not a vendor relationship. Share the data across the different spaces, how people are leveraging the credentials that they've achieved with us, and where do we go next? And I think that when you bring people to the table in that way, and it's a very collaborative approach, it's a partnership, it's not a vendor relationship, you'll start to be able to measure success and include tracking on what's driving ROI for those organizations as a whole.

Shauna Cox (24:36):

Absolutely. Because it's really ... I think when you mentioned the collaboration component, it's bringing everyone to the table in almost level setting that this is a collaborative approach and not that vendor relationship. And I think that kind of puts everybody at ease and makes them focus more on that mission. So appreciate you answering that question. And now since we talked about measuring success, obviously a very key part of the job, how should institutions measure success in closing those skills gaps, as you mentioned, beyond credential completion, but through career mobility and that long-term learner impact, especially because we're serving lifelong learners now?

Eric Morris (25:14):

Yeah, I think we hit on the fact that it definitely is not just about, did you get this degree or did you get this credential? So going beyond that. So a big part of it begins with the skills validation. So confirm that the learners have actually acquired specific competencies needed by the employer. That means that institutions must have a way of working with the employer to actively assess whether the learner pathways and the credentials provided are actually bringing the identified skill gaps together, not just awarding the credential. Success should be defined really in that real world application of those skills and reflect on their job performance or at least the intended gaps that they were trying to focus on at that point in time. Sometimes that includes looking at things like advancement and the actual organizational impact itself. So you have to reassess through a chosen tool by the employer.

(26:11):

Many times those tools are going to be at the organizational level, not at our level. They're going to have the ways that they've identified what gaps were there to begin with. We talked earlier about having that feedback loop, but we need to really highlight whether their workforce skills have been reduced and eliminated. And then that includes having that exchange from both parties to adjust the strategy, think about what those education offerings were that we were focused on. Do they need a change? Make sure that we have alignment on all of those needs. So I believe that measuring success should also include tracking the actual skills utilization within the specific roles, not just the initial building of the skills. And then oftentimes organizations may look at that and say, let's think about career mobility and succession planning. Did the critical indicators that we were hoping to impact actually take place rather than just relying solely on the external hiring?

(27:14):

So we're upskilling, we're re-skilling, and employers and institutions should continue to collaborate and build internal pathways for those skills attainment and credentialing. So that approach actually supports employees' growth and development versus just a check in the box for the credential.

(27:34):

When I think about it, institutions like ours really help employers design talent initiatives that align with role progression and performance goals and succession planning. That helps ensure that learning and development efforts really contribute directly to that workforce advancement. And one of the things that I really think this is rooted in in the last few years we did in collaboration with our parent company of the University American Public Education Incorporated and Hanover Research, we took a look at some of the workforce trends and we found that the research really emphasizes the value of aligning tuition assistance and learning as well as development opportunities. And employers that offer meaningful education benefits in this way really gain a competitive advantage in attracting that top talent. We found that 77% of organizational leaders agreed that tuition support plays a key role in enhancing retention as well as facilitating their succession planning.

(28:38):

So those findings to me really underscore the importance of what we're doing and measuring not just educational attainment, but also broader workforce outcomes and driving organizational success for employee growth. So when I think about all that, that we've hit on a day going from the shifts in the workforce because of AI and being disruptive, think about how we bring in industry into how we develop curriculum, how we do meaningful partnerships and how we measure it. I think it really brings it all together very nicely and how ultimately industry and universities are going to be continually working together to solve this and hopefully make it stronger every day.

Shauna Cox (29:29):

Absolutely. It is no small feat and having more partnerships and collaboration and more people in on the game really helps it come to fruition because no one can do that alone. That is a lot.

Eric Morris (29:45):

No, we would prefer not to. We love working with our industry partners and having that voice at the table, and I hope that they feel the same, or I should say I know they feel the same based on our relationships. So it's an exciting place to be.

Shauna Cox (29:59):

Amazing. Well, Well, Eric, those are all the questions that I have for you, but before I let you go, I have to ask you our bonus question. Now, if you had a book that you would recommend to our audience, what would you recommend that they pick up?

Eric Morris (30:11):

Sure. Yeah. So as a leader, I think it's important to fine tune your leadership skills. So one of the things that I've read a long time ago and continue to go back to even to today is strength-based leadership that was put out by Gallup and authored by Tom Rath. It really focuses in on understanding your strengths specifically, the strengths of your team, and focused on leveraging those strengths in the most meaningful ways because everybody has their own strengths that they're bringing to the table and collectively it makes us that much better.

Shauna Cox (30:49):

Amazing. Eric, thank you so much for the recommendation and for the insights. I really appreciate it.

Eric Morris (30:55):

Thank you, Shauna.