Leading Learning Podcast

Nuno Fernandes is president of American Public University System. One of the pioneers of online education in the United States, APUS now offers 200 programs serving more than 90,000 students in 50 states and almost 50 countries around the world. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 432, Nuno shares how he came to lead a higher education institution, and he and co-host Jeff Cobb...

Motivation and mindset are two of the baseline requirements for effective, lasting, and enjoyable learning. Through thoughtful design and delivery, learning businesses have the ability and opportunity to influence the motivation and mindset of the learners they serve. In this episode, number 431, Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele look at these two related but different...

Impact is one of the core goals at the heart of most learning businesses, and we believe that impact should be as broad as possible—meaning ideally your learning business delivers significant and relevant results for learners, for the organizations that employ those learners, and for the fields, professions, and industries those learners work in. In this episode, number 430, Leading Learning Podca...

Having a strategy is part of what any learning business needs to thrive. But what does establishing a strategy look like? In this episode, number 429, we get a peek behind the strategy-developing curtain in a conversation. Pam Rosenberg, director of education for the American Society for Nondestructive Testing, has been in the exciting role of helping to develop ASNT’s first formal education strat...

Most learning businesses have three goals at heart: reach, revenue, and impact. Reach deals with clearly identifying who you can and should serve and then connecting with them. Impact involves delivering real results for learners, organizations, fields, professions, and industries. Revenue is the lifeblood that keeps a learning business alive. Very few would disagree that impact and reach are impo...

Heutagogy might be the most important and powerful idea in learning that you never heard mentioned on the Leading Learning Podcast. Until today. If a learning business embraces heutagogy, it will be well positioned to lead learning in the field, industry, or profession it serves because it will have enlisted the help of all learners. In this episode, number 427, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steel...

In the U.S., higher education institutions are increasingly interested in serving nontraditional students, in providing credentials beyond degrees, and in using online learning to extend their reach beyond physical campuses. As those changes happen in higher ed, ripples are created that impact the learning business landscape. Luke Dowden is the chief online learning officer at the Alamo Colleges D...

Learning is both a natural, intuitive activity all humans engage in and a complicated process we haven’t yet fully appreciated or understood. While there are plenty of nuances and neuroscientific details that factor in, fundamentally learning requires three elements: motivation, time, and effort. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 425, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele focu...

Fundamentally there are only two factors to consider when looking to grow the reach, revenue, and impact of your learning business: audiences (those you sell to) and products (what you sell). In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 424, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele break down four high-level approaches to growing your learning business, weigh the generic risks of each, and...

In a crowded and competitive market, high quality signaled by accreditation can help a learning business stand out. That’s why we wanted to talk with Randy Bowman, president and CEO of the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training, a nonprofit standards development and accrediting body. In episode 423, Randy talks with Leading Learning Podcast co-host Celisa Steele about what...

Competitive advantage, whether sustained or transient, is becoming harder and harder to maintain. Collaborative advantage may be the answer. In this episode, number 422, we recap competitive advantage, sustained advantage, and transient advantage and then posit a fourth type of advantage for learning businesses to consider: collaborative advantage. Show notes and a downloadable transcript are avai...

Self-reflection is an important tool for learners and an important activity for learning business leaders. Dr. Will Thalheimer includes a succinct list of what a great learning leader should be in his book The CEO’s Guide to Training, eLearning & Work . In episode 421 of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele use his list as the basis for a look at what goes into le...

Learning businesses are part of the third sector of education—the sector that serves the adult learner after they work through the K-12 sector and, then for some, the degree-granting higher education sector. Higher education institutions are increasingly playing a role in serving lifelong and continuing learners. Kemi Jona is the vice provost for online education and digital innovation at the Univ...

In our Learning Business Maturity Model, marketing is one of the five fundamental domains learning businesses need to work on and in to mature and be successful. The Inquiring Mind by Cyril Houle was written in 1961, but it’s a foundational text that can still provide learning businesses with a better understanding of the motivations of the learners they aim to serve. Show notes and a downloadable...

For learning businesses, it’s important to truly understand the learners they aim to serve. To help with that understanding, in this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, number 418, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele turn to a text that’s over 60 years old but still incredibly relevant. In The Inquiring Mind , Cyril Houle divides lifelong learners into three categories: goal-oriented, activi...

It’s gotten incredibly easy to produce and consume content. That means the market value of content is approaching zero. And that means that learning businesses need to provide more than just content. Learning businesses that can provide connection are going to attract and retain passionate and engaged learners. Ginger Johnson focuses her work on the power of human connection and the why and the ho...

If you’re looking to improve the reach, revenue, and impact of your learning business, focus on engagement, not content. Content is no longer king. Engagement is everything. In episode 416 of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele talk about why the importance of content and even context is waning and why a focus on engagement is a savvy move for learning businesses com...

Finding the right balance of online and offline learning to have in a portfolio is one of the critical concerns facing learning businesses in our post-pandemic world because getting that mix as close to ideal as possible is key to securing a learning business’s reach, revenue, and impact. In episode 415 of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele offer nine criteria, acco...

On January 1, 2025, we’ll enter the second half of the turbulent 2020s and come that much closer to the Threatening 30s, to borrow the terms of our guest for episode 414 of the Leading Learning Podcast. Organizations of all kinds have a vested interest in seeing the future as clearly as possible and taking action—action to bring about the best possible future for those they serve. Leading Learning...

For learning businesses that want to thrive in the evolving lifelong learning market, identifying metatrends and unpacking what they might mean in terms of risks and opportunities is crucial. In episode 413 of the Leading Learning Podcast, co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele offer ten metatrends they see when looking at how lifelong learning is shifting to keep pace with change. Show notes and a...

What does a world that learns better look like? It’s an intriguing question for learning businesses to consider because learning businesses have an opportunity and a responsibility to build a world that learns better, and it’s that question that Leading Learning Podcast co-hosts Jeff Cobb and Celisa Steele explore in episode 412. The question has a philosophical bent, but trying to answer it can h...

We’ve reached a point in history where it’s essentially a given that learning products will make use of technology to deliver, support, or deepen learning. Geoff Stead has dedicated his career to building learning tools that sit in what he calls the messy middle between the power of new technologies and real human learning needs. He’s currently chief product officer at MyTutor, and he’s co-author...

Capacity deals with the people and the technology a learning business has in place, and capacity has a quantitative and a qualitative aspect. How well can the people and the technology do the work, and how much can the people and the technology do? Artificial intelligence has the potential to change both the quality and the quantity of work that a learning business does, and so, in this episode of...

There are many ways to look at data. Two views that can be clarifying for learning businesses are the performance view and the potential view. You can use data to understand how you’re doing currently. How is your learning business performing? You can and should also use data to understand possibilities. How could you be doing? What products and services might you add or sunset or change? In this...

Effective marketing is integral to a learning business’s success. But doing marketing well requires care and thought. In this episode, number 408, Leading Learning Podcast co-host Celisa Steele talks with Michelle Brien, vice president of marketing at Matchbox, who approaches her work with care and thought and authenticity. Celisa and Michelle talk about how Michelle defines marketing, the central...