With over 20 years of experience in higher education, particularly in continuing and professional studies, Casandra Blassingame has dedicated her career to meeting the needs of adult learners. And as the current CEO of the International Accreditors for Continuing Education & Training (IACET), she is also a doctoral candidate in the adult education program at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. In this third episode of our seven-part series about the surge of the third sector of education, ...
Jan 26, 2021•43 min
As a leading expert and true innovator related to the future of learning and work, Dr. Michelle Weise has had the unique opportunity to engage with a multitude of stakeholder viewpoints surrounding the third sector of education. She is currently the entrepreneur-in-residence and a senior advisor at Imaginable Futures and author of several books, including her most recent, Long Life Learning: Preparing for Jobs That Don’t Even Exist Yet . In this second episode in our series on the surge of the t...
Jan 19, 2021•44 min
It’s a new year and we’re kicking it off with another seven-episode series of the podcast. Our previous series focused on the learning business in disruptive times, but this time we’ll be exploring the surge of the third sector of education—particularly the related implications this has on learning businesses. In this episode, we delve into some background behind the third sector of education including what it is, factors that have led to its tremendous growth, and why it is so important. We als...
Jan 08, 2021•27 min
As we wrap up our series on the learning business in disruptive times, it’s important to reflect on what we’ve learned and consider where we go next in these complex times of uncertainty You may remember back in episode 254 , that we broke down and reflected on our first two interviews—one with Seth Kahan , founder of Visionary Leadership, and the other with Shilpa Alimchandani , a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist. Since then, we've had the chance to also speak with Tracey Steiner , s...
Nov 24, 2020•34 min
With 25 years of experience in the association sector, Shawn Boynes, executive director of American Association for Anatomy (AAA), spent the greater part of his career passionately serving in the education and professional development space. In this time, he developed a true appreciation for learning and the value that associations bring to the world, which has undoubtedly shaped who he is today as a leader. Focused on influencing positive change, he is also a co-host of the recently launched Te...
Nov 17, 2020•31 min
As the senior vice president for education and training at NRECA, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association , Tracey Steiner oversees the development of the association’s annual and regional meetings, national conferences, board of directors training, executive and staff-level education, and credentialing programs. She is also the creator of "Tracey’s Takeaways" , a regular feature on NRECA’s website that focuses on employee development, management issues, leadership and organizational...
Nov 10, 2020•36 min
We’ve reached the midpoint in our series on the learning business in disruptive times so we want to take some time to reflect on what we’ve learned so far. After laying the groundwork in the first episode , we then featured interviews with Seth Kahan , founder of Visionary Leadership, and Shilpa Alimchandani , a seasoned diversity, equity, and inclusion strategist. In this fourth episode of the seven-part series, we revisit reflection questions from our first episode and provide an update on the...
Nov 03, 2020•32 min
With over two decades of experience in DEI leadership development and intercultural learning, Shilpa Alimchandani, author of Communicating Development Across Cultures: Monologues and Dialogues in Development Project Implementation , is a leadership coach, instructional designer, and facilitator. In her independent consulting practice, she is passionate about helping her clients tackle issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion to achieve transformational change. In this third episode of o...
Oct 27, 2020•30 min
Seth Kahan is founder of the consulting firm, Visionary Leadership and author of the business bestsellers, Getting Change Right , Getting Innovation Right , and, most recently, Visionary Leadership: How Association Leaders Embrace Disruption in the 21st Century . He's worked with leaders of large multinational organizations and over a hundred association CEOs. Some of his most exciting work with those CEOs involves Grand Challenges—big, bold goals that organizations take on, partnering with othe...
Oct 20, 2020•42 min
It’s been a couple months since we released episode 250 of the Leading Learning Podcast and we're excited to be back with a new, revamped series approach to the podcast (rather than single, independent episodes as we’ve done in the past). With our new approach, over the course of several episodes—seven in this case—we’ll explore a topic from a variety of viewpoints, drawing on multiple interviews as well as offering our own thoughts and providing context for the conversations with others. And th...
Oct 13, 2020•24 min
In yet another exciting milestone for Leading Learning, we are thrilled to have officially reached episode 250 of the podcast. It’s hard to believe that we’ve been doing this for roughly five years at this point and have grown from zero listeners to more than 7,000 downloads a month! In this turning-point episode, we express our tremendous gratitude to everyone who has made the podcast possible. We also focus on input received from listeners that we think would be valuable to all learning busine...
Aug 04, 2020•19 min
As Vice President of Learning at Udemy , Shelley Osborne is a true learning leader who is passionate about building cultures of learning that enable the continuous upskilling of employees. She is also author of an upcoming book titled, The Upskilling Imperative: Five Ways to Make Learning Core to the Way We Work. And Shelley is even a Udemy instructor herself with seven courses currently available, ranging from topics such as fostering psychological safety, to best practices for working remotely...
Jul 28, 2020•40 min
Blake Boles is the founder and director of Unschool Adventures , a company that gives self-directed teens and young adults—mostly unschoolers— an opportunity to explore cities all over the world. Well-known for questioning our traditional approaches to schooling, Blake is a thought-provoking speaker, host of the Off-Trail Learning podcast , and author. His books include The Art of Self-Directed Learning , Better Than College , College Without High School , and the recently published, Why Are You...
Jul 21, 2020•41 min
Micène Fontaine is the executive director at Design Arts Seminars (DAS), an accredited provider of continuing education for design professionals that aims to inspire their clients to become catalysts of change and to design a world in which all of us can thrive. With two decades of experience designing high-quality learning experiences, he is passionate about their call to action as a provider of continuing education to move beyond the transactional relationship, to a truly transformative one. I...
Jul 14, 2020•38 min
Learner engagement is one of the holy grails of learning businesses—if the learner isn’t engaged, learning is unlikely to happen. So what are the necessary circumstances that need to exist in order for engagement in learning to happen? In this episode of the Leading Learning podcast, we delve into three conditions that have to be met to foster learner engagement: meaning, safety, and availability. We also discuss some examples and ideas of how you might support those conditions in the products a...
Jul 07, 2020•17 min
Feverbee founder and return podcast guest , Richard Millington has spent over a decade helping hundreds of companies around the world develop successful, indispensable communities. He is also an international speaker and author of Buzzing Communities: How To Build Bigger, Better, And More Active Online Communities and The Indispensable Community: Why Some Brand Communities Thrive When Others Perish . In this episode of the Leading Learning podcast, Jeff talks with Rich about the evolution of onl...
Jun 30, 2020•33 min
Diane Elkins is co-founder of Artisan E-Learning , a custom e-learning development company, and E-Learning Uncovered , a company specializing in training services, books, and resources for e-learning development using the major rapid e-learning authoring tools. She frequently speaks at events (in fact she led a session at Learning • Technology • Design 2019), and she’s co-author of E-Learning Fundamentals: A Practical Guide and the E-Learning Uncovered book series . In this episode of the Leadin...
Jun 23, 2020•39 min
The current coronavirus crisis is necessitating major changes in how many learning businesses meet existing needs. For example, a change like investing in expanding and improving your online learning portfolio as so many organizations are currently considering. But before making any major changes or investments, it’s important to first have a solid understanding of where you are as a learning business. That’s why in this episode, we are revisiting the Learning Business Maturity Model , a simple ...
Jun 16, 2020•14 min
Future-of-work strategist and return podcast guest , Heather McGowan is an in-demand, internationally known thought leader and speaker. She helps leaders prepare their people and organizations with human-centric approaches to continuously learn and adapt in order to meet the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She is also the co-author, along with Chris Shipley, of the recently released The Adaptation Advantage: Let Go, Learn Fast, and Thrive in the Future of Work . In this episode, Jef...
Jun 09, 2020•35 min
As president at The Thiagi Group , Matthew Richter is a recognized expert and thought leader in the areas of management, leadership, and performance technology. He wears many hats including that of speaker, facilitator, game designer, instructional designer, management consultant, and author of The Leadership Story: A New Model of Leadership . He’s also the co-host of the Truth in Learning podcast , along with previous podcast guest , Will Thalheimer. In this episode, Celisa talks with Matt abou...
Jun 02, 2020•32 min
Is e-learning effective? It’s a seemingly age-old question but a rather important one to address now when—due to COVID-19—many traditional forms of face-to-face education simply aren’t viable. And even though there’s a massive rush to move learning online, many—maybe even most—people still hold the view that e-learning is a second-rate or lesser form of learning when compared to face-to-face. In this episode of the Leading Learning Podcast, we examine whether e-learning is in fact, an effective ...
May 26, 2020•21 min
Arianna Rehak is co-founder and CEO of Matchbox Virtual Media , a firm that helps organizations produce virtual events that foster meaningful conversations. As the former coordinator of a highly successful virtual event series—a topic we interviewed her about in episode 111 —Arianna became passionate about how to effectively cultivate high levels of engagement while making meaning of collective knowledge in the online space. And since we are currently in the midst of a huge surge in the demand f...
May 19, 2020•32 min
Dr. George Siemens is professor at the University of Texas at Arlington and director of the Centre for Change and Complexity in Learning (C3L) at the University of South Australia. He’s an internationally known author and speaker who has delivered keynote addresses in more than 35 countries. He’s also a researcher and theorist in the field of learning, knowledge management, and technology. George is recognized for developing the learning theory of connectivism as well as for his pioneering work ...
May 12, 2020•42 min
Trying to figure out how to effectively price educational offerings is something many learning businesses struggle with, even under normal circumstances . But now that we are in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic—putting us in far from normal circumstances—it makes decisions related to pricing even that much more complex. From how to price conferences or seminars that have been abruptly shifted from face-to-face to online delivery, to whether your organization should lower prices given the ex...
May 05, 2020•23 min
The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) is an organization that serves more than 200,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. With a history deeply rooted in learning and education, ASHA is a leader among professional societies in the learning business and at the forefront of embracing new approaches to learning. And leading the charge behind all of this since 2004 is ASHA CEO, Arlene Pietranton. With 25 years at the associatio...
Apr 28, 2020•40 min
As a management consultant, executive coach, and facilitator, Liz Kislik has three decades of experience helping organizations break through barriers to develop high performing leaders and workforces. She is also a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review and Forbes, as well as a TEDx speaker on Why There’s So Much Conflict at Work and What You Can Do to Fix It . In this episode of Leading Learning – recorded in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis – Celisa talks with Liz about the idea of co...
Apr 21, 2020•40 min
The coronavirus pandemic is impacting life as we know it, including how we learn. Limits to travel and social distancing have created a resurgence of interest in online learning, and many organizations are rushing to launch or expand their e-learning efforts. But—and this “but” is critical—learner expectations are higher than in the past. Also, competition from direct competitors has increased as well as competition for people’s time and attention, especially as many are working and learning fro...
Apr 14, 2020•18 min
Robbie Kellman Baxter, founder of Peninsula Strategies , is a strategy and marketing expert with more than two decades of experience and an extensive list of blue chip clients. She is also a sought after keynote speaker and author of the bestselling book, The Membership Economy (which we interviewed her about in a previous podcast episode ), as well as the recently released, The Forever Transaction: How to Build a Subscription Model So Compelling, Your Customers Will Never Want to Leave . In thi...
Apr 07, 2020•46 min
Jim Fong, chief research officer at the University Professional and Continuing Education Association and founding director of UPCEA’s Center for Research and Strategy , has combined his extensive expertise in the areas of marketing, research, and analytics to focus on making an impact in higher education. The self-professed trend watcher also has a particular interest in exploring generational differences and how they are impacting education and the new economy. In this episode of the Leading Le...
Mar 31, 2020•38 min
Social learning. It’s a topic that most of us have been hearing about for well over a decade at this point. But it has recently been making a resurgence in the learning landscape, only this time, it’s for different reasons. With the growing emphasis on learning in the flow of work as well as new and emerging technologies, social learning has been steadily gaining traction again as a rising trend. But with what is now happening with COVID-19, the focus on it is likely to intensify dramatically as...
Mar 24, 2020•21 min
