signals in higher ed

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signals in higher ed cuts through the noise to surface what’s actually working across admissions, enrollment, student success, and institutional strategy—told by the leaders building what’s next. Each episode turns real-world challenges into clear, actionable takeaways you can apply on your campus today. Expect candid conversations on innovation, policy, and the data behind better decisions. Host: Darin Francis—CEO & Managing Partner at Harbinger Lane Consulting and former host of DisruptED.

  1. 3d ago

    How AI Exposes the Credentialism Crisis with Phil Hill

    On this latest episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Phil Hill, founder of Phil Hill and Associates and publisher of On EdTech, joins Darin Francis, CEO of Harbinger Lane, to examine a hard truth facing higher education: AI did not create the crisis around academic integrity, assessment, and student learning. Instead, it is exposing weaknesses in a system that has increasingly prioritized credentials, grades, and completion over demonstrating what students actually know and can do. Hill argues that the rise of generative AI makes it harder for higher education to ignore longstanding questions about whether traditional assessments genuinely measure learning and whether the credential itself has become too dominant as the measure of educational success. The conversation explores alternatives already taking shape, including skills- and competency-based education, authentic assessment, work-based learning, and new approaches that acknowledge AI as a permanent part of students' lives. Hill points to the University of Sydney's approach of distinguishing between assessments where AI can be used and those where students must independently demonstrate their abilities. He also highlights state-level experimentation, particularly in Texas, as evidence that higher education can recognize multiple pathways and measures of student success rather than relying on a single traditional credential. Hill and Francis also examine what meaningful institutional change looks like in practice. Examples from Colorado and California community colleges demonstrate how course sharing, cross-institutional collaboration, technology, and AI can address resource constraints, access challenges, and fraud. Their conclusion is that higher education does not necessarily suffer from a shortage of promising ideas. The harder problem is moving successful innovations from isolated initiatives into the mainstream. Hill describes the necessary approach as essentially “go big, but be patient,” emphasizing that transformation requires leadership support, governance, persistence, and significant political capital. Ultimately, Hill sees authentic assessment and student-first design as two of the most important opportunities ahead. Rather than treating AI primarily as a cheating problem, institutions have an opportunity to reconsider what they want students to learn, how students can meaningfully demonstrate that learning, and whether existing systems are designed around the needs of students or the preservation of established processes. For edtech companies hoping to participate in that transformation, Hill offers a parallel lesson: understand higher education's language and culture, have patience with its pace of change, but do not lose the original purpose of building something intended to improve the system.

  2. Sep 28

    Time to Value with Brandee Popaden-Smith

    In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Darin Francis sits down with Brandee Popaden-Smith, Senior Director in University College at Arizona State University, to explore a shift in how higher education thinks about student success: moving from time to completion to time to value. For Brandee, the question is no longer simply whether students eventually earn a degree, but whether they can recognize meaningful value from their education along the way. For working learners in particular, waiting years for a credential to pay off can feel increasingly disconnected from the realities of balancing work, family, finances, and school. She argues that institutions can shorten that time to value by embedding skill development, employer engagement, and real-world experiences throughout the student journey. Brandee explains how ASU's Work+Learn efforts put that philosophy into practice. Through Work+, traditional student employment can become an intentional learning experience that develops skills and prepares students for future opportunities rather than functioning solely as a paycheck. More broadly, work-integrated learning can bring employer projects, job simulations, internships, and other applied experiences directly into the curriculum so students do not have to look outside their degree program for the "real-world experience" employers expect. The conversation also examines what it takes to make these changes at scale. Drawing on lessons from the Work+ Collective and its 37 partner institutions, Brandee describes why successful transformation begins with user-centered design rather than a predetermined solution. Different institutions face different barriers, from hiring processes and access to student employment to curriculum design and organizational structure, so understanding the experiences of students, supervisors, faculty, and staff has to come first. Brandee and Darin also dig into the less visible work behind institutional change: building cross-functional coalitions, documenting what works and what doesn't, using storytelling to build support, and inviting students themselves to help define the problem. Brandee reflects on how her background in residential life taught her to see students as whole people, and how her approach has evolved from seeking a "perfect" launch to embracing prototypes, pilots, rapid learning, and iteration. Ultimately, the conversation makes the case for a higher education experience in which value is not deferred until graduation. Instead, institutions can intentionally create moments throughout a student's journey where learning translates into skills, experience, confidence, and opportunities students can use right now.

  3. Sep 21

    Respect, Not Rescue with Daryl Graham of Strada Education

    In this latest episode of Signals in Higher Ed, host Darin Francis, CEO of Harbinger Lane, sits down with Daryl Graham, Senior Vice President of HBCU and Engagement at Strada Education Foundation, to examine what higher education can learn from historically Black colleges and universities about student success, belonging, leadership development, and career preparation. Graham shares the story behind Strada’s $25 million, eight-year HBCU initiative, which grew out of the upheaval of 2020 and now includes 47 partner institutions. Rather than arriving with a predetermined program, Strada began with a listening tour of HBCU presidents, chancellors, and campus leaders. What emerged was a model centered on partnership rather than prescription, giving institutions the resources and flexibility to build upon what they already do well. The conversation explores why financial support alone is not enough to improve student outcomes. Graham describes how belonging, intentional leadership development, coaching, and work-based learning work together to create the conditions for students to succeed. Strada Scholars are graduating at rates in the mid-90s, while nine in ten seniors have participated in work-based learning and more than 60% have had paid experiences. The initiative also helps address practical barriers to internships, from transportation and housing to the financial realities that can prevent students from accepting unpaid opportunities. Beyond individual scholars, Graham and Francis discuss the initiative’s broader institutional impact. Participating HBCUs have adapted the framework to their own cultures, strengthened honors and leadership programs, expanded career support, and created opportunities reaching students beyond those receiving Strada scholarships. Graham argues that this institutional ownership is possible precisely because Strada was willing to give up some control and trust campuses to determine how resources could have the greatest impact. Ultimately, the episode challenges a common framing of HBCUs as institutions needing to be “fixed.” Graham instead makes the case for approaching them as proven sources of knowledge about student development and economic mobility. His central message is simple: HBCUs do not need to be rescued. They need to be respected, invested in, listened to, and treated as genuine partners.

  4. Sep 21

    Why EdTech's Biggest Companies Aren't Driving Innovation with Mark Miller

    Innovation in EdTech is increasingly coming from focused, nimble companies rather than the industry’s largest incumbents. In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Harbinger Lane CEO Darin Francis sits down with Mark Miller, Managing Partner at Good Harbor Partners, to explore why smaller education companies are often better positioned to identify specific problems, work closely with institutions, and build solutions that established players struggle to create internally. Pasted text Drawing on decades as an EdTech founder, operator, advisor, and co-founder of LearnLaunch, Miller traces his journey from launching his first company as a Cornell student to helping education companies navigate growth, fundraising, strategic partnerships, and acquisitions. He explains what product-market fit really looks like as a startup matures, why repeatable sales and implementation matter, and why companies can get stuck when they raise too much capital, pursue too many opportunities, or fail to react quickly enough when conditions change. The conversation also examines how AI is reshaping the economics of EdTech. Software that once required millions of dollars to develop can increasingly be built much faster and more cheaply, raising the bar for what makes a company strategically valuable. Miller argues that successful companies will need more than technology alone. They need deep understanding of specific workflows, defensible customer value, and products that larger organizations can confidently bring through their existing sales channels. Francis and Miller close by examining the overlooked "middle" of the EdTech ecosystem: companies that have moved beyond startup status but have not yet reached the scale that naturally attracts private equity and major strategic buyers. Miller discusses Good Harbor Partners' effort to give these emerging companies greater visibility and access to investors, strategics, and advisors, while highlighting major opportunities still waiting to be solved across assessment, work-based learning, skills development, curriculum, and the connection between education and employment.

  5. Sep 21

    Morgan State University (HBCU) Launches AI Degree in Just a Month with Dr. Paul Wang

    Morgan State University has launched Maryland’s first Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence at a public university, and it did so on a timeline that would be nearly unthinkable for most new academic programs. In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, host Darren Francis speaks with Dr. Paul Wang, Chair of Computer Science at Morgan State University, about how years of quietly transforming an existing cloud computing program allowed the university to move from formal proposal to approval in roughly a month. Dr. Wang explains that the transition was possible because much of the AI program already existed in practice. Morgan State had developed 18 AI courses, built research projects and labs, and watched students move into AI-focused roles at major technology companies. Rather than starting from scratch, the university was able to demonstrate that its curriculum and student outcomes had already evolved beyond the original cloud computing degree. The conversation also explores what meaningful AI education should look like. Dr. Wang argues that students still need strong foundations in programming, mathematics, and computer science, but increasingly need project-based learning, critical thinking, reasoning, and experience solving real-world problems alongside AI. He describes Morgan State’s work with humanoid robots, robotic dogs, cybersecurity threat analysis, AI-assisted counseling models, hackathons, and ambitious capstone projects designed to move students from classroom knowledge toward practical application. Looking ahead, Dr. Wang sees substantial opportunity for students who develop the skills to build, understand, and direct AI rather than simply use it. He also offers Morgan State’s experience as a potential model for other universities and community colleges, including a willingness to share course resources to help institutions accelerate their own AI programs.

  6. Aug 25

    Work Generated Learning with Andrew Salmon of Intangled Learning

    What if the most valuable curriculum for working adults already exists inside the organizations where they work? In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Darin Francis sits down with Andrew Salmon, co-founder of Intangled Learning, to explore the idea of work generated learning, an approach that treats the practices, decisions, relationships, and challenges inside an organization as the foundation for learning. Salmon explains how Intangled Learning positions apprentices as researchers within their own communities of practice, using authentic work to surface knowledge, develop reflective practice, and identify where deeper academic theory can strengthen their capabilities. Rather than separating theory from practice, the model connects the two around the work learners are already doing. Drawing from Intangled Learning’s work in teacher education and advanced manufacturing, the conversation examines how mentorship changes when learning happens inside an active practice, why traditional approaches can struggle to capture organizational knowledge, and how community and social connection can improve both learning and professional development. The discussion ultimately raises a larger question for higher education: if content is increasingly abundant and inexpensive, where can institutions provide unique value? Salmon argues that higher ed has an opportunity to become a partner in inquiry, assessment, and practice, helping learners and organizations understand, develop, and validate knowledge as it is generated through real work.

  7. Aug 24

    Micro-Credentials at Scale: Inside NASH's 17-System Experiment | Dr. Kelvin Bentley

    Higher education is under growing pressure to prove that a degree translates into meaningful career outcomes. Micro-credentials may be one way institutions can close that gap, but scaling them across entire university systems requires much more than simply giving students access to another online course. In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Darin Francis sits down with Dr. Kelvin Bentley, Director of the Community of Practice on Microcredentials at the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH), to explore what NASH is learning from a nationwide initiative spanning 17 higher education systems and more than 25,000 learners. Bentley shares lessons from his earlier work with the University of Texas System and explains how institutions are integrating industry-backed credentials from organizations such as Google, IBM, and Meta alongside traditional degree programs. The conversation examines the importance of faculty champions, system-level collaboration, work-based learning, learning and employment records, and giving students better ways to communicate what they know and can do. Francis and Bentley also dig into the question that will ultimately determine the value of micro-credentials: Do they improve employment outcomes, career readiness, retention, or advancement? As NASH prepares to study those outcomes across participating systems, the initiative could offer higher education a valuable blueprint for moving from isolated credential pilots to a more coordinated approach to career-connected learning. Signals in Higher Ed: https://www.marketscale.com/creator-hubs/signals-in-higher-ed/

  8. Aug 17

    AI Access vs. AI Readiness | Dr. Ngoc Cindy Pham on Experiential Learning & AI in Higher Ed

    As artificial intelligence becomes more accessible across higher education, Dr. Ngoc Cindy Pham argues that access alone should not be the goal. The more important question is whether students know how to use AI to solve real problems, exercise judgment, defend their decisions, and translate new technology into professional opportunities. In this episode of Signals in Higher Ed, Darin Francis speaks with Pham about her approach to experiential learning at Brooklyn College and the work that grew from the CUNY AI Literacy and Professional Readiness Series into the Bridge AI Lab. Rather than treating AI use as inherently at odds with academic integrity, Pham designs assignments around critical thinking and reasoning. Students can use AI as a co-creator, but they must be able to explain, justify, and defend the choices they make. Pham also shares early findings from a spring 2026 program involving 101 participants, where researchers found no statistically detectable difference in measured outcomes between participating NYU Tandon graduate students and CUNY undergraduate students. While she emphasizes the need for larger samples and continued research, the finding points to a powerful possibility: structured training and real-world problem solving may help close readiness gaps that access alone cannot. The conversation also examines the role employers can play as curriculum co-creators. Pham believes higher education must start with the work itself, using evidence from employers and practitioners to identify emerging skills, build job- and task-specific frameworks, and continuously update training as AI changes the workplace. The result is a model of education focused not simply on teaching students to use AI, but on helping them become confident creators, critical thinkers, and professionals prepared to work alongside it. Signals in Higher Ed: https://www.marketscale.com/creator-hubs/signals-in-higher-ed/

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signals in higher ed cuts through the noise to surface what’s actually working across admissions, enrollment, student success, and institutional strategy—told by the leaders building what’s next. Each episode turns real-world challenges into clear, actionable takeaways you can apply on your campus today. Expect candid conversations on innovation, policy, and the data behind better decisions. Host: Darin Francis—CEO & Managing Partner at Harbinger Lane Consulting and former host of DisruptED.

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  • Creator
    🎥
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    44
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025
  • Show Website
    signals in higher ed

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