Steven Schragis is founder and director of One Day University, an adult education program that brings the best and most popular professors from all over the country to develop fun and engaging talks that inform and inspire adult “students-for-a-day.” At One Day U, learning isn’t driven by career advancement goals or earning a degree; it’s for people who simply want to engage in the pure joy of lifelong learning. Steven has positioned One Day University to effectively meet the needs of a large niche market of learners while maintaining a clear and unique value proposition. This makes Steven the perfect professor for you, our learning business MBA student-for-a-day. In this fifth episode in our seven-part series on the learning business MBA, Jeff talks with Steven about creating One Day U, how it has evolved as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, and the importance of keeping fun in mind when developing at least certain types of learning offerings. They also discuss how to successfully leverage partnerships. Full show notes and a transcript are available at leadinglearning.com/episode283. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Cadmium. *** The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the merging of events and education for organizations across the globe. Organizations have realized that synergizing their education and events strategies produces immeasurable benefits, but they need a technology solution that facilitates that merge. Cadmium is focused on providing a full suite of technology solutions enabling organizations to meet the changing environment head on. From a host of event technologies to integrated learning management and content creation tools, Cadmium offers everything an organization needs to generate revenue and drive engagement. Learn more, and request a demo to see how Cadmium can help your learning business at gocadmium.com.

Jim Obsitnik is the chief executive officer at Cadmium, a software-as-a-service provider that brings events and education technology together. He believes in the higher social calling of learning and education and has spent many years in the learning space. Jim also holds an MBA from the Wharton School with a focus in marketing, which makes him an excellent guest lecturer in our learning business MBA series. In this midpoint episode in our seven-part series, Jeff talks with Jim to get his expert perspective on strategy, product development, the commonalities of software-as-a-service and learning businesses, the relationship between revenue and learning portfolio diversification, and more. Full show notes and a transcript are available at leadinglearning.com/episode282. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Cadmium. *** The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the merging of events and education for organizations across the globe. Organizations have realized that synergizing their education and events strategies produces immeasurable benefits, but they need a technology solution that facilitates that merge. Cadmium is focused on providing a full suite of technology solutions enabling organizations to meet the changing environment head on. From a host of event technologies to integrated learning management and content creation tools, Cadmium offers everything an organization needs to generate revenue and drive engagement. Learn more, and request a demo to see how Cadmium can help your learning business at gocadmium.com.

This podcast series is our attempt to offer a theoretical learning business MBA program, and we invite you to play along. Imagine you’re in business school and about to hear a guest lecture by Mary Byers, a speaker, facilitator, consultant, and author of several books, including Race for Relevance: Five Radical Changes for Associations. She’s also host of the Successful Associations Today Podcast. Her work centers on helping organizations remain relevant in a rapidly changing environment, and her main area of interest is innovation and evolution in all things—organizationally, educationally, and otherwise. In this third episode in our seven-part learning business MBA series, Celisa talks with Mary about what it takes to succeed as a learning business and her related thoughts around innovation and continuous evolution. They discuss the idea of shrinking to grow, why organizations need a digital-first mindset, and the importance of a go-forward strategy. Full show notes and a transcript are available at leadinglearning.com/episode281. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Cadmium. *** The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the merging of events and education for organizations across the globe. Organizations have realized that synergizing their education and events strategies produces immeasurable benefits, but they need a technology solution that facilitates that merge. Cadmium is focused on providing a full suite of technology solutions enabling organizations to meet the changing environment head on. From a host of event technologies to integrated learning management and content creation tools, Cadmium offers everything an organization needs to generate revenue and drive engagement. Learn more, and request a demo to see how Cadmium can help your learning business at gocadmium.com.

Both marketing and strategy are fundamental to the health and success of a learning business, which is why we knew we had to address them in the context of the learning business MBA.  Of course, the learning business MBA doesn’t exist yet, rather, we’re using it as shorthand for the key skills, knowledge, and behaviors needed by those working in market-facing learning businesses so they can ensure their organizations survive and thrive. While a single podcast series won’t allow us to do the work of a true advanced graduate degree, we can cover some key areas, give you ideas to ponder, and offer tools to try in your learning business. In this second installment in our seven-part series on the learning business MBA, we focus on two fundamental areas of knowledge for those leading and working in learning businesses: strategy and marketing. We offer simplified definitions of each and share related resources and tools to help you grow your learning business in each of these areas. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode280. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Cadmium. *** The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the merging of events and education for organizations across the globe. Organizations have realized that synergizing their education and events strategies produces immeasurable benefits, but they need a technology solution that facilitates that merge. Cadmium is focused on providing a full suite of technology solutions enabling organizations to meet the changing environment head on. From a host of event technologies to integrated learning management and content creation tools, Cadmium offers everything an organization needs to generate revenue and drive engagement. Learn more, and request a demo to see how Cadmium can help your learning business at gocadmium.com.

Chances are, if you’re in the learning business, you probably didn’t go to school knowing this is where your career would take you. Some of you may a have strong background on the learning or education side, while others may have it on the business side—but likely, you don’t have an equally strong background when it comes to both, and it may be difficult to combine the two. And because we want you to have the core skills and knowledge needed to run a successful learning business, we’re focusing our newest series on the learning business MBA. In this first installment in our seven-part series, we discuss the idea behind the learning business MBA and the related skills it requires. We also pull in perspectives from Josh Goldman—who we credit for giving us the term for the learning business MBA—and Arianne Urena and Cristyn Johnson. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode279. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, Cadmium. *** The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the merging of events and education for organizations across the globe. Organizations have realized that synergizing their education and events strategies produces immeasurable benefits, but they need a technology solution that facilitates that merge. Cadmium is focused on providing a full suite of technology solutions enabling organizations to meet the changing environment head on. From a host of event technologies to integrated learning management and content creation tools, Cadmium offers everything an organization needs to generate revenue and drive engagement. Learn more, and request a demo to see how Cadmium can help your learning business at gocadmium.com.

This is the last installment in our seven-episode series on learning science’s role in a learning business, and we’ve covered a variety of interesting topics. But we want learning science to be more than interesting. We want you to apply it so you can elevate the success and impact of your learning business, as well as the success and impact of the learners you serve. In this episode, we revisit comments from the interviewees in the series about the one tenet or aspect of learning science they wished was better understood by those designing and delivering learning for adult lifelong learners. We connect their perspectives and uncover the common theme: actionability. And, to help your learning business take the important action of applying learning science, we offer a framework we developed—the MIDDLE ME learning product lifecycle—to get you started.  Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode278. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, SelfStudy. *** SelfStudy is a learning optimization technology company. Grounded in effective learning science and fueled by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the SelfStudy platform delivers personalized content to anyone who needs to learn either on the go or at their desk. Each user is at the center of their own unique experience, focusing on what they need to learn next. For organizations, SelfStudy is a complete enterprise solution offering tools to instantly auto-create highly personalized, adaptive learning programs, the ability to fully integrate with your existing LMS or CMS, and the analytics you need to see your members, users, and content in new ways with deeper insights. SelfStudy is your partner for longitudinal assessment, continuing education, professional development, and certification. Learn more and request a demo to see SelfStudy auto-create questions based on your content at selfstudy.com.

Learning science uses evidence-based practice to support learning, and evaluation plays a critical role in providing that evidence by revealing learning’s true impact. To help us unpack how evaluations should inform decisions about learning, we spoke with Dr. Robert Brinkerhoff and Dr. Daniela Schroeter, co-directors of the Brinkerhoff Evaluation Institute (BEI). Rob is an internationally recognized expert with four decades of experience in evaluation and learning effectiveness, and he’s the author of several books, including The Success Case Method and Telling Training’s Story. He’s also the creator of the Success Case Method, a highly regarded and carefully crafted impact evaluation approach to determining how well educational and training programs work. Daniela has a PhD in interdisciplinary evaluation and has spent the past 15 years providing evaluation and capacity building to a wide range of private, public, and nonprofit organizations around the globe. In addition to co-directing BEI, Daniela is an associate professor at Western Michigan University. In this sixth installment in our seven-part series on learning science’s role in a learning business, we talk with Rob and Daniela about how to effectively leverage evaluations to maximize outcomes from learning. We also discuss the Success Case Method, the value in using evidence-based stories to demonstrate the impact of an offering, and why evaluation must lead to actionability. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode277. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, SelfStudy. *** SelfStudy is a learning optimization technology company. Grounded in effective learning science and fueled by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the SelfStudy platform delivers personalized content to anyone who needs to learn either on the go or at their desk. Each user is at the center of their own unique experience, focusing on what they need to learn next. For organizations, SelfStudy is a complete enterprise solution offering tools to instantly auto-create highly personalized, adaptive learning programs, the ability to fully integrate with your existing LMS or CMS, and the analytics you need to see your members, users, and content in new ways with deeper insights. SelfStudy is your partner for longitudinal assessment, continuing education, professional development, and certification. Learn more and request a demo to see SelfStudy auto-create questions based on your content at selfstudy.com.

Practice and feedback are essential to effective learning, yet all too often they aren’t given the time and attention they deserve by learning businesses. Practice and feedback are powerful tools for moving a learning experience away from pure theory and content and towards deeper learning and application in the real world. In this fifth episode in our seven-part series on learning science’s role in a learning business, we feature key insights related to practice and feedback from conversations with learning design experts Myra Roldan, Ruth Colvin Clark, Patti Shank, Michael Allen, and Cathy Moore. We connect their perspectives to highlight the importance of practice and feedback as evidence-based tools and critical components of designing effective learning experiences. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode276. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, SelfStudy. *** SelfStudy is a learning optimization technology company. Grounded in effective learning science and fueled by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the SelfStudy platform delivers personalized content to anyone who needs to learn either on the go or at their desk. Each user is at the center of their own unique experience, focusing on what they need to learn next. For organizations, SelfStudy is a complete enterprise solution offering tools to instantly auto-create highly personalized, adaptive learning programs, the ability to fully integrate with your existing LMS or CMS, and the analytics you need to see your members, users, and content in new ways with deeper insights. SelfStudy is your partner for longitudinal assessment, continuing education, professional development, and certification. Learn more and request a demo to see SelfStudy auto-create questions based on your content at selfstudy.com.

Both Ruth Colvin Clark and Myra Roldan are evidence-based learning designers who combine a nuanced understanding of learning theory with years of hands-on experience developing solutions. Ruth is principal and president of Clark Training & Consulting and has spent her career as an instructional psychologist, working with diverse organizations. She’s the author of many articles and books, including Evidence-Based Training Methods, and she co-authored e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. Myra Roldan is a technologist and learning professional who currently serves as chief cloudification officer at Amazon Web Services. She does a bit of everything, from research and data analytics, to implementing new technologies, to creating full-blown learning experiences. Much of her personal work is focused on increasing access and opportunity for underserved groups, including women and minorities, so they can get jobs that will earn them a livable income. In this fourth episode in our seven-part series on learning science’s role in a learning business, we speak with Ruth and Myra individually to get their perspectives and expertise on designing effective learning experiences. We cover a variety of topics including research-based principles and their implications on learning, tips for working with subject matter experts to ensure learning objectives are met, how to avoid cognitive load, and the importance of knowing your audience. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode275. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, SelfStudy. ** SelfStudy is a learning optimization technology company. Grounded in effective learning science and fueled by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the SelfStudy platform delivers personalized content to anyone who needs to learn either on the go or at their desk. Each user is at the center of their own unique experience, focusing on what they need to learn next. For organizations, SelfStudy is a complete enterprise solution offering tools to instantly auto-create highly personalized, adaptive learning programs, the ability to fully integrate with your existing LMS or CMS, and the analytics you need to see your members, users, and content in new ways with deeper insights. SelfStudy is your partner for longitudinal assessment, continuing education, professional development, and certification. Learn more and request a demo to see SelfStudy auto-create questions based on your content at selfstudy.com.

Learner needs are important—but, in the context of learning businesses, learner wants are just as important. Correctly satisfying these needs and wants requires figuring out what to offer—not by assuming or guessing what’s needed in the market but by following processes and systems that yield the data to prove it. In this third installment in our seven-part series focused on learning science for learning businesses, we explain why performing market and needs assessments are critical steps in effectively applying learning science. We also discuss the Market Insight Matrix, a tool we created that treats assessment as a process rather than an event. Full show notes and transcript available at leadinglearning.com/episode274. We are grateful to our sponsor for this series, SelfStudy. ** SelfStudy is a learning optimization technology company. Grounded in effective learning science and fueled by artificial intelligence and natural language processing, the SelfStudy platform delivers personalized content to anyone who needs to learn either on the go or at their desk. Each user is at the center of their own unique experience, focusing on what they need to learn next. For organizations, SelfStudy is a complete enterprise solution offering tools to instantly auto-create highly personalized, adaptive learning programs, the ability to fully integrate with your existing LMS or CMS, and the analytics you need to see your members, users, and content in new ways with deeper insights. SelfStudy is your partner for longitudinal assessment, continuing education, professional development, and certification. Learn more and request a demo to see SelfStudy auto-create questions based on your content at selfstudy.com.