November 7, 2023 • 20 mins
John Woods
John Woods, Provost and Chief Academic Officer John Woods, Ph.D., is the chief academic officer and provost for University of Phoenix and responsible for further developing and fulfilling the University’s academic mission. He is charged with amplifying the University's high-quality, rigorous and career-relevant academic programs, while spurring innovation to help working adults move efficiently from education to careers. He leads a team of academic leaders and more than 3,000 practitioner faculty with applied experience in the disciplines they teach. His office defines student learning outcomes that align with employer expectations, and with the specific skills students should have to improve their performance in today's competitive economy. Dr. Woods provides leadership for assessment of student learning, instructional innovation, faculty engagement, the student experience, accreditation, and institutional reporting. Dr. Woods is the founding director of the University of Phoenix Career Institute® which annually publishes the Career Optimism Index®. In 2022, Dr. Woods’ insights on the Index were featured in numerous publications including Forbes and Inc. He is active as a speaker on career, workforce and higher education issues at events including the 2022 SHRM conference, 2022 Economic Development Summit of WESTMARC, Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation’s 2022 Workforce Summit, and the 2022 Reagan Institute Summit on Education (RISE). Prior to joining University of Phoenix, Dr. Woods served as a dean at a traditional liberal arts college, an adjunct faculty member at numerous institutions over the last twenty-five years, and as chief academic officer for over fifteen years at other institutions serving working adult learners. He began his career in higher education focusing on helping colleges and universities leverage technology for instruction with the Eduprise, Collegis and Deltak family of companies. Dr. Woods has been a Trustee of the Worthington Educational Foundation and previously served as a Peer Evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission. He currently holds a board seat with Kivuto, a Canadian educational technology company that works with schools to simplify how they manage and distribute the many digital resources used in education for student access. He is a contributing author of a chapter in the book, Doing More With Less: Making Colleges Work Better, and has also had a presentation on self-study and institutional improvement published with the Higher Learning Commission. Dr. Woods earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Bowling Green State University, where the focus of his research was adult learning, training and development, as well as academic honesty policies and procedures. He received a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University.
John Woods, Provost and Chief Academic Officer John Woods, Ph.D., is the chief academic officer and provost for University of Phoenix and responsible for further developing and fulfilling the University’s academic mission. He is charged with amplifying the University's high-quality, rigorous and career-relevant academic programs, while spurring innovation to help working adults move efficiently from education to careers. He leads a team of academic leaders and more than 3,000 practitioner faculty with applied experience in the disciplines they teach. His office defines student learning outcomes that align with employer expectations, and with the specific skills students should have to improve their performance in today's competitive economy. Dr. Woods provides leadership for assessment of student learning, instructional innovation, faculty engagement, the student experience, accreditation, and institutional reporting. Dr. Woods is the founding director of the University of Phoenix Career Institute® which annually publishes the Career Optimism Index®. In 2022, Dr. Woods’ insights on the Index were featured in numerous publications including Forbes and Inc. He is active as a speaker on career, workforce and higher education issues at events including the 2022 SHRM conference, 2022 Economic Development Summit of WESTMARC, Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation’s 2022 Workforce Summit, and the 2022 Reagan Institute Summit on Education (RISE). Prior to joining University of Phoenix, Dr. Woods served as a dean at a traditional liberal arts college, an adjunct faculty member at numerous institutions over the last twenty-five years, and as chief academic officer for over fifteen years at other institutions serving working adult learners. He began his career in higher education focusing on helping colleges and universities leverage technology for instruction with the Eduprise, Collegis and Deltak family of companies. Dr. Woods has been a Trustee of the Worthington Educational Foundation and previously served as a Peer Evaluator for the Higher Learning Commission. He currently holds a board seat with Kivuto, a Canadian educational technology company that works with schools to simplify how they manage and distribute the many digital resources used in education for student access. He is a contributing author of a chapter in the book, Doing More With Less: Making Colleges Work Better, and has also had a presentation on self-study and institutional improvement published with the Higher Learning Commission. Dr. Woods earned a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from Bowling Green State University, where the focus of his research was adult learning, training and development, as well as academic honesty policies and procedures. He received a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Carleton University.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Wow, m and T Bank Proserand CEOs. You should know Howard by
iHeart Media. You are listening toCEOs you should know on iHeartRadio of course.
My name is Billy Harfash. Wehave a very special guest this week,
and I am excited to talk aboutthis because the future of our communities
really it boils down to one thing, and that is education. I have
(00:23):
the Provost and Chief Academic Officer ofthe University of Phoenix, mister John Woods.
Mister Woods, welcome to the show. How are you today, Hi,
Billiam great, thanks for having me. Well, I'm happy to chat
with you, and you know alot of us out there listening today have
heard of University of Phoenix, butI want you to dig into some of
the details. Why is the Universityof Phoenix different than some other universities and
(00:45):
colleges. I think it's a specialinstitution, Billy. We were founded in
nineteen seventy six, and so,the best of my knowledge at the time
and maybe even still to this day, the only institution that was build for
a working adults, So not builtfor a lot of different audiences or a
variety of different folks seeking education,really built specifically for one particular audience,
(01:11):
the adult who's working by looking toadvance their education while doing so. When
I was reading about you, misterWoods and reading about the University of Phoenix,
would stood out to me is acouple of things, and I want
to start with this. Your officereally defines student learning outcomes that make sure
that they align with employer expectations.So we're talking about career relevant academics here,
(01:36):
and to me, in a lotof the interviews and a lot of
the conversations around education that I've had, I always go back to we need
to make sure that our curriculum,that our classes, that the programs we're
offering in the end will make surethat this person gets a job, because
that's what we're trying to achieve here. Talk to me about those learning outcomes
(01:56):
and how the University of Phoenix isreally aligning tomorrow's work. There's a long
history here of what we've done tobetter serve working adults and to line up
with the things that employers expect themto be able to know. When we
were first founded, our founder,doctor Sperling, he wanted a different education
for working adults, and he wantedto better serve employers he hired faculty who
(02:21):
were practitioners in the field. Weoffered programs that would help students get ahead
in their careers. We've evolved overthe years as we look at where we
stand today, we don't offer anyprograms that don't lead to above average job
prospects according to the Bureau of LaborStatistics, which I think is really a
(02:42):
part and parcels who we are andto your point about what students learn in
those programs. We've mapped all ofour programs so that each course, in
every single program teaches students at leastthree skills that are required by employers,
and a lot of mapping has beendone to figure out what those skills should
be. We've mapped those skills tofind that they're in job postings, to
(03:07):
find that they're in job descriptions thatare posted by employers looking to hire people,
they're in the Bureau of Labor Statisticsdatasets, and so in every single
course someone takes, they're going tolearn at least three skills that are really
important for the job that they haveto do upon completion. In this way,
(03:30):
a student can learn skills and accumulatethose skills as they go and maybe
be able to progress in their careeror do more in the job they're in
as they go and not wait tillthe end, which is really important.
Speaking right now to John Woods,he's a provost and chief academic officer at
the University of Phoenix, and John, what kind of feedback do you get
(03:50):
from employers? You talked about howyou gather all that data, gather all
that information about what they're looking for, But when they hire a University of
Phoenix graduate, what kind of feedbackover the years have you gotten, like,
oh, my gosh, this candidatewas really prepared. What sets University
of Phoenix graduates apart? Well andGoblie, We get those stories all the
time. More scientifically, we doemployer surveys. We've got industry advisory councils
(04:15):
that serve to help us evolve ourprograms and they meet regularly year round to
help us do that. We surveyour alumni and we ask our alumni specific
questions about how well prepared they feltthe University of Phoenix education made them.
So we're always looking at that data. We've got, as I said,
(04:36):
some great stories from different faculty,students, employers, industry advisory council members
who all tell us what we're teachingreally hits the market and helps our students
advanced. And it really is amix of are we getting those stories,
are we getting that great feedback,and we also collecting the data from those
(04:58):
different sources that help the same thing. So we're always making adjustments to try
and be better in this regard.As I'm hearing you speak about the University
of Phoenix and your goals, Ijust I kind of am laughing inside me
because I'm thinking of myself as acollege student when I went to university and
I had this moment like halfway throughmy junior year, like, oh my
(05:20):
goodness, I'm doing this all becauseI need to get a job after this
is all done. And I hadall of these courses from all over the
place, and I really, ifI was being honest with myself, I
wasn't sure where it was going.And I don't think that the classes I
was taking was necessarily directing me downa career path. So it's really nice
to hear that the University of Phoenixis doing something different to make sure that
(05:43):
your students they know what the nextstep is. I think that's so important
when we talk about education. Yeah, you and me both, Billy.
I can remember as an undergraduate studentfeeling a little lacking in direction myself,
and I've got kids now going throughthe product sense of selecting or in college
one of them, And I thinkcollege is an amazing experience, particularly for
(06:10):
our younger people to seventeen to twentyone year old who can kind of go
about things a little bit differently anddiscover that path, learn what they're interested
in, and then pursue it.Before working adults who's maybe looking to make
a change or advance their career,they're feeling maybe a little bit topped out
in their career. They need somethinga lot more specific, a lot more
(06:32):
directive, and they need a confidencethat what they're being asked to learn is
in fact the important and relevant andwill help them get ahead. So higher
education is pretty diverse in that way. For us, we're looking for the
most specific, most direct, mostreally valuable pathway for our students to be
(06:56):
able to apply that knowledge right awayas they're learning it on the job and
maybe impress the Boston and get adifferent job, a better job, or
get a new project that they mightnot have otherwise been able to get because
the skills they're learning build upon eachother, and they're more transparent both the
learner and the employer as they goagain, not having to wait four or
(07:16):
five years until you're done to sayI'm ready to get hired, but with
the skills they learn along the way, I'm ready to do more the next
day. Making a lot of senseon the air. Right now, I'm
speaking to John Woods of the Universityof Phoenix. This is CEOs. You
should know. My name is BillyHarfoss. John. You know you talk
about those jobs. We all arealways talking about jobs here in the state
(07:38):
of Arizona, in America in general. It's no surprise to my audience and
certainly no surprise to you that thecurrent trends in business and technology they're changing,
and they're showing that the way employeeswork. We're talking about where we're
talking about when even how they workhave and are continuing to change almost month
(07:58):
over month. This thing is evolvingin what our business culture looks like for
the future. So, somebody inyour experience, you've been in academia for
a long time, job placement atthe highest levels, executive levels, where
is this thing going? I mean, are we going to be working from
home now a lot of us seeminglyforever. Is this a new career path?
(08:20):
What kind of changes do you seein the next ten years. Yeah,
I think work from home has becomepretty widely accepted, obviously out of
necessity. At the start of COVID, you have seen a lot of large
organizations bring people back to their offices. I think that has been a bit
of a bit of a shift,and maybe a bit of a surprise shift.
(08:41):
Companies, I think are wanting toreestablish that connection with their employer employees.
I don't think that we'll see acomplete shift to remote work. You've
got those larger ones that have askedthe employees to come back. You've got
employees now able to make choices ofwhere they want to work based on some
(09:03):
key factors like work from home andif that's important to them. So I
think you're going to see more employeechoice, employees voting with their fee to
who they want to work for,taking the type of work they want,
the style of work, the cultureof work. Those are choices that were
not always available to employees. Sowe do see that when we ran our
(09:24):
soon to be our third coming upin the next couple of months. When
we run our Career Optimism Index,we see a big, big difference in
what employers are expecting of employees andwhat employees are expecting of employers on things
like professional development, the culture atwork, and appreciation for mental health awareness
(09:48):
and appreciation and support for training anddevelopment. There are a lot of gaps.
I'd say, if there's one thingI would tell you where the world
of work is headed, is thathave ever more leverage and power to choose
who they want to work for.You see very low unemployment today, but
(10:09):
you see an incredible amount of churnswhere people are sometimes you've been willing to
leave a job without a next joblined up our career Optimism in next dole
is that nearly two thirds of peopleare taking kind of an always on approach
to looking for that next position,even if they're happy where they are,
and many reports that they'd be willingto leave their job if they were unhappy,
(10:33):
like I said, without even havingthat next job ready to start in.
And you know, John, youmentioned the remote work and how that
trend is shifting. Really, theUniversity of Phoenix has been on the cutting
edge for a number of years nowas far as how we conduct classes and
how that we don't really need todrive, park our car, walk into
a building and sit at a deskin order to get an education. University
(10:56):
of Phoenix has been doing something differentfor a number of years, and that's
online learning. Where do you seethe direction of the University of Phoenix as
far as online learning goes? AndI'm assuming you're seeing more and more people
adopt that model. Yeah, manyfolks will remember that when we started serving
working adults, we were campus basedin nineteen seventy six. We were one
(11:20):
of the first institutions to have fullyonline programs. Those online programs eventually grew
to be a majority of our studentenrollment. Pre COVID, we were seeing
that trend increase. People not wantingto deal with traffic, people not wanting
to deal with the lack of flexibilityof going from work to school and spending
(11:46):
three four hours in a classroom ona weeknight, and so online was growing
even before COVID, and then obviouslywith COVID it became even much more widely
accepted. Our programs they continue toevolve. There's online education, but there
are many different ways folks can canbuild and deliver online education. The evolution
(12:07):
for us of most recent times isto move into competency based online education,
and these are programs that give studentseven more flexibility, even greater agency to
navigate through the curriculum, to goa little bit more at their own pace.
And that's a big evolution for us. We've built for of our programs
(12:28):
now in a competency based model.They're also even more affordable, and so
we've always been pretty i think competitivein terms of our pricing of programs.
For their competency based programs are evenlower priced, and someone can get their
MBA, for example, in ourcompetency based version in about eleven months.
(12:52):
For I believe it's about eleven thousanddollars. And so for the person who
wants flexibility of war ability, valueto learn from faculty who are practitioners in
the field, we're a really goodfit. And you know, I think
people make choices based on what they'relooking for, and if those are some
(13:13):
of the things that appeal to them, they'll choose us. Well, we
know that you're dealing with adults here. Adults are busy. Adults are also
sometimes parents, and they have ajob, but they also want to up
their skills and they want to getfurther their education process. So these competency
based programs, it's my understanding thatthey really help with timing. In other
words, you can go as fastas slow as you want. Do I
(13:35):
have that correct? Yeah, youcan really vary your speed in a competency
based program. As I said,you can finish in as quickly as eleven
months. You can go a littlebit longer if you want. Some of
our students take breaks. The thingabout the combindency based programs and they have
a slightly higher work requirement as anentrance requirement. But the thing about commency
(14:00):
based programs is you're doing application basedassignments that I ask you to draw on
what you're learning in combination with yourwork and world experience. And most people
will report it doesn't seem like alot of busy work to them. These
assignments seem very practical, very applicableto what they're asked to do on the
job. And then in addition tothe flexibility and being able to go faster,
(14:24):
the student satisfaction in these programs hasbeen really high. I got to
tell you, we're going to finishup with this and thank you for being
on the show today. But thislast topic, I'm really excited to talk
with you about it because I'm notsure how I feel, and I'm not
sure how the audience feels. Buthere's a fact. So fifty two percent
of American workers say they are easilyreplaceable in their job or position. Forty
(14:46):
one percent of workers worry about losingtheir jobs. So if we go off
those numbers, it's my belief thatwe're not talking about losing your job in
the traditional sense, always like alayoff or getting fired. But right now
we have things happening like chat,GPT, I'm sure you're aware of,
and AI based programs. And itwas the thought a number of years ago,
(15:09):
really just a couple of years ago, that these would replace more blue
collar jobs. And now we're gettingdata and we're talking to experts that say,
not so fast, my friend.These could also be replacing even more
so white collar jobs. When wetalk about Americans that are worried about losing
their jobs, we have to alsoworry about technology, which is a great
thing to have in our lives,but it might take some of those jobs
(15:31):
away. At the University of Phoenixand you personally. I mean, how
do you look about this new phenomenonthat the workplace is getting ready to experience.
Yeah, I think Bill, You'reonto something. There. The studies
that are written about where we seethe world of work going by the like
the Gardener Group or Forbes, theytalk about the skills that are required regardless
(15:56):
of the technology advances, regardless ofthings like artificial intelligence as you mentioned,
and chat GPT, there are skillsthat will really help somebody be successful no
matter what happens in the world ofwork, no matter how work evolves.
The skills that are mentioned things likebeing able to collaborate and work in teams,
(16:21):
or appreciate differences in people, orbe a good communicator. Those are
sometimes called soft skills. But wheneverthese studies are released, there at the
top of the list of what employersare expecting and hoping for their workers,
because they make somebody who is adaptable, who is able to evolve even as
the world of work changes and evolve. So I guess my answer for that
(16:45):
would be, not only have wemapped the technical skills in our programs,
but we've masked those skills which are, as I said, sometimes called soft
skills. But they're vitally important.So if you're a student at the University
of Meanings, you'll find out wherethose skills are being taught as well.
You'll be measured on your attainment,your learning level against those skill requirements,
and you'll even get to be awardedfor your learning with a badge. People
(17:11):
can share those badges if they wantplaces like ZIP recruiter profiles or LinkedIn profiles,
and the badges are validated the datathat we collected to measure the learning
that took place. So even asthe world of work evolves and changes,
those skills will be I think we'llsay durable, and we're trying to make
(17:32):
them so that they're more easily translatedto a student and to an employer,
so that they understand exactly where theywere learned and the level of attainment that
was reached. The University of Phoenixis on the cutting edge of education.
Was such a pleasure to have youon the show, mister John Woods.
Could you just give my audience someinformation as someone's out there listening and maybe
(17:53):
they are apparent, maybe they alreadyhave a job, but they want to
further their education. They might wantto change a career, might want a
promotion at work and they just needsome more skills. Where can my audience
get involved and learn more about theUniversity of Phoenix. Well, the website
has a lot of great information PhoenixStudy to you. I would point folks
specifically to one of the following thingson the website, because you know,
(18:18):
a website, you can go justabout anywhere and learn all kinds of stuff.
Certainly, there's information about our programs, what we write an academic annual
report that tells everybody, and Ithink a really clear and a transparent way
about all the things that we're doingand the success of our students our alumni.
I would check that out. Youcan also go to our Career Optimism
(18:41):
Index from the Phoenix website, andas I said, shares with the world
a lot of information we've collected abouthow work is evolving and how worker perceptions
of their career prospects are changing.And that Career Optimism Index also reflects what
employers are thinking and saying. Soa few places on our website to find
(19:03):
out about our programs, our approach, and our really important career Optimism Index
that we do every year. Andof course you can go to Phoenix dot
edu Phoenix dot edu for all ofthat and more. Learn about the University
of Phoenix. Fascinating conversation. MisterWoods, thank you so much for being
on the show, and we'll talkto you down the road. Thanks Billy,
appreciate the time. This has beenCEOs you Should Know and iHeartRadio.
(19:26):
My name is Billy Harfach. Thishas been CEOs you Should Know showcasing businesses
that are driving our regional economy.Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities we
serve. I'm your host, BillyHarfasch. Thanks for listening. Our community
partner, M and T Bank supportsCEOs you Should Know. Is part of
their ongoing commitment to building strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses
(19:49):
within them. As a bank forcommunities, M and T believes in dedicating
time, talent, and resources tohelp local businesses thrive. Because and businesses
succeed, our communities succeed.
Wow, m and T Bank Proserand CEOs. You should know Howard by
iHeart Media. You are listening toCEOs you should know on iHeartRadio of course.
My name is Billy Harfash. Wehave a very special guest this week,
and I am excited to talk aboutthis because the future of our communities
really it boils down to one thing, and that is education. I have
(00:23):
the Provost and Chief Academic Officer ofthe University of Phoenix, mister John Woods.
Mister Woods, welcome to the show. How are you today, Hi,
Billiam great, thanks for having me. Well, I'm happy to chat
with you, and you know alot of us out there listening today have
heard of University of Phoenix, butI want you to dig into some of
the details. Why is the Universityof Phoenix different than some other universities and
(00:45):
colleges. I think it's a specialinstitution, Billy. We were founded in
nineteen seventy six, and so,the best of my knowledge at the time
and maybe even still to this day, the only institution that was build for
a working adults, So not builtfor a lot of different audiences or a
variety of different folks seeking education,really built specifically for one particular audience,
(01:11):
the adult who's working by looking toadvance their education while doing so. When
I was reading about you, misterWoods and reading about the University of Phoenix,
would stood out to me is acouple of things, and I want
to start with this. Your officereally defines student learning outcomes that make sure
that they align with employer expectations.So we're talking about career relevant academics here,
(01:36):
and to me, in a lotof the interviews and a lot of
the conversations around education that I've had, I always go back to we need
to make sure that our curriculum,that our classes, that the programs we're
offering in the end will make surethat this person gets a job, because
that's what we're trying to achieve here. Talk to me about those learning outcomes
(01:56):
and how the University of Phoenix isreally aligning tomorrow's work. There's a long
history here of what we've done tobetter serve working adults and to line up
with the things that employers expect themto be able to know. When we
were first founded, our founder,doctor Sperling, he wanted a different education
for working adults, and he wantedto better serve employers he hired faculty who
(02:21):
were practitioners in the field. Weoffered programs that would help students get ahead
in their careers. We've evolved overthe years as we look at where we
stand today, we don't offer anyprograms that don't lead to above average job
prospects according to the Bureau of LaborStatistics, which I think is really a
(02:42):
part and parcels who we are andto your point about what students learn in
those programs. We've mapped all ofour programs so that each course, in
every single program teaches students at leastthree skills that are required by employers,
and a lot of mapping has beendone to figure out what those skills should
be. We've mapped those skills tofind that they're in job postings, to
(03:07):
find that they're in job descriptions thatare posted by employers looking to hire people,
they're in the Bureau of Labor Statisticsdatasets, and so in every single
course someone takes, they're going tolearn at least three skills that are really
important for the job that they haveto do upon completion. In this way,
(03:30):
a student can learn skills and accumulatethose skills as they go and maybe
be able to progress in their careeror do more in the job they're in
as they go and not wait tillthe end, which is really important.
Speaking right now to John Woods,he's a provost and chief academic officer at
the University of Phoenix, and John, what kind of feedback do you get
(03:50):
from employers? You talked about howyou gather all that data, gather all
that information about what they're looking for, But when they hire a University of
Phoenix graduate, what kind of feedbackover the years have you gotten, like,
oh, my gosh, this candidatewas really prepared. What sets University
of Phoenix graduates apart? Well andGoblie, We get those stories all the
time. More scientifically, we doemployer surveys. We've got industry advisory councils
(04:15):
that serve to help us evolve ourprograms and they meet regularly year round to
help us do that. We surveyour alumni and we ask our alumni specific
questions about how well prepared they feltthe University of Phoenix education made them.
So we're always looking at that data. We've got, as I said,
(04:36):
some great stories from different faculty,students, employers, industry advisory council members
who all tell us what we're teachingreally hits the market and helps our students
advanced. And it really is amix of are we getting those stories,
are we getting that great feedback,and we also collecting the data from those
(04:58):
different sources that help the same thing. So we're always making adjustments to try
and be better in this regard.As I'm hearing you speak about the University
of Phoenix and your goals, Ijust I kind of am laughing inside me
because I'm thinking of myself as acollege student when I went to university and
I had this moment like halfway throughmy junior year, like, oh my
(05:20):
goodness, I'm doing this all becauseI need to get a job after this
is all done. And I hadall of these courses from all over the
place, and I really, ifI was being honest with myself, I
wasn't sure where it was going.And I don't think that the classes I
was taking was necessarily directing me downa career path. So it's really nice
to hear that the University of Phoenixis doing something different to make sure that
(05:43):
your students they know what the nextstep is. I think that's so important
when we talk about education. Yeah, you and me both, Billy.
I can remember as an undergraduate studentfeeling a little lacking in direction myself,
and I've got kids now going throughthe product sense of selecting or in college
one of them, And I thinkcollege is an amazing experience, particularly for
(06:10):
our younger people to seventeen to twentyone year old who can kind of go
about things a little bit differently anddiscover that path, learn what they're interested
in, and then pursue it.Before working adults who's maybe looking to make
a change or advance their career,they're feeling maybe a little bit topped out
in their career. They need somethinga lot more specific, a lot more
(06:32):
directive, and they need a confidencethat what they're being asked to learn is
in fact the important and relevant andwill help them get ahead. So higher
education is pretty diverse in that way. For us, we're looking for the
most specific, most direct, mostreally valuable pathway for our students to be
(06:56):
able to apply that knowledge right awayas they're learning it on the job and
maybe impress the Boston and get adifferent job, a better job, or
get a new project that they mightnot have otherwise been able to get because
the skills they're learning build upon eachother, and they're more transparent both the
learner and the employer as they goagain, not having to wait four or
(07:16):
five years until you're done to sayI'm ready to get hired, but with
the skills they learn along the way, I'm ready to do more the next
day. Making a lot of senseon the air. Right now, I'm
speaking to John Woods of the Universityof Phoenix. This is CEOs. You
should know. My name is BillyHarfoss. John. You know you talk
about those jobs. We all arealways talking about jobs here in the state
(07:38):
of Arizona, in America in general. It's no surprise to my audience and
certainly no surprise to you that thecurrent trends in business and technology they're changing,
and they're showing that the way employeeswork. We're talking about where we're
talking about when even how they workhave and are continuing to change almost month
(07:58):
over month. This thing is evolvingin what our business culture looks like for
the future. So, somebody inyour experience, you've been in academia for
a long time, job placement atthe highest levels, executive levels, where
is this thing going? I mean, are we going to be working from
home now a lot of us seeminglyforever. Is this a new career path?
(08:20):
What kind of changes do you seein the next ten years. Yeah,
I think work from home has becomepretty widely accepted, obviously out of
necessity. At the start of COVID, you have seen a lot of large
organizations bring people back to their offices. I think that has been a bit
of a bit of a shift,and maybe a bit of a surprise shift.
(08:41):
Companies, I think are wanting toreestablish that connection with their employer employees.
I don't think that we'll see acomplete shift to remote work. You've
got those larger ones that have askedthe employees to come back. You've got
employees now able to make choices ofwhere they want to work based on some
(09:03):
key factors like work from home andif that's important to them. So I
think you're going to see more employeechoice, employees voting with their fee to
who they want to work for,taking the type of work they want,
the style of work, the cultureof work. Those are choices that were
not always available to employees. Sowe do see that when we ran our
(09:24):
soon to be our third coming upin the next couple of months. When
we run our Career Optimism Index,we see a big, big difference in
what employers are expecting of employees andwhat employees are expecting of employers on things
like professional development, the culture atwork, and appreciation for mental health awareness
(09:48):
and appreciation and support for training anddevelopment. There are a lot of gaps.
I'd say, if there's one thingI would tell you where the world
of work is headed, is thathave ever more leverage and power to choose
who they want to work for.You see very low unemployment today, but
(10:09):
you see an incredible amount of churnswhere people are sometimes you've been willing to
leave a job without a next joblined up our career Optimism in next dole
is that nearly two thirds of peopleare taking kind of an always on approach
to looking for that next position,even if they're happy where they are,
and many reports that they'd be willingto leave their job if they were unhappy,
(10:33):
like I said, without even havingthat next job ready to start in.
And you know, John, youmentioned the remote work and how that
trend is shifting. Really, theUniversity of Phoenix has been on the cutting
edge for a number of years nowas far as how we conduct classes and
how that we don't really need todrive, park our car, walk into
a building and sit at a deskin order to get an education. University
(10:56):
of Phoenix has been doing something differentfor a number of years, and that's
online learning. Where do you seethe direction of the University of Phoenix as
far as online learning goes? AndI'm assuming you're seeing more and more people
adopt that model. Yeah, manyfolks will remember that when we started serving
working adults, we were campus basedin nineteen seventy six. We were one
(11:20):
of the first institutions to have fullyonline programs. Those online programs eventually grew
to be a majority of our studentenrollment. Pre COVID, we were seeing
that trend increase. People not wantingto deal with traffic, people not wanting
to deal with the lack of flexibilityof going from work to school and spending
(11:46):
three four hours in a classroom ona weeknight, and so online was growing
even before COVID, and then obviouslywith COVID it became even much more widely
accepted. Our programs they continue toevolve. There's online education, but there
are many different ways folks can canbuild and deliver online education. The evolution
(12:07):
for us of most recent times isto move into competency based online education,
and these are programs that give studentseven more flexibility, even greater agency to
navigate through the curriculum, to goa little bit more at their own pace.
And that's a big evolution for us. We've built for of our programs
(12:28):
now in a competency based model.They're also even more affordable, and so
we've always been pretty i think competitivein terms of our pricing of programs.
For their competency based programs are evenlower priced, and someone can get their
MBA, for example, in ourcompetency based version in about eleven months.
(12:52):
For I believe it's about eleven thousanddollars. And so for the person who
wants flexibility of war ability, valueto learn from faculty who are practitioners in
the field, we're a really goodfit. And you know, I think
people make choices based on what they'relooking for, and if those are some
(13:13):
of the things that appeal to them, they'll choose us. Well, we
know that you're dealing with adults here. Adults are busy. Adults are also
sometimes parents, and they have ajob, but they also want to up
their skills and they want to getfurther their education process. So these competency
based programs, it's my understanding thatthey really help with timing. In other
words, you can go as fastas slow as you want. Do I
(13:35):
have that correct? Yeah, youcan really vary your speed in a competency
based program. As I said,you can finish in as quickly as eleven
months. You can go a littlebit longer if you want. Some of
our students take breaks. The thingabout the combindency based programs and they have
a slightly higher work requirement as anentrance requirement. But the thing about commency
(14:00):
based programs is you're doing application basedassignments that I ask you to draw on
what you're learning in combination with yourwork and world experience. And most people
will report it doesn't seem like alot of busy work to them. These
assignments seem very practical, very applicableto what they're asked to do on the
job. And then in addition tothe flexibility and being able to go faster,
(14:24):
the student satisfaction in these programs hasbeen really high. I got to
tell you, we're going to finishup with this and thank you for being
on the show today. But thislast topic, I'm really excited to talk
with you about it because I'm notsure how I feel, and I'm not
sure how the audience feels. Buthere's a fact. So fifty two percent
of American workers say they are easilyreplaceable in their job or position. Forty
(14:46):
one percent of workers worry about losingtheir jobs. So if we go off
those numbers, it's my belief thatwe're not talking about losing your job in
the traditional sense, always like alayoff or getting fired. But right now
we have things happening like chat,GPT, I'm sure you're aware of,
and AI based programs. And itwas the thought a number of years ago,
(15:09):
really just a couple of years ago, that these would replace more blue
collar jobs. And now we're gettingdata and we're talking to experts that say,
not so fast, my friend.These could also be replacing even more
so white collar jobs. When wetalk about Americans that are worried about losing
their jobs, we have to alsoworry about technology, which is a great
thing to have in our lives,but it might take some of those jobs
(15:31):
away. At the University of Phoenixand you personally. I mean, how
do you look about this new phenomenonthat the workplace is getting ready to experience.
Yeah, I think Bill, You'reonto something. There. The studies
that are written about where we seethe world of work going by the like
the Gardener Group or Forbes, theytalk about the skills that are required regardless
(15:56):
of the technology advances, regardless ofthings like artificial intelligence as you mentioned,
and chat GPT, there are skillsthat will really help somebody be successful no
matter what happens in the world ofwork, no matter how work evolves.
The skills that are mentioned things likebeing able to collaborate and work in teams,
(16:21):
or appreciate differences in people, orbe a good communicator. Those are
sometimes called soft skills. But wheneverthese studies are released, there at the
top of the list of what employersare expecting and hoping for their workers,
because they make somebody who is adaptable, who is able to evolve even as
the world of work changes and evolve. So I guess my answer for that
(16:45):
would be, not only have wemapped the technical skills in our programs,
but we've masked those skills which are, as I said, sometimes called soft
skills. But they're vitally important.So if you're a student at the University
of Meanings, you'll find out wherethose skills are being taught as well.
You'll be measured on your attainment,your learning level against those skill requirements,
and you'll even get to be awardedfor your learning with a badge. People
(17:11):
can share those badges if they wantplaces like ZIP recruiter profiles or LinkedIn profiles,
and the badges are validated the datathat we collected to measure the learning
that took place. So even asthe world of work evolves and changes,
those skills will be I think we'llsay durable, and we're trying to make
(17:32):
them so that they're more easily translatedto a student and to an employer,
so that they understand exactly where theywere learned and the level of attainment that
was reached. The University of Phoenixis on the cutting edge of education.
Was such a pleasure to have youon the show, mister John Woods.
Could you just give my audience someinformation as someone's out there listening and maybe
(17:53):
they are apparent, maybe they alreadyhave a job, but they want to
further their education. They might wantto change a career, might want a
promotion at work and they just needsome more skills. Where can my audience
get involved and learn more about theUniversity of Phoenix. Well, the website
has a lot of great information PhoenixStudy to you. I would point folks
specifically to one of the following thingson the website, because you know,
(18:18):
a website, you can go justabout anywhere and learn all kinds of stuff.
Certainly, there's information about our programs, what we write an academic annual
report that tells everybody, and Ithink a really clear and a transparent way
about all the things that we're doingand the success of our students our alumni.
I would check that out. Youcan also go to our Career Optimism
(18:41):
Index from the Phoenix website, andas I said, shares with the world
a lot of information we've collected abouthow work is evolving and how worker perceptions
of their career prospects are changing.And that Career Optimism Index also reflects what
employers are thinking and saying. Soa few places on our website to find
(19:03):
out about our programs, our approach, and our really important career Optimism Index
that we do every year. Andof course you can go to Phoenix dot
edu Phoenix dot edu for all ofthat and more. Learn about the University
of Phoenix. Fascinating conversation. MisterWoods, thank you so much for being
on the show, and we'll talkto you down the road. Thanks Billy,
appreciate the time. This has beenCEOs you Should Know and iHeartRadio.
(19:26):
My name is Billy Harfach. Thishas been CEOs you Should Know showcasing businesses
that are driving our regional economy.Part of iHeartMedia's commitment to the communities we
serve. I'm your host, BillyHarfasch. Thanks for listening. Our community
partner, M and T Bank supportsCEOs you Should Know. Is part of
their ongoing commitment to building strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses
(19:49):
within them. As a bank forcommunities, M and T believes in dedicating
time, talent, and resources tohelp local businesses thrive. Because and businesses
succeed, our communities succeed.
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