PODCAST · education
Insights
by Ian Symmonds & Associates
An impromptu podcast on critical trends and issues in the education and non-profit world.
Episodes
-
Episode 1 | Travel Insights, AI, and Education in Shifting Political Times
In our debut episode of the EdVentures Podcast, we dive into three key themes: our fall travel Insights, the future of AI in the educational landscape, and school culture amid a shifting political climate. Join us as we explore how local culture influences school identities across the country…
more -
Why Some Innovate and Others...Die
Join Ian as he discusses why some schools and colleges are predisposed to leadership or innovation and others are destined to mediocrity.
-
Hold Onto Your Hats As We Enter the Dawn of a New Education Age
Join Ian as he explores -- and predicts -- the impending impact of AI and AR on the school and college landscape.
-
As Political Solutions Fail the Relevance of Non-Profits Rises
We live in a politically divided world. Full stop. And, it is not just a divided America, or North America, but an increasingly divided global environment. With cable networks stoking the division and social media amplifying extreme voices, it is not hard to see that political solutions to social...
-
#Edufail #2: Selectivity vs Accessibility
Why is it that we value selectivity in admission programs so much? Most schools and colleges seek to promote the illusion that they educate only the best students in the region, country, or globe. And, yet, what are they really saying when they promote this? Are they selling status? Exclusivity?...
-
#Edufails #1: Why Doesn't Education Scale Offerings?
How many products do you know of that can offer a one-size fits all solution to their customers? Probably not many, right? That is simply because people want choice, customization and options. Imagine Apple only selling one size and color of the iPhone, Honda offering one size of a vehicle, or an...
-
#Edufails - What Mistakes Do Schools and Colleges Continue to Repeat?
Sometimes the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Our experience in this industry tells us that the education industry keeps making the same mistakes, dodging the same bullets, and asking the wrong questions about their future. And, from the looks of things, it appears that the...
-
What If We Created Strategic Plans and Didn't Communicate Them?
What if we created strategic plans and then didn't share them? No kidding. Not with anyone. Instead, we just decided to DO them. Like major companies do.
-
Five Fast Facts About the Value of Education
We campaign a lot about the value of education through our Just Cause effort simply because the facts are startling. No matter how you slice it, education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world.
-
Why Don't Educators Design for the Marketplace?
Why is it that educators historically have designed programs that serve intrinsic organizational interests rather than the needs of the market? In this episode of Insights, Ian discusses the age-old issue of designing programs and services for the right audience.
-
The "3D Test" -- How to Keep Your Organization Relevant
The 3D test gets at the heart of organizational competencies, market desires, and competitive realities.
-
Learning to Listen to One Another Again
Ian sits down with higher education guru Tricia Brand and talks about deep issues of positionally, confirmation bias, deescalation, and the status of first generation students in America.
-
Reflections from the Road
What is the state of play in our industry? After visiting campuses across several states, including Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Texas, Arkansas, Florida, and Connecticut, Ian shares his reflections here.
-
The Serious Overhaul That is Seriously Overdue
On the other end of this crazy pandemic, a new private learning organization will be born. I am not sure if we will call them schools, academies, colleges, centers, hubs — we’ll find something that sticks. We need a new name. I see these new learning centers having eight distinct characteristics...
-
Look on the Outside
The largest threats facing the very structure of formal education do not come from inside the organization. You won’t find it in faculty, student and parent survey data. That information can often be fools gold, urging your organization to remain the same, to keep the status quo.
-
Rethinking Strategic Planning
The typical school or college takes a long time to create a strategic plan that, unfortunately, often reinforces what they have been doing in the past, rather than what they must do in the future. As the COVID dust settles, the education sector must rethink how they engage in strategic planning.
-
The Danger of Over-Correcting
With the world battling extremes - from political division, climate change, natural disasters, racial tension, and a global pandemic - is there any danger of over-correcting our systems given the current circumstances? Are we better taking the long view as we battle with our current crises? Join...
-
Reflections from the Field
What can travel to seven campuses and cities in 15 days tell us about the state of the education industry? Join Ian as he reflects from the field, sharing five observations on the state of play on campus.
-
The Emerging Education Leadership Crisis
We have a leadership crisis in American education, failing to pivot to meeting the opportunities and needs of the future and the courage to change an outdated culture of learning.
-
A Quick Two Minute Drill on Getting Organizational Identity Right
Remember, if you don’t know who you are, it is impossible to communicate your identity to others.
-
Pay Attention to the Commercials
Pay attention to the commercials. More than just simply marketing gibberish, they give us important clues as to what is trending in our culture.
-
Stages of Organizational Decline
My experience is that most schools and colleges will do nearly to delay the inevitable so that they don’t have to deal with the real challenges that change brings to an organization. But, those years spent in denial lead to wasted time and energy that often could have arrested their slide.
-
Where Would We Be Without Mentors?
Never underestimate the power of your influence on young lives. Mentors can reveal possibilities and instill characteristics in people that have an impact for generations. And, if you work in the education sector, you are already a mentor, even if you don’t realize it.
-
Keeping Your Mission and Vision in Focus
There is nothing like a visible reminder of the mission or vision statement as an active, guiding principle that should inform all strategic decisions.
-
How Student and Parent Engagement Predicts Student Attrition - Part Two
In the first part of our story, we used key variables of student engagement to identify students that were at risk of attrition. Armed with this data, we formed an “SOS Team”, an ongoing administrative task force that was charged with proactively identifying students and creating indvidual...
-
How Student and Parent Engagement Predicts Student Attrition - Part One
When a student or parent is thinking about not returning to campus for the following term or year, certain sorts of behavior can be not only witnessed, but identified and tracked.
-
Understanding the Opportunity in this Moment
What do strategists know that educators often forget?
-
Preserving the Past or Meeting the Future?
I am deeply concerned that we currently have too many over-generalized, non-distinct, smallish private schools and colleges, with limited resources. They are all trying to find a way to preserve a past that is declining. There simply won’t be room for all of them.
-
Reinventing Private Schools - A Blueprint for Resilience
On the other end of the pandemic, a new private learning organization will be born. Here is how private education will be reinvented.
-
A Glimpse Into the Future
Education has moved a decade forward in some areas of innovation in about six months. This is warp speed, radical change for educators. It is important to remember, however, that this is only the beginning. Long after the pandemic has left hold of culture, there is more change to come in the next...
-
Conversation About the Future - Dr. Derrick Gay
Ian sits down with a cup of joe and discusses the current civil rights movement with Dr. Derrick Gay. They explore the impact on educational institutions and nonprofits, both here in the US and globally.
-
So We've Reopened - Now What?
Education is in the midst of reinvention. We have collapsed two decades of needed innovation into six months due to the pandemic. The next 36 months will be critical as we will see continued unrest combined with deep innovations. Where do you go from here/
-
One Theory On Why Everyone Is So Tired
People are tired everywhere I look in the education industry. Maybe it is because we have pushed a decade of innovation into six months. Here's one theory on why people are tired.
-
Acceleration
Ian unpacks the concept of "acceleration" as a result of the pandemic and describes how education will be permanently changed.
-
Unprecedented
I’ve been thinking about how many times each day I have heard or read the word “unprecedented” in the past few weeks.
-
What Will Stick?
The pandemic has accelerated everything, and I believe it will leave behind its wake a series of lasting innovations across industry sectors. It will be interesting to see what will stick.
-
The Grand Experiment Continues
We need to be watching for what will stick after the pandemic. What innovations that have and continue to occur during the pandemic will remain permanently in our various industries? There are innovations moving forward that will change the face of learning forever. The challenge at the moment is...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
An impromptu podcast on critical trends and issues in the education and non-profit world.
HOSTED BY
Ian Symmonds & Associates
CATEGORIES
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Insights have?
Insights currently has 37 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Insights about?
An impromptu podcast on critical trends and issues in the education and non-profit world.
How often does Insights release new episodes?
Insights has 37 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Insights?
You can listen to Insights on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Insights?
Insights is created and hosted by Ian Symmonds & Associates.
URL copied to clipboard!