RPP #212: Darren Catalano of HelioCampus

• Interview with Darren Catalano, CEO of HelioCampus. "HelioCampus powers the data insights of the most forward-thinking colleges and universities to make their strategic mission and vision a reality." We discuss:
  
  

  

  Darren Catalano, CEO

• Data analytics for decision-making and stakeholder requests.
• Enrollment forecasting, student risk scoring.
• Empathetic outreach: at-risk students.
• Assessment, credentialing, financial intelligence solutions.
• Data-driven decisions in admissions and financial aid.
• Pricing strategies, generative AI integration.
• Holistic approach for mission and financial sustainability.
  
  
• Interview Transcript (Beta)
  
  
• Podsafe music selection
• A Passage Of Life by Kitaro

Duration: 45:58

RPP #211: Rob Abel of 1EdTech (aka IMS Global Consortium)

• Interview with Rob Abel, CEO of 1EdTech Consortium (formerly IMS Global Learning Consortium). 1EdTech is "focused on expanding access to edtech innovation in support of breakthrough and evolving educational models in K-12, Higher Ed, and corporate education." We discuss
• Rob's background

  

  Rob Abel

• IMS Global transition to 1EdTech
• Growth of membership
• Standards, certifications, code libraries, reference implementations
• Trusted app ecosystem 
• Digital credentials
• Comprehensive Learner Record (CLR)
• ~900 members
• Open Badges (formerly from Mozilla)
• Blockchain
• Digital micro-credentials 
• Richer transcripts
• Alumni offerings
  
  
• 1EdTech Learning Impact Conference in Anaheim, CA - June 5-8

• Podsafe music selection
• Air on G String by J.S. Bach performed by UK’s Brunswick Duo

Duration: 46:16

RPP #204 Phill Miller of Open LMS

• Interview with Phill Miller, Managing Director of Open LMS. Open LMS is "a Moodle™-based LMS platform designed for learners, empowering administrators.' We discuss:
• Phill's background

  

  Phill Miller

• History of Open LMS
• Usage boost during Covid
• Open LMS acquisitions
• Lower cost of ownership
• SaaS approach
• Partnerships: Safe Assign, Ally, Intelliboard, Class Technologies  
• Class acquisition of Bb Collaborate
• New directions in educational technology 
• Moodle is the largest LMS worldwide, one of the "Big 4"
• First face-to-face Users Conference in Phoenix in October 2022 

• Links
• Class Technologies and Open LMS Partnership
• Learning Technologies Group (LTG) Open LMS parent 
• Accredible digital credential and badge platform

• Podsafe music selection
• "Summertime" by Brother Love

Duration: 41:11

RPP #201 Don Kassner of MonitorEDU

• Interview with Don Kassner, President and Founder of MonitorEDU. MonitorEDU is a leading provider of high-stakes remote proctoring using live proctors based in North America. We discuss: 
• Don's background and history of MonitorEDU

  

  Don Kassner

• Proctoring changes brought about by Covid
• Efficiency of live proctoring over AI-generated flags
• Chat translation and foreign language proctors
• Ramping up for peak exam times  
• Student identity verification
• Monitoring proctor performance
• Security related to exam software
• Partnerships with testing platforms
• Invigil record and review system
• Proctoring oral exams
• Automated proctoring
  
  
• Links
• RPP #137: ProctorU - Interview with Don Kassner
  
  
• Podsafe Music
• Gymnopédie No.1 by Erik Satie 

Duration: 47:25

RPP #198: Adam Geller of Edthena

• Interview with Adam Geller, Founder and CEO of Edthena. "Edthena is the complete solution for teacher growth, leveraging classroom videos for reflection and best practices." We discuss their video-powered professional learning:
• Adams background

  

  Adam Geller, CEO

• History and founding of Edthena
• K-12 Teacher training programs
• Teacher candidates recording themselves
• Use in teaching methods and field experience
• Toolset to support evidence based approach on how to teach
• Eportfolio for sharing and assessment 
• Time-stamped comments: question, suggestion, strength or note
• Professional standards video tagging
• Performance dashboards at group and organization level
• Used in HigherEd Centers for Teaching Excellence
• Used to help recruit and retain HigherEd adjunct instructors
• Used in classroom or online (Zoom, etc.)
• Tool to blur video to mask student names or faces
• Supports school district privacy and security requirements
  
  
• Links
• Evidence of Practice: Playbook for Video-Powered Professional Learning

• Podsafe music selection
• "If Every Day Were Christmas" by Podsafe for Peace. 

Duration: 42:04

RPP #194: Britt Nichols of ExamSoft

Interview with Britt Nichols, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of ExamSoft. ExamSoft is a leading provider of educational assessment technology. "Our secure assessment platform allows educators to more efficiently create, administer, grade, and analyze assessments with the goal of improving student performance and streamlining curricular design and accreditation reviews." We discuss:

• 

  Britt Nichols

  Britt's background 
• Examsoft: exam maker and reporting platform
• Examplify: exam taker app 
• ExamNow: audience response polling
• ExamID: facial authentication 
• ExamMonitor: proctoring
• ExamSCORE: rubric product   
• ProctorU partnership for authentication and proctoring
• Turnitin acquisition of Examsoft
• Future of using data to improve learning outcomes
  
  
• Podsafe music selection
• 50 Ways to Lose Your Luggage by Robert Lund of the Funny Music Project

Duration: 32:35

RPP #190: Turnitin - Interview with Arjun Singh, Chief Strategy Officer at Turnitin

• Interview with Arjun Singh, Chief Strategy Officer at Turnitin. Turnitin offers campus-wide assessment products for homework, quizzes, final exams, and term papers—whether online or in-person. We discuss: 

  

  Arjun Singh

  
  
• Arjun's background
• Gradescope - automated grading workflows
• Feedback Studio aka Turnitin plagiarism detection
• Their plagiarism database
• Draft Coach
• Ithenticate to protect academic integrity and safeguard institution reputation
• LMS integration
• Examsoft joining Turnitin

• Podsafe music selection
• Too Long by Yael Naim, acclaimed singer/songwriter from Israel. 

 Duration: 34:46

RPP #187: CoursePlan - Interview with Maria Andersen

• Interview with Dr. Maria Andersen, CEO of CourseTune, makers of the new CoursePlan product for individual faculty users to design their courses using visual tools. 
  
  
  
• We discuss:
• Background of CourseTune and how CoursePlan is different
• Course design layers: “What are students learning” and “When will they learn it”
• Aligning learning and assessment activities to the learning objectives
• Visualizing the entire course at once
• Support for HyFlex delivery
• Accounting for student load and time on task
• LMS integrations and future directions
• Contingencies for teaching this Fall during the pandemic

• Podsafe music selection
• New Age Piano: Lines Build Walls by Ehren Starks

Duration: 42:13

RPP #186: Proctortrack - Interview with Raj Kumar

Interview with Rajnish Kumar, CEO, and Co-Founder at Verificient Technologies. Their Proctortrack product leverages automation and live proctoring using AI to deliver automatic proctoring solutions. We discuss:

Raj Kumar, CEO

• Evolution of Verificient and Proctortrack
• Need for identity verification and remote proctoring
• Veripass for identity verification
• Use of biometrics
• How Proctortrack works
• Support for Chromebook
• Support for 2nd camera (mobile phone)
• Use in testing centers
• Future innovations
  

Podsafe music selection

• Butterflies In Love by Sir Cubworth

Duration: 30:01

RPP #181: Strut Learning - Interview with Lee Johnston

• Interview with Lee Johnston, CEO of Strut Learning - the "next-generation LMS for innovators." Strut integrates personalized learning, assessments, student success, authoring, automation, workflows, and analytics. Listen as we discuss:
• The history of Strut (formerly Sagence Learning)

  

  Lee Johnston, CEO

• Cognify / Compose / Certify and Connect
• Competency-based and non-term direct assessment
• Strut as a replacement or add-on to the LMS
• Strut's market focus
• Gamified personalized learning
• Active social learning
• Skills mapping creating active feedback loops
• Next-Gen analytics, active workflows, and automation
• High-fidelity dashboards
• and more

• Podsafe music selection
• Pirouette by Asher Fulero

Duration: 36:42

RPP #167: Alchemie - Interview with Julia Winter

• Interview with Julia Winter, CEO and Founder of Alchemie, which combines commercial game design with a deep understanding of how students learn. Alchemie’s digital learning tools provide an intuitive learning experience that encourages students to explore and experiment with concepts. We discuss:
  

  

  Julia Winter, CEO

• Julia's background
• History of Alchemie
• How Alchemie works
• The audience for Alchemie
• How students learn by manipulating bonds and electrons
• The Epiphany Platform
• Real-time Assessment
• Machine learning and data analytics
• AR/VR/XR
  
• Podsafe music selection
• "Summertime" by Brother Love

Duration: 27:07

RPP #162: Starfish - Interview with Howard Bell

• Interview with Howard Bell, Senior Vice President of Higher Education Student Success and the General Manager of Starfish at Hobsons. We discuss their Starfish Enterprise Success Platform including Early Alert, Connect, and Degree Planner, and how it helps scale student support initiatives in a way that enables students to engage with the campus community and achieve their academic goals. We also discuss:



Howard Bell
SVP Hobsons

• Interface with the LMS and SIS
• Automatic flags and progress surveys
• Predictive analytics framework
• Student points of contact
• New Degree Planner features
• Partnering with student networks
• Measuring return on investment
• Links to Related Podcasts
• RPP #101: Starfish Retention Solutions: Interview with David Yaskin (March 2012)
• RPP #158: StudyTree - Interview with Ethan Keiser
• RPP #159: AEFIS - Interview with Mustafa Sualp

• Podsafe Music Selection 
• "Run" from the new age piano album "Lines Build Walls" by Ehren Starks

Duration: 38:58

RPP #161: USciences eLearning 3.0 Conference

• Rod discusses the new USciences eLearning 3.0 Conference, including
• Background and history of this conference in it's 16th year
• What is eLearning 3.0
• Keynote Speaker, futurist Dr. Bryan Alexander
• Panel on the Future of Higher Education including Dr. Alexander, Dr. Bobbe Baggio, Dr. Paul Katz (USciences President), Dr. Ken Hartman (past President of Drexel eLearning, Inc.) and Dr. Rod Murray.
• Program schedule and registration
• Social networking hour with craft beer provided by the USciences Brewing Certificate Program 
• Sponsors
• Platinum: AEFIS
• Gold: Practice, Ferrilli
• Silver: Blackboard, DubLabs, Evolve IP, Labster
• Bronze: Examsoft, SixRedMarbles, Glisser, PADLA, StudyTree, MapleSoft, Mersive, Mediasite
• Podsafe music selection
• Vivaldi: Concerto No. 4 in G Minor “Winter” (Allegro movement) from The Four Seasons by the American Baroque Orchestra. 

Duration: 14:09

RPP #159: AEFIS - Interview with Mustafa Sualp

• Interview with Mustafa Sualp, CEO and Founder, AEFIS, LLC. AEFIS is an integrated assessment management platform. We discuss the range of management tools, such as
• Syllabus Management

  

  Mustafa Sualp
  Founder & CEO

• Assessment and Outcomes Management
• Program Managment
• Course Evaluations
• Strategic Planning
• What changes in HiEd stimulated the need for AEFIS?
• What problem does AEFIS solve? 
• How does AEFIS automate tasks?
• How long does it take to implement?
• How does it integrate with other tools, SIS, LMS?
• How does it compare with competing assessment solutions?
• How is it deployed, local, SaaS?

• Links
• EDUCAUSE Preview: AEFIS Offers Power Solutions For Assessment Success

• Podsafe music selection
• Vivaldi: Concerto No. 3 in F Major “Autumn” (Allegro movement) by the American Baroque Orchestra. 

Duration: 39:32

RPP #144: ExamSoft - Interview with Jason Gad

• Interview with Jason Gad, Vice President of Business Development, ExamSoft Worldwide Inc.
• We answer the questions:
• How does Examsoft work?

  

  Jason Gad

• What are advantages over online LMS exams?
• Does it work with Scantron-type paper exams?
• Can exams be proctored?
• Do exams work on all smart phones and tablets?
• What happens if the Internet connection fails?
• Can you map questions to learning objectives?
• Links
• ExamSoft
• RPP #137: ProctorU - Interview with Don Kassner
  
• Podsafe music selection 
• Concerto No. 2 in G Minor (Summer) from the CD entitled "The Four Seasons by Vivaldi" by the American Baroque Orchestra. 

Duration: 36:33

RPP #137: ProctorU - Interview with Don Kassner

• Interview with Don Kassner, CEO & President, ProctorU Inc.

Don Kassner, CEO

• We answer these questions:
• Why do Universities need identity management and authentication and remote proctoring?
• How does ProctorU and UCard work?
• What kinds of biometrics do you use?
• How reliable are biometrics?
• Can clients use ProctorU for large scale simultaneous use in testing centers?

• Links
• ProctorU Inc.
• Utilizing webcam-based proctoring to deter misconduct in online exams
• Federal aid recipients illegally received millions in Federal Student Aid (PDF)

• Podsafe Music Selection
• Autumn Day by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Duration: 24:30

RPP #135: Disruptive Innovation in Education: Interview with Michelle Weise

• Interview with Michelle R. Weise, the Executive Director of Sandbox ColLABorative, the R&D arm of strategy and innovation at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), formerly Senior Research Fellow for Higher Education at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.

  

  Michelle R. Weise, PhD

• We discuss:
• Disruptive innovation with regard to education 
• Moving from institution/faculty-centered to student-centered education
• Online competency-based education aligned with workforce needs
• Performance-based assessments
• Business model moving way from Carnegie (seat time) Unit
• Grade inflation and credit transfer problem
• SNHU's success with online and other schools that are spinning off online units
• LMS vs CRM solutions
• What traditional universities and incumbent LMS vendors should do in the face of disruptive innovation
• Rod's Podcasts on Disruptive Technology in Education
• RPP #19 Disruptive Technology in Education
• RPP #20 Disruptive Technology in Education II
• Disruptive Technologies in Education (Youtube)
• Reading List
• Hire Education: Mastery, Modularization, and the Workforce Revolution by Michelle R. Weise
  
• The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. Christensen
• The Undoing of Disruption by Evan Goldstein
• The University As Ed Tech Startup: UMUC, Global Campus, Texas, and SNHU Roll Their Own by Phil Hill

• Podsafe music selection from Music Alley
• Too Long by Yael Naim, acclaimed singer/songwriter from Israel. She gained fame when her song New Soul played during Apple's Macbook Air ad campaign

Duration: 39:33

RPP #119: Pruvalu ePortfolio: Interview with Claudia Reuter

• Interview with Claudia Reuter, Founder and CEO of SchoolChapters, Inc.

• Pruvalu by SchoolChapters is an integrated ePortfolio for Higher Education.
• We answer the questions:
• What is Pruvalu used for? 
• Institution Accreditation
• Student Assessment and Evaluation
• Student Personal Portfolios
• Standards-Based Faculty Portfolios
• Does it integrate with the LMS?
• Does it support mobile devices?
• Does it integrate with Facebook or LinkedIn?
• Related ePortfolio Links
• RPP #100: TaskStream: Interview with Courtney Peagler
• RPP #97 Interview with Trent Batson
• RPP #10 Electronic Portfolios
• Podsafe music selection from Magnatune
• Vivaldi: Concerto No. 4 in G Minor “Winter” (Allegro movement) from The Four Seasons by the American Baroque Orchestra. 
Duration: 26:00

RPP #115: Interview with Ken Hartman on the Future of Higher Ed

• Interview: Dr. Kenneth E. Hartman, former President of Drexel University Online and now Senior Fellow at Eduventures

• We discuss the future of Higher Education
• Trends
• Growth of online learning
• Online education is being commoditized
• Demand for lower cost degrees
• Survival of many institutions will be dependent on
• Innovative pedagogy
• Online/Hybrid with proven outcomes
• Controversies 
• Changes to accreditation 
• High discount rates
• The 3 year bachelor's degree
• MOOCs 
• Chasing international students
• Bright Spots
• Innovative young companies bringing new tools and delivery methods
• New modes of learning and computer-adaptive assessment
• Links
• The 'No Wake Syndrome' by Kenneth E. Hartman (Inside Higher Ed, February 11, 2013)

• Podsafe Music from Magnatune
• "Something About Eve" by Falling You. Ethereal ambient new age music from magnatune.com.

Duration: 33:48

RPP #105: Blackboard Analytics for Learn

• Interview with Mark Max, Vice President of Blackboard Analytics (formerly iStrategy)
• Blackboard Analytics for Learn combines the data from Blackboard Learn with student and course attributes from the student information system to create reports and dashboards. We discuss how this product is used by students, faculty and leadership, for example:
• Students: How do I measure up to my peers?
• Faculty: How can I easily find students who are at-risk?
• Leadership: Who are the most innovative instructors?
  
• Podsafe Music Selection from the Music Alley
• "Stress" (song and flash animation) by highly caffeinated Jim Infantino of the band, Jim's Big Ego.

Duration: 23:25