Edalex Podcast

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In this interview, Dan McFadyen, Managing Director of Edalex and Kate Valenti, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Unicon Inc. explore the evolving education landscape as they delve into key aspects of Competency-Based Education (CBE), the integration of General Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), and the redefinition of qualifications beyond traditional degrees. The conversation is divided into 6 thought-provoking chapters, each shedding light on different aspects of their covered topics:

01:13 – Exploring the Landscape of Competency-Based Education: Insights from a Leading EdTech
11:39 – Strategies for Competency-based Education Adoption: Current Infrastructure vs Customised Solutions
15:23 – Embracing the Artificial Intelligence Wave: a Perspective on Integrating GenAI in Educational Institutions
22:21 – Skills-Focused and Beyond Degrees: Rethinking Higher Ed in the Face of Declining Enrolment
31:26 – Innovative Projects with Strategic Partners to Reshape the Future of Education in HE and K-12
35:09 – Building and Sustaining a Successful Culture for a Remote-First Workforce

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Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
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Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTzWgfUthHonR7Z5LatKGQ

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In this podcast episode, Dan McFadyen, Managing Director at Edalex speaks with Will Stubley, Co-CEO/Co-Founder of Year13, where they delve into the critical issues surrounding education and employment for your people in Australia and across the globe. The conversation is divided into 7 thought-provoking chapters, each shedding light on different aspects of the educational landscape.

0:00 - Introduction
1:05 - Year13’s Mission - Transforming School-to-Work Transition for Young Australians
5:55 - Exploring Post-School Pathways and Opportunities for Youth
8:58 - Skills and Qualifications to Work Hand-in-Hand to Address Skills Gaps
13:16 - Empowering Learners, Nurturing Skills Recognition and Educational Equity
19:18 - Research Insights - Challenges and Opportunities in Education Decision-Making
25:06 - How US and Australian Systems Can Thrive Through Collaboration and Partnership
30:24 - Year13 Roadmap - Revolutionising Post-School Transitions Through Alignment

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
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Dan McFadyen, Managing Director at Edalex speaks with Dr. Charla Long, President of the Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN) where they cover various aspects of competency-based education (CBE) and its future impact. Overall, the interview provides insights into the revolutionary nature of CBE and its potential to revolutionise learning for lifelong success.

0:00 - Introduction
5:11 - The Formation of Competency-Based Education Network (C-BEN): Missions, Values, and Goals
11:53 - Redefine Learning Outcome Metrics: The Shift from Time-Based to Competency-Based Education
16:42 - A Global Shift towards Competency-Based Education: Unleashing the Potential of Skills and Competencies
25:52- Building a Common Language for Skills: Unlocking Learning Exchange and Global Collaboration
30:52 - Empowering Learners Through Personalised Learning Pathways and Asset-Based Approach to Education
38:06 - C-BEN Vision for the Future of Competency-Based Education as a Nexus of Lifelong Learning

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
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Dan McFadyen, Managing Director at Edalex speaks with Ryan O'Hare, CEO and Founder of Keypath Education (Australia and Asia-Pacific) where they discuss how to get ahead in Higher Education by challenging assumptions, focusing on digital strategies, embracing skills-based learning, catering to lifelong learners (the new majority) and being learner-centric.

Their topics of discussion include:

• 1:37 - Keypath Education’s journey so far and the drivers of their rapid growth - internal (e.g. market knowledge, partnerships) and external (e.g. rise of technology, COVID)
• 6:00 - What higher education is already doing well and why digital strategy, systems interoperability, integrated data and lifelong learning should be the focus in 2023
• 16:37 - Learners have already shifted from traditional qualifications to skills-based learning - and the majority are lifelong learners / earners, not young adults
• 26:21 - To remain relevant, higher education needs to challenge long-held assumptions around who learners are, cohort segments, learning preferences, and industry alignment
• 30:07 - A top-down people-centric culture - with an intentional focus on diversity, equity and inclusion - underpins Keypath Education’s success
• 36:42- Why you should stop doing pilots and start committing instead - going all in can mean the difference between success and failure
• 39:28 - Higher education changes in the foreseeable future - A learner-centric vision

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
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In this conversation-style interview, Dan McFadyen and Lyndon Blanchard, Chief Operating Officer of the Digital Skills Organisation (DSO), discuss the demand for digital skills supply at both national and global levels and how the DSO is working to enable digital upskilling and reskilling and create a job-ready workforce.

Note: This discussion was first published about a year ago as a way of looking back at how far we've come in this fast-moving sector.

Their topics of discussion include:

0:35 - The DSO and its Mission to Support a Successful Economy Through Digital Skills
4:24 - The Impacts of Digital Revolution and Its Significant Role in Learning, Upskilling or Reskilling
11:22 - Addressing the Digital Skills Gap With the Cremorne Project
18:21 - How Can Learners/Employees Maximise the ROI from their Education?
24:18 - Personalised Evidence and its Importance to Learner’s Employability in the Digital Era
30:30 - The DSO’s Vision of Digital Skilling in the Near Future

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
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In this conversation-style interview, Dan McFadyen and Nicholas Robert, Co-Founder and CEO of Learning Vault, explore how standards and interoperability are enabling credential curation, dynamic credentials and learner agency.

Their topics of discussion include:

01:00 - Learning Vault’s Journey and Mission
03:40 - The Digital Credential and Digital Badging Landscape and Drivers of Future Growth
08:17 - How Wider Awareness of Digital Credentials and Adhering to Standards is Supporting Learner Agency
12:39 - The Critical Elements of Truly Portable, Internationally Verifiable Credentials
17:13 - How Lifelong Skills Recognition and Credential Curation is Becoming the New Hiring Signal
23:58 - How Different Sectors and Organisations Credential the Soft and Domain Specific Skills Mix
28:38 - How QVault Maximised Interoperability and Enabled Dynamic Digital Credential Creation
34:04 - Upcoming Projects - Making Skills Accessible and Meaningful to Empower Learners on a Global Scale

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
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In this conversation style interview, Margo Griffith and Professor Mark Brown, Director of the National Institute for Digital Learning at Dublin City University have a wide-ranging discussion on the European approach to micro-credentials. Their discussion explores the mindset that education is a 'public good' in Europe, how micro-credentials support lifelong learning in that setting and his experiences in helping to establish a whole-of-Europe framework.

Note: This discussion was first published about a year ago as a way of looking back at how far we've come in this fast-moving sector.

Their topics of discussion include:

•  1:07 - Summary of the European approach and definition of micro-credentials
• 7:38 - Building the European micro-credential roadmap - current and future  
• 12:32 - The drivers of micro-credential development in European countries
• 16:28 - Considerations when co-creating micro-credentials with industry partners
• 22:07 - Real-world example of micro-credential co-creation with industry
• 24:30 - Storage, verification and portability of micro-credentials and digital credentials
• 30:29 - The impact of true innovation disrupting the traditional learning eco-system
• 36:38 - Having an ethos of 'education as a public good' fosters diversity and transformation

Visit Edalex.com to  read the full transcript and more resources.

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
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In this conversation style interview, Margo Griffith and Dr. Naomi Boyer, Executive Director, Digital Transformation at Education Design Lab, explore how we can all use vision, collaboration, and technology enablement to tackle wicked challenges in the skills ecosystem.

Their topics of discussion include:

• 1:57 - How the Lab is Tackling Wicked 21st Century Skills Challenges
• 5:39 - Skills and Competency Visibility and Learner Equity for the New Majority
• 8:34 - Co-design and Collaboration Projects at the Lab Supporting Learners to Earners
• 14:40 - Verifying and Validating a Learner's Life and Working Experiences With 'XCredit'
• 17:33 - How Others Can Leverage the Lab's Resources and Build on Their Activities
• 21:55 - Technology Enabled Human Effort - Underpinning Skills Ecosystem Data

Visit Edalex.com to read the full transcript and more resources.

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTzWgfUthHonR7Z5LatKGQ

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In this conversation style interview, Margo Griffith and Jeffrey Lehrer, National RTO Compliance Manager from Scouts Australia, discuss the challenges and opportunities around aligning non-formal learning to formal learning pathways for both their youth members and adult volunteers. They also discuss what youth organisations globally are doing to help participants gain recognition of transferable skills learnt through their programs, to be used as credits towards getting into the course they want or when looking for work.

Their topics of discussion include:

• 0:50 - Informal, Non-formal and Formal Learning Within Scouts Australia
• 6:55 - Evidence of Learning and the Complexity of Mapping and Alignment
• 10:02 - Building Tools for the Learner to Articulate Their Skills and Competencies
• 12:10 - The Rio Declaration on Non-Formal Learning From Global Youth Organisations
• 15:53 - Recognition of Learning Involves a Translation Piece - the Scouts Australia Example
• 20:38 - Key Solutions for Recognition of Non-formal to Formal Learning Pathways
• 25:19 - The Role of Policymakers in Recognising Non-formal Education Across All Sectors
• 34:38 - Next Steps in Creating Non-formal to Formal Pathways

Visit Edalex.com to  read the full transcript and more resources.

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTzWgfUthHonR7Z5LatKGQ

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In this conversation style interview, Margo Griffith and Doris Zahner, PhD from the Council for Aid to Education (CAE) discuss authentic assessment of essential skills for career success, such as critical thinking, problem-solving and written communication. Zahner discusses how authentic assessment accurately measures critical skills, the evidence of authentic assessments that is provided to educators and learners and how different institutions use attainment of critical skills data.

Their topics of discussion include:

• 1:33 - Assessing in-demand critical skills and connecting learners to hiring managers 
• 3:09 - How authentic assessment effectively and accurately measures critical skills
• 5:55 - Standardised authentic assessments vs customised assessments
• 7:01 - What evidence of authentic assessments is provided to educators and learners?
• 8:55 - How do institutions use attainment of critical skills data?
• 10:33 - How does personalised evidence support CAE's authentic assessments?
• 14:13 - How a broad range of institutions use authentic assessments

Visit Edalex.com to  read the full transcript and more resources.

Find out more at: edalex.com/credentialate
Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/edalex
Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjTzWgfUthHonR7Z5LatKGQ