"I'm starting to see [the non-traditional students and traditional students], they've been blended together in a significant way through this whole pandemic and I don't know if they will be teased apart in the same way that they were before."As the Executive Director of Strategic Partnerships and Digital Learning for Evangel University, Mark Fabian has had a front-row seat to the gradual then all-at-once transition to digital learning. In this conversation with Dr. Rob Reynolds, Mark talks ab...

"A lot of passages have a progression of thought, a train of thought, that you can't just take a car out of the middle and expect it to be of any value. You've got to have the engine and every car in between in order for that thought to make sense."In this interview, we take you into our course creation process with Macy Johnson, the instructor for our Introduction to Christianity course. Macy was also our subject matter expert who helped organize and build the course. Macy and Rob discuss th...

"When you are a "non-traditional" student, you're an adult, you have family, a job, other responsibilities, online learning is almost a necessity. You don't have the time to drive to campus and sit through a two- or three-hour lecture. That's just not a possibility. So the advent of online learning is really one of the reasons why non-traditional education has blown up over the last 15 years."With more than 1,100 of their 2,000 students enrolled in their online program and another 500 h...

"We're teaching parents the rules of a game they didn't even know they were playing."Families Empowered, a non-profit organization in Texas, helps families understand all the different educational options so they can make the best decision for their students. In this conversation, Dr. Rob Reynolds talks with Zulean Cruz-Diaz and Ayla Dehghanpoor of Families Empowered about how the work they do and the conversations they have with families have changed in light of COVID-19.

"In the past, there were a lot of things that students get to do simply because of where they lived. That to me, I think, is probably the most exciting thing about education is that the doors are opening wide for every student."After spending time in the classroom and as an administrator, Sandra Powell has found the perfect role for her: Graduation Coach. In this interview with Dr. Rob Reynolds, Sandra talks about giving hope to students who are struggling to finish high school. They also tal...

"I tell my incoming freshman, when you find what you love, you are going to apply it with your whole heart and soul. But until then, know that you need to keep cranking it out so that you can get to that place, because you want to be ready." In this interview, Dr. Reynolds talks with Monica Epperson, Director of Academic Enhancement & Assistant Professor of Psychology at Oklahoma Wesleyan University, about the importance of finding a fit in your college experience. They also discuss ...

"We are missing the boat on how we do online education. We are taking the worst aspects of traditional pedagogy and we're just transposing it to online."Brandon Tatum admits that he wasn't a great student in high school. But after a career detour led him to college, he found he could make an impact by helping students like the one he had been. In this conversation, Brandon, now the CEO of ConnectEDU and the Executive Director of the National Christian Schools Association, talks about his time...

"One of the worst things I’ve ever seen is a 13-year-old [who is] hopeless. They’ve given up. And 99% of the time it’s because they didn’t get the support. They just get pushed aside or pushed along, and they get frustrated and drop out. At Dream Academy, we want to do something different.”In this podcast, TEL Education CEO Rob Reynolds talks with Jamie Maloney, President of Dream Academy, about bringing hope back to students who were left behind. Jamie discusses some of the ways Dream Academ...

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Nick Hathaway, the CEO of ELocker. Nick is a passionate innovator in the education space and, through ELocker, is working to connect learners and employers in the U.S. Our conversation ranged from the challenges facing universities in the COVID-19 crisis (Nick is the former Vice President of Administration for the University of Oklahoma) to exciting opportunities made possible by comprehensive learner records and learning data.