Ahead of the marcus evans University Leadership Summit 2017, Ken Michaels discusses the insights university leaders need to continuously improve student outcomes

1. and how we are working in partnership
with educators and administrators.
How can learning outcomes
improve?
It is tempting to jump right to the
newest technology as a solution to
improve learning outcomes. Recent hot
topics have included artificial intelli-
gence, personalized pathways and
adaptive platforms, which all work, but
only if you balance affordability to value
and efficiency to academic freedom. We
all have to remember, teaching is at the
heart of this. What knowledge are you
trying to convey? How do you present
learning and support critical thinking?
How are resources and knowledge
concepts delivered? Even if the delivery
and resources are high quality, it means
nothing if you do not have engagement.
Only when all three are achieved can
you have learner success. It should be a
holistic approach, an orchestration of
the learning process.
How can universities achieve that?
Intellus Learning brings many solutions
together into one platform. First,
universities need to understand what
resources they have to address these
questions and issues, and how they are
organized. What is available in the open
education resource hubs? What content
are professors bringing in?
The second battle is how that content is
organized for delivery. Learning
objectives should be tied to course
objectives. What content is being used?
And with that knowledge, can we help
universities avoid duplicate buying or
prevent library budget cuts where there
is heavy usage? That intelligence and
visibility into delivery is important to
address the affordability question. We
need to know what supplements can
enhance teaching; where the gaps are
in what the school owns; what
professors are trying to teach and best
practices; where affordability and OER
contributed content models are forming
around grants, and if they are corre-
lated to the accreditation of the school.
All of these are very critical insights.
Ultimately, there are different tools
universities can use but the foundation
of our approach is to support the goals
the administrator is trying to reach, to
How Universities Can Continuously
Improve Student Outcomes
Interview with: Ken Michaels, Chief
Executive Officer, Intellus Learning
(part of Macmillan Learning)
“Although the mission of education has
not changed, many of the needs have.
We know so much about how, what, and
why students learn. Universities,
administrators and educators need
greater access and insight into what
engages students, what drives learning,
and what simply is not working,”
according to Ken Michaels, Chief
Executive Officer of Intellus Learning,
a division of Macmillan Learning.
“Universities need a bridge that unifies
those insights with feedback from
students, faculty and administrators.
That understanding and transparency
will provide them with a clear map to
continuously improve student out-
comes.”
Intellus Learning is a solution provider
at the marcus evans University
Leadership Summit 2017 in Palm
Beach, Florida, October 12-13.
What are the issues university
leaders are facing today?
There are so many issues that we see
our partners at universities facing from
affordability, engagement, student
success, and retention and limited
resources to address it all. That is a
core pain point because so many
universities have very limited financial
resources, while demands and
expectations keep growing. Capabilities
are constantly evolving. Technology is
changing teaching delivery methods and
how universities serve learners. The
question becomes whether or not
learning processes and teaching delivery
methods are in sync? It is all about the
learner and whether he or she is
progressing. That is where our focus is
bring it all together without losing
intelligence, and to avoid letting
academic freedom fracture efficiency.
What administrators want is afforda-
bility, knowing whether students are
engaged and if graduation rates are
improving. We give administrators the
dashboards and insights they need,
while still enabling professions to teach
their way. Bridging all of the complexity
of technology and workflows into one
insights platform is a big endeavor. This
was a missing ingredient in the industry.
It takes open architecture, open APIs
and the bridging of many solutions into
one analytics platform.
Any final words of advice to
university leaders?
Do not rush to retention programs and
take grants without insights. Do not
rush to affordability and separate course
builds with center of learnings. I really
feel that one has to create harmony
and ownership on each campus and in
each department. That only happens
with insights and a common purpose.
Knowing what engages students is
absolutely critical in today’s world. You
need to know what content is being
viewed, what is attracting the appropri-
ate time on a task, how they are linked
to performance, and be able to replace
content that is not working. It is all
about engagement transparency, better
linkages between resources, delivery
sites and performance outcomes. If you
cannot see that level of student
engagement during the semester, it
might be too late to capture retention
later on.
If you cannot see
student engagement
during the semester,
it might be too
late to capture
retention later on

2. marcus evans Summits deliver
peer-to-peer information on
strategic matters, professional
t r e n d s a n d b r e a k t h r o u g h
innovations.
Please note that the Summit is a
closed business event and the
number of participants strictly
limited.
About the University Leadership Summit 2017
The University Leadership Summit is the premium forum bringing senior level
university executives and solution providers together. The Summit offers an
intimate environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the
education industry. Taking place at the Eau Palm Beach Resort & Spa, Palm Beach,
Florida, October 12-13, the Summit includes presentations on changing
demographics and enrollment in higher education, keeping college affordable while
maintaining quality, the future of international students and finding new ways to
generate revenue on campus.
http://universityleadership.marcusevans-summits.com
Contact
Sarin Kouyoumdjian-Gurunlian, Press Manager, marcus evans, Summits Division
Tel: + 357 22 849 313
Email: press@marcusevanscy.com
For more information please send an email to press@marcusevanscy.com
All rights reserved. The above content may be republished or reproduced. Kindly
inform us by sending an email to press@marcusevanscy.com
About Macmillan Learning / Intellus Learning
Macmillan Learning improves lives through learning. Our legacy of excellence in education informs our approach to developing
world-class content with pioneering, interactive tools. Through deep partnership with the world’s best researchers, educators,
administrators, and developers, we facilitate teaching and learning opportunities that spark student engagement and improve
outcomes. We provide educators with tailored solutions designed to inspire curiosity and measure progress. Our commitment to
teaching and discovery upholds our mission to improve lives through learning. Macmillan Learning includes both academic and
institutional divisions. To learn more, please visit www.macmillanlearning.com or see us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or
join our Macmillan Community.
About marcus evans Summits
marcus evans Summits are high level business forums for the world’s leading decision-makers to meet, learn and discuss
strategies and solutions. Held at exclusive locations around the world, these events provide attendees with a unique opportunity to
individually tailor their schedules of keynote presentations, case studies, roundtables and one-on-one business meetings.
For more information, please visit: www.marcusevans.com
To view the web version of this interview, please click here:
https://events.marcusevans-events.com/university2017-ken-michaels