California Higher Edu Master Plan-When is Outsourcing Good? Bad?

Education has an important function in society. It helps feed our industries, governments, and intellectual capital by developing highly skilled individuals that can succeed on the international market. Outsourcing services and learning do have benefits but comes with a few caveats. As with all outsourcing, it is important to keep a few things in mind that include performance, cost, integration, and decision making.

Outsourcing should enhance the current abilities of public institutions at a cheaper price. Higher education has a cost and when we outsource it much be to a more innovative, flexible, and cost-effective partner. If the outsourcing options cannot consistently outperform government in effectiveness and cost it should be reconsidered.

Outsourcing options should be well integrated into the overall government system. Sometimes entities outsource, and the services become disjointed level thousands unable to fully utilize the system due to lack of knowledge, gaps in services, and ineffective integration plans. The way public universities and outsourcing services integrate together should be as seamless as possible.

Core processes must be held by the University. Outsourcing should be an enhancement to core processes not making business decisions over those main processes. The mission and core decision-making processes are to be held by the public institution in order to ensure control over the services.

Outsourcing has possibilities to save money and improve services. It doesn't always do this as sometimes the management of such systems is ineffective. Outsourcing public institutions requires deep thought and adequate strategic planning before implementation. Vendors should enhance current capacities through superior performance when compared to keeping the service in-house, should be cost effective, well-integrated, and should be reliant on the main entity and the mission of the public institution.

Who is Likely to Succeed in Online Education?

College is a right-of-passage to turn the uninitiated into the initiated of higher knowledge. Students are attracted to online education because of its convenience will soon be exposed to a heavy workload that leads to greater awareness. The difference between those who succeed, from those who don't,  is the “grit” that comes forth from self-motivation.

Students are not all the same and gravitate to virtual or traditional based on their personal preferences. The online world attracts people who are slightly older, English speaking, prolific Internet users, internally motivated and engaged in a career (Kahu, Stephens, & Zepke, 2013; Johnson, 2015). Student’s unique situation and personal characteristics are often evaluated before taking a particular course.

Online students are highly motivated and often lifelong learners. Like traditional college students they attend a higher education institution to get ahead in life and choose the best path that helps them achieve their ends while balancing other responsibilities. The online approach requires a high level of commitment and internal motivation.

Upon entering a higher education institution the individual student’s personality and abilities begin to take precedence in determining their performance. Separating the wheat from the shaft occurs through the retention and persistence rates from course to course. Convenience meets hard work and some students may not be adequately prepared for the challenge.

Persistence is where online students show their ability to be succeed in school and life. Those who overcome life challenges are persistent with their goals and don’t give up are often those who become successful. Those that make it to the end are a cut above the rest as they managed their lives, careers, and school work load without the same level of social support as other programs.

Differences between virtual and traditional education does exist even though the ultimate need to grow and progress is the same. The online student may be initially attracted to the convenience of remote education but will soon need to tap their internal motivations to succeed  in a virtual modality. The online graduate is a highly motivated independent thinker that can keep going even when no one is cheering them on.

Kahu, E R, Stephens, C, Leach, L & Zepke, N 2013. The engagement of mature distance students. Higher Education Research & Development, 32,(5).

Johonson, G. (2015). On-Campus and Fully-Online University Students: Comparing Demographics, Digital Technology Use and Learning Characteristics. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 12 (1).

Painting Ocean Cliffs-New Horizons

At times I like to paint. Maybe becoming a better painter sometime. I view it as a way to understand and connect with the world. This one is of cliffs. It is impressionist by nature so it is not designed to be exact. However, it is designed to express a mood. In this case those times when the wind is blowing softly, everything is fresh, and new things are on the horizons.

The Online MBA will be “The Degree”

The holder of the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) is a highly educated practitioner that can take on nearly any position within the company by applying their advanced knowledge. As jobs become more complex from one decade to the next, they naturally require more knowledge and education to meet new challenges. Professionals seeking to obtain advanced knowledge have few options under traditional models and view online education as “the degree” that suits their needs.

One of the primary reasons why online MBAs became so popular is because of their flexibility in allowing progressive individuals to go back to school and update their knowledge (Roe, Toma & Yallapragada, 2015). Under traditional models, students who are employed are unlikely to go back leaving a skill deficit in the market.

There were those who were skeptical of online education and continued to be so today. Their arguments have lost value and schools have adopted such practices because they are cost effective without hampering educational quality. The popularity of the degree continues to grow based on demand.

No doubt the world is becoming more complex, and people will need to go back to school to obtain the skills necessary to be successful in the market. Jobs that are leaning more toward the high-technology or knowledge fields require the type of personality that continues to seek new knowledge. Those who don’t will be left behind by those who did.

Online education allows hungry professionals the access they need to update their skills and compete in the market. The world is changing, and skills are fluid as the job market continuously shifts. Easy access and the ability to jump in and out of school when needed without significant loss can help the development of human capital in the country. Providing the right kind of education for the knowledge needed now works no matter what the medium.

Roe, C., Toma, A. & Yallapragada, R. (2015). Innovation in business education: developing a high quality online MBA. American Journal of Business Education, 8 (2).

Painting: Desert Pillars

Life is more simple than we think it is. Sometimes paintings can help us find that simplicity.

Hiring College Graduates for Price Tag or Ability?

What is in the value of the degree beyond the big price tag? According to a study of potential employers, the reputation of the college is of critical importance in the initial phases of a hiring process but becomes less important later in the interview process (Osoian, Nistor, & Zaharie, 2010). The quality of the degree rests on its brand recognition and first recall when selecting candidates.

Consider an organization that receives 30 to 50 resumes for a single job posting. The recognition of the degree and the school it was conferred will be part of the first cut. If the name of the school has poor recall recognition in the hiring manager's mind, it will unlikely get past the first cut. Good people are left behind because employers have a degree bias.

There is a difference between brand recognition and quality of learning. If a person attends an elite school, pays twice the amount of money, and earns a lower quality degree than a state school they will still be first in line for the opportunity. The minimum qualifications and perceived value of the degree count in making one stand out.

After the top candidates are called for interviews their work skills, communication abilities, prior experience, presentation, and other factors make a greater impression. The hiring manager will look at the overall background and "right fit" of the individual to the organization. If the overall interview goes well, the perceived value of the degree counts less.

There is a lesson for hiring managers and schools. It is important not to side step great candidates only because they didn't come from a wealthy background. Schools should learn to raise their market quality and brand image when they can. The reputation of the school may do more than the actual learning that has taken place. Once the candidate has made their way to the interview, then other factors like knowledge become important.

Osoian, C., Nistor, R. & Zaharie, M. (2010). Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the employers' view upon quality of education. Proceedings of the European Conference on Research Methods for Business & Management Studies, p. 409-414 (Conference).

Customer Perception and Customer Value

Value is subjective to the beholder but follows segmented consumer demographics where value can be targeted. Each demographic within the market finds a different value based on options and price. Knowing who your target market is can make a big difference on how to create value that attracts more customers.

Trends are moving away from cost-based strategies to customer-oriented value strategies to raise market competitiveness (Tetteh, 2015). Cost is only one aspect of that perceived value. Consumers consider design, brand, functionality, quality, and many more different options in creating a perception of total product value.

Cost is what the consumer is willing to give up to obtain a certain product. Therefore raising the value also leads to greater product equity that ends with higher priced sales. People don't want to give up their hard earned money unless they find that product more to their liking than many of the alternative products on the market.

Raising value doesn't need to cost a lot. Sometimes it can require something as simple as re-branding the same product and marketing it somewhere else while it could be more complex like redesigning the next version with more focus on key customer needs.  There is a wide range of ways to raise value that also includes warranties, add-on services, bundles, etc.

Different demographic groups will have different needs. Knowing the details of the demographic group such as education, interests, lifestyle, age, income, and so forth will provide an opportunity to ensure the product meets the needs of customers. The more connected a person is to the customer the more successful they are in understanding how value is perceived and measured in that group.

Tetteh, V. (2015). Value-based strategies for business marketing. Research Starters Business.