In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we return to Austin to bring you another panel from the SXSW EDU conference earlier this month.

Today, 65% of jobs require some education beyond high school. In the U.S., 62% of working-age adults do not have a degree. Together, these numbers illustrate why we have a skills gap; we need to help more Americans upskill to find sustainable employment.

This demands coordination among education providers, employers and policy makers. Unfortunately, current policy proposals undermine potential solutions such as online learning which could help quickly expand education access to millions of learners.

WorkingNation president Jane Oates moderated a panel on the subject: Online Backlash: Bad Policy Holds Students Back.

She was joined on stage by Scott Pulsipher of Western Governors University, Michael Hansen of Cengage Group, and David Barnes of IBM. They also talked about the gap between what some educational institutions promise and what they actually deliver.

You can listen to our conversation here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 265: Michael Hansen, Cengage Group; Scott Pulsipher, Western Governors University; David Barnes, IBM; and Jane Oates, WorkingNation
Host & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNation
Producer: Larry Buhl
Executive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa Panzer
Theme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0
Download the transcript for this podcast here.
You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts