signals in higher ed
Proven outcomes in higher education, from the people who achieved them.
Signals in Higher Ed, hosted by Darin Francis, is a podcast focused on practical outcomes in education, featuring practitioners and administrators who share what has actually worked in their institutions. The channel gives a platform to trusted voices in higher education to discuss policy, technology adoption, and student success strategies. It serves edtech buyers, institutional leaders, and faculty looking for vetted solutions to common challenges.
Higher ed must transform work into the curriculum.
This channel argues that traditional college pathways are breaking. Institutions survive by embedding employer problems, real projects, and career outcomes into learning itself—not bolting them on after.
Signals in Higher Ed makes a single, structural argument: the college-to-career pipeline has failed, and the only way forward is to invert how education works. Rather than teaching theory first and hoping students apply it later, institutions must use real organizational work, employer projects, and skills-based credentialing as the curriculum itself. The channel proves this repeatedly by profiling institutions and vendors that embed work into degree programs, scale experiential learning across entire institutions, and tie funding to measurable workforce outcomes.
Drawn from AI Readiness in Education and 2 more →
“More than half of graduates are underemployed after finishing their degrees.”
Episode 9: If Higher Ed Wants Experiential Learning at Scale
By the numbers
What the channel argues
Who and what shows up
Andrew Salmon
Cofounder, Intangled Learning
Developed work-generated learning model where organizational practices, not faculty-designed syllabi, become the actual curriculum.
Fritz Andover
Director of Online Program Support Services, University of Minnesota
Operates systemized program-funding process across five campuses: market evaluation, enrollment modeling, and financial viability assessment before launch.
Kristen Fox
CEO, Business-Higher Education Forum
Frames the central question: does higher education actually prepare students for the workforce? NACE research shows work-based learners get more job offers and higher starting salaries.
Business-Higher Education Forum
Research and advocacy organization
Consistently surfaces that employer-university alignment must be institution-wide strategy, not siloed in career services, to address workforce readiness gaps at scale.
Iron Range Engineering
Engineering education provider
Demonstrates model scaling experiential learning with alternative assessment methods and employer relationships to produce graduates who navigate ambiguity and communicate across teams.
Questions this channel answers
How can colleges scale experiential learning without relying on traditional unpaid internships?
By embedding live employer projects into the curriculum itself (Riipen), building co-op models into degree requirements (business schools), and creating alternative experiential pathways that integrate into academic structure rather than requiring external placements (University of Virginia's flood-the-zone model).
The Degree That Pays You Back: How Employer-Sponsored Ap… →What skills do employers actually want from college graduates?
Beyond technical knowledge: moral courage, creative confidence, adaptability, ethical reasoning, real-world problem-solving, and durable skills like judgment and communication that AI cannot easily automate. Students must demonstrate concrete examples of these skills in action during hiring.
Work Generated Learning with Andrew Salmon of Intangled … →Why are traditional four-year degrees losing credibility with students, parents, and employers?
Rising tuition costs, skills gaps on entry, long time-to-employment, and growing skepticism about ROI have pushed confidence in the traditional pathway down significantly. Employer-sponsored apprenticeships and one-year AI-focused alternatives now compete by offering earn-while-you-learn models and faster job readiness.
Tale of Two Interns: What AI Is Really Doing to Entry-Le… →How should universities decide which online or new programs to fund and launch?
Through disciplined market analysis, enrollment scenario modeling, and resource assessment, not intuition. Universities like Minnesota systematize the decision with dedicated offices that evaluate market opportunity, build financial models, and help units secure funding before program launch.
How NASH and Texas are scaling microcredentials →What does AI mean for entry-level hiring and early-career work?
AI is reshaping opportunity: students use AI to apply more broadly and present polished profiles, while employers struggle to distinguish candidates. The real pressure is not disappearing roles but reshaped ones, forcing higher ed to help students prove authentic capability beyond AI-assisted applications.
If Higher Ed Wants Experiential Learning at Scale, It Ne… →Best place to start
If Higher Ed Wants Experiential Learning at Scale, It Needs a Broader PlaybookNames the core tension: half of graduates are underemployed despite experiential learning promise, forcing urgent rethink of the entire model.
Why Institution-Wide Employer Alignment Will Define the Next Era of Higher EdArticulates the structural shift: enrollment decline and WEF reskilling demand mean employer alignment must be institutional strategy, not sideline initiative.Industry context
Higher education is expanding beyond traditional school leavers to serve working professionals and career-changers, while institutions face pressure to demonstrate workforce readiness and skills development alongside traditional degree outcomes.
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