Episode 21: Rethinking Higher Education Technology Platforms using the power of StoryTelling feat. Kevin Pashuk, AVP - Digital Transformation & Technology at Sheridan College
What is storytelling?
Our latest guest on the Illuminate Higher Education podcast believes storytelling is the most powerful tool to convey ideas, truth, and information in ways that are remembered and internalized. Stories move our culture forward, establish expected norms and behaviors, and build mutual understanding.
Kevin Pashuk is Associate VP of Digital Transformation & Technology at Sheridan University in Oakville, Ontario. He has more than 20 years of experience across industries, from startups to manufacturing and telecommunications.
His passion for using storytelling as a business tool is rooted in prairie philosophy—using matter-of-fact language to make a point without wasting words. The storyteller must know the message and have a deep understanding of the audience.
In this brief Q&A, you will learn more about Kevin’s approach to technology in higher education. Listen to the full podcast episode for more stories and prairie philosophies.
Q: As an IT professional, what are your thoughts on technology in the higher education sector?
Education, as a sector, is one of the least transformed of nearly all sectors. Travel, banking, retail, and countless other industries look completely different than they did a few years ago. Higher education is not exempt—technology and innovation advance rapidly at major research institutions.
Colleges and universities seem to take a different approach to administrative technologies. For example, my son attended one of the premier universities in Canada. It is well-known for its research, but the system required to register for classes was dismal. Business process silos, legacy silos, and layers of bureaucracy prevent institutions from being efficient in these areas.
For many institutions, digital transformation requires a shift in mindset. Technological strategies should support the student experience, not administrative convenience. Stakeholders must define desired outcomes and choose systems to support outcomes, rather than choosing systems and building processes around them. It begins with the basics—aligning core systems of record, establishing data governance guidelines, and deploying enterprise resource management systems are a start.
Q: Outside of technology, what are some other issues with higher education as it exists today?
Where are we sending our graduates after college?
There are countless young people leaving college with a degree or diploma but no job, no real skills, and significant debt. As a society, we have built a system where we need a piece of paper just to apply for a job. Yet how many individuals do we know that are still in the field of study they chose in university?
(I started my undergrad in forestry.)
Higher education today is more than college—it includes any elements of a lifelong learning experience, from military service to apprenticeships and professional certificates. Today, companies like Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others no longer require a degree to apply for a job. They have figured out how to assess competency independently of a degree. As employers become more open-minded to less traditional career experience, institutions that offer a degree or diploma as the primary outcome risk falling by the wayside.
Q: What is your methodology for helping institutions determine what technological solutions might help them achieve their goals?
I encourage anyone considering a new initiative to map out the possibilities along two dimensions: whether the initiative is mission-critical, and whether the initiative is a competitive differentiator.
For example, a functioning email system is mission-critical but not a differentiator; so long as the system is reliable and user-friendly, it should consume minimal resources. On the other hand, online learning is becoming a mission-critical capability for colleges and universities. Post-pandemic, a high-quality student experience for online learners is a key competitive advantage.
For a deeper dive into the conversation, listen to the full episode above.
Connect with Kevin Pashuk on LinkedIn and Twitter @Invisitech. Learn more about Sheridan College at SheridanCollege.ca.
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This episode is brought to you by N2N’s Illuminate App, the iPaaS for Higher Education.
About N2N Services
Founded in 2010, N2N is committed to serving educational institutions and helping them figure out how to serve their students, faculty, and staff using the most innovative technologies and solutions available in the marketplace. Over the last decade, N2N has served over 300 academic institutions and enabled their student success journeys.
N2N Services Inc. is a leader in enterprise application integration and strategic advisory services for higher education, At N2N, we are committed to providing the highest quality solutions and collaboratively building student-centric solutions.
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