We had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Mark Shay, currently the Chief Academic Liasion of Halyard Education Partners, and founder of EDU (Educational Directories Unlimited). His professional background has allowed Mr. Shay to have a front row seat to see the way that education is evolving, especially in regards to distance learning. Today, Mr. Shay is opening up discussions about the education space as the editor of EDUinsight.com.
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eLearners: "What is EDUinsight?"
Mr. Shay: "EDUInsight is an academic journal, providing case studies, best practice and an editorial spin on innovation and trends in the following subject areas: College Student Recruiting, College Student Retention, Online Education and Online Communication with Students. With weekly columns and interviews with today’s thought leaders, EDUInsight is not a news source but rather a place where the overflow of information is filtered into insightful observations and practical suggestions."
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eLearners: "Who would find EDUInsight useful?"
Mr. Shay: "The journal is targeted to those who communicate with prospective and current students such as university administrators, admissions officers and public relations agencies."
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eLearners: "How can readers and visitors make the most of EDUInsight?"
Mr. Shay: "EDUInsight.com is updated each Monday with a new column and interview. All articles and interviews are archived and indexed along with conference sessions and white paper contributions. Ideally readers bookmark the site and read it weekly."
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eLearners: "How did you come up with the idea of EDUInsight?"
Mr. Shay: "Halyard Education Partners, sponsor of the journal, is dedicated to supporting the efforts of universities to maximize their recruiting and retention investment. Daily Halyard delivers spectacular results for our clients, but we find ourselves focused on our clients and not on the bigger picture, that of serving our industry as a whole. EDUInsight is an attempt to pass along examples of innovation and best practice in an academic setting rather than that of a corporate sales message. As the old saying goes, "a rising tide lifts all boats." We hope to apply the collective knowledge of our clients as "the tide" and share our success stories so that all can learn and improve, whether they are Halyard clients or not."
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eLearners: "What is your vision for EDUInsight? How would you like it to contribute to the educational community?"
Mr. Shay: "My vision for EDUInsight is that the articles and interviews compel readers to change their status quo. University administrators all too often work in silos, doing what have done before and doing what they are familiar with. They are adverse to change despite the fact that their world is under constant change. Hopefully EDUInsight provokes static people to change and unites dynamic people that are changing, breaking down silos and building a stronger higher education industry in America."
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eLearners: "What trends do you foresee in the near future?"
Mr. Shay: "I foresee continued prosperity for the higher education industry. I think we will see greater variety and uniqueness in academic programming and more independent learning as part of the college experience. I see the college experience becoming a blending of online, on-campus and external courses at all levels (part-time, full-time, undergraduate, graduate and professional). Online learners will have more on-campus and on-site live experiences. On campus students will extend their experiences through online and international courses. This will be increasingly customized to the student’s desire with elective courses and academic minors having much greater impact than ever before."
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eLearners: "In your opinion, do for-profit and non-profit schools experience any of the same issues?"
Mr. Shay: "I think the difference is less about the tax status of a school and more about the format of the education. Non-traditional schools have flourished in recent years because they have found underserved populations while traditional schools have flourished because they continue to be exciting places where great discoveries occur. In a sense, the traditional universities create knowledge through their research and the non-traditional schools distribute this knowledge through their courses. Both have important roles in society and both can continue to feed off each other. A better educated population benefits our society and competition in higher education forces everyone to perform at their best levels. The common challenge is quality."
Navigate EDUinsight at your leisure with these quick links:
Check out the press release of EDUinsight's launch!