Purdue Global, Ivy Tech expand collaboration efforts to strengthen partnership, prepare students for workforce

Partnership, summit focus on how AI and online adult learning are changing the workforce

INDIANAPOLIS — Creating a supportive adult student experience and continuing to build on the success of an updated Pathways Partnership with the goal of a stronger Indiana workforce were the themes of an Oct. 27 summit hosted by Purdue Global and Ivy Tech Community College.

During the sessions, Purdue Global Chancellor Frank Dooley and Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann highlighted the “transfer of trust” that exists throughout this collective effort to serve the 2 million adult learners in Indiana working their way toward completing a degree.

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Purdue Global Chancellor Frank Dooley presents at the fall Purdue Global-Ivy Tech Summit in Indianapolis. (Purdue Global photo/Kelsey Lefever) Download image

“You get the best work when you trust the other person, and there’s a richness to our partnership,” said Dooley. “President Ellspermann and I work together to bring other groups to share ideas and build on that collaboration and move them forward.”

The Ivy Tech and Purdue Global partnership focuses on supporting access to higher education degrees for Indiana’s working adult students. Building upon the pillars of college affordability, transfer and workforce alignment pathways, and innovative prior-learning credit mobility practices, the collaboration executes partnership engagement initiatives to support learners across Indiana. The seamless degree pathways for high-demand bachelor’s and master’s degrees provide working adults options to continue their education and develop their career with better jobs and higher salaries.

The success of this partnership is demonstrated in the success stories of students like Heather Bixler and Theo Gilmore Jr., who studied at Ivy Tech and then were able to transfer credits for prior learning to Purdue Global, where they accelerated their career paths by way of earning a bachelor’s degree.

The summit, which included more than 100 leaders from the two schools and state and local workforce and economic development groups, featured panels on ways to support student journeys, online learners, workforce initiatives that help underserved populations, and moments to reflect on the success and opportunities of the Pathways Partnership.

Purdue Global and Ivy Tech staff and faculty discuss various topics during small table discussions at the fall summit. (Purdue Global photo/Kelsey Lefever) Download image

During the panel on workforce initiatives for diverse student populations, Tiffany Townsend, chief diversity officer and vice president of organizational culture, talked about the importance of building on Purdue Global’s key partnerships, including Guild, Gardner Institute, Google, OneTen, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ivy Tech.

“We want to make sure these partnerships and degrees lead to better jobs for our students and make sure they get the educational experience they deserve,” Townsend said.

Artificial intelligence was discussed at length during the summit. One panel featured Justin Dammeier, assistant vice president for educational technology and instructional design at Ivy Tech; Shabbir Qutbuddin, assistant vice president for Ivy Tech’s School of Information Technology; and Sam Weber, executive director of innovative learning technologies at Purdue Global. The trio highlighted the numerous facets of AI, discussing Purdue Global’s AI Task Force, the current state of AI in our society, a strategic plan alignment and AI’s impact on higher education.

“We need to educate students on how this is going to impact them in their careers and how they can use these tools to take the next steps and be career-ready,” said Dammeier.

“We should meet students where they are,” Qutbuddin said. “AI can expedite administrative processes. AI can use analytics and intelligence to provide support to at-risk students, perhaps even recognizing this six months before they become at-risk.”

Weber highlighted the future potential of AI and how faculty and staff can use the transformative technology to evolve and consider a student’s well-being while creating a platform for student success.

“AI can be an intimidating topic, now even as much as when it first evolved,” Weber said. “AI has this incredible capacity to augment human potential, to augment brilliant faculty and staff, and even augment student potential. We have a great responsibility to embrace this going forward.”

Another panel touched on how Purdue Global and Ivy Tech can better support online adult student learners. Discovering those ideas that mirror the fundamental assertions of learning and transferable skills can help guide online adult learners to overcome those barriers for a long-term payoff of a degree.

“We need to make sure that courses are designed with our faculty members and instructional design team to meet the needs of students and eliminate barriers students might face during a course,” said Matthew Pittman, assistant vice president of IvyOnline. “We should always make sure that the content is accessible, relevant and practical for the profession they may go into.”

New partnership engagement initiatives for 2023 were highlighted, including the appointment of four dedicated Purdue Global staff, two of which are regional transfer advisors to assist Ivy Tech students moving over to Purdue Global; a new Ivy Tech Achievement Scholarship for Ivy Tech associate degree earners; and listening tours at 14 campuses.

“We’re finding solutions to important problems that need to be solved,” Dooley said. “Events like this summit, as well as continued communication and collaboration between Purdue Global and Ivy Tech, are important as we move forward.”            

About Purdue Global

Purdue Global is Purdue’s online university for working adults who have life experience and often some college credits. It offers flexible paths for students to earn an associate, bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree, based on their work experience, military service and previous college credits, no matter where they are in their life journey. Purdue Global is a nonprofit, public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and backed by Purdue University. For more information, visit https://stories.purdue.edu/purdue-global/.

About Ivy Tech Community College

Ivy Tech Community College is Indiana’s largest public postsecondary institution and the nation’s largest singly accredited statewide community college system, accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Ivy Tech has campuses throughout Indiana and also serves thousands of students annually online. It serves as the state’s engine of workforce development, offering associate degrees, short-term certificate programs, industry certifications, and training that aligns to the needs of the community. The college provides seamless transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana, as well as out of state, for a more affordable route to a bachelor’s degree. More information is available at www.ivytech.edu.

Writer/Purdue Global media contact: Adam Bartels, adam.bartels@purdueglobal.edu

Sources: Frank Dooley, Tiffany Townsend, Justin Dammeier, Shabbir Qutbuddin, Sam Weber, Matthew Pittman