Future U Podcast - The Pulse of Higher Ed

The Sports Betting Madness on College Campuses

It’s March Madness, a prime time for college sports – and for sports betting. Some two-thirds of college students now bet on sports, and the meteoric rise in popularity brings a mix of tough challenges for campus leaders. On this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with two officials from the NCAA, Clint Hangebrauck and Mark Hicks, to understand why a rise in student gambling could become “the next big public health crisis” for campuses. This episode is supported exclusively by Ascendium Education Group. Related Links “U.S. sports betting: Where all 50 states stand on online sports betting sites,” in CBS Sports. “Federal prosecutors charge 26 men with alleged conspiracy to manipulate college basketball games,” in The Athletic.  Suspensions, arrests and lifetime bans: A timeline of sports betting scandals since the repeal of PASPA,” in ESPN. “NCAA won't allow pro sports betting by college athletes and staff amid gambling scandals,” in PBS NewsHour.“ ‘Is This Insider Information?’ The Prediction Market Bets Driving a Campus Frenzy,” in The Wall Street Journal. Chapters 0:00 - Sports Betting Is Suddenly Everywhere 2:10 - The Turning Point That Drove a Gambling Boom 3:11 - Scandals Threaten the Integrity of Games 3:53 - Why ‘Prop Bets’ Pose Threats for Athletes 4:44 - The NCAA’s Role and Introducing Our Guests 5:45 - Laying Out the Landscape of College Betting 8:37 - How Widespread Are Problems Related to Sports Betting? 12:07 - Why College Presidents Should Be Concerned About Gambling 15:56 - Which Sports or Schools Face the Biggest Impact of Sports Betting? 20:04 - Should Student Athletes Be Allowed to Bet on Pro Sports? 22:51 - What Should Colleges Do About Sports Betting? 25:15 - What Is the NCAA Doing to Protect Student Athletes? 29:40 - How NCAA Collaborates With Betting Companies 33:52 - What’s Next for Sports Betting? 36:42 - A Wake-Up Call to the Issue of Sports Betting 40:53 - Sports Betting Touches Many Parts of Campus Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads   Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn   Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.

How AI Could Transform, or Replace, the LMS

For 30 years now, colleges have relied on the Learning Management System, or LMS, as a key portal for professors and students to teach and learn. It's a tool that has helped colleges adapt to online learning and bring digital tools to classroom teaching. But generative AI seems poised to disrupt the LMS. And it’s unclear whether the LMS will evolve—or be replaced altogether. For this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with a pioneer of the technology, Matthew Pittinsky, about the lessons of past moments of tech disruption like the smartphone and cloud computing and about what could be different this time. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group. Relevant Links The LMS at 30: From Course Management to Learning Management (At Last), by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech. LMS at 30 Part 2: Learning Management in the AI Era, by Matthew Pittinsky in OnTech. “Pygmalion in the Classroom: Teacher Expectation and Pupils' Intellectual Development,” by Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson “Two-Sigma Tutoring: Separating Science Fiction from Science Fact,” by Paul T. von Hippel in Education Next. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 1:34 - How the LMS Became Key Infrastructure at Colleges 3:04 - What Was the Sales Pitch When the LMS First Emerged? 5:15 - Why Blackboard Bought Up So Many Competitors 7:36 - AI Will Disrupt LMS Even Though Previous Tech Didn’t 10:57 - Could AI Can Bring ‘Hogwarts Magical Study Aids’? 12:22 - Is the LMS Needed In an Age of AI? 14:14 - Should LMS Providers Build Guardrails to Prevent Cheat-Bots? 18:25 - What Lessons From the Past Can Help Respond to AI? 19:52 - A New Leader at Blackboard 21:06 - Sponsor Break 22:00 - How Faculty Are Key to Change 28:03 - Why Change From AI Might Be Discipline-Specific 34:50 - Lightning Round With Matt Pittinsky Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads   Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn   Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Higher Ed 101: Tenure Explained

Tenure is a defining feature of U.S. higher education, but these days the practice is in decline and under attack by critics. On this episode, Jeff and Michael talk with Jacques Berlinerblau, a Georgetown University professor who has written extensively about the tenure system, for an explainer on its colorful origins as well as a look at the dramatic changes that seem to be coming. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group. Chapters 0:00 - Intro 2:50 - The Colorful History of Tenure 8:14 - A Distinctly American System 9:14 - How Tenure Works 13:26 - What Is the Legal Nature of Tenure? 14:46 - Which Types of Colleges Use Tenure? 16:19 - Is Tenure Different in Different Disciplines? 18:52 - How Difficult Is It For Colleges to Dismiss a Tenured Faculty Member? 20:40 - Can Tenured Departments Be Eliminated for Lack of Student Demand? 22:57 - Complaints Against the Tenure System 24:43 - A Turning Point in the 1990s 31:43 - A Renewed Campaign to Erode Tenure 34:31 - How Professors Are Partly to Blame for Tenure’s Woes 37:33 - Will Only Elite Universities Keep Tenure? 38:49 - Are Younger Faculty As Excited About Tenure? 41:48 - What Can Professors Do in the Face of Tenure’s Erosion? Relevant Links: “1915 Declaration of Principles on Academic Freedom and Academic Tenure,” and a history of the American Association of University Professors. “1940 Statement of Principles on Academic Freedom and Tenure,” from the American Association of University Professors. "Professors Lay Dying: Selecting a College Amidst an Educational Crisis," by Jacques Berlinerblau “They’ve Been Scheming to Cut Tenure for Years. It’s Happening,” by Jacques Berlinerblau in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines,” by David Pepper. “The War on Tenure,” by Deepa Das Acevedo Connect with Michael Horn: Sign Up for the The Future of Education Newsletter Website LinkedIn X (Twitter) Threads   Connect with Jeff Selingo: Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for You Sign Up for the Next Newsletter Website X (Twitter) Threads LinkedIn Connect with Future U: Twitter YouTube Threads Instagram Facebook LinkedIn   Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag! Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Will a Flood of Credentials Threaten the Four-Year Degree?

Colleges and other providers have flooded the market with non-degree credentials in the past decade. But a recent analysis shows that only one in three credentials bring meaningful returns for graduates. Jeff and Michael talk with Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, who is working to provide data to consumers and policymakers about the ROI of non-degree credentials. Given many of the returns of credentials come to those with traditional degrees already, the future of the degree and credentials are inextricably tied together. This episode is supported exclusively by Ascendium Education Group.Chapters0:00 - Intro1:21 - Creating a Way to Measure Real-Time Labor Market Data3:15 - Charting an Explosion of Non-Degree Credentials7:14 - Helping Consumers Find Which Credentials Have Value11:36 - What is the ROI of Non-Degree Credentials?12:51 - How Could the Data on These Credentials Be Improved?14:20 - The Challenge of Getting Data to Consumers18:38 - Will Better Data Push Providers to Improve Degree Offerings?20:52 - How Will Non-Degree Credentials Impact the Four-Year Degree?24:25 - Sponsor Break25:38 - Why Creating Measurement Tools Takes So Long27:49 - New Credentials Could Increase the Value of the Four-Year Degree30:02 - Providing Data Doesn’t Mean Students Will Use It35:06 - Addressing the ‘AI Paralysis' in Hiring39:53 - Lightning Round With Matt SigelmanRelevant Links“Counting Credentials 2025 Report,” by the nonprofit Credential Engine.Credential Value Index Navigator by The Burning Glass Institute.Education Quality Outcome Standards (EQOS), a collaboration of Jobs for the Future and The Burning Glass Institute.Connect with Michael Horn:Sign Up for the The Future of Education NewsletterWebsiteLinkedInX (Twitter)Threads  Connect with Jeff Selingo:Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for YouSign Up for the Next NewsletterWebsiteX (Twitter)ThreadsLinkedInConnect with Future U:TwitterYouTubeThreadsInstagramFacebookLinkedIn  Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.

Inside the Role of College Trustees During Turbulent Times

College trustees consider more than just the monetary policies of universities. And former Brown University trustee Lauren Zalaznick is out with a new book that aims to humanize these often secretive roles with letters of reflection by Brown board members going back more than 100 years, some of them during other turbulent times in U.S. history. She brings the sensibility from her career as a television executive, when she led the Bravo network as it created The Real Housewives franchise and hits like Project Runway and Top Chef. Jeff and Michael talk to Zalaznick about her new book and her views on how colleges need to reassert their broader social value to meet this moment of crisis for higher ed. This episode is made with support from Ascendium Education Group.Chapters0:00 - Intro4:05 - What Led to the Book of Trustee Letters?6:40 - The Value of Sharing Once-Secret Letters9:01 - A Reality TV Pioneer’s Interest in University History11:34 - What Is the Role of University Trustees?15:40 - The Case for Large University Boards20:14 - Hearing From a Diversity of Voices23:52 - From Rabble-Rousers to Trustees26:42 - How Do College Boards Navigate All Those Diverse Voices?31:24 - Reflecting on Brown University’s Deal with the Trump Administration36:58 - Should Every College Adopt the Tradition of Sharing Reflections From Board Members?41:55 - Sponsor Break42:43 - How Important Is It That College Board Members Be Alums?46:45 - Making the Board Feel Like a Team49:54 - More on Trustees Who As Students Criticized Leadership52:37 - Getting the Right Mix on a Board54:03 - How Large Should a Board Be?Relevant Links“Letters from the Corporation of Brown University,” edited by Lauren Zalaznick.“The Affluencer,” profile of Lauren Zalaznick in The New York Times. “Navigating a Merger as a College Trustee,” past Future U episode.Connect with Michael Horn:Sign Up for the The Future of Education NewsletterWebsiteLinkedInX (Twitter)Threads  Connect with Jeff Selingo:Dream School: Finding the College That's Right for YouSign Up for the Next NewsletterWebsiteX (Twitter)ThreadsLinkedInConnect with Future U:TwitterYouTubeThreadsInstagramFacebookLinkedIn  Submit a question and if we answer it on air we'll send you Future U. swag!Sign up for Future U. emails to get special updates and behind-the-scenes content.