ASU+GSV Summit 2021: Jeff Maggioncalda on region-specific demand for online learning

Education and tech leaders gather to share innovative ideas about what's to come
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In the past year, the interest in online learning has grown significantly, according to Jeff Maggioncalda, CEO of Coursera, which provides learning content from 240 universities and industry educators.

“The pandemic basically closed every school in the world. It closed every office in the world and for workforce development programs—it forced all these programs to move online. So, in 2020, we were very busy. Thirty million people came to Coursera to learn online,” says Maggioncalda.

“And now as the pandemic eases up a little bit, we’re seeing a lot more interest, especially from workforce development boards, looking to online learning as a way to upskill people for new digital jobs.”

Working with educational partners in different states, cities, and even countries is exciting, because learning can be tailored to a specific region, says Maggioncalda.

Maggioncalda also notes changes in workplace learning. “We have over 2,000 companies around the world who use Coursera for Business. Companies are starting to look first to the job, then to the skills, then to the content.”

“I would say that four years ago it was content first. Now, it’s much more—which jobs are in demand, where are the job openings that people can be hired into. Then there’s the question of what skills are needed to do those jobs. We have to make sure that we’ve got the content and the course assessments to make sure that the skills that are needed for those jobs are being taught in the content. And those skills are measurable. And you can benchmark them against people who are actually in those shop positions, as well.”

Click here to learn more about Coursera.

WorkingNation—a collaborating partner of the ASU+GSV Summit—talked with Maggioncalda in San Diego as part of our #WorkingNationOverheard social media series.

Hear from more innovators in education and tech in the public, private, and nonprofit spheres attending the ASU+GSV Summit 2021 here.

Follow the conversation on social media: #asugsvsummit #workingnationoverheard

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.