About Simon and His Role
Hi! I’m Simon, an Associate Vice President for our Higher Ed Partnerships. This means I get the privilege to work with 2- and 4-year colleges and universities in supporting their course and program development needs. This might be updating and modernizing any current online offerings or building entirely new curriculum for courses and programs from scratch.
What excites you most about working here?
It always excites me to start conversations with new partners as I’ll never know which program or area of study it’ll be. It might be Law, Finance, Business or even Teacher Prep or Nursing. We’ve worked with all disciplines and it’s always so exciting to hear their ideas and goals and then exceed expectations with our final deliverables.
What is one major shift you’ve noticed in education, content, or instructional design recently?
There’s been a LOT of shifts in Higher Ed over the past year and everyone’s learning and adapting. One shift I’ve noticed is the shortening of programs. For example, I talk to more schools that are looking to shorten the typical “semester” from 16 weeks to 8. It’s driven by market demand from learners wanting a shorter time to the degree.
In your opinion, how is technology (AI, microlearning, immersive media, etc.) changing educational solutions?
Technology continues to change the teaching and learning experience. When I think of when I went to school, it was all about reading textbooks and writing papers, reports and essays. With the pervasiveness of different devices, learning has included videos as a main source of learners absorbing content.
Can you share a project you’ve worked on at SRM that you feel made a significant impact?
I’ve worked with Tulane’s School of Public Health to continue to build new courses based on the industry needs. We also worked with them to create a new resource to help maintain the courses once they’re built as well as help prepare online and in-person courses for accreditation.
How does SRM’s approach stand out in the industry?
I come from an edtech background based on a SaaS model to help universities. This method has a lot of benefits, but what makes SRM stand out is our deliverables are not one-size fits all/off the shelf. We create such custom material for each partner’s specific needs that each project is different and unique.
If you could create your dream educational solution, what might it be/look like?
Well, when I was in school, if I could have the information directly uploaded into my brain and be able to recall it at any moment…I would’ve done a lot better. Perhaps it’s being worked on or perhaps having phones with such capabilities as we see today is it.
What’s a fun or unexpected fact about you that you would like to share?
On a personal note, I live all things football. When I say football, I mean the sport you actually play with your feet. So, soccer. I still play several times a week as well as fervently watch my club (Tottenham Hotspur), even though it’s been tough the past few months. I’m excited for the upcoming World Cup!