Thought Leaders in Online Education: John Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Hands-On Learning (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: Anything else that you want to conclude with?

John Miller: The thing that I’d share with you is I have a true passion for this. I came out of retirement to join HOL to focus on this STEM issue. K-12 initiatives are two generations away. Dr. Bared of Intel was quoted as saying that if they had to start Intel again, it wouldn’t be in the US, not because the intimation isn’t here but because the workforce isn’t here. My father and his father really differentiated the US economy through manufacturing. That’s gone today. In my generation and future generations, it’s been innovation that differentiated the US in the world economy.

Right now, we are ranked 27^th in the world in STEM. We don’t have that kind of workforce that can continue to keep us as a leader in technology. I am compelled. I want to be a part of trying to impact this solution today with today’s workforce. One of the reporting numbers I’ve seen recently is that two-thirds of today’s PhDs are leaving the US. Only a third are here. This country really needs to address this.

Our schools are in desperate need of funding, and it’s not going to come from the public sector anymore. I think the industry has to involve. They are the benefactors of the product that educators bring to market. They need to have an active role to help educators provide the right solutions to align their activities together. That’s really my motivation. I’m frightened for my grandkids and I really want to make an impact. That’s what we’re trying to do.

Sramana Mitra: What you’re doing in healthcare is all very well. As you know, there is a tremendous skilled employable candidate shortage in the information technology industry.

John Miller: We chose healthcare initially for two reasons. One is that healthcare is going through a rebirth. It’s changing. It’s looking at what they are going to do differently. For them, the key characteristics here were retention. Retaining their current people was a big factor because when they go back to school, most of them would actually move to a different company after that. It’s all driven by this mobile workforce that’s staying two to three years in any given role.

We work with employers to develop a career path. As an employee achieves a different level moving from RN to a BSN, they would then earn the economics that should go along with that during that time period. What we’re trying to do is bring to the attention of industry their true cost of talent management. They’re starting to see what the bottom line financial impact can be and what this offers them. I find them to be very receptive into rethinking this and looking at a different approach to these problems.

Sramana Mitra: Excellent. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Thought Leaders in Online Education: John Miller, Chief Operating Officer of Hands-On Learning
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