In this blog series, higher ed leaders from five states share insights from their human-centered design experience, which can drive systems change and align the fragmented learn+work ecosystem.
The Education Design Lab’s Community College Growth Engine Fellows Program (“CCGE Fellows”) brought together 13 higher education leaders from five states to explore the opportunities for transformation across state and institutional ecosystems through the Lab’s human-centered micro-pathway design process.
The states include Arkansas, Minnesota, Washington, Oklahoma, and North Carolina.
What are micro-pathways? Co-designed with learners and employers, micro-pathways are two or more stackable credentials, including durable skills micro-credentials, that are flexibly delivered to be achieved in less than a year and result in a job at or above the local median wage while putting learner-earners on the path to associate degree completion.
This insights brief will highlight the transformative power of human-centered design in bridging the gap between education and the workforce in Arkansas.
About the Arkansas Division of Higher Education
The Arkansas Division of Higher Education (ADHE) serves as the coordinating body for the state’s higher education system, advocating for policies and initiatives that enhance access, affordability, and workforce alignment. While ADHE is an authorizing agency, it does not directly govern institutions or develop academic programs. Instead, its role is to support and guide all public and locally supported institutions in improving higher education delivery across Arkansas.
For the ADHE Fellows, the journey has been one of discovery, realignment, and a deepened sense of purpose. Initially, they set out to explore new tools and frameworks, but the experience evolved into something transformative, reinforcing their mission in ways they hadn’t anticipated.
Insight No. 1: Just as institutions support learners, ADHE recognized their role in supporting institutions.
While ADHE understands that adult learners face significant challenges, CCGE Fellows Mason Campbell and Tracy Harrell realized through this process that these were not issues ADHE could directly solve. Instead, they focused on supporting institutions, ensuring the Fellows program solution aligned with ADHE’s capacity to drive meaningful change. Institutions focus on serving their learners, and ADHE reflects this commitment by supporting institutions in advancing success and equity. “Understanding the truth of the problem revealed the need to expand our lens from the state/system view and address the needs of the institutions as a whole.” This pivot allowed them to address systemic barriers in Arkansas higher education, aligning their work with the agency’s ability to influence policy, institutional practices, and statewide program development.
Insight No. 2: The human-centered design process is helping ADHE shift its role from being perceived as a regulatory body to a valued partner and resource in education reform.
Recognizing the parallels between ADHE’s existing program approval procedures and the micro-pathway design process, Mason and Tracy explored ways to integrate a more human-centered approach into Arkansas’s program design process. Partnering with Lab designers, the Fellows conducted a comprehensive review of existing program approval and change forms, identifying opportunities for improvement and alignment.
A key realization from this work is that many individuals responsible for program design at the institutional level lack formal training in best practices and access to essential resources. Recognizing this gap, Mason and Tracy saw the need to support institutions throughout the entire program development process. As a result, they shifted from a one-size-fits-all approach to focusing on policies and processes within their control.
Through intentional collaboration, ADHE is meeting institutions where they are by providing targeted assistance. Through helping institutions build on their expertise instead of restricting them with regulations, ADHE can better align with their needs to serve both their communities and learners, as institutions deeply understand the people they support. By providing more resources and support, ADHE can elevate the work of institutions as key connectors in their ecosystems.
Now, when institutions submit quarterly programmatic change documentation, the ADHE team is better positioned to ensure accountability and support in key areas such as labor market analysis, employer validation, stackability, learner validation, and curriculum mapping. With direct access to program archives and a comprehensive higher education database, ADHE is well-positioned to support and scale this work across the state.
Over the next two years, the goal of the Arkansas Fellows is to embed human-centered design principles into policies and processes through comprehensive reviews and the development of a resource library to support both institutional and divisional needs. By providing support to institutions through the process of program development and approval, ADHE is shifting its role from being perceived as a regulatory body to a valued partner and resource in education reform.
Insight No. 3: While state-level change alone is not enough, gaining buy-in from institutional leaders is essential for transformational change — and that can be challenging.
During the CCGE Fellows program, a collaborative effort introduced the Community College Growth Engine to eight Arkansas institutions. Through this process, the Fellows recognized that state-level change alone is not enough — gaining buy-in from institutional leaders is essential for transformational change.
Mason and Tracy recognized that institutional buy-in is essential, but challenges persist due to the historical divide between state and system-level leadership and the institutions they serve. The perception of top-down leadership versus grassroots innovation has created barriers to ADHE’s involvement in the design process. ADHE recognizes its position in the power dynamic and is working to establish itself as a trusted partner, advocating for each institution’s capacity and expertise to support the development of micro-pathways. However, a key barrier is the lack of connection to institutions, as policies and regulations alone do not foster trust — relationships do.
In response, ADHE is working to uncover the root causes of this divide and explore ways to co-design solutions with institutions and strengthen these essential partnerships. Moving forward, ADHE will continue supporting the eight Arkansas colleges that are working in partnership with the Community College Growth Engine, while encouraging broader engagement from ADHE leadership in leveraging human-centered design to shape initiatives across the state.
Conclusion
Through their participation in the CCGE Fellows program, ADHE has gained valuable insights into the power of human-centered design in shaping policy, strengthening institutional partnerships, and supporting learner success. By transitioning from a regulatory role to a collaborative one, ADHE will work to empower institutions by recognizing their strengths and expertise, fostering a more responsive and innovative higher education system in Arkansas. As they continue to refine program approval processes, embed human-centered design principles, and scale their work across the state, ADHE is laying the foundation for long-term, transformative change. The CCGE Fellows program marks the beginning of ADHE’s long-term effort to shape the future of higher education in collaboration with colleges across the state.
Hear more from the Arkansas team during the Community College Growth Engine Fellows Learn+Share Showcase.
