Calbright highlights learning-engineering competition, pilots with OA Tutor and Wingspans

Calbright College presented an update on Jan. 15 about its learning engineering tools competition and related partnerships aimed at improving outcomes for adult learners.

Marissa Bold, Calbright's vice president of sustainable growth and district development, told trustees the college had set an original outreach goal of 100 proposals for the 2023-24 tools competition and received 336 proposals, about 81% of which were new submissions. "We are thrilled to share that we more than tripled that goal and received 336 proposals to the 23-24 competition," Bold said, noting six winning proposals in the first year and two awards that targeted impact and implementation with Calbright pilots.

Bold highlighted two pilot partnerships discussed at the meeting. OA Tutor, described by presenters as an open-source AI tool designed by Zach Pardos and researchers at UC Berkeley, is being adapted for a Calbright data analysis course to provide personalized learning supports. "We are thrilled to be working with OA Tutor to build personalized AI supports that are tailored to our learners and programs," Bold said. Trustees requested future updates on pilot design and evaluation measures.

Wingspans founder Lindsay Kuhn described a story-driven career exploration tool that combines narrative archives, a 60-question story-based personality assessment, program navigation pages, and an AI-powered resume builder. "The idea is really to show students, like, real people from similar backgrounds who are excelling in their fields to help them cross that threshold into new fields," Kuhn said. Trustees asked how the tool supports credit-for-prior-learning conversations, program navigation and connections to industry; Wingspans described current features and potential use as a program navigator tied to Calbright and partner college offerings.

Axum Collaborative representatives Stephanie Kurana (CEO) and Philip Schmidt (vice president for technology innovation) described Axum's role in curating the competition, providing catalytic funding and capacity building, and aligning winners to open-access institutions. Kurana described Axum as a nonprofit successor to edX and said Axum prioritizes innovations that center equity and measurable student outcomes.

Trustees praised the partnerships and asked for opportunities to see demos (a "sandbox" or virtual tour) in future meetings so board members can better understand the student experience. Calbright staff and partners said student co-design and evaluation are central to ongoing pilots and that further reports on results and scaling plans will be provided to the board.

What to watch: follow-up items include pilot evaluation data for OA Tutor and Wingspans, plans for trustee demos or sandbox sessions, and how pilots are integrated with Calbright's program navigation and career services.