Robert Pearl Starks

Robert Pearl Starks

Location: phoenix, arizona

About me

As Vice President of Product Development, I lead cross-functional teams of designers, developers, QA testers and product stakeholders to develop, launch, and improve products customers need and love. 

Previously, I've worked in a variety of leadership roles in education / learning & professional development. Through my experience, I've become accustomed to working across departmental silos and with various stakeholders (executives, end-users, faculty, staff, students / learners, alumni, parents, regulatory agencies, partners and employers) to facilitate collaboration and advance common goals. In my previous roles, I've advocated for student needs and driven organizational change that helped educators do their best work, students thrive in their careers, and employers connect with quality talent.

Despite different contexts, a common theme in my career journey has been to do work that contributes to a mission which improves people's lives. It's also always been important for me to work with an organization whose values align with my own. I'm a listener, empathizer, customer advocate, servant leader, and lifelong learner. I'm never satisfied with status quo, I constantly strive for "better," and I'm driven by genuine curiosity to solve complex problems.

“Work to become; not to acquire.” -Elbert Hubbard

Interests

social media, career development, training, higher education, web 2.0/3.0, career services, leadership, marketing

Skills

social media, marketing, training, consulting, management, strategic planning

Activity

Google released an insightful study entitled 2012 Education Trends through the Eyes of Your Customer.  This research study was based on their internal search data, Compete clickstream data and the results of a brand perceptions study with Ipsos OTX.  Among the findings, here are some highlights:

  • 80% of education search query paths end without a conversion.
  • 1 in 4 education researchers never even look outside the web.
  • 9 in 10 don't know which school they want to attend at the onset of the journey.
  • 2 out of every 3 researchers who use video do so to understand specific features of
  • >>>

Dr. Patterson, a fellow Lounge member, recently shared this article while referencing it in an insightful response to a posting.  It's a very good article so I wanted to bookmark it for others to read.

Dr. Patterson,

As I read your extremely insightful comments, whereas you may have had an "aha" moment, I had an "Amen" moment!  All jokes aside, your comments have contributed greatly to this discussion and I thank you for sharing and allowing us all to benefit.  

Presuming an institution's leaders embrace feedback as defined in your comments, what do you (or anyone who wishes to contribute) suppose might be the challenges to establishing effective institutional feedback loops?  How is this designed? What does that look like in practice within institutions and what are some of the ways institutions can intervene… >>>

Dr. Carlson, thank you for your insightful comment.  Quality, Compliance and Customer Service  seem to sum up some critical guiding principles.  I am curious what guiding principles others might add and what insight others have on how exactly these principles are cultivated, demonstrated, and measured within organizations.  I look forward to more shared insights from other career college leaders!  Thank you for sharing!  

Brent, I'd like to play devil's advocate and ask you the benefits of not waiting until you have graduates to begin initiating your social media strategies for Career Services. How might establishing a Career Services presence now influence your relationship with students who will become graduates? What benefits can you identify of beginning immediately vs. waiting for more graduates? Robert Starks Jr.
Discussion Comment

Brent, That is one excellent way to use social media Brent but that still puts much of the responsibility on you so let me provide some other ideas to help students help themselves. Consider also how you might teach students to use these tools as well and how you might use social media for this. For instance, you could use Youtube to publish and distribute educational information to your students or a blog to write educational articles focused on job search skills which you could distribute via social media channels and email distribution lists. You could create a Facebook "Job… >>>

Discussion Comment

Brent, Congratulations on taking on the Director role. You're in a unique position in that you are wearing so many hats while also responsible for Career Services programming to help transitions students to the workforce. Social Media provides a means to enhance current marketing efforts to increase participation with the Career Center so it acts as an additional component to overall marketing strategies. Given that you wear many hats and lead a department for a school that is new to the Career Services function, in what ways do you feel you can leverage social media to help you improve efficiency,… >>>

Julie, so glad you enjoyed the course.  Being a veteran online instructor, what advice do you have to new online instructors making the transition from the traditional classroom?  What are some of the key adjustments you feel are critical for the newbie?  

The Department of Education's repository of submissions from postsecondary institutions across the U.S. about promising and practical strategies, practices, programs, and activities that have improved rates of postsecondary success, transfer, and graduation.

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