At Drieam, we often say that technology enables scale, but people create impact. That truth came through clearly in our recent three-part webinar series, featuring practitioners from three very different institutions: Online Workforce College at Jones College, University of Iceland, and University of California, Merced.
On paper, these institutions could not look more different. Different countries, learner populations, and missions. And yet, as the series unfolded, clear shared themes emerged around scale, relevance, organisational alignment, and what it really takes to build future-proof continuing education. I often say, there might be a lot of differences, but there are even more commonalities.
These conversations were not product demos. They were leadership lessons that showed how technology helps the teams they work with.
Online Workforce College: Designing Learner Journey With Intention, Served By Technology
Our first conversation with Online Workforce College (OWC) at Jones College was, quite simply, inspiring.
Serving more than 4,000 learners annually with a team of just two people sounds impossible until you see how it is done. Their secret is not just technology, but intentional design. Every course, pathway, and credential is built to be stackable and reusable. Learners do not simply enroll; they accumulate. They progress. They move forward with clarity.
Badges and short credentials are not an add-on at Jones College. They are the architecture of learner mobility. Learners can move between non-matriculated and matriculated education with clean records, clear recognition, and no administrative friction.
What stands out most is not just operational efficiency, but community impact. Workforce education here is not abstract. It changes people’s lives in real time. From welding to healthcare to safety training, the institution is actively reshaping opportunity in its region.
This is what happens when learner journeys are designed with intention and technology is used to serve the mission.
University of Iceland: Responsive, Timely and Valuable Education Thanks To Rapid Innovation
Our second webinar with the University of Iceland reinforced a lesson many institutions underestimate: implementation success is not technical, it is organisational.
With a team of around fifteen, the University of Iceland serves close to ten thousand continuing learners annually. Their approach is impressively agile. When considering a new course, they do not guess; they ask. They email their audience. They gauge interest. They test quickly and move on if something does not resonate.
In fact, they are comfortable with not launching everything they design. Roughly thirty percent of new courses never make it to market, and that is strength, not failure. Because it means the remaining seventy percent are responsive, timely, and valuable.
Every year, about a third of their offering is refreshed or replaced. That is what true market-driven education looks like.
But what truly made their implementation successful was something else entirely. They visualised the change from day one. Their teams shared a common understanding of what success looked like, what was changing, and why. Instead of resistance, they created readiness.
And when migration from a legacy system required significant manual work, they did not stall. They moved forward because everyone knew where they were going.
Technology supported the journey. Leadership powered it.
UC Merced: “Institutional Growth Doesn’t Happen in Isolation”
At the University of California, Merced, the story is still unfolding, but the ambition is already clear.
Though still in implementation, their Continuing Education unit has already achieved impressive growth by doing two key things. They are actively pursuing grants and aligning offerings with regional workforce needs.
Rather than copying existing models, UC Merced is developing its own identity. Where Jones College is deeply workforce-driven, and the University of Iceland is nationally responsive, UC Merced is carving out a market-specific strategy grounded in applicability to the workforce, access, and speed to market.
One insight from this conversation stood out powerfully: Get yourself a seat at the table.
True institutional growth does not happen in isolation. Continuing education must be part of funding conversations, strategic planning, and external partnerships. It cannot remain in the operational corner. It belongs at the leadership table to facilitate real alignment with the workforce’s ever-evolving learner needs.
When Leaders Talk To Each Other Progress Accelerates
We did not plan themes in advance. And yet, the same ideas surfaced again and again. Speed to market matters. Organisational alignment matters more. Technology enables, culture delivers. Learner mobility is no longer optional. Experimentation beats perfection. Partnerships drive sustainability.
These institutions are not waiting for the future of education. They are building it.
What excites me most about this webinar series is not the scale. It is the sharing.
So much innovation already exists in this sector, and yet institutions often work in isolation, reinventing solutions their peers have already refined. When leaders start talking to other leaders, progress accelerates.
That is why we host these conversations. Not to just showcase our solutions. Not to sell features. But to surface what is possible when people decide to make change real.
Watch the full webinar series
If any of these stories resonate with you, I warmly invite you to watch the full webinar series. Each session offers a different lens into community college innovation, national continuing education strategy, and scalable institutional growth.
All recordings are available on demand via the series landing page.
And if you would like to continue the conversation with our speakers or with us, we would love that even more. Just reach out to us and we’ll get you in touch with the right people.
Because the future of continuing education will not be built by systems alone, it will be built by people who dare to rethink what learning can become.
About the Author: Mieke Ridderhof
