The biggest challenges in education need effective and scalable solutions. From removing barriers, to access for students from under-resourced communities, to streamlining the learn-work-learn cycle, stakeholders in higher education and workforce development need ways to redesign the current learning experience. The challenges are complex, sometimes contradictory, and ever-evolving. They are education’s wicked problems.
As the innovation arm of Western Governors University — an institution that reimagined the traditional university 25 years ago — we are driving practical ideas to action by remaining close to the student experience. We intentionally work in early-stage innovation because that’s where we believe we can have the most influence. Our work addresses core challenges in education by examining, building, and enabling innovative solutions.
We use our unique position as an organization that is both part of and separate from higher education to drive systemic change. WGU Labs works with higher education leaders, faculty, students, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and other stakeholders to push bold, learner-centered ideas. Then we investigate, test, and refine those concepts into workable solutions that support learner outcomes and advance equitable access.
At WGU Labs our work stands on four multidisciplinary pillars.
Transforming learning begins with careful analysis. We use rigorous methods to analyze policy, systems, and education technology solutions to identify what works and why.
Better products will close equity gaps and improve learner outcomes. We build high-quality, learner-centered technologies and instructional content based on learning science and design.
The best solutions are born out of collaboration. We build connections between entrepreneurs, higher education leaders, and workforce stakeholders that bolster the education marketplace.
We invest in pre-seed and seed stage EdTech companies to support scalable solutions that have an equitable impact on learner outcomes.
In the first 25 years, WGU reinvented the institution of higher education and created a totally unique model. In the next 25 years, we endeavor to recreate the system. WGU Labs is part of WGU's strategy to re-invigorate the promise of education for not only students at WGU but everyone across the sector.
Entry points to higher education unnecessarily limit access for individuals who do not match the historic student profile. We remove barriers to access for students who are furthest from opportunity and increase cost transparency to alleviate financial burdens.
High-quality education is not well-defined, varies widely, and fails to harness what is known about the science of learning. We redesign the current learning experience to better diversify instruction and adopt updated learning principles.
The transition from learning to work is often opaque to students and employers. We build systems of lifelong learning that support successful careers.
At WGU, our mission is to change lives for the better by creating pathways to opportunity. Making opportunity available for everyone requires a collective, comprehensive effort, and improving the quality, accessibility, and outcomes of higher education compels all of us to do more. While we have long endeavored to reinvent the institution of higher ed, we also believe in enabling and advancing innovation that will help transform the system of higher education, and reinvigorate the promise of education as the surest path to opportunity...for everyone.
Our expanded vision has WGU—the university—at its core, not only delivering results for our students, but also providing the primary, data-driven proving ground for ideas and strategies to continually reinvent education and increase outcomes. To this core, we have added a collaborative research vehicle and investment flexibility to extend WGU’s engagement across the sector. Combined, this creates for us a foundation for enabling the incubation, launch, and scaling of new endeavors that hold the promise of removing barriers to access, and improving quality and outcomes throughout the education-to-opportunity lifecycle.