Ep. 89 - Leslie Weller: How AI Site Search Turns Student Discovery Into a Competitive Advantage

Ep. 89 - Leslie Weller: How AI Site Search Turns Student Discovery Into a Competitive Advantage

Every month, nearly half a million people type questions into your university's search bar. They're telling you exactly what they want to know—about deadlines, transfer credits, program fit. And yet, 31% of higher ed digital teams have no access to that data at all. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Leslie Weller, Director of Product Marketing at SearchStax, a site search platform helping colleges and universities transform how students find information online. Leslie brings over 25 years of experience making complex enterprise software understandable—and she's now applying that lens to higher ed's fragmented, decentralized digital landscape. Drawing on SearchStax’ recent research study conducted with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Leslie reveals the gap between how important colleges think site search is and how poorly it's actually performing. She explains why 93% of students rely on websites during their college search, yet only 19% of digital teams believe they're delivering a great experience. Leslie also tackles the AI shift head-on, arguing that site search is a "great AI lever" schools already own. She shares practical examples of how AI can re-rank content by semantic meaning, suggest synonyms and even generate instant answers to common questions. For any enrollment leader, web manager, or digital strategist trying to reduce friction and convert more curious visitors into applicants, this episode offers a clear, actionable roadmap. Key Takeaways * Site Search Is a High-Intent Goldmine: 43% of website visitors use the search bar. For a school with 1 million monthly visitors, that's nearly half a million people every single month telling you exactly what they want to know. Yet 31% of digital teams have no access to this first-party data. * The Gap Is Massive: 93% of students use websites when evaluating schools, but only 19% of digital teams believe they're delivering a great website experience. There is a huge opportunity to differentiate through search alone. * Confused Students Don't Enroll: Borrowing from Donald Miller's marketing principle—"confused people don't buy"—Leslie argues that the same applies to higher ed. If students and parents can't quickly find clear answers about program length, cost, scholarships, or transfer credits, they won't move forward. * Site Search Has a Cyclical Halo Effect with AI: Improving your on-site search (cleaning up outdated content, surfacing the right answers) also improves how external LLMs like ChatGPT and Gemini understand and represent your institution. Students may learn about you elsewhere, but they come to your site to validate—and that's where you convert or lose them. * AI-Powered Search Goes Beyond Keyword Matching: SearchStax uses a re-ranking algorithm that understands semantics—so a search for "undergraduate business degree" automatically surfaces bachelor's degree content without the user typing "bachelor's." * Keep a Human in the Loop: AI may suggest synonyms that don't fit higher ed contexts. Human oversight prevents costly, embarrassing errors and preserves institutional nuance. * Generative Answers Reduce Friction: Instead of forcing users to dig through PDFs or links, AI-powered site search can generate a direct, natural-language answer to questions like "How many years is your architecture degree?" This is what modern users expect. * No-Results Searches Are Strategic Intelligence: Most schools don't track what people search for when they get zero results. That data can reveal unmet demand and inform program development or content strategy. * Site Search Closes the Last Mile: You've already invested in getting prospective students to your website—through mailers, high school visits, paid ads, and brand awareness. Site search is the tool that turns that interest into enrollment by answering the specific, final questions before they commit. * The Right Enrollment, Not Just More Enrollment: When you clearly communicate who you are as a university through a clean, helpful search experience, you attract students who are genuinely a good fit—leading to better retention and outcomes, not just higher application numbers.   The Signal Newsletter: https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter [https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter]   Find Leslie Weller LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellerleslie/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/wellerleslie/] SearchStax https://www.searchstax.com/industry/higher-education/ [https://www.searchstax.com/industry/higher-education/] SearchStax/The Chronicle of Higher Education Report https://www.searchstax.com/white-papers/the-state-of-site-search-in-higher-education/ [https://www.searchstax.com/white-papers/the-state-of-site-search-in-higher-education/]   And find EdTech Connect here: Web: https://edtechconnect.com/ [https://edtechconnect.com/]

Ep. 88 - Brian Clark: Building RISD's Digital Future at Scale

What happens when a prestigious art and design school has over a hundred siloed websites, each with its own content management system, hosting arrangement, and visual identity—many of them orphaned and unmaintained? You get a digital governance nightmare. But you also get a rare opportunity to rebuild from first principles. In this episode, Jeff Dillon welcomes Brian Clark, Senior Director of Digital Experience at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Brian shares the remarkable story of how he led the consolidation of RISD's fragmented digital ecosystem—from 100+ disparate sites to a unified, design-driven, user-centric platform built on Drupal. He explains why this wasn't just a technical project but an organizational and cultural one, requiring years of relationship-building, transparent communication, and strategic alignment with the institution's broader brand refresh. Brian also offers a grounded perspective on AI in higher ed, explaining why RISD chose to implement AI-powered search as a "practical layer" to achieve existing goals around quality and access—not as a shiny add-on. He discusses how conversational search is giving his team unprecedented visibility into what students, parents, and donors are actually asking, and why that insight is "gold." Finally, he reflects on his unique career path from book publishing to agency work to higher ed, and how the principle "at the end of the wire, there's a person" has guided his approach to digital experience for over two decades. For anyone responsible for digital strategy, web governance, or user experience at a college or university, this episode is essential listening. Key Takeaways * Governance Fragmentation Is a Real Institutional Risk: RISD accumulated over 100 siloed websites due to a lack of governance, creative entrepreneurialism, and technical know-how spread across campus. The result was unsustainable: orphaned sites, inconsistent branding, accessibility issues, and ballooning maintenance costs. * Consolidation Is as Much About People as Technology: Brian spent his first year building buy-in—meeting with every department, understanding the purpose behind each site, and communicating a clear sequencing plan. The goal was to ensure that when changes happened, no one could say "I didn't know this was coming." * Tie Digital Strategy to the Strategic Plan: RISD was able to unlock funding and institutional support by attaching its web consolidation efforts to the university's broader strategic planning process. This turned a technical project into an institutional priority. * Brand and Digital Experience Must Evolve Together: As RISD consolidated its digital landscape, it simultaneously overhauled its brand identity—creating bespoke typefaces and a unifying visual framework. The guiding principle, "question to create, create to question," now informs every stage of their digital design process. * AI Is a Practical Layer, Not a Shiny Add‑on: RISD approached AI not as something to graft onto the platform, but as a tool to help accomplish existing goals around quality content, access, and visibility. They implemented AI‑powered conversational search to facilitate semantic, intent‑sensitive search across their entire ecosystem. * Search Visibility Into User Needs Is "Gold": AI‑powered search gives RISD unprecedented insight into what users are actually asking—revealing both met and unmet information demands. This feedback loop directly informs content strategy and experience design. * External AI Search Is Changing the Funnel: An increasing number of initial college inquiries now happen inside LLMs like ChatGPT or Claude—often without generating any traffic to an institution's website. Brian emphasizes the need to structure content so it is understood and presented well by external AI search tools and Google's Gemini snippets. * You Can't Avoid Adapting to AI: Whether the conversation touches on ethics, pedagogy, or creative process, higher ed marketers and digital practitioners must engage with AI. For Brian's team, the frame is clear: we are digital design and technology practitioners who happen to work in higher ed, and AI is already reshaping how prospects search for colleges. * "At the End of the Wire, There's a Person": A tagline from Brian's agency days still guides his work—reminding him that digital marketing is fundamentally about two‑way communication and meeting real human needs, not just budgets and deadlines.   The Signal Newsletter: https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter [https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter]   Brian Clark on LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianthomasclark/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianthomasclark/] Rhode Island School of Design https://www.risd.edu/ [https://www.risd.edu/] The Modern University Technology Stack: How RISD is Building for What's Next https://www.edtechconnect.com/post/the-modern-university-technology-stack-how-risd-is-building-for-what-s-next [https://www.edtechconnect.com/post/the-modern-university-technology-stack-how-risd-is-building-for-what-s-next] And find EdTech Connect here: Web: https://edtechconnect.com/ [https://edtechconnect.com/]

Ep. 87 - Grant Greenwood: How to Automate What Actually Matters in Enrollment

What happens when a sitting vice president of enrollment management—who evaluates and buys ed tech every day—decides to build his own solution to a problem he's lived for 15 years? You get a conversation that cuts through the hype and gets real about what actually works in higher ed technology. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon welcomes Grant Greenwood, VP for Enrollment Management and COO at McMurry University, and co-founder of CardCapture, an ed tech startup reimagining how universities capture student leads at college fairs. Grant brings a rare dual perspective: he's both a buyer and a builder, a practitioner who feels the pain of clunky workflows and a founder who understands what it takes to build something better. Grant gets honest about the AI hype cycle, warning that the coming wave of AI agents could overwhelm students with automated outreach, creating a "postcard problem" for the digital age. He shares why he's skeptical of AI avatars making millions of calls, but optimistic about AI's ability to handle repetitive tasks like transcript processing and data organization. From the enrollment cliff to the unique challenges of small private institutions, and from his research on social media to the aha moment that sparked CardCapture, this episode is packed with practical insights for enrollment leaders, ed tech founders, and anyone trying to figure out where AI fits into the future of student recruitment. Key Takeaways * The AI Hype Cycle Is Real—And Enrollment Leaders Need to Be Skeptical: Grant warns that the coming wave of cheap, accessible AI agents will tempt every institution to scale outreach dramatically. The risk is replicating the "postcard problem"—overwhelming students with so much automated messaging that even valuable communications get tuned out. * AI's Best Use Right Now Is Efficiency, Not Replacement: The most valuable AI applications in enrollment today are handling repetitive, monotonous tasks: processing thousands of transcripts in different formats, organizing data, and streamlining application workflows. These productivity tools deliver clear ROI without damaging student relationships. * The Student Experience Must Come First: While it's tempting to multiply outreach with AI avatars, Grant is skeptical about how students will perceive automated calls and texts. The industry needs to be critical about what students should be subjected to in the name of engagement. * CardCapture Solves a 15‑Year Pain Point: For 15 years, Grant experienced the frustration of collecting student leads at college fairs—especially on device‑free campuses where QR codes don't work. CardCapture works with or without QR codes, scanning physical inquiry cards and translating handwriting, solving the problem for fair coordinators, students, and university reps alike. * Small Institutions Need Tailored Solutions, Not Enterprise Castoffs: Many software companies build for enterprise clients and then try to sell a tweaked version to higher ed. The result is clunky tools that don't integrate well and create more work. Grant is far more inclined to work with founders who understand his specific challenges from the ground up. * The Enrollment Cliff Requires Diversification, Not Panic: McMurray is hedging against demographic declines by expanding dual credit programs (serving 3,000 students per semester across 150 schools) and launching new graduate and undergraduate programs in health sciences and business AI—finding new student populations to strengthen the institution's foundation. * Social Media Done Badly Degrades Brand Affinity: Giving every student club permission to run a social account often backfires. When prospective students see a club that hasn't posted in three years with low‑quality content, they project that experience onto the university at large. Sometimes the right answer is saying "no" to protect the brand.   The Signal Newsletter: https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter [https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter]   Find Grant Greenwood: LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-greenwood1923/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-greenwood1923/] CardCapture https://cardcapture.io/ [https://cardcapture.io/] McMurry University https://mcm.edu/ [https://mcm.edu/]   And find EdTech Connect here: Web: https://edtechconnect.com/ [https://edtechconnect.com/]

Ep. 86 - Arjun Arora: From Enterprise AI to Education—Why the Best Tech Solves Human Problems

What happens when a data scientist who built over 100 enterprise AI solutions for Fortune 500 companies decides to walk away from the money and prestige to tackle student success in higher ed? You get a founder who understands both the power and the limits of AI—and who isn't afraid to say that most chatbots are solving the wrong problem. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Arjun Arora, founder and CEO of Advisor AI, an AI-native student success platform serving over 100 institutions and powering more than a million student inquiries a year. Arjun shares his journey from first-generation college student and immigrant to enterprise AI leader, and why he made the leap into edtech to solve the advising gap he experienced firsthand. Arjun gets honest about the fear many advisors feel about AI replacing their roles—and explains why that fear is rooted in poorly designed systems. He argues that technology should handle planning and organizing while leaving accountability, evaluation, and human connection to advisors. He reveals why nearly half of students leave programs because they can't see the connection between their degree and their career goals, and how AI can compress what typically takes eight to ten weeks of exploration into fifteen minutes. From ethical guardrails and bias prevention to the surprising insights he gathered by traveling 30,000 miles and visiting over 200 campuses, this conversation offers a practical, student-first framework for any institution trying to figure out where AI fits into the future of student success. Key Takeaways * AI Won't Replace Advisors—Badly Designed AI Might: The fear that AI will replace advisors stems from systems designed to hook users rather than guide them. Products must be built from the start to reinforce human connection, not replace it. Students increasingly want to talk to a real person because they feel isolated and anxious. * Technology Is Only Part of the Puzzle: The biggest predictor of success isn't the algorithm—it's effective collaboration between technology teams and advising teams. Regular check-ins on goals, progress, and alignment drive 80-90% of results. * Nearly Half of Students Leave Because They Can't See the Connection: Students drop out when they can't connect their coursework to a clear career path. AI can compress weeks of research (visiting 10 different departments or websites) into 15-30 minutes by assessing interests, mapping career possibilities, and creating degree plans. * Stop Measuring Vanity Metrics: Tracking how many students a chatbot "served" this month doesn't mean much. Instead, measure milestones: exploring options, mapping skills, connecting with an advisor or mentor. These are the signals that indicate real progress. * Ethical AI Requires Proactive Guardrails: Ethical AI isn't marketing—it's building systems with zero tolerance for bias, toxic questions, or incorrect recommendations. If a student asks something the system can't answer responsibly, it should instantly direct them to a human counselor, not guess. * Community Colleges Have More Urgency to Innovate: With limited capacity and intense competition, community colleges need to move faster than four-year institutions. AI platforms must be customizable to two-year roadmaps, not just traditional four-year paths. * Start with Goals, Not Technology: Before evaluating any AI tool, leaders should ask: are we trying to improve student experience, enrollment, retention, graduation outcomes, or workforce readiness? AI is the Ferrari—but you need to know where you're going first. * The Global Student Success Crisis Looks Familiar: Inquiries from Australia, the Middle East, and Asia mirror US challenges: better career and college planning support, and more integrated solutions that connect degrees to labor market information. * The Biggest Mistake Is Over-Engineering: Don't spend too much time evaluating algorithms and invigilation systems. Spend time defining the goal and identifying which team members will be involved. Those activities drive the results. * Education Is Still Worth It—But the Path Needs Clarity: Arjun believes education remains critical, but it takes too long for students to connect the dots. AI acts like a GPS: you can see the route, the stops (skills), and the ETA upfront, which boosts clarity and confidence for students, families, and advisors alike.    The Signal Newsletter: https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter [https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter]   Find Jay Gonzalez: LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-gonzalez-b25882184/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-gonzalez-b25882184/] Curry College https://www.curry.edu/ [https://www.curry.edu/]   And find EdTech Connect here: Web: https://edtechconnect.com/ [https://edtechconnect.com/]

Ep. 85 - Jay Gonzalez: Guaranteeing ROI — How Curry College Is Reinventing the College Business Model

What happens when a former gubernatorial candidate, healthcare CEO, and state budget director steps into the college president's office? You get a leader who doesn't accept "that's how higher ed has always done it" as an answer. In this episode, host Jeff Dillon sits down with Jay Gonzalez, the 15th president of Curry College—a leader whose resume looks nothing like a traditional academic career. From running a $32 billion state budget during the Great Recession to leading healthcare organizations and running for governor of Massachusetts, Gonzalez brings an outsider's perspective to one of higher ed's most pressing challenges: proving the ROI of a college degree. Gonzalez shares the story behind Curry's audacious job guarantee program, which promises students a job within six months of graduation—or the college pays their federal student loans for up to a year. He explains how Curry is investing in predictive analytics to identify at-risk students before they struggle, launching a new app to modernize the clunky student portal experience, and building a Neurodiversity Center for Excellence that's partnering with major employers. But perhaps most intriguingly, Gonzalez reveals Curry's Center for Innovation—an entrepreneurial arm designed to move fast, test new revenue streams, and partner with ed tech companies on product development. For small colleges feeling the squeeze of enrollment pressures and limited resources, this episode offers a playbook for thinking differently about sustainability, technology, and student success. Tune in for a conversation that challenges conventional wisdom about what college leadership can look like—and what colleges can achieve when they stop optimizing the old model and start reinventing it. Key Takeaways * Nobody Is Totally in Charge—And That's a Leadership Lesson: Gonzalez draws on his experience in government to navigate higher ed's diffuse power structures. Understanding what faculty, students, parents, donors, alums, and the board each care about—and finding the path that gets as many of them on board as possible—is the core of the job.  * The Curry Commitment: A Job Guarantee That Holds the College Accountable: Curry guarantees students a job within six months of graduation if they meet minimum requirements (GPA, internship, four-year graduation, engagement with career readiness programming). If the college fails, it pays the student's federal student loan for up to a year or provides free grad credits. Few colleges have made this kind of promise.  * Retention Is a Sustainability Strategy: Keeping a student through graduation isn't just a mission win—it's a revenue strategy. Losing a student after year one means three years of lost tuition. Gonzalez frames retention technology (predictive analytics, mental health platforms, data unification) as both a student success tool and a financial imperative.  * Technology Must Serve the Student Experience, Not Add Friction: Students arrive with expectations shaped by Spotify, DoorDash, and TikTok. When they hit clunky portals, paper forms, and outdated workflows, it signals that the institution isn't thinking about them. Curry is addressing this with a new all-in-one app and digital IDs—small moves that reduce friction and modernize the experience.  * AI Is Being Embraced Through Grassroots Experimentation: Rather than a top-down mandate, Curry launched "Amplify AI," a task force with faculty, students, and staff exploring training, forums, and classroom applications. The approach balances academic integrity concerns with the reality that students and the workplace have already moved on.  * The Neurodiversity Center for Excellence Is a Differentiator and a Growth Platform: Curry has a 55-year history of supporting students with learning differences through its PAL program. The new Neurodiversity Center extends that expertise beyond campus—partnering with biotech and healthcare companies to support neurodivergent workers and exploring ed tech partnerships to scale impact.  * Small Colleges Need a Governance Process for Tech Purchases: With limited resources, Curry established an EdTech committee to vet all new product pitches through a single lens of strategic priorities, value proposition, and cost. This prevents individual departments from making uncoordinated bets and helps avoid being oversold on shiny solutions.  * The Center for Innovation Is Curry's Entrepreneurial Arm: Designed to move quickly outside cumbersome academic approval processes, the Center focuses on new revenue streams—non-credit certificates, professional development, international student programs, and potential ed tech product partnerships. It signals a willingness to think beyond tuition dependency.  * Five-Year Vision: Technology Enables, Not Distracts: Gonzalez's hope is that every Curry student has a rewarding experience marked by close relationships, rich academics, and career preparation. Technology's role is to minimize hassles, remove barriers, and enable that experience—not to become the focus itself.  The Signal Newsletter: https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter [https://edtechconnect.com/newsletter] Find Jay Gonzalez: LinkedIn                               https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-gonzalez-b25882184/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-gonzalez-b25882184/] Curry College https://www.curry.edu/ [https://www.curry.edu/] And find EdTech Connect here: Web: https://edtechconnect.com/ [https://edtechconnect.com/]