SXSW2025 Edition: The Future of Education with Dr. Stacey Ludwig Johnson

For The Love With Jen Hatmaker Podcast

Jen Hatmaker

Relationships, Society & Culture

4.6 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this special SXSW2025 edition of For the Love, Jen Hatmaker sits down with Dr. Stacey Ludwig Johnson, the Senior VP and Executive Dean at Western Governors University (WGU) School of Education. As a lifelong advocate for educators, Dr. Johnson is at the forefront of reimagining how we train, support, and sustain teachers in today’s challenging educational landscape. Jen, a former teacher herself, brings her deep passion for education into this conversation, unpacking the real issues educators face today—from teacher shortages to burnout—and discussing how innovative models like WGU’s competency-based education are transforming access to learning. What You’ll Learn in This Episode Dr. Johnson’s Path to Leadership: How she transitioned from working in corrections to becoming a pioneer in online education. Competency-Based Education: What it is, how it differs from traditional models, and why it’s a game-changer for adult learners. Educator Burnout & Retention: The state of teacher well-being and what’s being done to ensure teachers not only enter the profession but thrive in it. School & Community Support for Teachers: How schools, administrators, and parents can create environments where teachers feel valued. Future Trends in Education: How AI, technology, and apprenticeship programs are shaping the next generation of educators. Thought-provoking Quotes: “We don’t believe in courses just for the sake of courses. Everything at WGU is designed to build skills that translate directly into a career.” - Stacey Ludwig Johnson “Retention is just as critical as recruitment—if we don’t take care of our teachers, we will never solve the teacher shortage crisis.” - Stacey Ludwig Johnson “Teachers are literally helping us raise the next generation. Every second of what they do matters.“ - Jen Hatmaker “The future of education must include personalization, technology integration, and real-world experience to prepare students for success.” - Stacey Ludwig Johnson Resources Mentioned in This Episode: Learn more about WGU: wgu.edu Guest’s Links: Interested in becoming a teacher or continuing your education? WGU offers flexible, affordable degree programs designed for working adults. Website - https://www.wgu.edu/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/westerngovernorsu/ Twitter - https://x.com/wgu Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu/ Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/user/WesternGovernorsUniv TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@wgu Stacey Ludwig Johnson’s Website - https://www.wgu.edu/blog/authors/stacey-ludwig-johnson.html Stacey Ludwig Johnson’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/stacey-ludwig-johnson-0bba1715/ Connect with Jen! Jen’s Website - https://jenhatmaker.com/ Jen’s Instagram - https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker Jen’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ Jen’s Facebook - https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker Jen’s YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker The For the Love Podcast is presented by Audacy. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	All right, you guys, welcome to the For the Love podcast.
0:10.0	We are clearly in an interesting environment.
0:13.0	This is the South by Southwest edition of this week, and you are in for a humongous treat.
0:21.6	Okay, let me lead in like this.
0:23.1	I don't know if you know this, but I was a teacher.
0:26.9	I was a teacher for the first four years of my adult life.
0:30.4	And so the first three years I taught fourth grade.
0:34.0	And then the final year when I was pregnant with my second kid who's sitting right over here.
0:41.9	So I was pregnant with her the whole year.
0:44.0	I taught first grade.
0:45.5	And I knew the first graders were hilarious and adorable.
0:48.7	I still have stories that I tell from the first graders.
0:51.4	But you guys, I knew that I was in the wrong age group because on the first day of school,
0:55.9	I wrote my name on the board and they were like,
0:58.1	miss, we can't read.
0:59.7	And I was like, you know what, I've started on the wrong foot.
1:02.9	I see that we need to roll it back.
1:05.5	Let's go to letters.
1:07.6	Anyway, I have a huge heart for teachers and for educators.
1:13.8	And if you've been around me for five seconds, you know of this.
1:17.2	I am passionate about what teachers do and how they serve and love our kids.
1:25.2	I mean, for crying out loud, they are literally helping us to raise the
	...

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