What Others Are Saying

“Over the past few years, I have had the pleasure of working with Dr. Joshua Stern on two occasions. I first met Joshua when I was Dean of the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona. Eller had partnered with Academic Partnerships (AP) to develop and deliver our online MBA programs. I interfaced with Joshua frequently, as he was the Vice President of University Partnerships at AP at the time. Our collaboration was quite successful, and I was impressed with Joshua’s business acumen, people skills, and deep knowledge of the higher education space.

Fast forward a few years, now as President of Claremont Graduate Universities (CGU), I needed an expert to conduct an in-depth evaluation of our existing online programs and infrastructure, to identify our strengths and weaknesses, and to make recommendations for the future. I immediately thought of Joshua, who was now running his own consulting business. Over several months, Joshua took a deep dive into the inner workings of CGU. He met frequently with our executive leadership, reviewed our data and financials, and conducted dozens of stakeholder interviews. He jumped in with both feet, and quickly built rapport and strong working relationships with our team members, from the C-suite down to the front lines.

As a result, Joshua delivered a 30-page report and presentation, in which he detailed his analysis of our programs and courses, our support services, our systems and infrastructure, our data analytics and internal reporting capabilities, and our marketing and recruitment strategies. He also provided a roadmap for the future, which included a series of specific and actionable recommendations. Our leadership team found Joshua’s efforts invaluable thanks to the depth and accuracy of his work. We asked Joshua to present his findings to our Board of Directors and we continue to reference his report to this day.

I recommend Joshua Stern Educational Consulting highly and without hesitation. I have never met anyone with Joshua’s unique set of skills—he knows both the academic and business sides of higher education and he was an online learning expert and advocate long before it went mainstream. Joshua takes a holistic perspective in his work—he can see the big picture while focusing on the details. He is insightful, intelligent, and a pleasure to work with. I look forward to engaging him again in the future.”

“I met Dr. Joshua Stern when my firm brought his company on to design and develop a complex six-course series of online programs for us. From day one, Joshua took leadership and ownership of the project. He guided us to agreement on the project’s scope, budget, and timeline, and then set to work designing the courses. It was amazing to watch how in a matter of a few short weeks his team brought us from just a concept to clarity, a concrete plan, and actual production!

Joshua brought in highly professional and skilled videographers and editors to assist him. Although the shoot days were long, he was on set directing the action from start to finish. He coached our speakers and pulled out the best content from them by asking probing questions and following up on key topics. We had eight shoots in all, and I was impressed at how Joshua handled the many challenges and kept track of all the details and loose ends, which he neatly tied up. While video production was still ongoing, Joshua had his editors begin working on the footage. He was totally transparent with us throughout the post-production process and we loved watching things come together. Our firm’s founder and managing partner was in awe of how Joshua’s team was able to improve the speakers’ performances by removing their stutters and false starts, adding vibrant on-screen graphics, and inserting images and additional footage at just the right times to emphasize important points. All of this made the videos look highly professional and increased their educational value.

Something really unique and inspiring about Joshua’s work is how he uses his academic training and online learning expertise to custom-design quizzes, assignments, discussions, and other learning materials to complement the videos. And he weaved it all together seamlessly in a learning management system, which he helped us design. Engaging our learners actively, rather than having them passively watch videos, really increased ROI and proved to be a real differentiator for us. The bottom line is that the final product that Joshua Stern Educational Consulting delivered was outstanding. It was on time and on budget. The entire process was enjoyable, and we learned so much along the way. My firm will definitely call on Joshua to produce our next online learning initiative and I recommend Joshua Stern Educational Consulting highly and without reservation.”

“I needed a high level of educational design mastery to address the creative and organizational challenges involved with developing online courses for a brass ring client. Joshua was able to use his skills as a producer and educational designer to lead the project and team. He really has superb communication skills, as well as an intuitive and incisive ability to shape content into deliverables that greatly exceeded the client’s expectations. Once I realized that Joshua had my back, and that he was truly masterful with the client communications needed for the project, we enjoyed a truly effective and efficient workflow. His diverse skill set and commitment to excellence lead to the project being a huge success. I highly recommend Joshua Stern Educational Consulting.”

“Joshua Stern, Ph.D has a natural ability to build strong relationships and build trust with partners—two skills that bring meaningful value. He is intelligent, committed, and a strategic thinker. Joshua is a true professional with deep expertise in higher education, adult learning, and particularly in online pedagogy. He is also a delightful collaborator and a real team player. I highly recommend Joshua.”

“I had the pleasure of working with Joshua and his team to develop our digital e-learning video and audio content for Bodhi Tree. Joshua is very thoughtful and collaborative and able to adapt to team needs while also staying on target with deliverables, due dates and KPIs. He has great insights on effective ways to ensure class content and structure is cohesive and can troubleshoot or research best practices for the situation. I look forward to working with Joshua Stern Educational Consulting again in the future.”

“Joshua is wonderfully bright, creative-yet-practical in his thinking, and inspired in his approach to instructional design. Joshua Stern Educational Consulting masterfully creates high-quality video content and knows how to develop engaging and enjoyable online learning experiences for just about any subject matter. Joshua’s unique and diverse skillset puts him in a class of his own. Above all, he is a delight to collaborate with!”

“Joshua from Joshua Stern Educational Consulting excels in project/team management and leadership. He not only focuses on the end goals of completing a project on time and meeting the budget and quality expectations, but he also excels in mentoring and supporting others. He has a vast knowledge of higher education and online learning that he uses to guide projects and lead development teams.”

“Dr. Stern demonstrated exceptional leadership when he trained me with a strengths-based approach that enabled me to gain knowledge, skills, and to expand my responsibilities. He has been a true mentor to me. I value his expertise in online and distance learning technologies, project and program management, and leadership in higher education. I am inspired by his passion for the work and his dedication to his clients.”

“I have worked closely with Dr. Joshua Stern for many years now. Joshua has created and taught several innovative courses and served as lead faculty trainer for our large distance learning program. He developed a comprehensive Online Teaching Certification Program, an Online Instructor Mentoring Program, as well as numerous other workshops and training opportunities that have greatly benefited our faculty and staff. Thanks to his vision, creativity, and hard work, Joshua has helped our Distance Learning Program thrive and grow into one of the largest in California. Perhaps most importantly, has created a supportive community of practice for our instructors, which has led to measurable positive outcomes in terms of instructor preparedness, course quality, and student learning outcomes.

Joshua possesses a unique combination of skills and abilities. His deep understanding of higher education, adult learning theory and practice, instructional technologies, and online learning enables him to excel as an instructor, curriculum developer, trainer, mentor, and program manager. Joshua is highly motivated and thrives as a leader in challenging, dynamic environments. He is a strong team player able to successfully collaborate with stakeholders at all levels. He brings out the best in those with whom he works and has a proven track record of creating positive solutions to address current challenges. I know Joshua would be a valuable asset to any educational enterprise and it is my pleasure to give him the strongest of recommendations.”