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PENN FOSTER · S1 ·E1
OutRival Presents: The New Normal Ep. 1 - Penn Foster CEO Kermit Cook
CHAPTERS
Intro
00:00
PENN FOSTER’S 135-YEAR LEGACY
04:24
CHAPTERS
Ben: Okay, David. So the question, do you have a favorite Ferrari?
David: Ooh, that's a tough one. I would never actually want to get behind the wheel of it, but I think I gotta go with the F40.
Ben: Of course.
David: I remember just being like a kid in elementary school and getting a model of one and thinking like, Oh my God, this is the most incredible machine that mankind has ever created.
Ben: Yeah, it's the defining supercar.
David: Yes. Yes. How about you?
David: Ooh, that's a tough one. I would never actually want to get behind the wheel of it, but I think I gotta go with the F40.
Ben: Of course.
David: I remember just being like a kid in elementary school and getting a model of one and thinking like, Oh my God, this is the most incredible machine that mankind has ever created.
Ben: Yeah, it's the defining supercar.
David: Yes. Yes. How about you?
https://www.buzzsprout.com/2625410/episodes/19390378.mp3
Penn Foster CEO Kermit Cook on Reinventing a 135-year-old Institution with AI
0:00 | Intro
2:30 | A 135-year correspondence school for coal miners
7:15 | The economics of a $1,500 high school student
13:40 | Why Penn Foster only reached 3% of its learners
19:50 | The aged-leads pilot that returned 30x
26:10 | The "ugly pots" parable
32:45 | A rough 9-minute video that lifted completions 15%
39:20 | Why AI tutors alone haven't moved the needle
46:00 | The academic calendar as innovation's biggest barrier
52:30 | Amazon's Career Choice as the model to copy
58:45 | Monae Carter's story and med school
62:15 | What Cook's mother told him about new careers later in life
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Presented by OutRival
Guest BIO
Kermit Cook is the CEO of Penn Foster, a 135-year-old institution that has been teaching distance learners since 1890. Under his leadership, Penn Foster graduates more than 93,000 learners a year and has embraced AI to reinvent a legacy company for the modern era.
Penn Foster has been teaching distance learners since 1890, when founder Thomas Foster began mailing accounting and engineering courses to coal miners in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Today, CEO Kermit Cook leads a 135-year-old institution that graduates more than 93,000 learners a year. If Penn Foster were a school district, it would be the third largest in the country.
On this episode of The New Normal, hosts Ruben Harris and Timur Meyster sit down with Cook to talk about reinventing a legacy company for the AI era and what a year-plus partnership with OutRival has produced: proactive learner outreach, AI writing coaches, and internal tools the company uses to build its own courses.
Pull Quotes
PENN FOSTER · EPISODE 01
“AI tutors alone haven’t moved the needle in education. The real opportunity is using AI to reach learners proactively, support the people building courses, and remove the barriers that keep students from completing them.”
AI tutors alone haven't moved the needle in education. The real opportunity is using AI to reach learners proactively, support the people building courses, and remove the barriers that keep students from completing them.
We only spoke with 3% of our active learners before the AI partnership — proactive outreach changed that math almost overnight.
The academic calendar is still the biggest barrier to innovation in higher ed. Learners don't wait for semesters; their problems show up in real time.
A rough, unpolished 9-minute video lifted course completion rates by 15%. Perfect is the enemy of shipped.
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