Start Your Online University Today
Think about when you wanted to learn how to dice a fresh mango, how to launch your e-marketing campaign or how to facilitate a Zoom meeting for the first time. All of these things were “nice to know”s until they became “must know”s. And THAT is when you sought to learn them. That’s what adult learners do—we learn things we need to know, when we need to.
We have recently been stretched to learn a new way of living, interacting, schooling, working. I’m not sure “motivation” has really been part of this drive to learn as much as survival has been. We need to learn in order to adapt to the new environment, so that’s what we’re doing.
Looking forward, the workforce is changing. Some jobs, some industries are at once obsolete. It could happen, as it did during the recession of 2008, that people go back to school to re-tool for other careers that have potential. But, we learned from that era that it’s really, really expensive to go back for a graduate degree. Student loan debt from that time was (and for many still is) totally crippling.
Online learning companies know this and are ready. How many ads do you see each day for online professional learning? I’m seeing a ton all the sudden. Learners can pay a pretty low fee, take courses and earn credentials or badges that can be posted to their social media accounts. This is the kind of learning that makes sense for our field, too.
In the allied youth fields, an advanced degree is not typically required nor does it provide a significant increase in earning power. In most cases, it doesn’t make sense for our people to go back for an advanced degree.
But, children and youth are still here. Youth-serving organizations are not going away. How we serve youth and the community will (and already is) changing. We will continue to need staff and leaders who can serve them and serve them really well.
As leaders in youth-serving organizations and intermediaries in your community, city, state or beyond; as providers of professional development; as people who care to advance the knowledge and skills of those who work with youth: now is the time to support youth-serving professionals with advanced learning. You can do that by establishing your own online university.
Here’s where to start:
Consider your audience. Who needs the knowledge and skills you’re putting out there? Have you collected information from your network to find out what they want/need to know? Have you asked if they would find value in a credential program from your organization? Are you planning to sell your professional learning or is it part of existing work? Is your target learner audience also the buyer or are you selling to larger agencies who then will deploy the learning to individuals? Think about who your end-user is and also who your buyer is. If they are different, take some time to consider the wants and needs of the purchaser versus the wants and needs of the learners. This will help you down the road as you plan for marketing.
Calibrate your expectations. Before you start seeing $$ as a result of creating an online learning system, take a step back. Assess your own resources—how much time and money do you have to invest? Then, consider the funding sources your audience has and how they have typically invested those funds in professional development. You’re aiming to at least break even at launch, but you may need to start small. That’s okay! Take your time and build the system you know your people need. Don’t think about this as a final product you’re taking to market. Think about this as a pilot, an iterative process that you’re testing and will change and revise with feedback from your learners.
Define your competencies and skills. Have you defined what your people need to know in order to be successful in their work? Figure out what “success” or “competence” looks like for your target adult learner population and set that as your North Star. This could be a list of knowledge, skills and competencies for youth workers in your state, for example. Or, it could be skills specific to a practice or approach like facilitating STEM or building emotional intelligence. Or, it may be a broader framework that defines ways of being or approaching work such as with reflective practice or using an equity lens.
Determine how learners will show they know—and how strongly you care about that. How important is it that your adult learners demonstrate competency within your professional learning program? Is it sufficient for them to simply complete the course? Should they pass brief knowledge checks throughout the training? Will you need them to submit video evidence or written assignments that you score against a rubric? Determine what’s most important to you from this work and start there. You can always add layers of evidence and assessment later. This also can relate to your time and budget—navigating a portfolio review process, for instance, is going to take more time from your end than integrated quizzes.
Decide what is important for your learners and for you. Do you already have a learning management system? If not, you’ll want to consider what’s important to you so you can select an LMS that is a good fit. For example, are you building a community of learners or are you offering courses a la carte for individual learners? Do you already have content to move to an online system or will you need authoring capabilities? Do you want to keep learners motivated by awarding points every time they login or is that extraneous? Are you planning to provide a certificate of completion for each course? How much time and expertise does your team have to design and manage the back end of this? Once you make a few decisions, you’ll be ready to select your tools and design your learning experience.
You have an opportunity to offer your network curated or designed learning opportunities to build their competencies, practice skills and re-tool for more successful, impactful work moving forward. LinkedIn Learning courses are not supporting your people. You need to.
Yes, there’s more to it, but this can at least get you on track. When you’re ready to do more, give us a shout. We can help.
