8. Anyone Can Teach Anything - Everyone Can Study Any Topic

10 Disruptive Factors Transforming the World of Education and Learning — Consequences, Opportunities, Tools

Today, if you want to learn about something, you don’t need to go back to school or to a university. Unless you are looking for an official degree from that very institution.

But in all other cases, if your main goal is actually to learn something specific, independently of certifications and pieces of paper that prove it, there are a growing number of private, for-profit and not-for-profit online schools and academies that offer you the opportunity to learn just about anything you can think of.

Not only.

You can even teach, or start your own school, even if you do not have a PhD.

I myself, have been making the bulk of my professional revenue in the last 7 years, by running a small online learning campus for independent information entrepreneurs.

The array of web services, apps and tools that are available today to create such online learning schools it’s quite impressive, though, in my opinion, it is not critical to making it possible.

I, for example, I have first planned and designed the learning environment and structure for my online school (course curriculum, learning sections, related materials, etc.) and then assigned the development and execution to a trusted HTML/PHP developer.

But you don’t need to follow the same road. Anyone with a minimum of competence in video production and course development can do the same today, at zero cost. Just leverage the power of popular teaching platforms like Udemy, Teachable or Skillshare (see more in the Resources section below) and teaching whatever you are expert or very passionate about, can become an instant reality.

By using these platforms anyone can potentially become a “learning resource”, a true supplier of know-how, skills and info.

Sal Khan starts the Khan Academy. His goal? To educate the world.

Khan’s low-tech, conversational tutorials suggest an educational transformation that de-emphasizes classrooms, campus, and administrative infrastructures, as well as brand name instructors. Videos are hosted on YouTube and provided for free.

Source: Fortune

But what many may not realize now, is that thanks to these newly available technologies, not only the number of teachers, trainers and coaches will increase exponentially, but so will also the know-how available in each interest area.

Thanks to competition and to curation.

Unlike for traditional academic institutions in fact, independent teachers will need to improve continuously their offerings to survive in such an increasingly competitive landscape. But not so much in terms of prices, but rather in terms of quality, breadth and depth.

Independent teachers will explore and map the existing landscape and beyond gathering and synthesizing the best existing know-how, they will push the envelope to extend and refine what is already known.

Empowered by these new accessible technologies they will be driven by business competitive needs to effectively “curate” their areas of interest to remain competitive and to keep increasing their reputation and value.

As a consequence, the explosion of learning marketplaces and online teaching platforms, will gradually undermine the power and value of the traditional education ecosystem, while providing increasing opportunities to small, independent and alternative learning venues.

Curation can play a very important role here as well. On one hand expert curators and algorithms can help businesses and institutions identify and pick their ideal teaching platforms among so many different offerings. On the other hand, subject-matter experts aided by digital tools can curate learning paths to help learners identify their ideal online courses inside such a vast array of choices.

Consequences

• Physical classrooms will inevitably lose much of their appeal and usefulness relative to distributed, synchronous, asynchronous and collaborative learning activities at a distance, where people of all ages, creeds and experience-levels can learn together with other people interested in the same subject (ex: MOOCS).
• Traditional, large and small educational institutions face increasing competition from new alternative online schools and learning sources both paid and free.
• The education marketplace is now open to everyone. Anyone can teach. There are no more barriers to entry.
• Professionals and experts without a degree successfully teach courses online.
• Successful courses are not taught anymore only by people who have studied a lot but increasingly by people with extensive experience and great communication and social skills.
• Quality of learning content varies greatly, but the increased access / competition in tis space, gradually drives up standards and expectations.
• For educators, trainers, experts and consultants it becomes difficult and time consuming to identify the most appropriate technology solution to develop an online learning solution.
• For learners it becomes difficult and time consuming to find the ideal course in the midst of so many different offerings.

Opportunities

• For individuals, subject-matter experts, trainers and coaches this is the best opportunity ever to showcase, share or sell their know-how and communication skills through a wide array of online teaching platforms.
• For learners who cannot afford the cost of a college degree, there are now plenty of alternative resources to study and master whatever topic one is interested in pursuing even outside traditional subjects and disciplines.
• To help educators, trainers and coaches save time and money when in need to identify their ideal teaching platform technology.
• To help learners save time and money in identifying their ideal courses and learning path in the ocean of alternative learning offers available.

Resources

Learning Marketplaces

• Udemy
  Learning marketplace and most popular platform for teaching online courses.
• Skillshare
  Learning marketplace for creative skills that can be learned in just 15 minutes a day. Bite-sized lessons. Teaching platform for skilled trainers.
• Lynda
  Learning marketplace for vertical software skills. (owned by Microsoft)
• Pluralsight
  Learning marketplace for professional developers.

Teaching Platforms

• Teachable
  Teaching platform, allows you to create and sell any type of online course at your own price.
• Patience
• Wiziq.com
• Pathwright
• Coach
• Online Teaching Platforms list

Thank you for reading.

I am Robin Good, an independent author / publisher with a terminal addiction: help others effectively communicate, learn and market their ideas by exploring new ethical venues, innovative strategies and uncharted territories outside the mainstream.

Discover more about curation right here:
https://medium.com/content-curation-official-guide

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