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Fitness and Education: from IRL to URL
8 lessons for the new era of learning
Give your social media timelines a cursory scroll and it probably won’t be long until you’re cajoled to take on a Workout, Sprint, HIIT, or Bootcamp.
But a growing number of these promoted posts aren’t pushing your local gym or a fancy new wellness brand: they’re from educators. Sign up for a weekend data science bootcamp from General Assembly or Flatiron School. Enrol in a short-form sprint operated by Section 4, the startup founded by NYU professor Scott Galloway. Take a workout with ad industry magazine Contagious or strategy collective Sweathead (yup — even their name has a fitness connection).
This positioning makes sense on a number of levels. We all know that neither learning or working out tend to come easy. Being physically and mentally fit are both attractive, aspirational traits. And as long as they’re not causing damage, when we find these activities tough they’re more likely to be effective and rewarding.
But the relationship between the fitness and education sectors runs far deeper than cute analogies and sponsored Instagram posts. For those in both traditional and alternative forms of education there’s much to learn — and from one company in particular.
