For too long the online learning industry has been presented primarily as a “business opportunity.”
And while it is an enormous business opportunity, we need to look at it first and foremost as a human opportunity.
An opportunity to expand potential in all its forms:
- Individual human potential
- Social or community potential
- And global potential through innovation and collaboration
Because, in order to take part in the online learninge industry, we need to become true teachers — not just someone with a computer and an internet connection.
And true teachers are not simply people who “teach or instruct as a profession” (thanks Dictionary.com).
True teachers are people who help others discover, see for themselves and truly learn in a way that allows them to become who they want to be and live lives of purpose, joy and contribution.
True teachers help create the “social whole” by molding and shaping individuals within it.
But for far too long the online learning industry (and, in most cases, the education industry as a whole) has been about instructing rather than empowering.
It’s been about quickly sharing knowledge and information rather than making a real and lasting change in people’s lives…
In the words of the late great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want…”
A true teacher understands that teaching is the perfect balance of both giving and receiving and that ultimate wealth is the kind that lives beyond you and can’t be taken to the grave.
To the new generation of program creators just starting to share their knowledge, expertise and passions with the world…
And to the current leaders who inherited the legacy of the “information age”…
It’s time to:
- Put student success on an equal par to business success
- Prioritize transformation over information
- Understand that some things can’t be learned at the level of the mind… and that other, more custom and experiential approaches, may be needed to facilitate genuine learning and lasting change
- Value the craft of teaching, coaching, facilitation and mentorship as the essential skill set for creating student engagement and success
- Recognize that the environment in which today’s students are learning impacts how we need to show up and teach if we’re going to be effective
Leave a comment below if you’re in!