Who Wants to be a Millionaire Tutor?

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The Prolific Rise of Online Tutoring

The fact that there is someone in the world making nearly 7 million dollars a year tutoring online is monumental news. Imagine being a tutor that lives like a rock star; a digital teacher making more than a professional athlete.  Envision being the center of advertising and marketing campaigns that would make even national celebrities jealous.

Welcome to the emerging canvas of worldwide online tutoring.  What makes certain famous tutors so exceedingly wealthy, and what does the road ahead look like for the industry?

The Recipe for Digital Tutoring Success

Before reporting on some of the more famous names, let’s take a look at the necessary elements:

  • Skill – A mix of professionalism, personality, and perseverance. The tutors with their faces on billboards are first of all excellent teachers. They have proven to students they can help them show results, and have followings like Hollywood icons because the product they’re selling is extremely valuable.
  • Marketing - Rather than being an asset to an institution or company, online tutors must turn themselves into a brand. Advertising can range from a simple brochure to high production TV commercials, and everything in between. Ultimately, it is spreading the word about results through social media and virtual word of mouth that truly attracts business.
  • Efficiency – Rather than tutoring one-on-one, or in small groups, through current and evolving online tools, teachers can reach multitudes of unprecedented size. This allows tutors not only to teach in their own community, but to charge a small fee to a lot of people at once, which can accumulate to thousands of dollars an hour.

The Balance of Brain Power

The online tutoring frenzy in Asia has taken off like a rocket at the same time westernized education is suffocating itself under trillions in outstanding debt. Two different models, with two drastically different results.

In Asia, students cram into schools with vigor to get ahead—and in fact, they even “cram” after school to keep up. The future ahead looks rather interesting for the west as well, as dominance shifts toward other choices for those college students who are depressed, disillusioned, and distraught about their education debts.

Opulent Tutors of Asia

  • Rose Lee – The so called “Queen of English” is perhaps the most popular English teacher in the Asian world. She now makes roughly $6-7 million a year by helping students prepare for crucial exams that can get them into good universities. Through her self-branding and virtual classroom results, she is a true marketing force of the 21st century – shaping the English speaking Asian culture.
  • Woo Heyong-cheol – This man most definitely took hold of the online education craze, and the obsession of South Korean children to study upward of 8-10 hours a day. Woo is a math tutor, but he is not affiliated with anything official.  He doesn’t have to be.  He is a private entity, and his own brand. He made a decent living teaching math afterschool in South Korea, but now provides 50,000 subscribers with tutorials online earning close to $4 million a year.
  • Richard Eng – This man was a teacher for decades before he became a celebrity tutor who makes millions. By word of mouth alone, so many students approached him for private lessons that he set up his first tutoring school.

That school was wildly successful for a small scale outfit, but the magic began when Richard decided he would begin an advertising campaign and create celebrity appearances for himself and his tutors. Fast forward to today, and this millionaire is branching out into Japan and China.

  • Phang Yu Hon – Another titan of tutoring, this private physics teacher out of Singapore had hundreds of students, and will soon have a seven figure income. When he first started, people heckled and teased him saying he was wasting his time. Now his perseverance paid off, and he’s the one laughing.

The Coded Path Ahead

These few tutors are likely just the beginning in a market that is expected to reach $100 billion in the next five years. Through the virtual classroom phenomenon, expect to see massive amounts of tutors who teach everything you can imagine setting themselves up with enviable incomes.

There may be a lull in the west right now, but no one can say Americans aren’t good at branding and advertising.  It may not be long before American teachers, specialists, and experts all head into their neighborhoods and online en mass to copy their Asian counterparts.

 

How to be a Freelance Instructor by Teaching Your Favorite Activity

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Teach and Learn on LRNGO.com

This week, I’m going to discuss and present a few options for the uninitiated about teaching your skills.  First of all, I want to stress that one on one instruction between two people provides a level of learning interaction and help/progress that one simply cannot get from a video online.  Most people know by now that you can learn from a video, but it can never be your mentor.

Once someone falls in love with a certain subject, discipline, sport, or any activity, they tend to start devouring everything they can and practice/study religiously. After a while, the question of whether or not to teach the subject they learned and pass it on to others comes up.  Today with all of us connected, there is perhaps more opportunity for freelance instruction than at any time before in human history.

There are two ways one can teach what they love to thirsty modern students and earn money doing it, the physical and digital worlds. Each one has its ups and downs, and both are in a constant state of flux and evolution.  Of course, certain subjects may be more suited to one than the other, but in most cases the best option comes down to individual circumstances, niche, expertise level and access. Let’s explore both.

Real World Freelance Instruction

Most localized freelance instructors, whether activity teachers or extra-curricular tutors, begin small. They may put out an ad in the local paper, or perhaps print out some flyers to give to schools in the area. Regardless, the idea is to start with one single student and go from there.

A local tutor’s biggest money maker is going to be word of mouth. Make sure to print up wallet sized calling cards to hand out at parties, social gatherings, and within the homeschooling community.

The idea is to advertise yourself in unobtrusive ways until you have a student, and then build. Here are some tips to getting started.

Establish Your Fee – Typically most people expect an hourly rate, so give them one. Study up on your competition if there is any. As you get more students and there is more demand for your services, your hourly rate can move up, but until then make your rate average or less for your area.

  • Focus on Your Niche but Stay Open to your skillset – Is it best to pick one thing you are exceptionally strong in, and focus on just that, and that alone? In today’s highly diversifying economy and workforce, there is nothing wrong with getting as specific as possible. For example SAT prep math vs., math in general.  However, you may have other skills which you can develop a curriculum for teaching and for which there is a high demand.  Many college grads find that their minor or other skills they are familiar with are the ones that many others really want to learn.  Once you’ve taught one subject or activity, it isn’t as hard to develop a curriculum for a second.  Just remember how you learned, and then concentrate on imparting that information.
  • Familiarize - Once you’ve chosen your subject or subjects, no matter how practiced you may be, become intimately aware of the goals and needs of each individual you teach.  In some cases, you may work off the traditional coursework that students are being exposed to, and in others you must set the curriculum. You must be able to adapt and diversify according to the demand that comes your way.
  • Lesson Plans – Become a master at crafting them in ways that engage and interest your students.
  • Establish Relationships – Always conduct yourself professionally and in a way that shows you are helpful, and have a 110% service orientated attitude. It’s equally important to form great relationships with students and parents. Always be upfront, transparent, and accommodating.
  • Consider Online Tutoring – Joining the online tutoring revolution isn’t for everyone, but it sure provides unprecedented means of teaching, and reaching students from basically anywhere on Earth. The biggest perk is flexibility, although getting started can be a bit time consuming since there are so many choices. There’s much more involved than simply handing out cards or paying for an ad in the local paper.

Freelance Instruction and the Virtual Classroom

Most of the tutors coming online have prior experience with in person private tutoring. They either catch wind of another local tutor making great money, or stumble upon the idea as the momentum within the online education system reaches more and more of our western society.

They start cautiously, typically without any real working knowledge of the industry, and then the desire for extra income streams and the ability to work from home drives forward. The amount of online tutoring companies entering the market makes it easy to find employment and get started with students, but that’s not the only way.  You can use Skype (or one of hundreds of other  platforms) and accept payments through Paypal, or even put up your own website.  Here are some tips to make sure you have a solid foundation to build on.

Basic Supplies You’ll Need

No need to go overboard here and spend huge gobs of money, these are the essentials. On the other hand if this is a serious and long term career movement, make sure to get high quality products.

  • Computer - This is the command center of your business, and should be at least reliable, and a solid  machine that is capable of performing all the tasks you will need it to.
  • Internet Access – This should ideally be high-speed with minimal chances for interruption.
  • Instant Messaging – This could range from any number of internet program choices, but to start I would suggest getting familiar with Skype.
  • Dedicated Email Account – This is one of the major hubs of the business, and should sound and look professional.
  • Online Payment Service – PayPal is the most popular, but some sites will conceal and use your own personal bank accounts as well making it much easier.
  • Headset – Get one that looks good and has an attached microphone you can rely on.
  • Web Camera – Don’t pinch pennies, get a quality web came that will display quality to those who are learning from you.

Baby Steps into the Online Empire

Once you’re set to go and the home office is looking tight and professional, it’s time to plan your approach. For those starting out, there are many choices.  Going solo can be advisable, but there’s nothing wrong with going through a website with requirements either. The upside is you don’t necessarily need any formal education or certifications, although having them can help present you as a validated source for learning prior to receiving positive feedback.

  • Get some experience under your belt working for free or less than you will charge in the beginning (try our Trade lessons platform), learn, and then build. After you’ve made a name for yourself and gotten some experience, then setting up your own private online gig becomes a more viable option. If you have no certification, then consider getting certified by an association in each subject niche.  For instance, if you’re tutoring chemistry and you’re not currently a college student with really high grades, then consider getting certified by the National Tutor Association or another accredited agency.
  • In the online world it is important that for each subject you teach to be as specific about the service you offer as possible. There are established sites that allow you to basically set up a profile and an advertisement, or choose from a list of subjects. The best thing to do is to start small, and incrementally take on more as you learn and get more accustomed to the work.
  • Most places will allow you to set your own wage, but there are others that take most of the guesswork out of the process and take a large cut of your pay. The best idea is to go with a popular site that is getting requests from potential students, and lets you communicate do business with those who contact you directly.  After you get lots of traffic, you can choose to have finances streamlined and simplified for both you and your students.
  • If you are going to be teaching in students’ homes, consider getting some professional liability insurance so that you and your assets are protected.  It’s not a requirement, but it’s also not a bad idea if you are planning a full schedule.
  • After you’ve chosen a site, your profile is all filled out, and you begin taking advantage of any marketing they offer, your job is to study the niche of each subject or activity.  Find out what your potential students are after, and then prepare for the long haul.

Tutoring One Day at a Time

Whether it’s the real or digital world you choose or both, the moral of the story here is to tread lightly at first, learn and adjust, and then build your freelance instruction business.

Obviously there is more to everything than what’s contained in this short blog, because nothing teaches better than experience. If you’re new to the idea and interested in becoming a freelance instructor or tutor by teaching your favorite activity or skills, waste no time.  Start getting experience by trading lessons with others for free here: Trade Lessons on LRNGO, or list to earn money immediately where people can find and learn from you here: Earn money teaching your skills on LRNGO.

 

A Gift To Go

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Go Game

I wouldn’t normally write about something like this, but I received an interesting gift this Christmas.  My family always supports my work, but often on weekends they remind me to take a little time to play—advice that too often I don’t heed.  For this reason, I opened a gift that I didn’t expect.  It was a game called Go.

I have never played and don’t even know how to play Go, but I immediately recognized the game as a central symbol in the movie Pi, by Darren Aronofsky.  I believe that movie was his first, and must have left an impression on me because I still remember both the movie and the game.  (I didn’t know what the game was called at the time, but I remember being curious about it while watching the film, and I can tell this is the one.)

The movie Pi was a surrealist psychological thriller about a mathematician who is obsessed with finding the answer to the key mathematical equation that unlocks the secret to life.  (Aronofsky is the same guy who directed Black Swan.)

Apparently Go has also been argued to be the most complex of all games when it comes to the difficulty in programming it to be played by computers. Thus far, even the best Go programs routinely lose to talented Go players of high ranking. This leads many in the field of artificial intelligence to consider Go to be a better measure of a computer’s capacity for thought than Chess.

So it must be hard to learn, right?  Well to me, this is one of the most interesting points.  It isn’t.  It’s very simple to learn the rules, and didn’t take much time to learn to play at all—way less time than it took me to learn to play Chess.  Yet they say that it can be as complex as you and the player across from you will make it, and even after just two games, I can see how that would be the case.  (Lucky for me the player across from me was learning too!)

I can see why this game would be a central symbol in the Pi movie.  Philosophically speaking, the result of a mathematical equation of life would be as simple or as complex as you make it as well.

When reading the rules and history of the game, I also noticed that Go players all have ranks.  I thought this was interesting because I recognized most of the rank names from martial arts.   It seemed like a blatant rip off, and I attributed it to the influence of martial arts in Asia where the game originated.  I was shocked (and awed) to learn that it was the other way around.  (I was “shocked and awed” after losing a significant amount of stones in a mastermind play by my wife in game two as well, but that’s another story.)

Yes, it turns out this game dates all the way back to 2000 BC in ancient China.  The game came first.  The rankings in martial arts were, in fact, taken from the game.  Now it had my attention.

A game over 4,000 years old, that so far, can’t be mastered by a computer.  I still can’t wrap my mind around that.  A mathematical game that requires the human element to master.  Maybe there’s hope for us yet.

Here’s to 2013.  Happy New Year!

 

The Lean Canvas

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Blank Lean CanvasA man walking by sees another man with a pick ax breaking rocks.  He asks him what he’s doing, and the man replies, “I’m breaking rocks.”  After walking further, he sees a second man with a pick ax doing exactly the same thing.  He asks him what he’s doing, and that man says, “I’m building a castle.”

I’m reminded of this story, because the world looked different to me two weeks ago.  At that time, I had a 5 minute pitch ready for the Rice Alliance IT Web Venture Forum competition that was basically a standard speech.  I was going to go in and tell everyone what our product was, how we were solving a problem of teachers and students trying to find each other, and then describe the opportunity.  Pretty standard stuff.

However, something happened that made me change course. A few days before, one of our mentors was helping me with our lean canvas (for the uninitiated, that’s the basic foundation analysis of a startup business plan) which I had been having trouble with since the beginning of the Houston Technology Center accelerator program.  Our mentor walked in and effortlessly told me his view of what he thought we were doing.  He explained the vision of our website in a way that was both thoughtful and inspiring, and very close to the original thesis I wrote last year when I first started this project.  (Except for the fact that my thesis was written more like a term paper, and had the effect of putting everyone to sleep!)

I had to admit that he nailed it, and everyone (including me) was wondering why I had been having so much trouble putting the real problem we were solving down on the canvas.  I’m normally not too bad at stuff like that.  Then the words came out of my mouth before I could even think about them.  “That’s too big a problem for me.”  He was quick to point out all of the companies that were way too big to come from college dropouts, and said a few other things to get me ready for dealing with what I had said, but the fact is everything had changed because I heard myself say it.

I was just a regular guy, but the original vision that made me drop everything else in my life, the idea to provide a marketplace where every skilled person in our jobless economy could make money teaching their knowledge to others, had gone by the wayside.  I had been pulling my punch, because it was too big.

That night, I went home and questioned all the assumptions I had made about both our business plan and the project.  I continued and questioned assumptions about the economy in general, and realized I could even go so far as to question reality itself.  The world is a dangerous place for free thinkers with no boundaries, because there’s just enough truth in the answers you find.  However, in the end I knew I was avoiding the real issue.  I needed to question the assumptions of the man in the mirror.  I needed to write a lean canvas for myself.

In the Houston Technology Center, we had seen a lot of leaders speak and come through the doors of the Ignition accelerator program.  They were all very different from each other, but you could always tell the real leaders.  It wasn’t that they were confident or determined, or got things done, or even that they were successful.  It was that they could inspire and lead with a believable integrity.  Throughout my life I had been in small leadership positions (and quite accidentally a couple of larger ones—I’ll blog about that sometime), but along the way I had learned what a real leader was.  They inspire people to do their best and they lead by example.  In fact, I can remember in my life when I’ve had two people assign me a task and say exactly the same thing within a 24 hour period, but only one of them could instill loyalty and inspire me to give my all—an essential component of any team.

So here’s a new value proposition that I invite everyone in the startup world to think about.

The market: Founders who have dreams of growing a small startup into a worldwide success.

The problem: Founders don’t consider the personal improvements they would need in order to be worthy of leading a worldwide success.

The solution: Write a lean canvas about yourself.

When I say this, I don’t mean getting better at what you do or running a business – that’s a given.  What I mean is, committing to improving yourself personally.  For me, that means listening more and talking less.  It means showing appreciation to others instead of assuming they already know, and it means apologizing candidly for making an excuse when I should have been honest with someone I respect about missing a double-booked appointment.  It means helping out the other teams around me whenever possible, as others have helped me—and lastly, it means being honest with myself about the fact that  I have a lot to learn, but I can’t learn anything if I don’t allow myself to take chances and make mistakes.

The world looked different after that, and I wrote a different pitch.  We won at Rice, but it had nothing to do with the competition.  It didn’t even have to do with whether this project succeeds or fails.  We won because I knew that I was no longer breaking rocks.  I knew that from now on, I would never again give my all to something without first deciding that I was building a castle.

Thanks to our mentors for the inspiration & encouragement and for pushing us further.

Thanks to the best team in the world Mandy & Michael.

Thanks to all the teams in Ignition and everyone at HTC.

Happy Holidays!

 

The Tutoring Revolution Will Not be Televised

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A tutoring revolution is already sweeping through powerful collectives online, parts of Asia, and throughout the western world. Education in general is becoming somewhat of a cyborg, where the human and virtual worlds meet. The movement is still in its infancy, but the numbers and trends clearly show a mind boggling amount of room for growth.

The Catalyst

In the ruins and ashes of traditional education systems in places like America, supplemental tutoring is going to be a powerhouse of not only job growth, but a spur in the side of national testing scores. While the costs of university life inflate to high Heaven, the cost of private tutoring is evening out because of high demand. Online tutoring is even less costly, but proving to be just as influential.

Countless teachers are finding out that going online, starting their own tutoring franchise, or just taking on a few students part time, is preferable to the decimated and debt ridden system of the last few generations. Sadly, the overall average hourly rate for classroom educators in the US is $21.97, barely more than 50% of the hourly wage of the average private instructor.

In Asia, the booming of population and westernization has bred fierce drive for tutors, making some of them more famous than American athletes or movie stars. Right now in the east private tutors are making handsome livings that can get as high as $5-$6 million.

The Evolution of the Tutor

  • In America, consumers are spending between $5-$10 billion a year on academic tutoring services and this is trending upwards.
  • The annual rate of increase in spending on tutoring in general is holding steady at +5%.
  • In Asia, particularly places like Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, online tutoring has become a phenomenon as powerful as Hollywood or the India Bollywood Empires.
  • From the industrialized to the modernizing world, spending on tutoring is beginning to rival public sector education systems.
  • One global tutoring market research report estimates that by 2017, tutoring and supplemental education services will break beyond the $100 billion mark.
  • Tutoring is getting more attention than ever because of the fact that after researching 23 nations, both industrial and industrializing, 25% to 90% of students are already receiving some form of supplemental education.

The Trek Towards Virtual Classrooms

Students and parents for a long laundry list of reasons are becoming interested in e-tutoring. It’s cost effective, produces favorable results, and is well received by the younger generations who are already wrapped up in the digital sphere.  (BTW, another trend for better or worse is that we are also about to see a huge “gamification” influence on educational studies, but I’ll save that for another blog.)

It seems easier than ever to get kids interested and involved in virtual classrooms, because they have already connected the digital sphere to nearly all aspects of their lives.

With the Asian model as reference, a similar phenomenon is just beginning to light a spark in America and across Europe. Some say social media streams will be incorporated, mobile technology will play a massive role, and soon there will be a legislative battle between the traditional education system where books can cost hundreds of dollars and ebooks that can cost a couple.

However, like it or not, there will be no stopping a tutoring revolution. It has already gained enough momentum to be an underlying economy that is keeping many afloat.  (Just try to stop someone from teaching guitar lessons in their home or teaching math to their neighbor and making a few bucks. Go ahead, I dare you.)  The tutoring revolution will not be televised, and ironically, with the internet it doesn’t have to be.

http://www.teachprofranchise.net/tutoring-one-of-the-next-big-trends-in-education/
http://blog.socrato.com/global-private-tutoring-market-continues-strong-growth/
http://www.sfgate.com/business/prweb/article/Need-to-Achieve-Academic-Excellence-Drives-Demand-3981097.php

 

LRNGO Launched on 11/11/12

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Hi everyone, as most of you know, we dropped everything recently to start this company and implement an idea that we thought might change the world.  The idea is to create a free website that is the first social marketplace of learning – a place where everyone can find each other locally or globally to connect, teach and learn.  As of 3PM today on 11/11 2012, we are now live here at www.LRNGO.com.  It is brand spanking new, so there is no one on it yet, but it is free to use and list.  If enough people use it the first year, we will keep it going.

Use this website how you wish.  If you want to advertise your hourly services to make money teaching what you know, you’re free to do so.  If you want to search for someone near you (or online) to teach you something of interest and contact them, go ahead–there are no restrictions.  If you want to match up and find someone to teach you in return for learning something from you, you can start a conversation.  Check back often as we will be adding a lot of new features.

I believe in the importance of group learning and schools, but true change in education will never come just from within the walls of the classroom. It’s going to come from us – all of us. There’s something we can all learn from each other, and throughout our lives we are all both students and teachers.  Please take a look and spread the word.  Love to all of you.

All the best,
David Brake

 

Houston Technology Center Ignition Startup Bootcamp

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I’ve been asked by quite a few people in the past two weeks about our experience so far in Ignition, the new startup incubator at the Houston Technology Center, so I thought I’d say a few quick words.  My response thus far is very favorable, and I know we are getting a lot out of the program.  Quite honestly, this program came along just in time for us.  Being our first tech startup, we had already resigned ourselves to the fact that we would need help and quite a bit of intensive training, and were preparing to look into options out of state. Not that there aren’t already great mentors here, but having access to many experts was really what we were after, and the fact that we are going through the program with others is very helpful.  This is not just because of the built in interaction we get when we’re learning from each other, but also the opportunity to learn daily through observation.

I can’t overstate how difficult it is at first to take a step back out of your own “startup zone” and get an external perspective when problem solving (particularly concerning communication), and sometimes watching others working through the same kinds of problems and issues can really help.  It was a real eye opener to see that in most cases when we first started three weeks ago, we could explain each others businesses more accurately in two sentences than we could our own.

As for the mentors, when you get down to it, it’s much like a university. There are some who have just the experience you need and you hang on every word, and then there are some who may be in completely different industries and might never get what you’re trying to do.  However, one of the things I’ve learned over the last three weeks is how much even the latter can have value.  There’s something to be said for being able to communicate with and peak the interest of someone who isn’t one bit interested in the internet, but is still interested in your business proposition, and getting the general public excited about your product is clearly a valuable exercise.  Besides, they may have an acquaintance in your industry–and whether for investment purposes or just to spread the word about your product, you will want to be the topic of their next conversation.

I must admit that adding involvement in a boot camp that forces us to convert a business plan into a lean canvas, perfect the pitch, refine the go-to-market strategy, and completely rework the financial modeling to an already grueling product development and website launch schedule can be challenging–but every time I think our team has bitten off too much, I remind myself that it’s likely the best practice possible for the kind of schedule we will be dealing with in the days ahead.  And while it’s true that we still have a lot to learn, I can safely say that after three weeks we are way ahead of where we were.  Of course there are never any guarantees, and this is especially true when it comes to tech startups–but three weeks in, what do I think?  Ok, here’s the lowdown.  Lots of hard work and lots of fun, but mostly it lights a bit of a fire when you know you’re not the only one out there building something.  In fact, when you get enough architects together, the buildings start to improve the whole city and take on a life of their own.  It’s an exciting time in Houston.

Photo Credits: Lucy Ayala

 

Education Going Digital, in More Ways Than One

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Those claiming that the American Education system is broken aren’t looking hard enough. It’s not broken, it’s evolving.  It’s molding like water to a punch bowl.  Where universities are offering ebooks, teachers are getting paid online, and innovation is coming from people’s home computers. The dynamic is changing in relation to human progression. One lever of the system can’t be pulled without influencing all others.

For example, the industrialized free market economy based on raw materials is going digital. Where the money goes in America, so also will at least a part of education. Why should students pay huge amounts of interest on loans, when the rich ecommerce venture capitalists they admire say college can be a waste of time? They’re out creating online communities that connect teachers to students and teachers with teachers, sometimes raking in millions.

Deanna Jump and Freelance Education

What happens to teachers when an economy collapses and they find themselves in need?  Apparently, they get crafty, and through fascinating sites like TeachersPayTeachers.com, make decent money on the side. In fact, one extraordinary teacher named Deanna Jump sold her original content teaching guides to hundreds of thousands of people. Why not? Here’s what I find interesting: if one does a search on Amazon for her name…guess what?  They won’t find anything.

Ebooks are going this route as well. They’re condensing from epic novels, to small marketing/branding packages of 10-20 thousand words, and from hundreds of pages to roughly 20-60. Non-fiction ebooks are taking off like a lightning bolt strapped on an outbound meteor.

Laid off teachers, through the 21st century virtual world, are finding that they don’t need to deal with the educational system grappling with fiat currency collapse and social transition. Through solidarity, like farmers markets of the first depression era, people are sharing what they have for reasonable prices without interest, undue fees, greed, or crony capitalism.

Two Ways Teachers are Making Money Online

Teacher to Student

This could be anything from ebooks, to blogging or freelance work. A teacher could compose study guides and sell them on any number of sites that cater to parents of younger kids up through college students. They could get hired by online universities and teach from the comfort of their own home, or hired by individuals and go door to door. In fact, teachers all over the US are not only selling their expertise to students in America, but all over the English speaking world.

Teacher to Teacher

Speaking of which, English teachers are showing teachers in China how to teach English to their students through any number of ways. Through sites like TeachersPayTeachers.com, which has generated over fourteen million dollars in sales/income so far, teachers can empower one another and stay out of the clutches of a generically overregulated system that oftentimes strangles them.

Criticism Coming from the Oligarchs

It seems that this emerging and truly free market digital economic model where teachers aren’t supposed to make decent money is disrupting the status quo. Deanna Jump became a millionaire selling her teaching guides after that same establishment kept her living from paycheck to paycheck. How many teachers’ lives and classrooms did she influence in her spare time?

The top down model is crashing and burning, but as a flower will sprout up through the cracks of a decayed slice of road, human innovation will flourish. Expect to see an ebook by Deanna Jump available on Kindle soon, it’s inevitable. Perhaps a how to guide on making over $700,000 by writing the perfect lesson plan for kindergartners that can be bought all over the world.

She is one of many, a part of entire generations going online to make a living. It’s sad that teachers appear so under-valued in our society, but it’s invigorating and inspiring that they can contribute in new and innovative ways. Hopefully, these kinds of stories will cause a few light bulbs to go off in anyone’s head who has something inside them to teach.

Speaking of that, keep reading this blog.  It’s coming, we promise.  :-)

 

Higher Education Models for Survival

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In my last blog, I talked about some of the challenges higher education institutions face to be sustainable. Of course no one has all the answers, but I think it’s important to start asking questions and begin thinking about some of these things.  I keep hearing the face of education is changing, but will the consequences be disastrous for American Universities? If so, how will that affect the rest of us, and will it change what learning means?  Will those universities that make it through the next decade do so by engaging new and potential students in new ways?  Is it true that kids will need more convincing of the advantages when departing from their money and taking on new debt becomes a harder sell?  (Is it true that I ask too many questions?)

By the way, for anyone who thinks I am spreading unnecessary gloom & doom about the state of higher education financials (or watering it down), here is a more emphatic economic viewpoint here:  colleges that will be screwed when the student loan bubble pops, and for an extreme student perspective, try www.uncollege.org.

Meanwhile, I am going to jot down some thoughts about some of the major changes already taking place in response to the pressures burdening higher education. Some examples to explore are: free courses, grassroots education, and online universities. Additionally, I will mention a few other things that universities are doing to adapt, overcome, and survive.

Is it Socialism, or a Techno-Cultural Revolution?

So why should a fresh high school graduate go into debt when they can take free high level courses offered by high profile universities like MIT, Oxford, and Berkley? Why should they struggle to stay awake in endless lectures when they can take the class on their own terms? One answer might be for the credentials, but here are two key facts:

  • The perception of a college diploma has done a complete one-eighty in the minds of some in the millennial generation from their grandparent’s day. Universities have to shift their focus and what they have to offer, or they may wither on the vine of progression.
  • To make things even more competitive for universities, online colleges are gaining momentum, and credibility. They come at a fraction of the price, although as of yet there is still no legislation to protect students from predatory private loan lending. They do seem to be  effective for some applications, even though all the trimmings have been shaved away.

No dorms, no sports, no walking to and from class. They’ve got archived classes, live and interactive classes through webinars, 24/7 tech, and possibly tutoring support, as well as virtual advising. An education in the palm of your hand?  Perhaps, if you can tune out everything else around you and pay attention.

The direction that education is going with ebooks, mobile technology, and virtual reality is providing some interesting options as education is being organically socialized through technology.

Traditional Education Plays Along

If students do opt to pay for a university, who will they choose and why? Before answering this rhetorical question, I want to mention a simple truth I just came across that I found interesting.  I was previously unaware of this.  Apparently, statistics show the male participation rate in the workforce is at an all time low in America, while the ladies are enjoying their highest participation rate in US history. Male dominated industrialism is fading away, and there isn’t enough money floating around the service sector. Where have these guys got to turn?

In the last few days, the world has seen unprecedented riots in both Spain and Greece in response to basically one thing: unemployment. They’ve got millions of millennials with no job prospects. If any of them have access to a university, they may choose the one that convinces them it can maximize the value of their education, while minimizing investment risk and overall costs.

What Colleges Are Offering

  • Collaborative Social Value
  • High Job Placement Rates
  • Educations that Follow Industry Trends
  • Social Media Access and Integration

Many people may want jobs, but most desire full-fledged careers and they’ll likely pick the establishments that can prove they’ll deliver. To add to the scrutiny they face from students, cash strapped state and federal accreditation agencies are coming down hard as well.

With low job placement rates, colleges could lose a big part of the whole can of worms. They can have their accreditation stripped away, the ability to offer financial aid taken away, or have their doors shuttered for good. Social Darwinism seems to be taking over the educational system, and high income success rates are an important niche available to exploit.

In response, companies like Mach Interview are springing up to assist universities with higher job placement rates. Through consultation and determined methodologies, they are helping them turn things around using things like:

  • Online Career Profiles & Portfolios for Students
  • Special Niche/Industry Specific Software
  • Interactive Job Placement Curriculums
  • Working and Networking Directly with Recruiters during school.

As far as national trends go, for women the biggest push in the last four or five years has been the medical and nursing field. For better or worse, Healthcare in general in response to the aging boomer generation has manifested all kinds of localized small universities like Devry that try to cater especially to them.

For men (also for better or worse), the workforce seems to be going virtual. Our advertising tells men to join the military, learn a specific craft, or get behind a computer screen. Getting a degree in History, Literature, or General Studies isn’t pushed as hard anymore. If they choose to enter a university to pursue fields within the math and science categories, it is assumed they want curriculum tailored for a certain career path.

Where the Learning Curve Ends

Globalism, automation, nanotechnology, and virtual intelligence are changing what it means to be educated. This is happening as the collapse of old systems causes a reorganizing of the perception of work and education. Many things can be self taught or taught through peer to peer learning, universities are becoming more like clubs with social networking streams, and grassroots education is picking up steam. People are simply coming together and teaching one another. They are buying and selling quasi black market educations amidst a jobless recovery and a cashless society.

“Why pay for a class when you can download an extensive ebook independently published for free by a laid off professor on any subject for as little as a dollar?”

Plenty of universities will undoubtedly survive and live on. They will adapt to trends, make job placement rates a priority, and market the success stories that emanate from the social interaction that only comes from learning together on a campus. This is fair, and children and parents will always admire a classroom education and credentials, but will that mean the same thing as it once did?  Perhaps more importantly, should it?

 

Will Higher Education Have a Higher Mortality Rate?

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This topic came up briefly while talking to a few college students the other night at Startup Houston roundtable about whether they felt they were getting their money’s worth, so I thought I’d throw in my two cents.  While historically, higher education in America led the way in terms of global leadership and turning a profit, there are some who believe that paradigm may be changing. Colleges are contending now not only with the chaotic bursting of the credit bubble, but also with a growing population of disillusioned potential students.

These young men and women have watched the months go by as literally millions of people throw up their hands and leave the workforce; many of whom already have accredited four year diplomas. Additionally, their parents are strapped for cash, most likely unemployed/underemployed themselves, and have also lost faith in the educational system in general.  Let’s look at some financial aspects and social variables which may determine which Universities are likely to survive.

Appealing to a Changing Social Dynamic

The traditional “well rounded” education may be losing its perceived luster. The workforce of the 21st century is telling people they need well defined schooling, niche curriculums, and technologically dense programs. Fewer people want to study French literature, while drastically more feel that they need to sit behind a computer screen and get an edge on modernity.

Students are drawn by the potential to make money once they graduate, rather than simply being able to tell someone they have a degree. The millennial generation cares very little for paper diplomas and tassels anymore. They want to believe that they’re going into debt with better chances of well paying careers.

During the credit bubble of the last thirty years, families were more than happy to send their children, most of whom were first generation attendees, to school under the pretense that paying off loans would be a cinch with a prestigious certificate. These days, those who already have them are churning out horror stories of debt serfdom to what is sometimes perceived as a profit driven franchise that sold them a fairytale.

The universities that will make it through the next decade may well be those that can adequately demonstrate both the importance of the experience and that their graduates move on to jobs in thriving sectors of real economies.

Finances Determine Everything Moving Forward

Like the US government drowning in deficit spending, over a third of US colleges look like major banking and investment firms. Their books are riddled with overleveraged debts, and dwindling incomes/investors. Their expenditures are through the roof, while their attendance is less than spectacular and doesn’t always cover basic operational costs.

This research put together by www.thesustainableuniversity.com suggests that the landscape of higher education may look like the banking sector soon, with more and more going bankrupt and disappearing.  They would suggest that liquidity is the name of the game, and only those that can get their books in order are going to weather the fiscal storm.  They state the following: “Institutions have more liabilities, higher debt service and increasing expense without the revenue or the cash reserves to back them up.”

Simply raising tuition isn’t going to work. Exponentially inflating costs of living, commodities, and basic necessities will see to that. Instead, the lion’s share of success is going to go to (of those without huge endowments) those that can find ways to lower costs, while also giving students new services and options that they see as relevant today.

The old dynamic of spending more and more into success quite frankly looks insane even from a freshmen accounting major’s perspective these days.

Determining Risk Factors for Universities

Are those colleges that spend more and more without specifying their curriculum to suit new demands in extreme danger? It seems that for nearly any institution that isn’t currently considered cream of the crop, the downward pressure is immense.

With potential hyperinflation right around the corner, millions in endowment money is becoming chump change, and serious reorganizing is in order for those that don’t fall into the billions category.

US assets aren’t the only thing being downgraded. If the books are in complete agony, and tuition becomes a crutch, bond downgrades are likely to take a chunk out of survivability.

Colleges that have, out of necessity, had to turn to drastic measures like lowering standards, laying off faculty, or poignant tuition hikes will be perceived to have a short shelf life.

Digital Salvation & Outsourcing

From strategically putting money where the innovation is, the growth of ecommerce, and outsourcing data center and IT work, universities are scrambling for digital salvation. At the end of the day, even if they get their books completely in order, get their real estate values in line with reality, and cut down on a plethora of unnecessary expenditures – without adequate numbers of students, obviously failure is inevitable.

And so they say, the challenge facing higher education has never been greater; the risks have never been sharper; and the incoming tsunami of the higher education bubble has already pulled out the tide by a mile. Here are four things in my view that set apart those that are likely to succeed from those that are staring down the barrel of a financial gun:

  1. Colleges with a concise, and well defined strategy of change and evolution, coupled with a stringent focus on providing value and a higher job placement rate.
  2. Institutions that incrementally cut down on both support and administrative costs, while still managing to give students access to modernizing research and development.
  3. Determined and smart investment in innovation that is perceived by students as both valuable and constructive.
  4. Universities that legitimately conjure up free capital in non-essential assets.

It would seem that only the universities that take the time to regularly examine positive and negative perceptions of their perceived value and react accordingly will stand the best chance to leverage what they need to compete with the likes of Stanford or Harvard.  I doubt this is any longer an optional exercise, as students increasingly begin to view their tuition and time as an investment rather than a requirement of the status quo.

 

How Did We Get To Be So Fat?

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Ok this is off topic and I may be going out on a limb here, but my wife and I recently went “day care shopping” for our daughter, and I couldn’t help notice the difference between what the kids were eating at the day care schools and the way we eat at home.  Not to hold myself up as any pillar of virtue, mind you.  I’ve been known to woof down the occasional twinkie, and recently hurt myself this summer touring the Bluebell Ice Cream Factory by sampling four complete scoops of varied flavors consecutively–but the key word here is “occasional.” (To me, that means not every day.)  Anyway, I remembered an article I read recently about how the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new report indicating that an estimated 42% of Americans will be obese by the year 2030—and I got to thinking, how did we get to be so fat?  Then came the day care connection, and the thought entered my mind that maybe it’s a tough habit to break because we pick it up earlier than we think.

School Meals

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in the United States. Today, around 20% of children aged 6-11 in public schools are obese, up from just 7% in the early 80’s. The problem among teens isn’t much better. 18% of students aged 12-19 are obese, nearly four times the low 5% we enjoyed thirty years ago. The causes are diverse, from popular high-calorie options in school meals to the abolition of many physical education programs to a general lack of nutritional education classes in our public schools. The solutions are likely just as diverse, and while we may be on the right track with some of them, there is still a lot of work ahead of us in improving the quality of the meals in our public schools.

Meal Composition

First, one of our biggest problems may be a cultural lack of education and understanding about the composition of a healthy meal. Many people seem to believe that fat is the only cause of obesity, and that cutting fat is progress. This is not true; fats often take more energy (in calories) to transform into body fat as simple carbohydrates do. Simple carbohydrates are also vastly more prevalent, thanks to the refining process we use to produce corn syrup and other corn derivatives. In our crusade against fat, we have also prejudiced ourselves against some healthy foods, like fish, ham, lean beef, and poultry. Proteins are among the most filling foods in part because it takes more energy to digest and incorporate their caloric content into our bodies. Simple carbohydrates are among the least filling for an inverse reason; they’re second only to alcohol in the ease with which our bodies metabolize them into body fat. Saturated fat is a true problem, but we have largely lumped the good with the bad and demonized fats altogether.

While we may limit our serving sizes for French fries or our fat content for chocolate milk, as a nation we are still unconvinced that a carbohydrate heavy diet is part of the problem. When we do limit the density of simple carbohydrates in our school meals, students often find them elsewhere, and usually they find them in the ubiquitous vending machines in public schools all over our nation. From candy to chips to corn syrup-based carbonated drinks, students everywhere are supplementing or even replacing their healthy school meal options with junk food. The problem here is often money. Schools have come to rely on vending machines and the corporate entities that push those products for a portion of their funding, and they cannot easily rid themselves of the machines without making serious cuts to their badly strained budgets.

Swapping a Negative for a Positive

School meals also are often high in sodium and low in fiber. Heavily processed or commercially prepared foods, such as pizzas, breaded chicken fingers or nuggets, burritos, and beef patties make up as much as 40% of school lunch entrée options. These are heavy contributors to the high sodium, low fiber content in our public school meals.

The result of all this is that America’s children are increasingly obese. They are developing myriad physical and psychological problems. Many have glucose levels indicative of prediabetes, a serious risk factor for adult type II diabetes. They are developing sleep apnea and joint problems. Obese children are at serious risk of adult onset heart disease and osteoarthritis. Furthermore, these children are at higher risk for a broad variety of cancers, from heart to kidney to breast and prostate, Hodgekin’s lymphoma and multiple myeloma.

Learning to be Lightweight

These are dark tidings for our children indeed, but I am told there are solutions on the horizon. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 calls for big improvements to school lunch nutrition. Under the Act, many of the problems with school meals are addressed directly and requirements are now in place to bring healthier meals to the classrooms of America. Time will tell whether this strategy will be effective, but many have high hopes in this regard.

Of the problems that need to be addressed foremost, vending machines top the list. From elementary to high school, the percentage of children consuming these high energy, low nutrition snack foods with their school meals weighs in at 17% to around 40% respectively. If we have to pay a little more to make up for the funds that schools would lose by eliminating these machines, we may very well make up for the expense with reduced medical costs for these children later in life.

Next in importance is the need for nutritional education. I have to ask myself and our country, seriously:  if we want to reduce healthcare costs, why isn’t this a priority curriculum?  Very few schools have dedicated classes on nutrition and wellness, and a little education can go a long way toward better health. “Health” classes in schools normally focus either on exercise alone or on sex education (an equally important but separate issue). While these are important topics, there is little said about macronutrient balance, caloric intake, or the importance of a diet that includes natural raw fruits and vegetables.

Education on caloric intake is vital, as is the need to measure the fat & sugar/corn syrup calories our children consume in public schools. While exercise is a necessary component of cardiovascular, muscular, and skeletal health, it is not the most important factor for obesity. That problem is all wrapped up in our intake. Our children need to learn that skipping the cheese on a burger can do as much to lower their bodyweight as twenty minutes of brisk walking. Our school administration needs to know how many (and more importantly what kind) of calories are in their meals and what effect that can have when weighed against the students’ basal metabolic rate and activity level. More focus on lean proteins and unsaturated fats will improve school meals markedly.

Though they say change is coming for America’s school meal programs, the plan is not complete, nor is the mission accomplished.  Of course I’m no expert, but I was thinking that maybe if we start asking the tough questions about how it happened, perhaps with a little effort we will all be able to look forward to a healthier America in 2030 rather than 50% of us rolling around like Weebles from vending machine to vending machine across the countryside.

Want to weigh in on this topic?  (Ooh, that one hurt!)  Please leave comments.

 

Clash of the Titans: Online vs Classroom Learning

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Welcome, my name is David C. Brake.  I consider myself one of those people who feels like they have lived “many lives.”  I have been a musician, recording artist, entertainer comedian, manager, teacher, business owner, startup founder, husband and father–and a smart-aleck throughout.  However self assessments are always biased, so here are some examples for you to draw your own conclusions:

The Smart-Aleck

At one point in grade school, my math teacher noticed that one of my test scores was not up with the rest of my subjects.  She pulled me aside, and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Although I appreciated that she was concerned, I also knew what she was trying to do.  I told her I wanted to be an astronaut, and she replied that I would need to know a lot of math for that vocation, so I should put forth more effort in my studies moving forward to reach that goal.  I replied that if that was the case, I no longer wish to be an astronaut, and I would appreciate if she could let me know what other occupations were math intensive so that I could make sure to avoid them in the future.  (She called my parents.)

Fast forward to the smart-aleck adult.  Continuing to make my case, below are some self-quotes that I found amusing, but the recipients at the time did not:

“I am considered an expert on most things that I’m not qualified to talk about.”

“If you look around and see you are the only one working for free, reassess the priorities of your co-workers.”

“If you knew what he really thought, he wouldn’t be a politician.”

“If you don’t believe in Jesus, I will kill you.  Does anyone else find this statement ironic?”

And last but not least:

“People who get their degrees while they sit around in their underwear are either really smart, or not worth hiring.”

And it’s this one that I want to talk about.

When I said that, it was in reference to online learning.  Unfortunately, the proponent of online learning to whom I was speaking did not find it amusing, and for some reason his response brought back memories of my “astronaut talk” in grade school.  He came back with, “Is the guy who pays a quarter of a million dollars for his degree smarter than the guy who makes a quarter of a million dollars without one?”  I thought about this.  Was I smarter to avoid something I didn’t enjoy, or would it have been more intelligent to put more time and effort into grade school math?  Everything, including the consequences involved, really depends on the objective.

There was a time in my life when all I wanted was to make a great salary going on stage and playing music for three hours a night.  After actually doing it for a while, that objective changed and I had new goals, but at the time I felt that it would have been foolish to obtain a degree which would not have brought me any closer to that objective.

While I can see arguments (and even agree sometimes) that online learning is alienating or closer to research http://chronicle.com/article/article-content/133177/ or that classroom learning kills creativity http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson, I think maybe the battle should be less of a battle and more of a conversation about objectives.  If you throw in all variables, I believe often times it really is what you make of it.  The best classroom teachers don’t stifle creativity with a curriculum, they try to find a way to inspire it (albeit sometimes in spite of the system)—and let’s not forget that in its quintessence, students in a school can also interact and inspire each other to create. Unfortunately, Sir Ken Robinson (see the link above) is also right that too often that quintessence is left unrealized.

As for online learning, while it may not be optimum in some situations, in others it can be very effective—and  in areas where nothing else is available, one could easily argue it is much better than the alternative of having no one to turn to for guidance.  Yes, proponents of online learning will say there are many who have benefitted, and there is no doubt that there are also many who stand to benefit.  Let’s hear what Bill Gates has to say on the subject. http://www.dailytech.com/Bill+Gates (Haha–how’s that for a segue?  I actually agree with much of his argument though, and even though he is selling software, projects like Khan Academy and DotLRN are a brilliant success thanks in no small part to his help.)

Maybe what’s really interesting now at this time in history is the fact that soon online vs classroom learning may not need to be a choice.  Enter Coursera: now you can even take Ivy League classes while you sit around in your underwear—at no cost to you.  http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/05/06/cheaper-than-harvard-ivy-league Interestingly (and not coincidentally), although it is the same coursework given and graded by the same professors, the classes are apparently not accredited.  This is a point of contention raised by some of the students.  (“What do you expect for free?” says the University… “Not much in this country,” says the world traveler…)

The point is that no one method of learning is “better” than another, but rather that learning should be judged by what is most effective and what is available for each individual at any given time.  And that’s where LRNGO.com comes in, with an idea that’s been floating around in one form or another as far back as 1971. en.wikipedia.org/Deschooling_Society  At the end of the day, the truth of the matter is that classroom and individual learning do not need to be mutually exclusive any more than online and physical, or instruction and research.  Rather, there will (and should) be more choices available for each and everyone’s needs and applications.  In short, it is what you make of it, and that’s probably something we can all agree on—even if you’re a smart-aleck.

 

Widely Used As Textbooks: Do We Have A Choice?

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Given the chance, most any college student will lecture at length about the steep cost of education, including the price of textbooks and books widely used as textbooks.  The typical price of books for one college semester bought through the school store can easily reach $500, and in some cases much more.  This has led to the creation of an old college tradition – watching the jaws drop and the pale faces of the people in front of you in the bookstore line as they bend over and kiss their sweet cash goodbye.  It’s practically hazing, and you know your turn is coming up soon.

So Why Do Textbooks Cost So Much?

Here’s the dirty little secret.  The textbook marketplace in the US does not function using the usual supply-and-demand economic model that we are all familiar with.  Instead, it has been likened to the health insurance marketplace, in which the content (books) are prescribed by the professor or instructor (the doctor) to be used by the student (the patient).  In most cases, the books are paid for by parents or through a loan (the insurance company).  This leads to higher prices for books, because for students they are an essential service and the money must be provided to pay for them.  Think it’s not a fair analogy?  The 2005 report by the General Accounting Office stated that from 1986 to 2004, textbook prices rose an incredible 186 percent, compared to a 3 percent rise in prices in other areas.

So in 2006, The U.S. Education Department studied the college textbook situation and came up with five key reasons for high textbook prices:

  1. Students must buy certain books if they want to excel in the class.  What else could you do, refuse to buy it?  The professor will just have one less person to teach.
  2. As is the case with many industries now, the textbook publishing industry is dominated by just a few companies.  Due to high publishing costs, others just can’t compete with Thomson, McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall, and Houghton-Mifflin.
  3. College bookstores charge high retail prices and are often designed to make a profit for the university.
  4. Professors often receive copies of textbooks for free in the hopes that they will be used, and therefore may not know how much they cost.  (Some professors need all the price breaks they can get too.)
  5. Some professors who author textbooks might assign them to their classes to increase their royalties.  (You know they’re out there.)

In addition to all this, textbook publishers frequently “update” older books to a new edition, adding in a small section or pictures.  There is usually not much new information, but this means that students can be required to buy the latest edition for a premium price.

Quality yet Affordable Textbook Sources

As a reaction to the textbook pricing dilemma, the more recent trend is to look for alternative sources.  Yes, the internet is once again the great equalizer, and more people are opting to buy their textbooks used online instead of buying them new or through their school.  Books that are widely used as textbooks can be found online that are often of good quality, with a much better price than new books or those purchased through the university.  Thankfully, there are quite a few internet options for finding and buying textbooks.  Here are a few picks.

Amazon.com I know it is now cliché – sporting everything from swimming pools to tweezers, but it is still one of the best places to buy textbooks online because of the vast ability to search and choose from bookstores all around the world.  Some of their most popular books that have been widely used as textbooks are the 8th Edition of Mastering Biology, Biology: Concepts and Connections with myBiology, Managerial Accounting, Principles of Microeconomics, The Art of Public Speaking with Connect Lucas, and Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies.  The latest word at Amazon is that they even RENT textbooks now.  (Woohoo!)

Abebooks.com is another great place to find books that are widely used as textbooks.  Though usually more limited to the United States, this site sometimes finds books and stores that Amazon and other searches do not.  You can find new and used books here.  Half.com, associated with Ebay, is a good place to find cheap used books.  You can often get a great deal here because many of the sellers are individuals like you who are done with the book and would like to make anything they can off of it.

Bigwords.com and Chegg.com are also worth checking out.  BigWords is an interesting site because it will optimize the shipping of your books to get you the lowest price possible.  This site also allows you to sell back your books that are widely used as textbooks for a little extra cash at the end of the semester.  Chegg is good for college students looking for cheap books that they will only use temporarily.  Instead of buying the book, you only rent it for a semester or however long you may need it.  Free shipping is provided for the return of the book.

Another trend worth noting is that many people are now moving to e-books, many of which are widely used as textbooks.  There is some controversy over this though, because of the assumption that students will have plenty of internet access to make use of them.  Most often this is true, but not all students have this access, and some professors are still using them anyway.  They are much cheaper than physical textbooks though, and arguably (depending on who you talk to), this alternative does not take away from the educational value.

Hauling them around is no longer a feat of strength, and in some cases they are available from any internet access point.  The method of viewing e-books is not perfect, however; some people would rather read a physical book than a computer screen.  Tablet computers and e-book readers are a good solution to this, but often students cannot afford these devices in addition to the cost of an ordinary laptop.

Speaking of new trends, I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big tip of the hat to some of the new open education platforms where all e-books and online learning materials are completely free:  Ck12.org (they call them “Flexbooks”), Saylor.org, and of course Khanacademy.org.  (Wave of the future perhaps…?  Don’t get me started!)

Primary & Secondary Education: What’s the Status in the Lower Grades?

In the lower grades, kindergarten through 12th grade, the textbook marketplace has very different yet equally devastating problems.  The students obviously do not buy their own textbooks – the schools do.    The issue here is not price, but content and quality.  It turns out that the lower grade textbooks used throughout the entire country are developed according to the standards of Texas in particular, and to a smaller extent, California and Florida.

This is because these three states are what is known as adoption states.  That means that they buy such a large percentage of the total textbooks needed for the country that publishers end up tailoring their content to suit the particular requirements of the adoption state, usually Texas for grades K-12.  The other states of the nation end up adopting and using the books that are approved by the adoption states.  Therefore, the Texas Board of Education composed of five Democrats and ten Republicans determines the content of the textbooks that the whole country will use.  This has led to some very controversial (and many would say incorrect) interpretations of both science and history, particularly concerning an attempt to omit Thomas Jefferson’s belief in separation of church and state in 2010.  http://truth-out.org/news/item/10188-bill-moyers-messing-with-texas-textbooks

Back to the Books

Anyway, while textbook content issues in the lower grades may have no easy end in sight, at least the issue of price is diminishing somewhat for many college students due to choices available today. There is no longer any reason to buy the most expensive new college textbooks through your university, when most of the books that are widely used as textbooks can be found at much lower prices through an online used bookseller.  If you are instructed to use the latest edition of a certain textbook, ask your professor if it would be OK to use an older edition which is typically much cheaper.  There may be a legitimate reason not to do this, but letting the professor know privately that it is a financial consideration might garner some acceptance.  Either way, it’s worth noting that a bit of shopping around can help save hundreds of dollars on a semester of books, and much more over the course of a college education.

 

Infinite Possibilities/One Idea

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Albert Einstein

If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably noticed that it is attached to a website, and that the website is a collection of articles.  I know what you’re thinking.  Why would a website that is a collection of articles need a blog?  Why would anyone read the articles instead of the blog, or read the blog instead of the articles??  What are you trying to do here???  Why do you need so many question marks????  Well you deserve an explanation—so here it is.

In the 21st century, I believe the development of learning platforms and grids that help enable people to find any source of knowledge or skill and to connect with each other through learning paradigms is inevitable.  Furthermore, I believe that a unique focus on social learning solutions will eventually help to redefine the global education industry, the 2nd largest industry in the world.  The new technology-based social paradigm will appeal to the primary and supplemental needs of not just traditional teachers and learners, but to all people who seek assistance for knowledge and training in any situation to achieve their personal or professional goals.

For these purposes, the word “teacher” will mean not only instructors in classroom settings or with credentials of all levels and experience, but also “tutors,” “coaches,” and any individual with a skill, knowledge or training that they have acquired and would like to impart.  With the progression of technology that connects us all and increased access, I believe the ultimate scope and potential of this user base will continue to grow indefinitely.

The vision of LRNGO is to create a “learning market,” a wide open social learning space on the internet that allows any potential user to find another who can teach them anything they desire to learn.  Not just online, but face to face in the real world.  Education (meaning not just research learning or “teaching yourself,” but learning from others) will no longer be confined to learning in groups, classrooms, or institutions, from which many are excluded.  Anyone can find a source to learn anything they want or need at any time that is desirable, at any age or stage in their lives, wherever they are, and where cost may no longer be an issue.

This idea is based on two premises. First, that at any given time in a person’s life, there is a skill that he or she would like to develop or improve upon, as well as knowledge that he or she has that can be taught.  Second, as individuals increasingly see opportunities through new business models, individuals in both learning and teaching roles (teachers and students) will start thinking about learning in terms of transactions and realize that knowledge is a commodity, and “everything is negotiable.”

The move to social learning space can be expedited in part by a geographically searchable “mega-directory” website of all individuals who wish to be included, showing their skills and all level and knowledge of subjects that is completely open to the public, but is NOT limited to online learning.  The learning space will be a “marketplace” that is divided into 3 basic tiers, and each of the 3 tiers can be seen as a time/cost trade-off.

At the top tier, there would be an optional service for those who don’t have time to find someone to teach what they need, but prefer to spend money to hire someone or a trusted brand/entity to facilitate the entire process for them to take care of any learning needs they may have.   They can pay a concierge service or person to help make the right match with the right teacher at the right time and place of their choosing, and schedule any education or instruction program around their own valuable time.  (Of course, there are many services already doing this, and it’s not irrelevant that the global private tutoring market is projected by GIA to exceed $100 billion in the next five years.)

The middle tier is a listing of everyone in the world who wants to teach what they know.  Everyone is free to publicly browse and search this directory, and users will be quickly and conveniently searchable both by subject and location.  Users will create a public profile listing with as much or as little information as they are comfortable with showing, and will be able to be contacted directly through or outside of the website (they can choose whether anonymously or not).

Finally, where money is less of an option, there is a barter or trade system.  For those who don’t want to spend or don’t have money (such as college students), the idea is to “trade” an expertise of theirs in exchange for help or instruction in another subject.  This can be thought of loosely as a time bank barter system.

Revenue can be generated through…ah what the heck–let’s make it free.  :-)

In the next two years, the social learning market will be at the forefront of a new systemic movement toward open education.  Stick around.  This caterpillar website is about to turn into a butterfly.

(Supporting documents: “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age” by George Siemens, Hacking Education Conference Transcript 3/6/2009, “Google U” by Jeff Jarvis, “DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education” by Anya Kamenetz)

 

Knowledge is a Commodity

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So I started thinking about how to explain what brought me to the conclusion that knowledge is a commodity and how LRNGO.com was going to implement a platform for this, and I realized that it has actually been a common theme throughout my life.  Of course, the purpose of this blog is not to bore you with my life story, but…well, too bad I’m going to bore you with my life story.  :-)

It all started with music. Like a lot of kids, I gravitated towards what I was good at.  In my case, when I was growing up and heard songs I liked on the radio, I could usually play & sing them by hearing them.  It was just something I did and enjoyed without very much difficulty.  When I “learned,” it was because I was either learning through private instruction, or performing with others who were older and better than me.  Research was practicing, learning from an instructor was training, but playing for and with others actually “doing it” was social and learning at the same time.  That’s what provided the benchmarks, as well as the impetus for me to research and train harder.

This early experience eventually led me to write a thesis called “All the World is a Stage: the Dynamics of One on One Training vs Group Immersion.”  The idea is that you train more intensely one on one so you can interact at a higher level when you are in a social group, and the larger the group (or “stage” so to speak – expandable up to the whole world), the more competition, and therefore the more intensely you train.  I hypothesized that one could apply this to all forms of learning; everything from the Olympics to languages (ie: if you are in France, you will not only learn French quicker because you are there “doing it,” but also because you will try harder to learn when you are training).

Whether or not the idea that effort or assimilation is directly proportionate to competition and size of a group is flawed, what I found interesting was the extent to which these dynamics feed off of each other and how they are inter-related, and the percentages of learning that take place in social group or immersion settings vs one on one training vs research/practice.  At the time though, I didn’t acknowledge the extent to which one on one learning is also social–which brings me back to…that’s right, my boring life story.  :-)  (Stay with me here, it will all make sense.)

I earned money to go to college by gigging in professional bands the summer before and the summer after my first year of college.  Without getting into how much I learned performing vs how much I learned in school (almost equal but very different), at that time, I chose to continue to play professionally rather than complete my degree.  However, a few years later as a professional, I found myself having to compete with better players on larger stages, and felt like I would have also greatly benefited from a strong university program.  Unfortunately, the choices at that point weren’t good for a working musician.  To stop working full-time and go into debt for school was not a viable option on a musician’s salary.

Looking back now, the situation reminds me of a story I heard.  There was this guy who wanted to go to MIT (skip ahead if you’ve heard this one before) but couldn’t get in and didn’t have the money.  He borrowed a small amount to attend a nearby Art Institute and learned how to create a very realistic school ID.  He used his skills to manufacture one for MIT and attended their classes, and although he never got credentials on paper, once he started working in the real world no one cared.  He took his studies seriously, and became a good enough software engineer that he always had work.  He had no money, learned, and ultimately beat the system.  (I wouldn’t have tried this myself, because with my luck I would have just ended up in the slammer owing a lot of money to MIT!)

So I didn’t plan anything near as devious, but I did contact the professor at my target university who was the head of the department directly.  I explained the situation to see if he would teach me privately, and he did.  I learned the curriculum directly from him (a credit to both his goodwill and teaching ability), and reaped the benefits in less than one third the time at a small fraction of the cost.  What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I had also accidentally learned how to teach the curriculum that he taught me.  I found this out later, and then began teaching what I knew to others through private lessons.

From that experience, the questions eventually started pouring into my head.  How closely are learning something and learning how to teach it related?  Was it just me, or can anyone transfer one to the other? (Still an ongoing question BTW.)  If I learn “how to teach”, can I then teach anything I learn?  For me it stood to reason the answer was yes, but I wanted to find out.  I did, and eventually became a full-time instructor.

At one point I may have gone a bit far in my experiments, and I began teaching in classrooms when I had little (ok no) credentials for this.  I did know the subject, but had no classroom experience or training, so I decided to do some preliminary consulting with the best classroom teachers I could find to learn a thing or two before going in.  After a couple weeks, I quickly found a job where they had been through three teachers in the past 18 months (it turned out none of them could keep the class engaged – baptism by fire!), and I just started “doing it.”  Sure I made mistakes in the beginning, but I made sure to document everything and keep track of what was working and why.  In the end, I turned out to be the first teacher for that subject and in that school location they had ever considered successful, and I continued at the school for two years.

As another side note (can I do that?  Where is the blog handbook…): I have to say IMHO other than knowing the subject matter, a short stint in comedy turned out to be the best training possible for me as an uninitiated teacher going into a first time classroom setting.  Not to entertain or even to keep attention of the class, but because it constantly makes one hyper-sensitive to gauging audience reaction and instantly knowing if they are “with you” and “getting” what you’re saying.  In comedy, if the audience doesn’t understand or “get” something, seconds seem like hours, so you learn to redirect them and communicate very quickly in a different way that makes you understood or else you “die.”  If I had one bit of out of the box thinking advice to universities, I would encourage experimenting with limited standup comedy training in education curriculums and then measuring results.  (I’d be very interested to know if anyone is actually out there doing that!)

Anyway, all that is to say, my own private instruction experiences ultimately weren’t just social because I was interacting with another person when learning, but because there was also a paying it forward aspect from teaching others in turn.

And so it went: from martial arts to business accounting to running a record label, I always felt like given time and money limitations, I got more bang for my buck by just doing things and paying an expert of my choosing to teach me how.  This, in turn, also helped the individual instructor to supplement their income at a time and location that was convenient for them, and eventually enabled me to pass on to others what I had learned in the new role of instructor.  No, it shouldn’t be the only way—but it should be a choice everyone has—whether used to supplement their classroom experience, or to learn a new skill on the side.  It is the future, and the future of education will be about choices.

 

Why Learning Is Social

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Hi, my name is David C. Brake/Founder of LRNGO.com, a startup company and website in development that I began with my two Co-Founders, Michael Liu & Mandy Liu Brake. Before I write anything else, I want to thank everyone who responded to our call to contribute original articles to the site.  Many of them are very informative, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your ideas and wisdom – especially when it can’t be found elsewhere on the web!

So let’s cut to the chase—I imagine you want to know what the heck this website is all about and why you would want to read this blog.  :-)  Perhaps they are both trick questions.  To answer the first, right now LRNGO.com is simply an article library, but it is actually a website in development that we refer to as the “world’s first knowledge market,” and you would want to read this blog and keep up with the development of LRNGO.com if you are interested in learning anything from others locally or making money teaching what you know.

The story?  Well, we began this project because I am completely crazy.  You see, I own a company called Teachers 2 Go LLC whose mission is to provide busy people with any type of instruction by bringing teachers to their home through a convenient concierge service.  Because of this and my own prior teaching and learning experiences, I became interested in all kinds of learning processes and methods—particularly those that could be called social or “alternative.”  Why?  Because I am a product of it and because there is an underlying economy that is driven by it, and because these facts have enabled me and others like me not only to survive, but to thrive in a system from which we might otherwise have been excluded.

When I say excluded, lucky for me, in my case I mean due to my own choices.  I have had my share of both good and bad experiences with traditional learning institutions, and I believe the classroom learning experience can be as essential in certain applications as alternative methods are in others.  However the fact remains, we don’t always have the time or money to go to school and get credentials in everything we want to know, or that we need to know in order to compete.

And yet we find a way to learn.  First we research and study, then perhaps we learn by practicing ourselves, and then we take it as far as we can until we hit a roadblock—and that’s when it’s time to get social.  Of course, the learning process takes on a whole different dynamic once you find someone to teach and guide you; whether it’s a friend who knows more than you, or a teacher or a mentor. Let’s face it, if this wasn’t the case, education wouldn’t be the 2nd largest industry in the world.

It’s no coincidence that in almost every story ever written, the main character or hero has a friend or a guide that teaches them.  Learning from others is social, participatory, engaging, and the clearest path to actually successfully “doing it”—whatever “it” may be.  In fact, it is basic human nature to learn from others.  One could argue that every conversation we have with someone else is a learning experience.  (Even if all we learn is that we don’t want to talk to them again.  Speed daters may be especially suited to expertise on that topic!)

Anyway getting back to Teachers 2 Go LLC, so there I was with a regionally successful company of over 175 instructors for almost every academic and extra-curricular subject under the sun, and one day I was noticing the number of calls we had to turn away and it started to bother me.  Because the schedules didn’t match, because they couldn’t afford it, because they were too far away—etc.  These people all wanted to learn their subject of interest, but the same kinds of barriers that made traditional education impossible and brought them to Teachers 2 Go in the first place (time/cost/location) were still making it impossible to connect with instructors to help them achieve their goals.  We were going in circles—and for many people, not solving the problem.

So I did what I should have done a lot sooner:  I went back to the problem.  Let’s see, we don’t always have the time or money to go to school and get credentials in everything we want to know, or that we need to know to compete.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could instantly find someone near you to teach you anything?  Wouldn’t it be great if you could teach whatever you know to anyone near you who is looking?   Wouldn’t it help our economy if knowledge were an openly traded commodity?

Stay tuned.  It’s about to happen.  :-)