New Home Forums Course Ideas & Outlines The Future of eCourses and Online Learning

9 replies, 7 voices Last updated by  Bradley Morris 8 years, 9 months ago
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  • #22244

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Hello Friends,

    I wanted to open up this creative conversation of infinite possibilities.

    What do you think the future of eCourses and online learning will look like and be like?
    Say 5-10 years down the road…

    #22246

    Skeeter Medias
    Adventurer
    @Skeeter

    Fer sure virtual reality is gunna play a big role in the world of eCourses. My brother Doober and I made this here set of VR goggles down below. At the moment, we’re savin’ up our bajillions to be able to invest more of our monies into our Virtual Reality Learning start-up. If of you billion bajillionaires out there wanna invest, just send me a message.

    VR Goggles

    #22249

    Laurie
    Adventurer
    @laurieszott

    That is an interesting question and it will depend on why people want to learn and what they want to learn on-line. If they are looking to increase their employability they will need steps that are helping their competence in a provable way-this doesn’t mean it won’t be fun, but will need assessments built in, somehow. Most people like to “improve” personally or professionally and I don’t see this incentive dying off.
    I notice more people keep going in courses when they get rewards like marks, or bajillions of points, but there seems to be a fine line where marks or rewards becomes a deterrent, if people start comparing themselves to others.
    Combining passion, purpose, imagination and having a carrot (like profit) in the distance seems powerful. The Great E Courses is certainly moving the industry forward by evoking imagination and a sense of adventure-I am a little in awe of the scope of it!

    #22289

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Thanks so much for feeling that way @laurieszott. We hope/think so too. We have a feeling that what we are ALL doing here on this mountain is going to inject a whole new level of creativity and possibilities in the eLearning world! Imagine what mountain we’ll all be climbing in 5-10 years from now if we stick with doing THIS…?!

    #22340

    Lorraine Watson
    Adventurer
    @lorrainewatson

    My first thought is 5-10 years from now we’re going to have a whole new evolution of technology that will make what the internet is now be so 1996. “Online” will be something what is now beyond imagination. It will bring a new level of interconnectivity and offer greater immediacy.

    My second thought is with what seems to be a return to simplicity, getting off of social media, in person connections, ecourses and learning in general will involve a higher degree of personal connection. Dripping lessons will be old school. The demand will be greater for face-to-face learning where you can ask questions, go deeper, explore the mystery and shift away from a focus of mastery. So when it comes to video and streaming … we ain’t seen nothing yet (cue music).

    I’ll also say (hope) in the next 5-10 years we’ll find a significant shift in awareness by a large portion of the population so we see a corresponding increased shift in the number of awareness, conscious development, find your purpose, spiritual enlightenment / direction type courses. If the context was Maslow’s hierarchy, we’d see more in the self-actualization realm than in esteem or love & belonging.

    So that’s what my crystal ball is showing tonight.

    #22380

    Master ZenTeach
    Adventurer
    @Master ZenTeach

    I like your vision for the future @lorrainewatson. I hope you are right.

    I also hope all of my students will have personal hologram of me, pre-programmed with more than 1 million proper responses to their questions. Master ZenTeach will finally get vacation he dreams of.

    #22408

    Catherine Fox
    Adventurer
    @catherine_wildfox

    “My second thought is with what seems to be a return to simplicity, getting off of social media, in person connections, ecourses and learning in general will involve a higher degree of personal connection. Dripping lessons will be old school. The demand will be greater for face-to-face learning where you can ask questions, go deeper, explore the mystery and shift away from a focus of mastery. So when it comes to video and streaming … we ain’t seen nothing yet (cue music)”

    I am in agreement and optimism for this.

    SIMPLICITY is a big word for me today. Better connection too.

    Simplicity doesn’t mean not profound
    Simplicity doesn’t mean easy either.

    #22419

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    YES, simple is key @catherine_wildfox!

    Since the first day we conceived the idea for the Great eCourse Adventure, @andyfreist and I wrote down four powerful questions which have essentially been our guiding posts to keep us on track when we spiral out into “big idea land.” LOL

    Here are our Four Questions that we ask before moving forward with an idea:
    Is this Clear?
    Is this Simple?
    Is this True?
    Is this Authentic?

    If we get a YES for all of these questions, then it will be potent.

    #22466

    JoAnn Turner
    Adventurer
    @JoAnnTurnip

    “I’ll also say (hope) in the next 5-10 years we’ll find a significant shift in awareness by a large portion of the population so we see a corresponding increased shift in the number of awareness, conscious development, find your purpose, spiritual enlightenment / direction type courses.”

    I think this shift is already taking place! In the past two years, I’ve taken 16 e-courses and looked at a few more. Twelve of them were in the realm of spiritual growth, or in how to do some specific technique or style of art. The Shift Network is already offering dozens of spiritual courses every year, in a very user-friendly format (friendly to teacher and student alike, once you get the hang of it, and The Shift Network handles all of the technical side of things) and Sounds True publishing is doing lots of online courses (my introduction to shamanism was a 6 week course with Sandra Ingerman on Sounds True 5 years ago), and I’ve also been taking a lot of art classes, largely so I could see how other people created e-courses. So I’m coming into this from entirely the non-commercial perspective. Only in December did I sign up for a course that promised to show me how to make money online! 🙂

    All of the art classes I’ve taken have created a network of artists and art students who are cross-promoting one another’s work and classes, and most of these classes also involved meditation, creative visualization, self-care affirmations and other techniques. Most of these courses also are taught by women, and aimed primarily at women. They’re mostly not expensive (under $300 in most cases) but they include Facebook groups and other social media where students can interact with one another and the instructors, and we see tremendous caring and loving supportive relationships develop as the courses progress.

    So I definitely see the potential of e-courses and online interaction to create community and foster various forms of awareness and wellness. It’s really exciting. But until this year, I’d had no exposure at all to sales funnels, conversion rates or any of the other hard-core sales and online promotion tactics. I had NO IDEA this stuff was even out there! All the classes I’ve experienced have been warm, loving, friendly environments.

    One of the arts e-course developers I know best is Tamara Laporte in the UK, who has a few dozen courses for sale on her website, willowingarts.net and she offers a yearlong course called Lifebook in mixed media whimsy art for 75 pounds, which is unbelievable. She makes up for the low price with volume. last year, over 4000 people signed up for Lifebook. She has a background in Non-violent Communication, and her husband runs a company that offers “conflict transformation” to businesses and organization. Her courses are changing people’s lives in many cases, yet they’re seemingly very simple. Her course spans art and spirituality, so you learn how to do a certain technique or master a skill, but the take-home for many people is improved self-esteem, confidence, and learning how to meditate or handle anxiety in a constructive way. Tamara Laporte is one of my role models when it comes to e-courses done right!

    And Master Zenteach and Skeeter, of course! 🙂

    #22501

    Bradley Morris
    Mountain Guide
    @bradleytmorris

    Wow @joannturnip, it’s amazing how many courses you’ve signed up for!!

    In the last five years I’ve been so busy creating courses that I’ve hardly given myself the time to sign up for others. I’ve done a few marketing ones and always felt a little jipped at the end. Hence, why we’re creating adventures like this!!

    I’m really excited to see what you create having had so many of these courses to draw from for clarity and inspiration.

    (I am also very grateful for Master ZenTeach and Skeeter!)

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