We Deserve a Better Paradigm for Professional Education
/We Deserve a New Paradigm For Professional Education
Providing new and innovative ways to deliver data training is one of the founding tenets of Beyond the Data
Higher education is in need of disruption. Decade after decade it remains essentially unchanged. An educator stands up in front of students and dictates knowledge. The students’ knowledge of facts, theories, and processes with occasional application are then tested.
Worse yet education has become increasingly expensive with students investing large sums prior to truly knowing what they want to do. Then, they go off into the workplace and in land of rapidly changing environments many times those skills become obsolete.
One of the founding tenets of Beyond the Data was to find a better way to provide the RIGHT skills to the RIGHT people at the RIGHT time. Starting today, we’re re-writing the rules on professional education
The building blocks of a new education paradigm
Affordable
If this is going to work, then it needs to be affordable for both students directly and also for employers paying for employees’ education. We’ve seen the mountain of debt that students come out of school with. It can’t continue like this.
Accessible
Students should have opportunity to learn no matter where they are in a convenient fashion. This means not having to drive long distances to stale classrooms. It can mean online classes, but it could also mean learn-at-your-own-pace type environments. Or more one-on-one scheduled mentoring sessions.
Practical
If a student can’t apply the knowledge in some meaningful way RIGHT NOW, then what’s the point? Providing real problems that they are passionate about is what will create lasting skills that improve their careers. It is time to stop memorizing facts and to stop thinking in theoreticals.
Continual
Learning doesn’t stop when you leave the classroom. In fact, it might not START when you enter the classroom. Learning takes time and requires doing, seeing, experiencing, and discussing. That’s why the lessons should be long-lasting, with the content always available to come back to… months or even years later.
Communal
This might be the most important part. Learning happens in a shared space with others. When communities are created, ideas are shared, relationships are built and we become better with these people than we ever could have without. They push us to think differently, to reach beyond our limits. Community is the secret sauce that makes learning work.