Learning means adapting our behavior in ways that promote survival.
This past year has been a massive, forced, global learning experience of the most profound, and often heart-wrenching kind.
Our literal survival on a personal and societal level has been and continues to be at stake.
It’s amazing that in the swirling maelstrom of chaos we’ve all been exposed to, teaching online has emerged as one of the most positive and helpful things we can do.
Being able to help the people we care about and are here to serve, learn and get smarter in ways that make life better for them, is a tremendous blessing. Being able to do meaningful work in ways that don’t endanger our own health or that of our learners, is wonderful.
The pandemic has pushed online learning as a global communal experience, forward exponentially.
People are exploring new and creative ways to connect, learn, create and grow using online platforms and media.
It’s also exposed challenges, weaknesses and drawbacks of those systems…from physical problems caused by too much sitting, to the social and emotional ravages of isolation and loneliness.
What is your role in all of this? What do you personally and specifically want to teach online, and how will that make the world a better place?
As you start thinking ahead to 2021 (YES!), what are your goals to uplevel your online teaching practice?
If you want to be a transformational global educator who truly makes a difference in peoples’ lives, I invite you to consider joining the January 2021 cohort of the Course Design Formula® Master Course.
Admission is by private interview -- so if you’re interested, connect with me now to schedule a time to talk.
Join the January 2021 cohort
of the Course Design Formula® Master Course.
Space is limited.
Enrollment is via private interview only.
My mission is to support you in YOUR mission of helping people survive and thrive by teaching online. My goal is to make online learning the most dynamic, engaging, interactive experience it can be… taking the whole person on the other side of the computer or phone screen, into account. My goal is to help you get your expertise out of your head and into the world where it can help people improve their lives and also help you improve yours through safe, meaningful, and rewarding work.
We’re all in this together, learning and growing as a global community.
Not everything we try works out. Sometimes we run into walls, come to a dead end, have to pivot.
It hurts and it’s hard. This past week I’ve spoken with several entrepreneurs who are succeeding brilliantly at teaching online…they have eager students and are earning good money.
But this comes at the price of working 14 hour days seven days a week, which is neither balanced nor sustainable.
I haven’t solved this problem, I have it too. I’ve been working 18 hour days without a break for the past 12 years, and it’s an honor and a privilege to do it… but we all need rest and balance in our lives if we are going to make online teaching work effectively in the long run.
So the first thing I will ask you is: what are you planning and building into your life, to get some rest and some time away from the screen, over the holidays?
I know that’s easier said than done when our main way of connecting with loved ones involves MORE online meetings.
And those are important.
But take some time this week to connect with nature, and your own inner self, as well.
Take some time to reflect on this mind-boggling year in the history of the world, and what it has meant for you.
What have you learned this year that has helped you survive and thrive?
The most important thing I’ve learned is the power of connection, the power of community.
The most amazing process I’ve observed, through the Learn and Get Smarter community meetings, in the Course Design Formula® Master Course, and elsewhere, is the synergy that happens when mission-driven, service oriented experts who have spent their whole lives developing their unique expertise, come together in the service of a common cause.
My job is to be the stone in the Stone Soup.. the catalyst that inspires and encourages everyone to contribute what they can to a group endeavor that becomes much more than the sum of its parts.
In the community meeting over the past six months, we have learned about:
We learned that gratitude is the most important driver of success in powering our online learning programs.
Through it all, the thing that has been most sustaining is knowing that there is a group of people who truly care about each other, who provide each other with wise guidance under difficult conditions, and who have each other’s back.
I want to take this moment to express my profound thanks to my students, mentors, colleagues, and peers, and to everyone who has attended the Master Course and the Learn and Get Smarter community meetings, and to invite you to join us if you haven’t already.
Come to the community meeting
Saturday, November 28th, 2020
9 AM Pacific/ 12 Noon Eastern
