Dear friend,

Two of my absolute favorite organizations are going down the wrong path. It isn’t a bad path. It isn’t an evil path. It isn’t a stupid path. It is simply the wrong path.

Both these organizations provide learning/training experiences to people working in nonprofits. Both these organizations are beloved by the people who know them. Both these organizations have the potential and the right people to have huge impacts on nonprofit staff members. But….

In the effort to “meet learners where they are” or to be more “convenient” or “low cost” to learners, they are pivoting from their current offerings - which DO need a pivot, just in a different direction - to on-demand, modularized, self-paced online learning. And I understand why that sounds good. A lot of the feedback that nonprofit learners might give in response to current training or class offerings would be “it’s too expensive” and “I don’t have the time” and “there is too much content at once”. So you scale back the cost, scale back the time required, allow more flexibility, and modularize to allow users to pick their own content. And now your offerings start looking like just about every other online learning experience out there. But….

There are enough online courses in the world. I love the content of these two organizations, and at the same time the content itself is not what makes a deep impact on the learner and on the world - it is the way in which they are taught and supported. I say that because these models step away from what we know about adult learning principles. Adult learners need their motivations, mindsets, and experiences considered as part of the design of learning experiences. Adult learners need job-embedded, real-impact work and projects to apply their learning to. Adult learners need repetition, feedback, and a cycle of learning that doesn’t stop. Adult learners need to learn on their own as well as with others - to share their learning. Adult learning principles are really well researched and documented.

I completely understand the need to change models. These organizations that I love can do so so so much good in this world. They already have been doing such good! But they should not misinterpret the feedback they are getting from their clients and learners to be reasons to step away from adult learning principles.

The big question is - how to make ongoing, high-touchpoint learning experiences affordable and accessible for small nonprofits or individuals. This is something I’ve been working on with friends and colleagues for a while, and would LOVE to talk to you about. Interested in this topic? Have a great idea? Know an organization doing this already? Click the reply button so we can do this work together!

Peace,
Emily