There's Never Been a Better Time to Learn!
Digital Business content that informs, inspires, and entertains:
Image Source: MasterClass
Like pretty much every other industry, education's digital footprint changed dramatically over the past two years. In 2019 online learning existed, but it was typically just an alternative to "real" training and development.
Today, digital gives us access to some of the highest quality content and educators in the world for a fraction of what we'd typically pay for a limited selection of in-class courses, and we get to recover all of the time that we otherwise would have spent commuting to and from IRL training spaces.
The following are a few of the digital resources that are pushing the boundaries of what's possible with online learning:
GOOGLE CERTIFICATES
Google has built their own online training and has committed to treating its own certifications with equal weight to University Degrees in its hiring process. The courses take roughly 10 hours, focus on specific digital skills, and many are free.
Note: the courses run as cohorts, and there's one for UX Design and Project Management starting today.
grow.google/certificates
MASTERCLASS
Masterclass has found a way to produce extremely high-quality training content with some of the world's most interesting people and offer it to learners at a relatively low cost. Their course topics may not fall into the traditional categories that fit neatly onto a resume, but that's kind of the best part.
A few recent additions that are worth checking out include: Negotiation with Chris Voss, Winning Mindset with Lewis Hamilton, Creating Change with Malala, and Empathy by Pharrell Williams & others.
masterclass.com
HUBSPOT ACADEMY
Over the past 5+ years, Hubspot has put on its own Masterclass with their own content marketing, and they've developed that strategy into an entire online learning academy. Hubspot academy offers short, hyper-specific training in skills like Youtube Marketing and Inbound Sales.
If you're going to explore this one, just be aware that Hubspot practices what it preaches - you'll be placed firmly in their sales funnel and will be given plenty of opportunities to become a paying customer.
academy.hubspot.com
SECTION 4
Scott Galloway from NYU took the time-at-home that the pandemic gave us all and ran with it. He had previously been a successful entrepreneur and highly regarded University Professor, but the scale of his reach was tiny in comparison to today.
Now, he has two successful podcasts, a show on CNN+, and a very successful online learning business: Section 4. To paraphrase Scott, they take the best 80% from traditional University courses and offer them for 20% of the cost.
section4.com
CRYPTO STARTUP SCHOOL
If you've been getting curious about crypto to the point that you're thinking about it as a business opportunity, then a16z has just the thing for you. The famous venture capital firm is investing heavily in various Web3 companies, and the problem that they've identified is that there just aren't enough people to build the projects that need to be built.
Their shortage may be your opportunity - the offering is a free, on-demand set of resources that take you all the way from "What is Crypto?" to how to launch a project.
a16z.com/crypto-startup-school
It's true that no amount of digital technology can ever replicate the energy and collaboration that a great workshop can produce, and we see that as an opportunity to get the best of both worlds. In the training that we've been building for our clients, we've been working with them to figure out the ideal mix of interactive digital training, and immersive live workshops (which are often enhanced by technology).
The fact that we now have so many high quality options is exciting for us as facilitators - if you're planning training for your team in 2022, we'd love to have a chat about what's possible: hello@wearejunction.com (or hit reply).
Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting