Wondering What to do with Courses that I Developed in the Past

As I was clearing files on my computer, I went through a folder that contained a number of courses that I developed a number of years ago, while I was doing speaking engagements and writing and licensing my workshops for schools.

I haven’t looked though them in years, so some of the information is definitely outdated now.

The style that I designed them in could also certainly do with some updates.

That said, the main information is still good.

Since some of the workshops were licensed, I cannot be sure that the people who licensed them from me aren’t still using them or have made modified versions of them.

Though they have assured me that they are no longer using my material, they are running businesses, and how can I be truly certain? There is always some kind of duplicity in people like that.

They can say that they aren’t using my material after making modifications to them, and make that statement technically true.

I suppose one way of going forward is to ignore it and take them at their word.

Another way of doing it is to relaunch my programmes - after some updates.

A third way is to upload it all for free and simply allow the market access to it.

I’m not sure yet which route I’ll take.

Time will tell.

This is the cover page for one of the modules in a series I wrote on Healthcare

I'm Transitioning From the Student to the Adult Learner Market and It's Not Easy

My entire career life has been in the student market - ages 10 - 19 or so - for the past 15 years. My contacts, naturally, have overwhelmingly been people who work in and around this market.

Yes, I’ve had opportunities and experiences in the adult learner market, but this is a very recent development, starting around 2018 or so.

And then, of course, the pandemic hit and everything went nose first into the ground.

Even a number of the contacts I’d made prior to the pandemic aren’t in business anymore, or have gone to a different industry or job. Essentially, I have to build everything up again, and I’m have the hardest time with Zoom meetings, a format that I loathe.

For those who are quick to adapt and find the new formats intuitive or, perhaps, even better than the formats they are replacing, you’re in a great place. I wish it were easier for me.

There is, of course, the possibility of staying on in the student market by bringing my programmes online. The immense problem is that, because of the nature of the programmes I’ve developed for students, they were designed for in-person sessions and a lot of it cannot be translated online.

Yes, there are alternatives - online labs, simulations, etc. - but even seasoned educators generally agree that they are temporary substitutes for the situation we are in, not adequate replacements. There are intangible benefits to in-person learning that can never be replaced by online learning.

I recognise that they are useful in the current situation and they definitely hold a place in education. That said, because my programmes aren’t curricular, I always intended for them to be as immersive and experiential as possible.

Unfortunately, this means that they can’t quite be translated to an online version without losing a lot of their intended effects.

There is the possibility of creating a new programme aimed directly to be done online, as I’ve done with some of my other programmes (for the adult learner market), but this will take time. Also, those programmes aren’t intensely-hands-on science-based programmes, so it’s not difficult to do so.

Furthermore, because I’ve spent at least 3 months creating the original programmes without recouping the resources I’ve put into it, I don’t feel inclined to create any more new programmes.

The schools seem to think that 20 hours of in-person training should translate into 20 hours of online training, as if they are the same thing. This is something I find strange because they had to translate their curriculum online last year and, surely, they must realise that you can’t translate things minute for minute.

The logical thing to do, therefore, is to move away from the student market and into the adult learner market.

So here is where it circles back to the beginning of this blog post.

I need to connect with people in the adult learner market and ramp this up quickly.

I’m finding some good leads in Clubhouse, in educator circles. I’m also looking at investing in certain online tools to simplify my processes.

It’s not easy, and it’s not going to get easier.

It’s a large transition and it’s going to require a lot of work to get right.

I’ve been disheartened for a month. It’s time to get over the slump.

It’s time to get cracking!

Playing With Instagram Carousels and Seeing What I Can Learn From Them

Not too long ago, I was introduced to Instagram Carousels.

Though I professed in an earlier post that I was tired of social media and had essentially stopped uploading content for the sake of doing so, I thought that making some Carousels might help me to hone my design skills and teach me something.

I didn’t go into it with the hope of gaining a tonne of followers or garnering avalanches of likes and comments, as I already knew that social media only rewards those who slavishly post and spend an inordinate amount of time on it.

No, I decided to do it for my own benefit.

And I believe that I have already learned a few design tricks that I wouldn’t have otherwise.

The initial template took some time to carve out, but once it was in place, it wasn’t hard to put in content in the same format. This was part of the first carousel I made.

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And this is part of the second one that I made, based on the same template for the first.

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And, of course, I’ve made a few more since then.

Now that I’ve figured out a template for this, I might go on to make templates for other things that I’m thinking of dabbling in - infographics, e-flyers, and so on.

Actually, I’ve produced a couple of e-brochures earlier, to help market my newly-written courses for the school market. They were what partly inspired me to see if I could bring what I learned about designing them into a carousel.

I intend to continue producing e-brochures - this time for corporate courses and public workshops.

Let’s see where it goes!

Projection of Projects

In the coming months, there is going to be a whole slew of projects with schools. There will be some inevitable clashes in timing which will have to be worked out but, as a whole, things should go quite well, if rather tiringly.

I suspect that I'm going to be a little low on time and energy for the next couple of months due to these projects. Nevertheless, I will endeavour to continue blogging and updating this site.

Rather interestingly, I spoke to someone working at one of the companies that I work with, and he told me that he was developing new courses to tie up with companies and schools or corporate entities. This might be a potential new direction that I want to look at.

I'll come up with a more fleshed-out proposal to show him next week and see how it goes.

Busy days ahead, but busy days bring in ideas, experiences and, of course, funds.