Our Definition of School is Changing
The Role of Education in Professional Growth
It’s back-to-school season, and the kids aren’t the only ones preparing to dive back into learning. Increasingly, adult professionals across nearly every industry are also turning their attention to education. After all, in today’s rapidly changing world—and especially in the new age of artificial intelligence (AI)—staying current is no longer optional. For some, taking courses is a requirement mandated by their state or industry. For others, it’s a strategic move to earn a promotion or maintain their current position. Meanwhile, many professionals are pursuing learning opportunities simply because they want to stay sharp and at the top of their game. Ultimately, with AI now influencing nearly every aspect of work and life, continuing education has shifted from being a choice to being a necessity.
Educational Content Created by and for the Leaders in the Fields
We do a lot of thinking about the nature of school as it applies to the ongoing education of working professionals, because our customers are continuing education (CE) managers and educational content creators. For those who work for professional associations, continuing education is a key member benefit and they rely upon continuing education to remain experts in their fields. They are people with fingers on the pulse of their respective industries. They understand the needs of the professionals they serve and, in response, create educational content that helps those professionals do their jobs.
Medical and Legal Professionals are Just the Beginning
Our customers provide educational programming for people in life-or-death professions, like medicine, or people responsible for financial health and professionals who keep the innocent out of jail or the guilty in. When it comes to educational content the learners may be different, but they all share the need for a “school” that is flexible enough to fit their work/life paradigm and pretty much all are dealing with work schedules that are anything but flexible. Our learners rely on the expertise of our partners to develop current, actionable and valuable content that meets the specific accreditation requirements of specific industries.
Learn What You Need from Wherever You Are
The long, dark days of COVID-19 dramatically expanded the incredible world of online education. During this time, remote learning opened the door to a new, flexible model of education—a truly fungible school where learning can happen anywhere. Today, the classroom is wherever the learner needs it to be—on a laptop, tablet, phone, or even in a traditional setting. Furthermore, parts of an educational program can now take many forms, such as the flipped classroom model, which blends live instruction with independent study.
As a result, classrooms can easily transform into the ideal education delivery vehicle for each participant, whether through a webcast, webinar, podcast, or another digital format. In addition, these sessions can be delivered live or on demand, giving learners ultimate flexibility. Moreover, participants can complete assessments, provide feedback, and instantly receive credit for their work. Ultimately, this evolution of remote learning has created a win-win opportunity—developing a global community of professionals who now have an unending supply of knowledge right at their fingertips.
What makes a School a School?
It’s definitely not the walls or the location on a map. A school has become far more than our old images of brick buildings. It’s a vehicle for delivering educational content the way the learner needs it to be delivered at any given time. It may have walls; it may have a power cord. It may be on a beach in the South Pacific. One can only hope.
