Wes Kao, co-founder of Maven and innovator behind the altMBA program with Seth Godin, discusses the evolution of online courses towards cohort-based learning. She emphasizes the shift from content overload to community-driven education, enhancing engagement through accountability and collaboration. Wes shares insights on how cohort-based courses foster a richer learning experience and create a supportive network. Listeners also learn about the importance of celebratory graduations and ongoing alumni engagement for sustained success.
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insights INSIGHT
Low MOOC Completion Rates
Wes Kao noticed that MOOC completion rates were low (3-7%).
This sparked the idea to create cohort-based courses, focusing on live interaction and community.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Initial Skepticism about Online Cohorts
Initial skepticism about online cohort-based courses existed, as in-person interaction was seen as key.
However, using tools like Slack and Zoom created a surprisingly magical and engaging online experience.
insights INSIGHT
CBCs vs. MOOCs
Cohort-based courses (CBCs) differ from MOOCs by being smaller, closed, and fostering closer student relationships.
This creates a sense of community and encourages more focused learning.
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#513 A lot has changed recently when it comes to online courses. For a while, it was all about having as much content as possible. Sixty hours of video and five hundred worksheets? Great! Ship it! We might have thought that way once, but we know now that's just the wrong way to build a course. We want our course experiences to be more efficient—for both the course creator and the students taking it. But online courses have continued to evolve beyond just more efficiency. It's about the experience people have around that content, and how we can enhance their learning through extra guidance and community. This evolution is showing up in the form of cohort-based courses—”cohort” meaning a group of people, in this case, course students. The concept isn't exactly new. Cohort-based learning has been around for a while. (You may be familiar with “schools” and “classrooms.”) But when it comes to online education, cohort-based courses have come to the fore thanks to people like Seth Godin and his altMBA program, which a lot of very successful people have gone through. Credit for coming up with the altMBA concept actually goes to someone named Wes Kao—and she's our special guest here today. Wes is a cofounder at Maven, a platform where you can create and teach your own online cohort-based courses. In fact, I and a couple of my teammates on Team SPI have had the privilege of taking a cohort-based course from Wes and her team on how to do our own cohort-based courses. We're now running several “boot camps,” as we call them, where we lead a group of people through our courses in a more structured format, with accountability, working hours, and group collaboration. We're going to talk today with Wes about exactly what a cohort-based course looks like, how it'll deliver better results, and how to go about creating your own cohort-based course. Show notes and more at SmartPassiveIncome.com/session513.
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