2/ Why? Because grad+ courses massively benefit the teacher’s research. I designed and taught one such as a postdoc at Cornell back in 2006, and learned far more than I ever did as a student. Undergrad service courses otoh, mainly teach logistics/presentation/packaging skills
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13/ The challenge is working out a systematic business model for delivering Weird Topics learning material from the Long Tail of the Great Weirding. My experiments so far have been Random Acts of Mildly Profitable or Break-Even Teaching, and I don’t trust that to be sustainable
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14/ What’s missing is a clean conceptualization of how Weird Topics teaching directly links to research/writing/making/kickstartering end of things. Just like there’s Aman R&D/PhD/grad-coursework nexus in academia. Once I figure that out I’ll be more enthusiastic about teaching
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15/ This thread is a reflection of my own ambivalence towards the online courses game. I have had a Ribbonfarm School set up on teachable for a year now with some bare minimum stuff available, and I’m both attracted to/put off by the idea of doing more.
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16/ What would make me get serious is if I could figure out a good model, with many teachers, of Ribbonfarm School as a Weird Topics grad school. I have no interest in the undergrad-equivalent stuff (though I need that to exist) or things that univs do well already at grad level
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17/ Btw if any of you are interested in this stuff and looking to “disrupt” regular grad school or even undergrad, note that that’s likely a bad idea. They’re disrupting themselves pretty well with their free/cheap catalog-openings in partnership with the Courseras of the world
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18/ What we’re talking about here is really an indie teaching scene by analogy to indie music. The big univs are like the big record labels. No point competing where they have a deep back catalog of material ready to go. Either teach New Economy UG or Weird Topics grad school
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19/ If you want to teach New Economy UG, you have to think like a consumer business and design for scale, efficiency, packaging, mass marketing, intake funnels, and probably a sub $300 price range
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20/ If you want to teach Weird Topics grad school, you need to figure out a link/cross-subsidy with research/writing/making/indie-creating, focus on bespoke teaching relationships, and a price < $100, unless you can figure out a scholarship model and make it free (my preference)
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Where does the learning come from? Or, in other words, what are the necessary preconditions? Do the students have to pay/be invested, or would it work as free courses?
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We offeredan earnit-back model. $100 for course which you make back if your course essay is published on ribbonfarm
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