BACKGROUND:
The current iteration of PUGSpdx is "education as entertainment." People (1) register, (2) do the reading and (3) come to class and discuss. It's all pretty enjoyable. But do people actually learn? Learning is fundamentally about change: the ability to generalize beyond what has been taught, act thoughtfully, and adapt what is taught to new situations. I want PUGSpdx to be a place where people learn.
20th century education was instructor-centered, content-based. Lectures and tests. Generally, it was effective to create compliant employees who could take directions. But the 21st century will be different. Our parents had one job throughout their lives. We will have seven. Our children will have 7 jobs at a time. PUGSpdx will be on the forefront of a transformation in education: learner-centered, performance-based.
altMBA was a example of excellent pedagogy. It was learner-centered, not instructor-centered. As Garth and I were fond of saying, "Seth's not here." The lessons were personally relevant and emotionally resonant. The commitment was peer-to-peer accountability. The lessons were performance-based, not content-based. It put people in groups with prompts and responsibility and let them do it themselves.
Because of that, we all invested. And we all produced. And we all learned.
But it was only a month long. The alumni-Slack is not the same experience. Without the social pressure, peer pressure, and our own need to fit in and achieve, it's hard to keep going. We have new skills. We have new tools. We have new friends. But how do we make a habit of change (i.e. learning)?
At the bottom of it all, it's the work that transforms us. It's the work that builds the community, and tightens the bonds. The work is where we learn. But it's a self-reinforcing loop: we need the community to make us do the work.
THE GOAL :
20th century education was instructor-centered, content-based. Lectures and tests. Generally, it was effective to create compliant employees who could take directions. But the 21st century will be different. Our parents had one job throughout their lives. We will have seven. Our children will have 7 jobs at a time. PUGSpdx will be on the forefront of a transformation in education: learner-centered, performance-based.
altMBA was a example of excellent pedagogy. It was learner-centered, not instructor-centered. As Garth and I were fond of saying, "Seth's not here." The lessons were personally relevant and emotionally resonant. The commitment was peer-to-peer accountability. The lessons were performance-based, not content-based. It put people in groups with prompts and responsibility and let them do it themselves.
Because of that, we all invested. And we all produced. And we all learned.
But it was only a month long. The alumni-Slack is not the same experience. Without the social pressure, peer pressure, and our own need to fit in and achieve, it's hard to keep going. We have new skills. We have new tools. We have new friends. But how do we make a habit of change (i.e. learning)?
At the bottom of it all, it's the work that transforms us. It's the work that builds the community, and tightens the bonds. The work is where we learn. But it's a self-reinforcing loop: we need the community to make us do the work.
THE GOAL :
I want to PUGSpdx to be a lifelong learning community where members support each other and hold each other accountable for everyone reaching their full potential. Basically, I want to take the best features of altMBA (joint commitment, generosity, work, and community) with the added features of being in-person and continuous. I want people to live in a culture of supported growth and continuous improvement.
Project Orange will be a second level of PUGSpdx. The current iteration of PUGS will be the freemium version (cheap-mium). People will pay more for the premium Project Orange for the joint commitment, work, and community. In other words, sustained and supported growth and personal transformation.
THE BENEFITS FOR ME:
- It will make me happier because it fulfills my mission statement of helping people learn and feel connected to their communities.
- I will meet new people and make new friends.
- I will get to live in a supportive culture of continual growth.
- It will generate more income than the current iteration of PUGSpdx because it is additional revenue and provides more value to people.
SKILLS/KNOWLEDGE NEEDED:
- Publicity and public relations.
- Marketing
- Sales
- Writing good performance prompts. (curated resources, minimal interpretation, creative task?)
- Teaching how to write good performance prompts. A self-generating community of learners probably all know how to (1) research content (2) synthesize content, and (3) convert knowledge into a good performance prompt.
OBSTACLES:
- Desire of people to take voluntary courses vs time in their daily life. (solve with emotionally compelling value proposition)
- Frame-setting with current iteration of PUGSpdx being so inexpensive. Do people expect a cheap product? (solve with emotionally compelling value proposition)
- Inexperience running a business. (talk with other entrepreneurs. stay connected to altMBA friends, learn through experimentation and reflection)
- Cash flow for major capacity-building.
- Return on investment on any capital expenditure.
PEOPLE:
- altMBA Dream Team of advisors: Abbe and Alexa (marketing), Tom (operations), Garth (education), Sarah (vision).
- Connections in the Portland media.
- PUGSpdx students and instructors to spread the word initially.
- Community of Project Orange students that will grow and tell their friends (need to make their experience an excellent one).
PLAN OF ACTION with DEADLINES: CUSTOMER END
- Hold first Catalyst course (May).
- Do surveys and exit interviews (last date of class)
- Figure out what students want and what they would be willing to pay for. Could be ongoing community for a monthly subscription fee or additional formal courses. (June)
- Figure out how to test hypothesis with business data. Use Lean Startup ideas.
- Run Catalyst course a second time (July). Reiterate feedback loop.
- Choose a business model that generates the most revenue (August)
PLAN OF ACTION with DEADLINES: BUSINESS END
- write better copy and tell a simple, emotionally compelling value proposition for booking time to voluntarily taking courses in their busy lives. Must connect to customer profiles. (PR copy, website copy) – (Advisors: Abbe, Alexa, Sara Guest)
- Test ideas on how to build the sense of engagement and community that altMBA had. Slack? Happy hours? -
- make connections in media – end of June
- Publicity – get articles published about PUGSpdx – end of July (Advisors – Matt Pierson, Sara Guest)
- Publicity – Project Orange video promo – end of May (Advisors: Beth)
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