The Change In The Eight C's of Formal Learning: (Content * Curricula * Coaching * Certification * Community * Calling * day Care) / Cost

One could argue that at the end of this Age of Linear Content (roughly spanning from Gutenberg to Google), the value of traditional content has plummeted. Almost anything, in theory, I could learn at Brown University (or more specifically, on which I could be tested at Brown), I could "pick up" on my own, probably on the web or maybe a book.

On almost any subject, the collection of videos, podcasts, and blogs provide access to a wealth of content richer than the content in any single formal learning experience. And that trend will only continue. So as the value of linear content declines, where does that leave schools and other formal learning programs?

Of course, content is only one part of the value proposition of formal learning programs. The full equation looks something like: (Content * Curricula * Coaching * Certification * Community * Calling *day Care) / Cost, where:

• Content: The material supporting any learning objective.
• Curricula: How the content is chosen, validated, organized, and presented.
• Coaching: The individual attention helping each student overcome their individual weaknesses, answer specific questions, and leverage their individual strengths, as well as provide motivation.
• Certification: Proof and documentation that a level of competency has been reached (which also provides motivation).
• Community: A group of peers that both make learning more effective and engaging.
• Calling: The vision and mission of the learning organization; what it aspires to be, and on what the smartest people of the organization are working.
• day Care: The ability to house students for a specific time.
• Cost: The amount of resources, including student time, a program requires.

Today, in the short run, schools will have to either lower their own costs dramatically or increase the value of the other components to maintain the same value proposition. But that is only a short term step, as more services such as social networking sites eat away at other C's.

In the long run, schools will have to re-invent content. Schools will have to stop their addiction to linear "learning to know" content, and think more of "learning to do." This dynamic content is not only more powerful and relevant, but it also requires and benefits from the other C's more than linear.