Tuesday, March 5, 2013

How Do YOU Promote Online Learning?

Rather than talk about any one prescription for the best way to expand adult education into the the online environment, I'd like to turn it over to YOU.  This is not optional extroversion.  This is a basic function of any adult education program: promotion. Marketing. Advertising.  Spreading the word. Let's see some examples, either from your program or one that's caught your attention.   They say people need to see something seven times before they react.  Surely you can come up with one.

Send me an email at jason(at)essentialed(dot)com with your website, a flier, an ad, a story, anything that puts online learning on the radar of prospective ABE/GED/ESOL learners.  It can be an example of something that needs improvement, that you want input about (but try not to post someone else's thing as "what not to do" ...unless it's a giant faceless corporate ad).

Here on the left is a flier from the window of  a community based literacy organization storefont.  It's supposed to grab people on the street and bring them inside and from there, launch them out onto the web. But who will respond? Probably more people with internet access and personal computers than those who aren't online (though even that's a starting point).  It creates buzz. People might tell other people. It creates urgency, noting the need to finish before 2014.  What do you think about it?

I look forward to adding your examples so we can discuss them and hopefully inform our future promotional efforts to attract great candidates for online learning.   

 


5 comments:

  1. If you are thinking about online education courses, you may be quite shocked to find the increasing number of courses and programs that are currently being offered. Completing an online program is something that can potentially change your life.Discover the benefits of gaining an online education when compared with traditional education. Read more for the details.

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    1. What a great example. Promoting your services by posting spam comments around the internet. That one is always right on time.

      Seriously though... Have you considered going into the lion's den of diploma mill scams and posting credible information? It's worth a try. Real knowledge can go viral where people are starved for the truth. Come to think of it, I may need to write a blog about that phenomenon.

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  2. A big ol' problem to be solved is that problem that you can post a blog... but 13,000 advertisements for me to "get my degree online!" have gone out in a few seconds...

    Here's my thinking, at this second: what's this obsession we have with getting everybody online anyway? What if we got them into the door, first? There are real barriers to online learning and maybe one of our problems is that if students run into those barriers, we lose 'em.

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    1. Sioux: We do NOT need to get all of our learners studying online. In fact, trying to do that is what leads so many instructors to the conclusion that online learning doesn't work. It does work, but for the right people when you have the right tools. Those people don't often find our brick and mortar adult ed programs, but they might if we promoted to them specifically as a target market.

      If adult ed programs don't broadcast the fact that we have credible web-based adult ed services to help "get my degree online" then we leave millions to fall prey to the deluge 13,000 advertisements from predatory diploma mills. There are creative ways to appeal to the interests of the 40 million or so people out there who need ABE/GED instruction. It's not about making square pegs fit into round holes, it's about meeting people where they're at and helping them improve their skills by whatever means available.

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    2. I got my MA online from Ashford University and it was the best decision I've made.

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