Like virtually everyone, we here at ThinkingKap can tend to get caught up in our own, and our clients’, situations and lose sight of what’s going on outside of our personal and professional networks.
We have a general philosophy to try and give back when and where we can, and as such, a FREE online Service Course we came across recently really caught our eyes – Instructional Design Service Course: Gain Experience For Good. Even though we are a team of already experienced Instructional Designers, there was a “more than meets the eye” quality to this course that compelled us to dedicate time to it.
What really drew us to Instructional Design for The Greater Good was not just the opportunity to potentially learn and collaborate with others, but the fact that the final project from each participant goes to help others.
The Need for Instructional Design for The Greater Good
The infographic shown below prepared by Digital Promise displays findings from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It portrays the need as compared to the available resources to support the 30 million adults in the US with low literacy and math skills. The aim of this service-learning course is to chip away at the gap left by federal funding which only serves 1.8 million adults.
How The Project Helps the Cause
The reason this is designated as a “Service Course” is because the end product of the participants are used as functional products to serve the real world needs of adult learners who have not completed high school, and are taking adult basic education courses as they prepare for high school equivalency exams or other basic adult education certifications.
This philosophy of using the power of a MOOC to help a greater good is phenomenal. It is this mission that motivated our team to sign up for the course and help contribute. The course duration is 12 weeks, and as we progress through the course, we’ll check in with a blog article each lesson talking about something that came from the course experiences. We’re excited to participate in the course, excited to contribute to the mission, and exited to bring this experience to our readers as well.
To check out the course for yourself, visit the course page at: Instructional Design Service Course: Gain Experience For Good.