All Articles / Career advice
All Articles / Career advice

You don’t wait for a timetable to ride a bike

Why online learning works when it’s flexible

You don’t wait for a timetable to ride a bike

Time.

Flexibility.

Experiences.

We search for these things in almost every aspect of our life. Recently, we’re examining (and defining) them more and more.

Time with family, time for exercise. Flexibility around work, flexibility to choose. An experience worth doing, an experience that rewards me.

But what about education? Most of us believe a focus around time, flexibility and experience should be the ‘new norm’, we will expect our employers and companies we love to adapt, but can this translate to education as well?

Traditionally, the formal education world has been structured around a static schedule; semesters, classes, census dates, timetables. But as we start to look ahead, and take a moment to reflect on what the future looks like, could flexible, experiential learning be a key part of the future of education? Can we question the need for set start and end dates?

We often talk about lifelong learning but isn’t it time learning started to fit around that life?

9 years ago, we decided it was time to ‘rethink’ what education meant to us and our students.

It was a strategic choice to be an education provider that was experience focused, student-centric and industry-led. It’s a decision we don’t regret.

Want to learn about digital marketing? Don’t want to wait 2 months before you can begin? Fair enough, you can begin tomorrow if that’s what suits you. Perhaps your working hours have been reduced, and you want to use this time to complete your diploma in 8 months, rather than 2 years. That’s your choice too. The opposite may also be true, you work long hours and don’t have time to attend set lectures. This should not mean you are excluded from meaningful upskilling opportunities. So learn on the weekend or after hours and we will adapt our ecosystem to match.

Imagine telling a child they needed to wait before they were able to begin learning to ride a bike, rather than letting them jump on when they felt ready to. Lifelong learning needs to work around life!

Flexible, experiential learning aligns with the pace of industry. It gives students the chance to use the skills they’ve gained while they’re still relevant to today’s workplace.

Today’s emerging leaders need a way to reduce the time it takes to learn from experience. Courses need to be developed by entrepreneurs, business executives, and academics who’ve already been where students want to go.

People love the idea of signing up for a course, but actually doing it is a different thing. By letting people tailor their learning experience, paired with strong support systems, you put the power in their hands.

Our learning model is a success but that isn’t because it’s ‘online’, it’s a success because it’s flexible, experience focused education that translates to the real world.

-Nick Chapman, CEO at Monarch

Explore our courses today, and chat to one of our friendly course consultants about which qualification is right for you.

Any questions? Ask away!