A Co-Learning Event

I've only recently become hip to the co-working scene and so far, I've found it to be a really vibrant community based on an awesome premise. If you aren't familiar with co-working the idea essentially is to address the need for solopreneurs/freelancers, and other work from home types to socialize, and be in an environment that fosters productivity. I can attest to the fact that sitting at home, in comfy PJs waiting to switch the next load of laundry, isn't really the best way to foster productivity and get work done. People used to address this by working from a local coffee house or library which gets you out of the house, but essentially still alone. One of the best things about going to a traditional workplace are the other people you work with (usually, ok maybe not all of them but a chosen few) the quintessential gatherings around the junk food vending machine water cooler, and the ability to pop your head into a colleagues office/cubicle to run an idea by them, get some help, or just chat. This is where coworking spaces, or informal coworking meetups (called jelly) come in. A group of people get together to do their own individual work, network, motivate each other, provide a sense of community, etc.

Another really popular trend these days are MOOCs (massive open online courses), and other opportunities to learn new things online, for free, with a global audience. Fortunately, there is some really great content out there, being given away for FREE by people who actually know what they're talking about. Some of these forums even include an interactive component that allow learners to chat with fellow learners, build upon the content, and even interact with the lecturer. A great example of such a platform is  creativeLive, (which I spoke of in my last blog post). These courses are also generally accessed on an individual basis.

I thought wouldn't it be grand if the two ideas were combined. What if a group of people got together in order to learn things that would benefit them in their respective businesses. Coming from an education background, I could see how this could be a powerful idea, allowing people to expand on their learning by having real-time face-to-face conversations about the content. Thus the idea for co-learning was born. Now I know I'm not the first to think, hey let's get together and watch this class. BUT I may be the first to give it a hashtag (the specific tag I'm still working on).

All that being said, I'm organizing a co-Learning event, at an awesome new coworking space in Bristol, PA on February 22nd. I used Smore, a new Web 2.0 tool to make this online flyer check it out and feel free to share!