Why should I become an indie teacher?

 

What is an indie teacher?

In many creative fields, the term “indie artist” conveys a musician or a film maker who creates art outside of the traditional, corporate structures of music labels and studios. I think the same concept should apply to teachers. In this sense, independent teachers practice teaching outside of the traditional walls of universities and publishers.

How is indie teaching like indie film and music?

According to an email from James Altucher “Self education is a $355-million-per-day industry… and it’s expected to TRIPLE in the next 5 years!” for some context, Avengers End Game made $350 million in the U.S. its opening weekend. That means the biggest movie in history so far generated less revenue that education in a 3-day span. Of course, action movies have multiple sources of revenue from toys and other merchandise.

No other movie has made as much. Avenger’s End Game cost between $350 – $400 million to produce, and that does not count marketing and distribution expenses. That movie could only be produced by a studio. In education, the same can be said. Degree programs and research labs require the resources of a university to build and support.

In independent film and music, the goal is not to replicate the studio film. In the studio film, the studio buys an idea for a film and then hires a producer, director, and cast. The studio sets a budget, and if they are not satisfied with one of their hires, they can be replaced.

Indie artists may not have the budgets of the studio and labels, but they have the freedom to create the art that they want to create without fear of being replaced.

In 2012, musician Amanda Palmer raised a record breaking $1.2 million to produce her new album and tour from Kickstarter. (Palmer’s book The Art of Asking is fantastic, especially in audible form.) Palmer’s career started as a street performer (a living statue) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her career transitioned into music, and she was half of the band The Dresden Dolls. The Dolls were an indie bad that were signed to a label, the goal of most indie acts. Palmer, though, found the requirements of the label to be restrictive and the promised benefits of being supported by a label to be insufficient. She misled the label into thinking she was pregnant so they would release her from the contract. The crowd funding campaign allowed her as independent artist to raise money directly from her audience to provide the resources to create the album and tour she wanted.

Teachers can follow the independent creator model used by filmmakers and musicians to create and offer courses and other learning resources outside of the traditional system of publishers and institutions.

What is wrong with the studio system of education?

I do not advocate the overthrow of schools and publishers. They have a long history of providing important services and value for students. Traditional schools and publishers operate at scale. Their economic model requires serving many students. This means that learning that does generate enough student interest will typically not be offered.

The traditional educational system is also highly regulated by federal and state governments and accreditors. By law, a 1-credit college course must have a minimum of 45 hours of in-class and out-of-class activity. Most college courses are 3 or 4 credits, so learning is organized into blocks of 135 to 180 hours whether that is the appropriate allocation for the learning or not. Sometimes this means adding additional content or leaving something out. Either way, indie teaching allows the teacher to determine who much content and activities are required for the learning objectives.

Regulations also define who is “qualified” to teach a subject. In my experience, many of the best teachers for a class lack the academic qualifications (18-graduate credit hours) to teach that class. Professional experience and natural teaching ability can trump course work, but not in the eyes of accreditors. Indie teachers do not have to meet accreditor standards.

My biggest concern about traditional education is that it is designed around degrees that take years to complete and are a “one-and-done” model. Society and technology are in a period of rapid change. Careers are being automated out of existence and new careers are rapidly emerging. The degree model is not built for this type of lifelong learning. Indie teaching provides a different model that can better serve lifelong learning needs.

Can anyone become an indie teacher?

While in theory any teacher can become an indie teacher, most teachers will not. The studio system of education provides a framework for teaching that means that many decisions are made for you. The biggest challenge is the lack of deadlines. When you are teaching for a school, you have deadlines and a schedule. When you are an indie teacher, you create your own deadlines and keep to a schedule on your own. Most independent course developers fail to launch. Either they find it difficult to make time for course creation, or they get stuck in perfectionism and ongoing tweaking of a course that prevents it from ever being finished.

The solution to these challenges is to use project management techniques to set and follow a schedule to launch the minimum viable product (MVP). An MVP means making a class available sooner which means revenue sooner and feedback from your audience to guide the development of the next course.

Can I do indie teaching as a full-time job?

While some people can make a significant living through indie teaching, that requires the right combination of courses and audience. It also takes time to build an audience. The most effective strategy is to use indie teaching to build an additional income stream. Over time, you can expand with more courses and be able to generate a full-time income.

Can I keep teaching for colleges and universities and do indie teaching as well?

This depends. First, you need to know whether a college or university where you are teaching allows outside employment. Some schools may limit even part-time faculty. Second, you should not use materials developed by or for those schools. Even if you developed a course for a university, you may or may not have rights to use those materials. Third, you must balance your time. You need to take care of your students. If you stretch yourself too thin, you will find it hard to take care of students and yourself.

Teaching for a college or university can provide a relatively stable and predictable income stream. Indie teaching can be more up and down. The upside is that the amount you can earn from a class is not limited by institutional pay scales. With the right course and audience, you can make more than you can teaching for a school. The combination of the two, though, can provide a balanced mix of income streams.

Why should you become an indie teacher?

Indie teaching provides an opportunity to create and offer create courses on topics that you want to teach in ways that you want to teach them. It allows you t impact more learners than juts teaching within colleges and schools. You can also make some money for your work. Indie teaching can be a supplement to your existing teaching and non-teaching work activities. You control your schedule and level of effort. Independence is not for everyone, though, so unless the idea of being in control gets you excited in a good way, it might not be the right solution for you.

Contents

  1. The Indie Teaching Manifesto
  2. Why should I become an indie teacher?
  3. What would I do as an indie teacher?
  4. How do I get started as an indie teacher?
  5. How do I create learning products as an indie teacher?
  6. Ideation and Validation
  7. Design
  8. Build-out
  9. Publish-Launch

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