For quite some time, I am bullish about models which can bring online to offline experience in learning and vice-versa, as learning is a social phenomenon, we love to learn from peers, mentors, and facilitators. My hunch is that co-learning as a phenomenon will evolve as a trend like co-working.
What co-working has taught me? I can work from home but I still need a physical space, in spite of tens and thousands of productivity and work-related applications/tools. In the end, working like learning is also a social phenomenon, we love and crave for human interaction, which in turn strengthen the human ties with people that we work. Also, it’s about the vibes and energy that you get working from a co-working space, it’s a subjective and abstract thing.
Similarly, I see co-learning space emerging as a major trend, where people can come together and learn from online courses – self-learning or blended learning in cohorts or groups.
I am on a continuous quest to find out interesting learn-tech companies, which can leverage online and offline learning to bundle it together to give the best learning experience to the end customers. I see co-learning as an answer to problems associated with online self-learning.
A sample business model, I call it
UnLearn Space
Problem:
Lack of curation and discovery mechanisms (for choosing the right courses)
- no personalized defined paths for doing various online courses
- there is no proper listing
- too many learning platforms
- there is no one dashboard to track progress online courses from various platforms
Accountability
- Completion rates are low
- Drop out rates are significantly high, hence low engagement
- Lack of social and human interaction
- Lack of financing options
Solution: WeWork for learning
UnLearn provides curation as a service of online courses (UnLearn OS) and co-learning space (UnLearn Space) for self-learners learn in a community, from peers, facilitators and get expert support.
- Curation as a service – UnLearn OS with online experts
- Co-learning space as a service for self-learning and blended learning – UnLearn Space
- Facilitators (offline) and Experts (online)
- Events – hackathons, workshops, activities, and boot camps
- Financing
Platform Description: UnLearn OS
Curated Content from various online course platform – a marketplace
A marketplace of content providers, learners, experts, facilitators and physical spaces which offer the space as UnLearn Space
What are these spaces?
under-utilized physical spaces like
- co-working spaces
- universities
- corporates in the future- to offer UnLearn OS
- schools in the future
Revenue Streams
UnLearn OS – API integration of other learning platforms and curation as a service
UnLearn Space – monthly subscription
If you are working in this space, then please feel free to reach out to me at standon@graymatterscap. At GMC edLABS, the fund that I work, we are curious about these models and we are actively looking for interesting entrepreneurs to invest in and support them.
Humane Network 
I see this as a compelling need in the K-12 space. Peer learning led by facilitators continues to give the best outcomes.
Interesting to project this construct further. Dedicated offline learning centers that are available currently suffer from a lack of quality teachers where a platform could help immensely, where these centers could become facilitators of learning.
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