Changing the world, one idea at a time

As a founder and CEO, I am extremely proud of the Emeritus team and the innovative work that we do to move our mission forward every day. I’m excited to share that our team recently launched India’s first Instructional Design Academy, a one-of-a-kind program for the India market, conceived of, designed and launched from inside Emeritus.

?A few months ago, our Human Resources and Design teams came to me with a new idea: What if Emeritus created a training program to cultivate talent in an area where there is currently no professional training. Instructional design is a specialized skill set in huge demand right now as our business grows rapidly across the globe, but there is no formal instruction for it in universities in India. This creates a deficit of trained Instructional Designers.?

?Through our Instructional Design Academy, students participate remotely, with assignments and evaluations. They are learning the science and art of Instructional Design from Emeritus industry experts, with hands-on exercises, courses that focus on the eLearning field and training to make them industry-ready to kick-start a new career.

?There’s no barrier to entry. That’s what’s at the core of Emeritus’ mission and vision—making education affordable and accessible worldwide—and it’s well borne out through this initiative. Program participants are paid a stipend as they build skills and create opportunity. Our team is training aspiring candidates and will offer them instructional designer roles in the organization post-course completion

This program is transformational in a few key ways.

First, it creates opportunity where there currently is none, changing lives and building a pathway to professional success and financial mobility. Some graduates of this program will join Emeritus; others will find jobs in India’s booming ed tech field.?

For Emeritus, this is a moment when what we believe in and work towards every day becomes reality. Our Instructional Design Academy will uplift those who need uplifting. New jobs have societal value beyond the individual. This may be the first door like this we’ve opened, but it won’t be the last.

This is transformational for me, too. Founders are constantly asking what we can do differently. We believe in working towards creating possibilities—testing and trying new things. There’s no better iteration of this belief than an idea that bubbles up from within your team. This is Emeritus—it’s what we do, it defines our values statement and our mission, and it’s how we change the world, one idea at a time.

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