#LearnwithEben — Conducting self-experiments on the possibilities of Virtual & Accelerated Learning

This is not another story about Eben and his numerous online courses. Not at all. What you’re about to read has never been attempted before in the history of humanity, and I am glad that we will both be sharing this moment together — not just for ourselves but for those that will come after us.

Whether we like it or not, the Post-COVID world will usher in a new era of education that will be more virtual than what we used to practice in January 2020. The truth is that I have long been fascinated by what education’s future could hold for humanity. I recall how that passion drove me to start the #READnotRUNS campaign in 2011 with an aim to discourage organized examination malpractice witnessed across secondary and tertiary schools in Nigeria. Over the course of the decade, learning from notable minds like Sugata Mitra and Sir Ken Robinson, I continued to make predictions about what this coming era would look like.

From Top: Rev Dr. Omomola & Rev Dr. Adeleke using my virtual set-up for Rev Omomola’s Doctoral Dissertation

In September 2015 I got a glimpse of what the future could look like when my Spiritual Father, Rev Dr. ‘Segun Adeleke asked me to coordinate digital connections for Rev Dr. Julius Omomola who, at the time, was in Port Harcourt and needed to attend his doctoral dissertation defense at Mid-Western Baptist Theological Seminary based in Missouri, United States. Seeing that we didn’t have the resources to rent a concord private jet to fly him to Kansas City thousands of air miles away, upon recommendation from his supervisor in the US we decided to use Google Hangout.

As I watched the entire proceeding, monitoring internet speed and ensuring everything went smoothly, a new spectrum opened in my mind. For about 2,500 naira data cost, Rev Omomola’s dissertation defense was completed as opposed to over 1 million naira he would have spent if he traveled all the way, not to mention visa application stress and most importantly the time he had saved. Since then I continued to search for opportunities to study for degree programs online but wasn’t very successful at it so I continued to complete short certification courses — ‘little online certificates’, someone called it recently.

Indeed it was a Transformational experience, grateful to God and the folks at HKS

It wasn’t until August 2019 when that search became a reality. I won’t bore you with the full story because if we’re friends on social media you must have heard this tale over and again. One of my mentors, Florence shared the information about Harvard Kennedy School’s new virtual Executive program in Public Narrative. I applied and as the cliche goes, the rest is history. This Twitter Thread chronicles the entire 4-month experience but what stood out for me was the fact that I saw that magic from 2015 happening again. Usually, Executive Programs at Harvard go for anything between $5,000 to $10,000 but this virtual version was $2,200 dollars. Furthermore, Harvard gave me funding assistance which brought the cost to as low as $200.

Guess who represented Nigeria and West Africa in our cosmopolitan class?

Imagine going from $5,000 to $200 but still maintaining the ivy league quality while creating virtual connections around the world and keeping my job in Port Harcourt — it felt like heaven. Prior to this time, I only had a Diploma in Journalism from the International Institute of Journalism but the experience with Harvard made me believe that I could aim for higher and the same internet I had used in the past to interview more than 100 world leaders with a Nokia feature phone, could also be used to make my dreams of schooling at the best Universities in the World come through without having to pause my life or resign from my job all in the name of trying to go to school — so primitive. This is how #LearnwithEben was born.

So, what exactly is #LearnwithEben?

Think of it as a challenge, a project, an expedition of some sort into the world of the unknown. From personal research, I have found that although online learning has been around for more than a decade, we still have very little evidence of what to expect in this new era when digital learning frameworks will be implemented across several education institutions on a large scale. I am going ahead of the World to conduct self-experiments on the possibilities of virtual and accelerated forms of learning especially in the context of a young person living in a developing country like Nigeria.

Out of the many things I am trying to prove through this expedition, three are paramount:

1. I believe that in the future there will be no walls between blocks of knowledge.

The current way we view learning at different levels will change. A good example is that I am currently pursuing a Diploma in Internet Journalism at the London School of Journalism; Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Nexford University; MicroMasters Credential in Data, Economics, and Development Policy offered by MIT and J-PAL; and another Executive Program from Stanford University after completing one from Harvard last year. I also plan to do three more Executive Programs in the next couple of years to make up five Executive Programs from the best Universities in the World.

About four years ago this would not have even been possible because the current structure of formal education is linear, not circular. You usually complete a Diploma/Associate’s before moving to Bachelor’s and then finish a Bachelor’s before heading to Master’s, etc. There are currently very few Institutions where this circular approach I am taking can be achieved, but mark my words within this current decade, many more schools will join the likes of MIT and Nexford in opening-up the process to be more dynamic.

Source: Gnwobe

2. I believe that the average time required to complete any given degree program will be halved.

Accelerated learning has been around for a while now but in this new era of education, it will become more tangible. Usually, it takes about four to five years to complete a Bachelor’s degree program. Being a new generation University, Nexford has created an accelerated pathway where learners who are able to take up more workload can use between one to two years to complete the entire program. I plan to finish mine within 18 months because of the extra workload I am carrying on, and I believe this is something conventional schools will find themselves doing more in this new era. Another thing Nexford does is that Admissions are monthly as opposed to bi-annually or in some cases like in Nigeria, annually. Monthly admissions mean more people can afford to enroll and the number of dropout rates will also reduce as well as the number of ‘spots’ being competed for every admissions cycle. This is still relatively new as only a few online Universities are testing it out at the moment, but I believe it will become commonplace very soon.

3. The cost of quality tertiary education will drop drastically.

There’s really nothing much to say here. Let the numbers do the talking. It costs between $30,000 to $70,000 to study for a Bachelor’s degree at a top University in America. At Nexford, I’m paying $80 per month and if I meet my personal deadline of 18 months the total tuition will be $1,440. Okay, let’s even say my Phlegmatic laziness gets a hold of me and I drag it to 24 months, the cost will still be $1,920. This is not even up to 10% of what it will take at a regular school in the US. What more can I say, brethren?

I know the questions already popping in your mind. What about systemic constraints like power and internet? My response to that is for CSOs and young people, especially those in developing countries, to continue pushing for legislation that will ensure these constraints are lifted. I now spend up to 30% of my monthly income on internet data and petrol for the generator. I even had to retake an MIT proctored exam because my internet connection decided to give up on me on exam day.

These birth pains will be there surely, but I am certain they won’t last forever. For those worrying if online learning will lead to the birth of more sociopaths, my response to that is, if we can find ways to connect with people we haven’t met before physically via social media then those elements of social media can be designed on digital learning platforms to ensure more human connection alongside learning. Nexford’s discussion forum and MIT Open Forum all ensure that I continue to connect with fellow learners across the world.

If after reading this you feel gingered to join this challenge aimed to last between 2020–2022, you’re welcome because I really cannot do this alone, to be honest. I will need a community of people willing to challenge the status quo with me. Fill this short form to express your interest and I will surely get back to you on how we can make this work.

Stay tuned to my YouTube channel for weekly updates of my learning journey and join the ongoing conversation about the changes we want to see in the Post-COVID education system using #LearnwithEben.

Always remember that the only way to find out if anything is possible is to try, that’s why I am taking up this challenge. Is it possible that I might fail? A very big YES but how would we know if I don’t try? One of my favorite quotes by Ebenezar Wikina is (Yup I’m quoting myself), “everybody is a star, you just need to find your sky.”

Don’t waste your time trying to live another person’s life while yours lies untouched. Live your best life today and now. Jesus loves you and let’s keep in touch!