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by random_user
4570 days ago
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Well, retirement isn't for me. I will never stop working on something so long as I have the physical and mental ability. That's just how I am wired. Teaching at universities is out because, well, I don't have a degree. Ironically, I am a pretty good teacher. I've conducted seminars in the past with audiences in the hundreds of people. I enjoy it and I do have a knack for making complex topics accessible. I have been thinking about perhaps authoring a webinar or two or launching some kind of an engineering-related educational effort. I have one idea that could be an interesting Kickstarter project for young (and not so young) engineers. Thinking about all options right now. Well, that would be combining business with teaching. Maybe that's a good option for me. |
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1: If you have a little runway, start by learning some teaching basics, especially regarding teaching adults. Or K12 if that is what you'd like. Start by doing some of the MOOCs, coursera, edX and some others have some good education courses. The benefit of this is that not only will you learn some of the theory behind teaching, you will find out what works and doesn't work for students in an online learning format. This will be valuable for part 2-
2: set up a blog with a learning management system (LMS) to offer some short video or screencast (my favorite style of delivery) based courses for free. Use this as an R&D and market research site to see which courses get traction, how to prepare materials, interact with students, etc. Your blog posts are there to show off your knowledge and experience which should get people interested in trying out the courses and help you build a mailing list for part 3-
3: with the data from 2 above, plan a book release and some more in depth for-pay courses. Use your business skills to sell online+book+in person training for enterprises (you may find it easier to partner with a training/consulting company who may already have contacts with potential clients - less money in the beginning, but as you build your reputation you can eventually go independent) Which leads to meta-business point 4-
4: Document your journey through the above points, and sell a new book and online training course targeted at people who are in your position (ie me) so that we can all join you by buying private yachts from all the money we make :-)
5: post results here on HN for support and inspiration for others
This is what I'm doing (albeit half-assed at the moment) and I have 15 years of teaching under my belt, but no degree (by the way, I have gotten teaching posts at universities based on the strength of my teaching skills, so give up on that route just yet!) If you want to reach out for info on where to start with learning teaching (I'm the head teacher and a teacher trainer at a school in the Czech Republic) me email is in my profile, I am more than happy to chat with you about it and I have a lot of resources I am more than willing to share with you for free.
Lee
[Edit] for an LMS try looking at Moodle or the edX platform, both are open source, and Moodle also has a rich plugin environment including modules for payment systems. I have a lot of experience with Moodle, and I'll be trying out the edX platform over the Christmas break. There are some others out there, but these 2 seem to be the best from a no pay system