A New Approach to Learning in the Social Sector
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Here at YouthActionNet, when we think about young people harnessing the power of technology for social impact, Nick Martin comes to mind as one of our many fellows using tech as a changemaking tool. Nick is the founder of TechChange, a DC-based social enterprise that has developed a unique, scalable, and interactive model for technology training in international development.
To date, TechChange has prepared over 6,000 alumni from 170+ countries to apply technology effectively in response to global challenges, and in doing so has partnered with organizations like the World Bank, USAID, State Department and the UN Foundation.
When we found out that TechChange was launching a new, alternative approach to higher education for busy social sector professionals and change leaders, we had to know more.
Read on to learn more about TechChange’s strategy for redefining how key skills are developed in the social sector workforce and beyond.
1. Tell us about TechChange’s new diploma program —what is it and who can benefit?
Nick: This fall we’re very excited to be launching our new diploma program in Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation. The diploma program will allow participants to take three of our most popular online certificate courses consecutively and offer a variety of other activities, features, and support services.
The online courses in the program are: Introduction to Technology for Monitoring and Evaluation, Technology for Data Collection and Survey Design, and Technology for Data Visualization.
We’ll have two different tracks—one for working professionals and one for prospective graduate students. Both tracks will include access to in-person workshops, weekly office hours, a library of interactive on-demand courses, access to our annual conference, and more.
The alternative graduate school track will also include a capstone project, portfolio development support, 1-on-1 mentorship, live simulations, and a strong job placement component with organizations doing innovative work in the social sector.
It’s designed to be taken over a period of 16 weeks but can be spread out over the course of a year.
2. Describe your inspiration for this project—what factors motivated you?
Nick: Our community has been asking for it! Over the past five years of running 100+online courses, a number of our alums have asked us to go beyond one-off four week courses. They want more services and activities, as well as new ways to learn online—and we’ve been listening.
In addition, rising tuition rates at graduate schools have excluded many potential students from pursuing the careers in social innovation that they are passionate about. For socially-minded professionals and those who want to break into the field, we believe that we can provide a more powerful learning experience for a fraction of the cost of traditional graduate programs.
3. What can students expect to learn in this first track?
Nick: Now more than ever, social sector organizations are desperate to hire folks who can help them figure out how to quantify, qualify and demonstrate impact with new technologies. That’s why we’re starting with the topic technology for monitoring and evaluation –it tackles that very need.
The idea is to build practical skills that make our students indispensable today to any organization. They’ll learn to design relevant and robust surveys, set-up and manage powerful dashboards, visualize data with tools like Tableau, author SMS campaigns with RapidPro, and do things in Excel they never thought possible.
Students will also meet many fantastic experts and colleagues through the program. In our model, the networks are as valuable as the skills!
4. We’ve tried online courses before—what makes TechChange’s model special?
Nick: In 2010, we launched TechChange as the first online institute for social change. Our aim was to provide training in technical skills and strategies for individuals, communities and organizations working to respond to disasters, confront global health challenges, build financial literacy skills, create social enterprises, and more.
But we didn’t just want to teach new topics online, we also wanted to build an entirely new model for online learning –one that was collaborative, inclusive, and global in nature. The TechChange approach takes advantage of the latest in web technologies to allow professionals (even in hard to reach places) to dynamically interact with content and with each other to share ideas and hone skills.
With our courses, participants gain practical experience and strong professional networks, which traditional universities can’t offer. They also feel connected and engaged with fellow facilitators, participants, and experts in ways that other online courses and MOOCs can’t provide.
There are other organizations that offer data science courses online such as Coursera and SlideRule. However, the TechChange diploma program is the first of its kind focused exclusively on the intersection of data science for development and social innovation.
5. What is your vision for the future of social innovation education, and how do you see your role in it?
Nick: In the coming years, social innovation education providers will turn increasingly to online and hybrid teaching models to reduce costs and reach more people. At the same time, participants will want more personalized content and additional flexibility in a learning experience. These same participants will also want, more than anything, to feel connected to other learners - to be part of a real community online.
As such, we believe the future is not in impersonal massive online courses with tens of thousands of learners, but in smaller intentional online workshops that support a variety of learning styles, encourage new types of interactions, and focus, above all, on building community.
We see our role at TechChange as one of the go-to destinations for professional development for the social sector. As people increasingly come to value the importance of lifelong learning (versus obtaining a concentration of degrees at the beginning of their career), we expect our courses and programs to be more and more relevant over time.
How to Get Involved
Download the diploma program catalog, then check out the TechChange website to enroll! You can also set up an appointment with an advisor to figure out which track is best for you.
