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Through the experience of organising a Study Group in Düsseldorf for the Beyond Silicon Valley MOOC, Arjan Tupan -
@arjantupan on Twitter - shares how you can get the most impact out of organising your own!
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In November 2014, I organised a study group for the MOOC Beyond Silicon Valley in Düsseldorf, Germany. We had 5 sessions,
3 organising partners (the U.S. Consulate General Düsseldorf, EBC Hochschule and StartupDorf e.V.), 2 location partners
(Gewächshaus Düsseldorf and GarageBilk), 5 MOOC lecture videos, 7 local speakers, 4 ideation workshops and 35 to 40
attendees per session.
The Study Group was a big success, in terms of learning, but certainly also in terms of finding ideas to strengthen the startup
ecosystem in Düsseldorf.
Through the Study Group, we managed to have more impact from the MOOC.
More information about the #BSVDUS Study Group on http://bsvdus.startupdorf.de/
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We wanted to learn how we could strengthen the startup ecosystem in Düsseldorf. This is something one of the organising
partners, StartupDorf, had been founded for, and something the startup community had indicated it needed. We were fortunate,
because during the preparation for the study group, the newly elected mayor of Düsseldorf announced he wanted create a
startup metropole here. The MOOC Beyond Silicon Valley, which tells the story of how Cleveland, Ohio strengthened their local
economy through a focus on entrepreneurship, was a perfect fit for that.
To boost MOOC learning with study groups, it is important to find the hot topic. Something which will help you gather people to
come and learn with you. Our topic was entrepreneurship, but there are many MOOCs available, and many hot issues to
address. You could for example organise a study group for other parents in your kid's school, to learn about cooking with them,
or health and nutrition in general. You could also try to address the threatening tech-skills gap, by taking courses on
programming or computer science. Or you can gather your colleagues to learn more about design thinking, strategic
management. There are enough MOOCs, all you need to do is match the right MOOC to an educational need you see around
you.
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For #BSVDUS, we had a great set of partners. The organising partners were the US Consulate General in Düsseldorf, private
business school EBC Hochschule and startup association StartupDorf. The Consulate brought us stature, which helped us in
getting great speakers and press attention. Furthermore it provided a link to the American entrepreneurial spirit, which we need
more of in Europe. On top of that they have the execution power to bring the MOOC professor Michael Goldberg to Düsseldorf
for additional events. The 2 other partners provided additional stature, the right audience, and organisational power.
In addition, we had location partners. Having a great location for your study group meetups is important. Organising partner EBC
provided the venue for the first session, in a very luxurious setting. The other four sessions were held at the premises of 2 co-
working spaces, who are at the heart of the Düsseldorfer startup ecosystem, and gave us free access.
You need to understand your needs, before you select the best location. If it's a few people sitting around a laptop watching a
lecture video, and discussing it afterwards, your needs are different than when you want, like we did, to have additional
presentations and ideation workshops. Make sure you know what you need, and then find the best locations.
Remember: you are often part of the (potential) consumer base for these locations, so you bring value to them, for instance by
introducing them to future patrons. This might help you to get space for free, or at reduced rates. Some locations (libraries, for
example), might also see it as part of their mission to provide space for learning.
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In an earlier step, you have found a hot topic to learn more about, and a MOOC that addresses this topic.Through finding
partners you have learned more about the topic, and likely found other points of view and the different learning needs that exist
in your community. Now it's time to write the story on why you are organising this study group. Start with the needs, and explain
how you think that your study group is going to help people address it. Why should they attend? What will they learn? What can
they do with the new knowledge? How will it impact their lives, careers, ambitions?
The story will help you in attracting fellow learners, but also in explaining to potential speakers why they should make a
contribution. For us, the need was clear: we wanted to provide insight in the existing support systems for entrepreneurs, and find
opportunities to improve and strengthen the local startup ecosystem.
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You and your guests will learn most from the MOOC, when you can make it 'local'. Inviting local people or organisations to
present how they address the subject, will help to translate the course content to real-life situations. This will increase the value
of learning.
Not everybody likes to come to a meeting, just to watch a video they can also view while sitting at home on the sofa. Making the
study group sessions interactive, creates added value. It starts by simply allowing room for discussion about the lecture videos.
But you could also think of letting people work on the assignments in groups. We made the #BSVDUS sessions interactive by
including short ideation sessions. In these, we divided the participants in groups, gave them a piece of paper, some post-it notes
and markers, and asked them to come up with ideas on how to strengthen the local startup scene. These workshops served
three main purposes. First of all, we wanted to generate ideas. Secondly, it allowed for the most pressing needs to surface. As
an example: in almost every session the need for more startup events was mentioned. This shows that people really have that
topic high on their agenda.
Thirdly, as we had an audience of diverse backgrounds, the workshops allowed our participants to mix and connect with people
they otherwise might not necessarily come into contact with.
The presentations, the workshops, but also a limited session duration (no longer than 2 hours), ensured that our study group
meetings were lively, and people remained interested.
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Make sure that you communicate about your study group. It will help your fellow learners to feel part of something cool, and it will
help in getting additional participants. The first step is of course to turn to social media, such as Twitter and Facebook. Don't just
start your own group, account or hashtag, but see if there are groups active in your community for this subject, and see how you
can join those. It will give you access to those who have already shown interest in your subject. We decided for #BSVDUS, to
create our own twitter account and hashtag, but did not create an additional facebook page or group. In stead, we shared
through the pages and groups of the organising partners.
Key in our broadcasting strategy was the website, and the blog. On it, all information for participants was made available, and
local presentations were uploaded there as well. We also launched a newsletter, because email marketing is still an extremely
strong tool.
To manage attendance to our sessions, we used Eventbrite. It will help you in understanding how many people will attend, has
tools for reminding people about the events, and is free as long as your event is free. Obviously, there are other alternatives,
such as Meetup.com, who have similar tools for relatively low costs. In our case, the choice was based on costs, but an
important factor for using tools like this, is local reach. In Düsseldorf, both Eventbrite and Meetup.com are heavily used in our
target audience. So, for us it was not a factor. But if you are the first in your location to use a site, it can be a barrier for fellow
learners to join and come to your study group.
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Don't let the previous slides hold you back, they may make organising a MOOC study group seem like a huge project. Just start.
Maybe by inviting your colleagues or friends to join you in the course, watch some videos together and see where it leads.
It can be quite a big job, but it is certainly worth it. You will learn more, intensify relations, and meet new people and opportunities.
Just start.
Learn.
Enjoy.
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Special thanks go out to those who have made the #BSVDUS study group possible:
MOOC Maker Micheal Goldberg of Case Western Reserve University, who made the MOOC Beyond Silicon Valley, and inspired
me to start the Study Group. Please note that the MOOC runs regularly on Coursera. For more info, and to register for the next
iteration, visit: https://www.coursera.org/learn/entrepreneurship-development
US Consulate General Düsselodrf, EBC Hochschule and StartupDorf e.V. who were the organisation partners.
Location Partners Gewächshaus Düsseldorf and GarageBilk, who hosted our sessions, because they are passionate about
startups.
The speakers and participants in all the sessions for their input and impact.
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As blogger and entrepreneur, I assist companies, lifelong learners and educational institutions to make sense of the emerging
phenomenon of MOOCs.
As volunteer and consultant, I help startups and founders to build their idea into a successful venture; and guide established
companies to increase their innovative and operational capabilities by using the entrepreneurial attitude and lean methodology of
startups.
Join the conversation via Twitter (@arjantupan - http://twitter.com/arjantupan ) and LinkedIn (http://de.linkedin.com/in/
arjantupan ), or learn more about me on about.me: http://about.me/arjantupan
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