Learn skills rapidly. Deploy them powerfully.

In a micro school you take only the courses that you need. No fluff. No wasting time.

Current Micro Schools in Operation:

Ames Media Institute
Join the Now Media

AppDevU
Learn to Create Apps. Fast.

RSI Mobile
Business Intelligence for the Rest of Us

Many more coming.

These days learning can be a messy business.

Gone are the times when you could just sit in a classroom for 15 weeks per semester, 2 semesters per year and 4 years later know everything you needed.

Now you have to learn all the time. On your own.

Can you validate your skills? Can an employer or partner or project team member?

They can if you measure them in Independent Learning Units (ILU’s).

Check out the ILOHE Alliance to learn how.

Great colleges are making their courses available for free.

The only problem: You can’t get “credit” for them, or apply them toward a degree.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get recognition.

Register your open courseware course at Openware Institute for tracking, assessment and validation.

Find your purpose.

Prepare for your future.

Step up to your first big break.

Check out Oppcaster.

Dropping out is not the end. It is only the beginning.

Make a beginning in the Dropout Zone.

We love dropouts.

High school dropouts. College dropouts. Grad school dropouts. Corporate dropouts.

We love people who make their way in the world without the “officially sanctioned” diploma or degree.

We love people who “opt out” of kissing the corporate ring and instead do something worthwhile.

We love GED test takers.

We love self-starting entrepreneurs.

We love self-directed careers.

We love people who make their own way in the world.

Have you dropped out? Of anything?

Us, too.

We believe in dropouts. We believe in you.

The top 10 “in demand” jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004.

This trend will not reverse, or even slow. If anything it is accelerating. Most of the future’s best, most  important and most interesting jobs haven’t been created yet.

Our mission is to provide skills training for those jobs.

Impossible, you say? How could you possibly provide training for a job that doesn’t even exist?

We believe the future exists in the trends of today. The seeds of future careers exist in the breathtaking innovations exploding all around us.

Specifically, we’re watching 4 very dynamic areas of our economy and society:

- The Internet and Computing
- Automation and Robotics
- Life Sciences
- Energy, all types, but especially alternative

Check out our CareerGrid for more detail

How do we do it?

We focus on technology. Every industry is in the midst of  a profound updraft in technology. Even old school “low tech” industries are being  revolutionized by digital technology and automation.

We focus on science. Physics, chemistry and especially biology have jumped out of the textbooks and into the mainstream of 21st century life.

We focus on energy. Every aspect of life is fueled by some form of energy. In the 21st century, those forms are getting cleaner and more sophisticated.

Finally, we focus on craft. Every person has a unique contribution to make, based on finding and honing their personal craft.

We create programs that help people hone skills (their craft) in areas of emerging technology – computing and communication, automation, biosciences, green energy.

Our programs are delivered through partnerships with established schools via our Renescience Institute.

And they are offered free of charge through our network of microschools, in which we provide “School as a Service.”

Finally, for those who think the high tech economy has left them behind – no matter their age – we provide an “onramp” to tech skills through our TechSpan Academy.

Those with in-demand high tech skills and specialized knowledge drive it while everybody else sits mired in a traffic jam of shrinking opportunities.

The difference is access to an onramp: Of high-value skills, niche opportunities, and an independent mindset.

Those in the express lane got there somehow. They took an onramp at some point. Their education or skills or their choices got them into the express lane.

There’s no reason you can’t get there, too.

But it’s not easy. The express lane requires specialized training, technical knowledge or specific skills. Most people zooming toward the future have paid their dues along the way.

Unfortunately, many of us didn’t get “express lane” training or knowledge or skills in school, no matter how long we went.

And now, maybe we don’t have the resources to go back to school. Maybe we don’t have time. Maybe we’re already paying off student loans. Maybe we just figure we don’t have the “knack” for the high tech economy.

It’s Not Just You
It’s a very real issue, not only for those stuck in traffic, but for the economy as a whole.

Imagine what would happen to a traffic jam if a bunch of people suddenly switched onto the express lane.

Traffic in the “old” lanes would lighten, things would eventually start moving faster, and those left in the “old” lanes would get where they’re going faster, too.

Getting more people into the economy’s express lane is the answer to solving our economic traffic jam.

The OnRamp
One of the biggest problems job seekers have these days is finding an onramp to the 21st century economy.

We’re in the midst of an unprecedented burst in technological and scientific progress.

Communication. Computing. BioScience. Automation. Energy.

In all these areas, and probably many more, we are zooming into the future at a breathtaking pace.

People who can participate in these industries – or find ways to serve them – put themselves in the express lane of the new economy.

Problem is, it can be very hard to find a good onramp. If you tell yourself “I’m not a programmer.” Or, “I hated high school biology.” Or, “I’m terrible at math.” It can seem like jobs and opportunity in “new” skill areas zoom past in the express lane while you wait in traffic.

And if you’ve never considered yourself good at science or technology, it can seem like the barrier is just too high.

You Can
But don’t give up. The onramp to your 21st century career might be closer than you think.

You see, we’ve spent almost 20 years looking at, thinking about and tinkering with the way people learn hard subjects.

What we’ve discovered: Beyond “learning styles” and “learning strategies” and all those ideas the gurus throw around, there’s a very simple truth:

You can learn anything – anything – if you break it into small enough chunks.

That’s not big news. People have talked about “chunking” their courses and training content forever.

But we’ve also discovered that the size of the chunks matters.

Small chunks at the beginning, then bigger and bigger until you can handle full scoops.

It’s like feeding a baby. You don’t start by shoving half a carrot in her mouth, right?

You start with a tiny spoonful, then another and another. VERY soon, you’re using a much bigger spoon, then all too soon, you’re feeding her full-blown carrots.

We believe the same thing is true of learning anything. If you can puree and liquefy the first few lessons, very soon you’ll be eating carrots!

OnRamp Jobs
Everybody has to start somewhere, even if that somewhere is “over.” Coming soon from Canis Learning Systems, OnRamp Jobs, a job board dedicated to entry and re-entry level jobs for those with onramp skills.

How do you get onramp skills?

PreTutorials
Along with some very, very bright learning facilitators, we’ve discovered the big problem people have when they take on a big subject:

Somebody tries to feed them carrots too soon.

It’s really that simple. Pick up a programming book some time. Even a “dummies” style book or one specifically directed toward beginners.

Those suckers are huge!

And they’re packed dense with information that, frankly, isn’t useful to you. It’s theory or background knowledge.

You might need it some day. But not on the first day you’re learning how to program.

We’ve figured out that the onramp to technical skills is flat so that people can get on and pick up speed. Too steep and nobody gets going.

We’ve discovered that the onramp to technical skills is smooth, so that people can focus on just moving forward. Too many bumps and people get thrown into the ditch.

And we’ve discovered that the onramp to technical skills is straight, so that people can keep their eyes on the road. Too many sharp curves and it’s too hard to navigate.

We’ve created a set of “pretutorials” in high tech areas with the idea of making it easy for beginners to get onto the onramp.

How Pretutorials Work for You
Our pretutorials are built around a series of very brief, very focused lessons that have you actually practicing the skills you’re learning.

In the coding pretutorial, for example, you’ll learn to code by coding. Will your code be simple? Of course it will, at least at first. But you’ll be very surprised and pleased at how quickly you improve.

Same for our automation and biosciences pretutorials. (Coming soon.)

Look, it’s not your fault some teacher tried to shove an entire biology textbook down your throat. Or that some math teacher couldn’t explain *why* you’d need geometry or algebra some day.

Technology skills are the fuel to get you into the economy’s fast lane. If you didn’t get properly prepared in school, it’s not too late.

Our pretutorials can help you make up for lost time. And our programs can help you quickly prepare to tackle the 21st century’s career challenges.

(OnRamp photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kid_pro_quo/263162766/)

Historically, “school” has been the physical and sociological place where a society educates its next generation.

School was a place where children and young adults went to be taught those things they would need to know in order to survive and thrive in the world they would inhabit.

• Schools were storehouses of knowledge.
• Schools were platforms for experts with rare insight and wisdom.
• Schools were arbiters of success.
• Schools were repositories for records of accomplishment – or the lack of it!
• Schools were trusted to award meaningful credentials, so as to stratify the worthy.

School’s Role in the Information Age
Suddenly, we find ourselves in a world absolutely awash in knowledge. In emerging technical fields especially, the sum total of knowledge can double in less than a year.

To remain the “storehouse of knowledge,” schools would need to constantly update and revise their curriculum, almost to the exclusion of any other activity.

It simply isn’t possible.

The knowledge is available, it’s just not possible to disseminate it fast enough through the “school mechanism.”

• Yet there is still a huge need to organize knowledge, to sift high quality providers from lesser.
• There is still a need to provide structure and pace to learning experiences.
• There is still a need to assess.
• There is still a need to report, to endorse, and to provide meaningful, real credentials.

The Open Source School (or School As A Service)
School As A Service (SchAAS) consists in 3 fundamental activities:
1.) Provide a conceptual and digital platform for learning.
2.) Source the finest teaching available in the cloud.
3.) Award appropriate credentials.

1.) The conceptual structure for learning involves the lesson flow, clarity and assessment process for a course or learning event. The digital platform is software that facilitates these processes.

2.) The best teaching is in the cloud. It is free and widely disseminated via services like YouTube, SlideShare and their ilk. But there is a lot of flotsam and jetsam out there, disguised as teaching. SchAAS is about finding and presenting only the best.

3.) The best credentials are not necessarily awarded in class or after a series of classes. The best credentials are direct recommendations, referrals and references from trusted sources. SchAAS makes it possible for peers, external experts, partners and other leaders to validate actual, real knowledge and skill.

Our SchAAS Projects
So far we have launched 2 SchAAS projects, with many more in the works:

AppDevU.com, where students can learn application development for free.

Ames Media Institute (amesmedia.org), for free film making and digital media courses.

School Bus photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alansmythee/2305483552/