Evolving our mission and vision as we accelerate growth

[GenefaMurph976]

Hey Instructors,

Over the past few months, we've been thinking about how we can amplify the impact of our collective voice to accelerate Udemy’s growth, and as part of this, we have been rethinking and refining our mission and vision to ensure it reflects the collective goals of Udemy and the communities we serve together with you our instructor partners.  You can find the article here.

Firstly, our vision. Our vision is to create a world where everyone, everywhere has access to the skills they need to unlock their potential — a world where they can create possibilities for themselves and for others. Our vision isn't just about the here and now, it’s about looking forward to a world where everyone has a shot at learning what they need to make their mark, and everyone can share their knowledge and skills with the world through teaching. We believe together we are opening doors to opportunities and possibilities that stretch out wide and far.

As part of this vision, we also have a set of beliefs. Our beliefs shape our vision and guide us in where we chose to focus and why and we want to share them with all of you. Some you may agree with, and some you may not, the goal is to state a point of view and use these beliefs to incite conversation, and discussion so that we can evolve our thinking and approach to bringing learning and skills to the world. 

Skills are the new currency for talent management

We're not just saying it; we see it. Skills are fast becoming the measure by which individual learners and organizations are measuring themselves and their teams. Every time a learner lands a new job, nails a skill, or just feels that click of understanding, that’s your work paying off and they come one step closer to their goals. In many cases, people don’t have access to traditional learning environments or they may not be suited to them so leveraging skills as the new currency is a more inclusive and accessible mechanism for recognizing talent in the workplace and in the world. 

Learning should be personalized

At Udemy, we're not just sitting back and watching. We're right there with you. We’re making sure our platform is where you can do your best work and where learners can experience your knowledge in a variety of ways. Whether this be through standard courses or through assessments, labs and interactive Q&A. We want to create a community of learners around your courses and in the future provide even more ways to guide learners on which courses to take for which outcomes as well as provide new ways for you to engage with learners in an interactive way. 

The wisdom of the marketplace should be embraced: We believe that the model we have with Udemy wins for a reason because, through your commitment to sharing your knowledge, we are able to provide fresh and relevant content to learners when they need it most. You never know where the next best course will come from, it shouldn’t be limited to what we as Udemy decide to publish, it should be based on what the market has to offer. We want to continue to create an environment for instructors from all backgrounds to teach through Udemy. We believe this is the only way to keep up with the pace of change. 

AI should be integrated with human knowledge

We've got a community of learners who are hungry for the knowledge you have. And we’re here to support you in reaching them. We believe that AI is a transformational technology but we also believe in the power of human knowledge and the real magic happens when we can combine artificial and human intelligence together. We are committed to leveraging AI to the benefit of our learners and instructors to create more opportunities for all of us. 

We're excited about the future, and we hope you are too. So let's keep at it. Keep sharing your expertise, keep creating those lightbulb moments, and keep being the incredible instructors you are. We are here to support you and together we can transform even more lives through learning and create a world where everyone everywhere has the power to create possibilities for themselves and for others

With that, I have a question for you. What features would you like to see to help you spread your knowledge better through Udemy? 

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.

Cheers to what we're building together.

Teach on,

Genefa,

Chief Marketing Officer, Udemy

[CarlosMartinez]

I like Udemy's collective vision; I fully share it and feel like a part of it. Best regards, Carlos

[Niyazi Harmanbasi]

The use of high quality AI voice should be allowed. If you are honest about this, you should not put any obstacles related to AI. A quality course will sell itself anyway. Made with artificial intelligence; audio, visual, video... Everything should be free.

[ThomasMitchell]

@Niyazi Harmanbasi If you don’t want to teach, why are you here?

[Niyazi Harmanbasi]

@ThomasMitchell We're talking about different things. You cannot resist technology. I'm talking about the best way to integrate it into training. Knowledge + Technology.

[MichaelPog]

@GenefaMurph976 I appreciate you asking us for ideas.

This is great to hear!

However, the subs community has an Idea Exchange, with 167 entries, which was originally moved from the IPP hub.

It has a TON of great ideas, voted and discussed by professional instructors who have been teaching on Udemy for many years, with lots of successful courses in the Marketplace and in UB.

However, since 2023, there hasn't been any new entry. Why?

Because none of the ideas we recently shared there made it to the roadmap.

I have many ideas, but there's no point in asking us repeatedly what features we want and need if those ideas are ignored and the roadmap is instead filled with AI features we never asked for.

I hope you understand where I'm coming from. I would love to hear why that space was abandoned.

[Bridging_the_Gap]

I love this. Knowledge should be easily accessible and that it one of the amazing wonders of Udemy. Yes, some courses may charge a fee, which is totally fair because there goes a lot of time into preparing and making a course. Udemy lets people all over the world receive more knowledge by just a small investment. 

[LawrenceMMiller]

@MichaelPog @GenefaMurph976 

I am afraid there is a pattern here. About a month or two ago the community moderator asked for questions regarding the use of AI and how we would be affected. Several of us posted questions, some of which I am sure were difficult to answer given the early stage of things, but the post disappeared and there was no response to the questions. It would have been OK if the moderator had simply said "some of these questions we can't answer now." But, nothing. 

Genefa, in your comments you said "we have been rethinking and refining our mission..." Who is "we." At the same time referring to "instructor partners." What is the meaning of calling us "partners?" 

I think the mission you have developed is fine. When I joined about nine years ago I bought into this same mission. I think we all accept and endorse this mission. It is always helpful to remind us of our mission, vision and values. As a consultant I must have facilitated many dozens of brainstorming and consensus reaching of a company's mission, vision and values. Regardless of  the actual statement it is a worthwhile exercise for those involved. It aligns personal and corporate purpose. But, it is not only the product that is valuable, it is the process of engaging, thinking together. 

My understanding of the term "partner" is someone who has agency; someone who is worthy of engagement and respected for their participation in decisions. While calling someone a partner, the more decision that are made without engagement and without respecting the needs of the partner, the term partner becomes devalued and ultimately insulting. It would not have been hard to engage "Instructor Partners" in the process of developing the mission, and in consulting on the execution of that mission. That can still be done. 

When I had my consulting firm of about 25-30 consultants, every two years we formed a "compensation design team." Although I was the owner of the firm, I asked the staff to design their own compensation plan. This included how much should be paid based on individual performance versus team/group performance; what metrics were used; what percent should go to cash, payment to retirement plans, health care, education/development, etc. It was their compensation plan and they designed it. I didn't use the term "partner", but I can assure you that all the staff considered themselves partners. They also got the monthly Income Statement and discussed it in our monthly team meeting. Every month they received a share of the gross profit. They had agency and were engaged.

I know that Udemy is no longer a small company and you can't do things the same way I did. But, the PRINCIPLE is the same. Partners are engaged, partners are respected, partners have agency. I hope this can be part of Udemy's values. 

Given the decline in financial incentives and the resulting difficulty in attracting quality instructors to develop quality courses, the non-financial incentive of engagement, partnership, is even more essential to Udemy's future. 

[GenefaMurph976]

Thank you @LawrenceMMiller in answer to your specific comment the we I referred to was the internal teams at Udemy across the various functions - you are correct at this stage I had not explicitly reached out to the instructor community at large for feedback on the mission and vision refinement - though I did have some ad hoc conversations with instructors. I am very much open to feedback on the mission and vision and if you feel strongly that there is something missing in the current iteration please let me know and we can consider how we might address that. I am also more than happy to host a thought session so that we can discuss feedback, areas for further refinement etc. If you do indeed think that will be valuable I can work with @ChrystieV and others to schedule. 

@MichaelPog i am also making my way through the list of ideas that had been submitted in the subs - I will admit I was not familiar with this (that's on me) so now i am righting that. 

[ChrystieV]

@MichaelPog 

You are right...there are a ton of great ideas in there. This is why we migrated it (and all of the existing ideas) over to the Subs Club so that more instructors would be able to get their votes in for feature requests, increasing the likelihood that they get on the roadmap.

By my count, I believe a dozen have been implemented in recent months (yes this is a small dent compared to the 160+ ideas that currently live in the Idea Exchange), but it is progress. Jacob and I had a meeting just last week on ways to improve the process for reviewing and vetting ideas that come through the board while also being able to close the feedback loop with instructors. There is definitely room for improvement with this process which is why we are assembling a team to do that.

If you would be willing to meet with me to discuss how we could improve the ideas board for yourself and instructors, I would certainly appreciate that.

[MichaelPog]

@GenefaMurph976 Thank you for your response, and I appreciate your honesty about the fact that you did not know about the idea exchange.

Many of us spent hours discussing, debating, brainstorming, and voting for those ideas, with the impression and hope that somebody is reading and taking in all this information.

The fact that you were not informed about this gold mine of ideas is unfortunate (again, I'm sure there's no bad intent here).

But this should hopefully illustrate the value and need of engaging with us instructors more directly and frequently.

@ChrystieV, thank you for following up as well.
I support the migration 100%.
However, as you noticed (or as I pointed out), since its migration, that space died.
That's very unfortunate.
I can think of many reasons why it happened.
I'm always happy to meet with you and share my thoughts.

[LawrenceMMiller]

@MichaelPog Michael, would you contact me at LMMiller@lmmiller.com. I want to invite you to an improvement party.😁

[ToddMcLeod]

Could Udemy connect students with jobs? Perhaps that could be something Udemy could integrate into the platform. It could also serve as a source for new revenue. Companies pay to find great talent. Udemy has the potential to collect AMAZING data about students (future employees): what they've learned, how fast they learn, how frequently they learn; their dedication and persistence.

Udemy could also build in student peer-to-peer learning functionality. Learning has ALWAYS been social. We are humans - we learn from each other. Students could then demonstrate their social characteristics. This data could also be captured. This data would then also given employers more insight into future potential employees: language skills, social skills, communication skills, prosocial team orientation, emotional intelligence.

All of that DATA about future employees could be then analyzed against a company's internal data on their current employees. AI could look at characteristics of current successful employees in certain positions, then compare that to Udemy students to find students who would be great future employees in certain positions.

AI could also identify for students characteristics about them which would make them good candidates for certain positions, and then help those students develop those skills. For instance, some students are *not* inherently great software engineers, however they might be super gifted at interpersonal relationships and good enough at coding to make them amazing product managers.

The problem to solve here is SOURCING HUMAN CAPITAL.

Education has always existed to train people to be employees.

Employers need help finding great employees.

Students need help and guidance finding employment and careers that best match their natural aptitudes.

Often others can know us better than we know ourselves. In this case, now, in this amazing new future in which we find ourselves, AI can now know us better than we know ourselves and help us realize our best futures as both individuals and organizations.

Let's ... build ... that.

I would love to see that come to fruition, 

And yes, I am available as a PM to help make that happen. Seriously. If you're going to build that, let's talk. I'm the perfect person to help make that happen.

- Todd

 @GenefaMurph976 

@ChrystieV