Climbing wall vs. the ladder

I recently had the chance to sit on a Learning City YYC panel with other educators in Calgary to discuss the future of Calgary’s talent landscape and how we can broaden our perspectives on what constitutes learning. 

With the evolution of our digital economy, it is well known that Calgarians will have to engage in a cycle of learning, unlearning and re-learning. This is what our learners do daily in the Evolve Full Stack Developer program at InceptionU.

We’ve come to realize that a one-size-fits-all approach to education doesn’t work. The idea that we do all of our learning during the years from when we start kindergarten to the completion of post-secondary is outdated. And, the notion that it must be tied to a traditional classroom is also completely false.

The climb is what matters.

It’s all about redefining this approach to learning - from a closed model that is primarily dominated by traditional educational institutions to a more open model of a continuous learning cycle that happens throughout our lifetime. 

You can think of it this way - a closed model is represented by a ladder, while an open model resembles a climbing wall. If you’ve ever been rock climbing, you know it takes many different steps in many different directions to reach the summit.

All of these steps - whether it’s playing sports, reading a book, taking a course, listening to a podcast or volunteering - are valuable and help to shape your experiences and knowledge in ways you likely don’t even realize.

It’s a big reason why I tell my sons (who are 20 and 22) not to rush into a post-secondary program if that isn’t what feels right, right now. Rather, I’m encouraging them to work, travel, and learn - none if it is a waste of time. 

There are over 30,000 programs alone being delivered in Calgary - it’s a massive system with so many different learning opportunities, but not all are valued the way they should be.

I always tell our new learners at InceptionU that they aren’t re-skilling or up-skilling, as that suggests that all of their previous skills aren’t important. I’ve started referring to it as “additional skilling,” since they are adding on to valuable skills and experiences they’ve had previously.

As we embrace this different approach to learning, we need employers, companies, organizations and institutions to embrace it as well. This will be a process and there are barriers along the way.

One of the biggest challenges we see at InceptionU as we send our new learners out in the world is the issue of certified vs non-certified learning.

Certified learning is the issuing of a diploma, certificate or degree upon completion of a program. Non-certified learning, what we do at InceptionU, is modeled on the idea of “show me what you can do.” Our project-based learning approach has learners build web applications over the six-month course. They finish the program with a Demo Day and digital portfolio (called GitHub) which is more valuable to them than any piece of paper.

Yet, the employer culture - whether it be for convenience or risk mitigation - will often ask for or require certain academic credentials as a precursor to employment. It can be frustrating and disheartening to those who have demonstrated and displayed that they can do the work without a credential. Not all companies fall into this category; we are making progress. However, for some, it is the default and predominant way to weed through applications. It is “a” way, but it doesn’t mean it is the best way.

In the attached report which I co-authored with Natalie Vadabasso, Dr. David Finch and Patti Pon, we explore the challenges and possible solutions to expanding our climbing wall of learning in Calgary and how governments and learning institutions can change policies to foster this open learning system.

You can learn more at CityXLab and access our Report here: Learning as a Climbing Wall PDF 

Margo