The WikiEducator open-source software project was incubated by The Commonwealth of Learning. It had startup funding, a visionary leader and interest from a small group of innovators and early adopters. Its mission was to reduce the digital divide with a platform for educators, offering free and open educational resources. (Think Wikipedia for Educators.)
The challenge was to expand the initial group of stakeholders into a larger pool of initial target customers, engage them to serve as ambassadors to recruit others, get user feedback to improve the product and contribute their time, effort and materials; and build a global community of users. The Mediawiki software was powerful yet had an unfriendly user-experience.
The process involved several phases - informed by an action learning / agile approach that facilitated cultural change, new behaviors and community expectations. User interviews were conducted to understand their needs and why they were dropping off at an alarming rate (at sign in), and not participating on the platform or contributing to its success.
As user insights were collected, analyzed and approved, immediate changes were made in engagement, product, learning and website design, sign-on and customer support, marketing / outreach, materials. Desired behaviors were rewarded, pilot projects and success stories were promoted throughout the community. Success was shared with customers, partners and funders, and incorporated into business and funding plans. Users began to experience how being connected to WikiEducator could help achieve their professional and career goals.
The result was a 2x increase of the membership in 6 months - and attracting 18,000 educators from 120 countries - leading to a $40M valuation.
Customers became incredible advocates for the WikiEducator platform - bringing in new users, contributing materials and developing their own projects. WikiEducator is now the flagship software of the Open Education Resources Foundation in New Zealand, the platform of the global OER University Consortium of 40+ universities and partners. It offers a free 1st year of university education and certified micro-courses. It has grown considerably and continues to be supported financially by Commonwealth of Learning and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and its partners.
The challenge was to expand the initial group of stakeholders into a larger pool of initial target customers, engage them to serve as ambassadors to recruit others, get user feedback to improve the product and contribute their time, effort and materials; and build a global community of users. The Mediawiki software was powerful yet had an unfriendly user-experience.
The process involved several phases - informed by an action learning / agile approach that facilitated cultural change, new behaviors and community expectations. User interviews were conducted to understand their needs and why they were dropping off at an alarming rate (at sign in), and not participating on the platform or contributing to its success.
As user insights were collected, analyzed and approved, immediate changes were made in engagement, product, learning and website design, sign-on and customer support, marketing / outreach, materials. Desired behaviors were rewarded, pilot projects and success stories were promoted throughout the community. Success was shared with customers, partners and funders, and incorporated into business and funding plans. Users began to experience how being connected to WikiEducator could help achieve their professional and career goals.
The result was a 2x increase of the membership in 6 months - and attracting 18,000 educators from 120 countries - leading to a $40M valuation.
Customers became incredible advocates for the WikiEducator platform - bringing in new users, contributing materials and developing their own projects. WikiEducator is now the flagship software of the Open Education Resources Foundation in New Zealand, the platform of the global OER University Consortium of 40+ universities and partners. It offers a free 1st year of university education and certified micro-courses. It has grown considerably and continues to be supported financially by Commonwealth of Learning and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and its partners.
Testimonial
Randy has supported the WikiEducator and OER Foundation in building an international community of educators working together on a global open education initiative. The phenomenal success of the WikiEducator project is in part due to Randy's superior community building and organizational management skills. Above all, Randy is a man of integrity and responds to the needs of the community helping individuals and organizations successfully achieve their objectives with an intimate understanding of the "people side" of contemporary online technologies.
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- Dr. Wayne Mackintosh, Founder, WikiEducator
Director, OER Foundation
Director, OER Foundation