The difference between having access to knowledge and having such knowledge primed for your discovery and consumption is huge. Just because things are available somewhere for someone to learn doesn’t mean that they’re going to be able to sift through the mass of content out there in order to find what they need. We need to be able to curate knowledge in such a way that the sifting is done for learners and the best sources of knowledge are made readily available and organized for their consumption.

We need a Netflix of education, a service that streamlines content consumption and utilizes user ratings to augment/expand its base regularly.

Navigating The Knowledge Ocean

There are over 4.6 billion pieces of online content published each day. That number is only growing, too! There is just way too much content being produced at way too rapid of a rate for all of it to be of much use to a single person.

We, as learners, are in need of directed insights and tracking when it comes to finding the knowledge we can apply to our jobs, to our lives, and to our relationships. Having a curated Netflix for education would be a great start, paring down potentially useful content in a wide variety of subjects and giving users somewhere to start. 

Rather than relying on social media, word of mouth, and inefficient content distribution methods that can be drowned in accompanying clickbait, building an engine that curates new content and matches great content with the right user could be a huge benefit for learners and education as a whole. How could we do this effectively? Well, using the entertainment world’s model would be a fantastic place to start!

Let Entertainment Streaming Apps Take The Lead

Want to listen to a song right now? Has it been in your head all day? Just pull up your Spotify or Apple Music app and there you go! 

Is there a show you’re dying to watch? It’s bound to be on Netflix or Hulu (or maybe HBO Now.)

Prior to the advent of entertainment streaming services, it was quite a search to find the physical media for bands you wanted to listen to or shows you wanted to pop into your DVD player.

Now, a bevy of these artistic treasures has been organized and curated for instant access on your streaming devices. Furthermore, the teams who curate this content take user ratings and feedback into account when it comes to adding new content or finding new ways to promote related content to user interests.

Concluding Thoughts: How This Could Help

Why can’t education do this? Aggregation tools are out there to help sift through the ocean swells of content hitting the internet every day. We could use these aggregation tools to tailor learning paths for certain job fields, enhance everyday knowledge for curious learners, and even find ways to give those on degree paths a one-stop spot for knowledge access.

There are so many possibilities out there in the new online marketplace. By looking to entertainment streaming monoliths like Netflix and Spotify, education can turn such possibilities into new ways of reaching and serving learners.