My last blog post

Over three years ago I launched Figment Consulting with the plan to right the virtual school ship. Since then I have had some wonderful opportunities to work with some school leaders who are truly working to build virtual schools that work -- for families.

It renewed my hope in what virtual could be, and should be.

However, over the past three years, I have also had the opportunity to expand the role of Figment and branch out beyond the confines of education. In doing so it allowed me, and us at Figment, to play in fields that produce inspiring work.

Most recently we helped launch former American Idol Terrian's music career with her debut single, 'I Am Free.' And, we continue to work with her, guiding her as she moves into her next stages beyond the launch.

Also, we have had the pleasure of working with Disney Master Artist, and celebrity artist, Kevin-John. He is an amazing talent and a wonderful personality. Currently, we are working to expand his brand in new and exciting ways that could propel him far down the path of celebrity over the next few years.

We have also had the pleasure of one-off efforts with some unique talent in a variety of fields, fields that lend themselves to producing good (not just good work, but good overall). To say it has been fun would be an understatement.

But, what to do with my passion for virtual schooling? What should I do with my desire to help schools build virtual schools that serve families -- I still recall the tens of thousands of families I have had the pleasure of meeting and talking with over the years. And recently I have been able to present my message from Pennsylvania to British Columbia.

However, I thought about leaving it all behind, and I was close to doing just that. In the end, though, after months of contemplating, soul-searching, and planning, I have decided to let Figment continue to evolve down the path it is headed -- talent management, marketing consulting, sales training, SEO, design, and simply producing great, fun work. In other words, putting good in the world.

With that decision, I then turned my attention to continuing the effort to help virtual schools. In essence, I am splitting the two, separating them. Moving forward Figment will concentrate on marketing, sales, and talent management, with me continuing to lead the charge.

I will also be launching a new endeavor that will allow me to continue working to expand the message of what virtual schools need to succeed. It will continue to be based on my Virtual School Manifesto: Nine Essential Ingredients. 

It will allow me to produce material, further conduct seminars, training, and speaking engagements focused on virtual schooling, but it will be separate from Figment. Soon I will launch it under my own name, Houston Tucker.

So, while this is my last blog post at Figment, I am not leaving (Figment will be taking over this blog). I care too much about the work we are doing at Figment to let it go. However, I also care about helping virtual schools serve families the way they deserve to be served.

Thank you, readers. Over the years it has grown from my family reading my blog posts (mostly because I asked them to) to hundreds and thousands reading it daily.

Stay tuned. More to come from Figment and me.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Can we stop putting the student in the center of it all?

After 16 years of "putting the student in the middle," "surrounding the student with excellent resources," and "making the student our number one priority," the results have demonstrated that virtual schools got it wrong.

So, let's remove the student from the center of the virtual learning universe. Let's quit surrounding the student with the latest technology and academic fads expecting them to latch onto it and thrive. And, by all means, cut the word "individualized" out of the virtual school vocabulary.

How much more data do you need before you understand the current model simply won't work.

"It works for some," will be the retort. Then, serve the some and not the many.

Better yet, radically alter the model. Redefine the possibilities. Start from scratch and build with completely different blueprints.

Where to start?

Start by placing the teacher and student relationship at the middle. Let it be your foundation to build on.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Figment Consulting offers sales & marketing training, executive coaching, and consulting services that offer our clients effective ways of increasing revenue and decreasing costs.

Agora Cyber, ECOT, and thoughts on virtual schools

Two stories came out this week, one from Pennsylvania and one from Ohio related to virtual schooling (cyber schooling in PA).

In Pennsylvania, Agora is in trouble with the PA Dept of Education over accurate data.

In Ohio, ECOT is being questioned by the the Dept. of Ed in Ohio about recording of attendance (which equals funding).

Recently, K12 in their quarterly report announcement bragged about a 289 basis point increase in retention rates. It is unusual because it is an investment term and they are, in essence, describing students in terms of investments. One basis point is the equivalent of 1/100th of a percentage, meaning 289 basis points equals 2.89% increase. I guess 289 sounds better and larger than 2.89%. Now, if they are serving over 100,000 students, 289 (or 2.89%) is a decent increase until one remembers how many students are leaving annually (estimated around 35%, or 3500 basis points, to 50%, or 5,000 basis points). That creates a different perspective doesn't it.

I also did a search (multiple searches really) in an effort to try and find success stories related to virtual schooling (other than those put out by the schools themselves). Interestingly, I could not find one.

Where are the success stories?

I'm keeping the faith in virtual schooling but the light is dimming.

Perhaps now we can quit trying to rearrange the deck chairs and create a radically different model.

houston@figment-consulting.com

#ExpeditionUnknown and education

Archaeologist and television personality Josh Gates hosts a weekly show on Travel Channel called Expedition Unknown.

His quest in each episode is to search for the truth to ancient legends, myths, and stories. Last night's episode is on the mythical dwelling of Shangri-La in Nepal. Other episodes have had Josh searching for Japan's Atlantis, Africa's Gold Hoard, the Viking Sunstone, Amelia Earhart, King Arthur, Blackbeard's Treasure, and other fascinating stories waiting to be discovered.

What struck me last night though was not the episode but rather the title of the series -- Expedition Unknown. The title carries with it the feeling of discovery, enlightenment, and exploration -- in essence, learning.

And then we have our education system where we pursue Expedition Known -- or, probably more accurately, Expedition What We Think Kids Should Know.

I wonder what learning would be like in virtual schools and classrooms across the country if we pursued a course more akin to Josh Gates' pursuit of Expedition Unknown?

What if we focused more on the journey, the discovery, the experience, the exploration? What if we focused less on testing knowledge retention and more on simply discovering.

After all, isn't learning inherent in an Expedition Unknown.

Virtual school recruiting season is upon us

Promises are now being made to thousands of families across the country.

"Move at your own pace" -- Wait, I can take a month to understand this concept? "Well, not exactly your own pace."

"It's flexible" -- Wonderful, I can take the month of December off. "Well, we're not that flexible."

"It's individualized" -- Great, so I can select the courses I want to take. "Not really, you still have to take 4 math, 4 language arts, 2 science, 2 history and obtain 24 credits to graduate."

"95% of our families would recommend us to another family" -- Wonderful, can I speak to one of them? "Yes, however, only 35% of those families are returning this year so we can find you one of those."

"We are tuition-free" -- Great, I like free. Sign me up. "Fantastic, it helps with my commission."

"If you are being bullied, gifted, struggling, homebound, homeschooled, military, college-and-career minded, we can help you" -- So that's all it takes to be successful? "Well, not really, but that's all it takes to enroll."

We can do better than this.

houston@figment-consulting.com

It's urgent

They call it the tyranny of the urgent and it is what most virtual schools spend their time focused on.

What would it look like if you spent your day on building remarkable rather than the problem brought to you classified as urgent?

Simply because someone says "urgent" doesn't mean it requires immediate attention. And, urgent may take you away from important.

Important matters for the long run.

houston@figment-consulting.com

What virtual schools can learn from start-ups

David S. Rose

David S. Rose is the founder and CEO of Gust, a platform that connects start-up founders to investors. So far almost $2 billion has been invested in companies through this platform.

David's upcoming book The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to Found and Scale a High-Growth Business is primarily for those seeking to launch a start-up company. However, much of what he has to say can also apply to the world of virtual schooling.

Too many times virtual schools look to others within their industry for best practices, or ideas on how to improve when real innovation can occur by adapting ideas from outside the world of education.

David shares 25 steps based on his years of success, failings, and experience learned. Surely, there is at least one step that can help improve a virtual school.

Real innovation can occur by seeking answers outside the education box.

Read books such as David's to grow, learn, and find alternative ways to adapt

Attend conferences that have nothing to do with education but everything to do with tech innovation

Spend time with entrepreneurs and less time with educators

houston@figment-consulting.com

Failing and failure

One happens quite often in the pursuit of remarkable.

The other happens when you give up -- not on a project but on yourself.

Don't confuse the two and don't let the one interfere with the other that is part of the learning process.

Failing is an action. Failure is a decision.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Every one has a story to tell . . .

On location of Storybrooke, ME from Once Upon a Time

I am a fan of data analytic yet I grow concerned that we rely too much on it. Not because it cannot tell us important information, drive decision making, and increase efficiency through pattern recognition. Rather, my concern is centered around the fact we tend to forget at the end of every data point is a person, a family, or an individual.

And, with that person comes a story, their story. Their very own, individual story. A story they want to share.

Big data has great potential to serve us in the world of buyer behavior. Don't forget though that sometimes an individual story is necessary to be heard in order to better understand the customer we so want to serve.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Figment Consulting announces new training sessions

Over the past few months I have spent time conducting various training sessions that amount to either one-day, two-day, or even online sessions to help clients with specific issues. As this has continued to grow in popularity, I have recently tried to build more structure to it, and now offer it as Figment services on my web site: www.figment-consulting.com.

The most effective training session is the two-day, on site, intensive session to help virtual partners becomes schools that serve. This session, under Training, is the gold level of what I offer. During this session, we cover the Nine Essentials to build virtual schools that serve properly -- teacher-student relationships, investing in teachers, building a retention culture, constructing a remarkable learning experience, becoming a human connection school, finding right-fit students, growing with purpose, launching with success in mind, and developing a specialist mindset.

In addition, we are now offering additional training sessions (under Services) on the following (either on site or online):

One-day Marketing Training: Covering the 15 P words of marketing to help you build a Relationship Strategy that leads to better enrollments and higher retention.

One-day Training Seminar to learn how to become a Human Connection School: This seminar has served as a follow-up to my Nine Essentials training and goes even more in-depth in order to build strategy and tactics to move away from socialization and into connectionalization.

Virtual School Next Gen Training: This one-day training allows us to go in depth to build the learning experience as we work our way towards remarkable. We move to the tactical level and how each person plays a pivotal role in going beyond academics. The result is a deeper engagement by students and families which leads to higher retention.

Customerology Compass: In this 2-hour training session, we cover the Needs, Wants, Stereotypes, and Emotions (NWSE) of your students and families. In doing so we learn how to meet their Needs while serving their Wants. We learn how to overcome Stereotypes and build loyalty as we tap into their Emotions.

Two other popular training sessions allow us to help clients develop their Service Theme and Service Standards. These separate sessions establish the foundation and reference points as we construct a service culture.

Of late, two other efforts have proven popular. The first is where we spend two days in order to help you edit, revise, and rethink your Marketing Strategy in order to reach the right type of students. The second one allows us to focus on your Messaging in order to help you craft the right type of message and utilize the proper channels to convey it.

And, we also offer Leadership Coaching services. We spend one hour a week with your leadership team members to move each one toward the central chief aim, and bring each one together for a more cohesive experience that leads to more effective and disciplined decision making.

The required investment varies with each session, and whether or not it is conducted on site or online. Email us today and we can put together an offer to meet your most immediate needs.

Coming soon -- we are working toward making these services portable by recording them and allowing for downloads.

Until then, keep thinking differently. And thank you to those who have allowed us to be of service to you. Without you, these ideas for the various training seminars might have continued to be overlooked on our part.

houston@figment-consulting.com

A Strategy for Agora Cyber Charter School in 7 Steps

From Agora Cyber Facebook

I thought I was finished with Agora Cyber and yet the emails have continued to pour in from parents, teachers, and former parents and teachers. The ones from the current teachers are most painful. Their desire expressed to me is to serve the students, yet they are in a daze after the way the layoffs were handled.

In each email they ask me "what should we do?" Two days ago I wrote a blog that shared what Agora needs to do moving forward: Repair, Restore, and Rethink. However, in honor of those teachers and staff members who have written to me, I did want to offer the Agora Cyber leadership a 7-step strategy with the recommendation that this be treated as a crisis management problem.

Granted, in a crisis management plan, there are typically four areas (Mitigation & Prevention, Preparedness, Response, & Recovery) that are covered. Yet, with the crisis already having occurred, we can only focus now on response and then recovery. So, with that in mind:

1. Stop all advertising immediately.

There is no need to actively recruit new students into Agora at this moment. Cease all advertising until this school year has ended.

2. Shift advertising money to teachers.

Granted, I do not know how much Agora has left in the advertising budget (if any) but whatever the amount is should be shifted away from marketing, and placed into a pool for all remaining teachers in order to provide them some type of bonus at the end of the year (or now if possible).

3. Conduct in-person and online sessions for parents and students.

Agora leadership needs to be out in front of the parents and students (in person and online), answering the tough questions, taking responsibility for their actions (and lack of communication), and working hard to repair and restore (as mentioned in my previous blog). Make it as easy as possible for the parents and students to attend by being where they are.

4. Focus on retention.

Stop worrying about next year and the number of new students. Instead, turn all attention to building a remarkable learning experience for existing students and parents. The number one marketing priority now and through the end of the year is existing student population.

5. Focus on teachers and staff.

Unfortunately, what has been done is done. Agora leadership must now turn full attention to making sure existing teachers and staff not only are supported properly, but feel they are supported. Leadership takes full care of teachers and staff, and then teachers and staff are able to take care of students and parents properly.

Stop writing editorials to Gov Wolf and start focusing on taking care of teachers and staff. Determine to walk the talk.

6. Walk the talk.

From this day forward be authentic, transparent, and vulnerable. As I mentioned in my previous post, lack of trust is now the prime problem and talk will not rebuild it. It must be accomplished by actions -- daily actions, every second of every day. The walk must match the talk. Any deviation, however slight, will be magnified at this point in time.

Authenticity requires honesty. Transparency requires the leadership to allow parents and students to see behind-the-scenes. Vulnerability requires the leadership to take responsibility, and act humbly.

Don't gloss over or ignore the elephant in the room. Acknowledge it, accept responsibility for the way it was mishandled, and then share with teachers, parents, and students that it is understood by the leadership that what matters most now is actions, not words.

7. Pay attention to the details.

Answer the phone. Return phone calls. Ensure IT support is there. Allow parents to vent. Allow teachers to express their concern. Throw pride away and listen to the wants being expressed. Go above and beyond to take care of your parents, your students, your teachers, and your staff.

Details matter. Paying attention to them is where trust can be re-established in order to build upon. Forgetting them can put all of the other steps in jeopardy.

Remember, right now it is the Response of the leadership at Agora that will determine the ability to Recover.

It will not be an easy road back to stability. The journey is worth it though.

Oh, by the way, also make preparations for the media investigation and the investigation by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) -- both are likely to occur.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Building virtual schools that serve

This Friday I have the honor of speaking at the British Columbia Digital Conference in Richmond, BC, Canada.

I will have the opportunity to share my Virtual School Manifesto in a talk titled Nine Essential Ingredients for Building Virtual Schools That Serve. The recent Agora Cyber layoffs demonstrate how broken the current model is, and how much we need to re-imagine virtual learning. My talk lays the groundwork for a different virtual -- one built on the right foundation and finding the right-fit students in an authentic and transparent manner.

But, I also wanted to take a moment and point out some of the other sessions going on during the conference that have the potential to be game-changers.

Jean Kloppenberg and Mary O'Neil are sharing their passion for helping students find their SPARK as they call it. They believe each student has at least (maybe more) one interest, one passion, one desire, that will propel them to engage deeply. It is our responsibility to help them find it.

Lisa Read will guide attendees through a session titled Meaningful Mentoring - Collaborating in Chaos. It is an exploratory session on how to leverage the expertise around you for mentoring -- a lost art in today's world.

Randy LaBonte will take us on a Walk on the Wild Side of Digital and teach us how Purposeful Use of Tech and Program Design Improves Learning.

Barb Goddard and Patty Golumbia walk us through a session on Digital Learning and the Anxious Student. Here we will learn ways in which anxiety in students can be managed and directed toward progress and gain.

It's not too late to join us in Richmond-Vancouver as it promises to be an enlightening time together.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Agora Cyber moving forward, last thoughts

Emails poured in yesterday and one theme was in essence, "what now?"

The damage has been done. The layoffs have occurred. The way it was handled was the way it was handled. The timing was the timing. So, we cannot change it. We cannot alter the past.

We can though alter the future by the way in which we handle today. Now is what matters most. And, now will be what allows the future to be different rather than a repeat.

Moving forward Agora must do the following:

Repair -- Restore -- Rethink

Agora leadership needs to work to repair relationships with families, students, teachers, and staff. Families feel betrayed, hurt, taken advantage of, and they are in pain. Students are confused. Teachers and staff that remain are afraid -- and operating out of fear never leads to sustainable success.

Agora leadership also needs to restore trust. It is sorely lacking right now from those that matter most. Trust must be the underlying foundation in any relationship. Restoration of it will take time and only actions will matter. Words no longer count.

Agora leadership must now rethink the future and build different -- not just what is built but how it is built. Transparency and even vulnerability must play key roles in the building of the future. If you want parents to be in this with you, if you want teachers and staff to be in this with you, then you must allow them to be in it with you.

Finally, to those who emailed me. Turn this circumstance into an opportunity and seize it for yourself. Choose yourself, and determine what you want most to do and be in life. I know the emotions of it all are raw right now and it feels unfair -- don't let them guide you though. Don't let your emotions drive your decisions.

When it is cold the one sure way to remove the cold is to bring heat. Thinking about how cold it is will not make it any hotter. Searching for a heat source, lighting a fire will bring heat. What happened and the emotions that go with it are the cold. Focusing on them will not make it any hotter for you. So, think and seek heat. Replace the cold with heat. You have the power to do it.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Seems my Agora Cyber post stirred some emotions

Part 2 of my post this morning was related to the recent layoffs at Agora Cyber Charter School. As you can imagine it stirred some emotions, and I have already received numerous emails related to it.

One was from an Agora leader (I will keep his/her name removed in order to not make it about him/her) who emailed me with the following:

"You clearly have no idea what you are talking about. You don't understand the financial constraints we are placed under with Gov Wolf's refusal to work on a budget that fully funds cyber charter schools in Pennsylvania. And, the budget impasse has led us to the point where our hand was forced to lay off people -- people we care deeply about. We had to do this now."

I understand this person's frustration with me. And, I understand the excuse being provided that it is the Governor's fault. However, what is not mentioned in the email is any responsibility being taken on the part of the leaders for all the decisions made over the past 12-18 months that led up to this point in time.

Decisions related to hiring practices, curriculum-design and build decisions, money spent with the belief the student population would remain what it was prior to leaving K12, marketing money spent (and still being spent) recruiting wrong students in order to fill seats, in-year departures of leaders, lack of investment in teachers and their development, and so forth.

Sure, the budget impasse may have been the catalyst to make NOW the time to enact these layoffs, however, the causes began long before.

Moving forward, as long as Agora leaders continue to believe it is the Governor's fault, then no real improvements will be made.

One cannot make real change when one does not know where real change occurs.

Now is the time for radical re-thinking of what Agora should be and can be. Further tweaking and adjustments will only lead to more of the same -- even when the budget is no longer the issue.

Use this negative and turn it into a positive -- a long-term positive for families, students, teachers, and staff. Quit finding places to blame and turn attention to building a cyber school that serves.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Storyboarding the enrollment process

The storyboarding process was developed by Walt Disney Productions in the early 1930s. Today, Walt Disney and Pixar (along with other animation companies) continue to utilize the storyboard process as one of the first steps in the movie development.

A storyboard provides a visual layout of the movie, and allows animators to reconfigure, redesign, and re-imagine scenes and stories before proceeding to the next stage of development. Perhaps moving scenes around, or adding elements will move the story along, or prevent combustion points in the story. Perhaps different camera angles will add to the story.

Storyboarding has proven so beneficial and successful that even theatrical plays utilize it. In addition companies have begun to use storyboarding for the sales process, customer conversion process, and other operational processes that can be visualized.

Over the past few years I have taken several companies I have consulted with through the visual storytelling to help uncover combustion points for customers, to rearrange the experience that streamlined the process and enhanced the experience, and simply to confirm that the current process needed only tweaks in order to improve.

Recently I have had the opportunity of storyboarding the enrollment process for several virtual schools I am consulting with on a regular basis. In doing so, it helped identify a path forward that dramatically improved the customer experience.

Seeing something visually can lead to alternatives that would otherwise remain hidden.

Try it for yourself. Take time to storyboard your enrollment process from a visual standpoint, and see for the first time what has been hidden before your eyes.

houston@figment-consulting.com

iNACOL's New Strategic Plan

This morning I received an email that linked me to the new strategic plan just released by iNACOL.

"Catalyzing transformation in K - 12 education."

I applaud the direction they are headed. Though I admit I had to quickly check the definition of "catalyzing." Why couldn't they just say "accelerating?"

They have their mission, vision, and theory of action within this new plan spelled out for us. My hope is that behind it all there is an unwavering passion that supports this plan on a day-to-day basis by each and every member of iNACOL.

That is where real change will accelerate, or catalyze.

houston@figment-consulting.com

Zero to One: It's time to quit pretending

Peter Thiel's book Zero to One, Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, states that when we create something new, we go from 0 to 1.

Paypal (of which Thiel was a founder) took online payments from 0 to 1. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is an individual focused on going from 0 to 1. Mark Zuckerberg took us from 0 to 1 when Facebook was created.

As Thiel states though, "It is easier to copy a model than to make something new; doing what we already know how to do takes the world from 1 to n, adding more of something familiar."

When full-time virtual schools were introduced they took education from 0 to 1. They were an "act of creation, and the result was something fresh and strange."

Now, virtual schools are attempting to move from 0 to n. Remember, it is easier to copy a model, to do what we already know how to do. The problem is that the current n is not worth modeling.

My energy and effort is centered on the desire to have us rethink n and return to creating something new, with the hope of moving us again from 0 to 1.

Let's stop pretending. It's time to create something new in virtual schooling.

houston@figment-consulting.com

The Denver Broncos Virtual School

What if I told you that within the Denver Broncos, winners of Super Bowl 50, lies secrets to a successful virtual school?

Head Coach Gary Kubiak, talking before the Super Bowl victory, "I think every experience is different. We've done it different with this football team and how we went about it. But I feel good about our process. Throughout the course of our season we kind of knew we were all involved, we were all contributing. I think that's brought our football team very close together over the season."

Future Hall-of-Fame Quarterback Peyton Manning when discussing the fact this was Coach Kubiak's first season with the Broncos (again before the Super Bowl victory), "When you have a new coach it takes time to understand his expectations and his philosophies. I think though, it is up to the players to buy in and try to fulfill the role that he wants them to play."

Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller speaking before the Super Bowl when asked about his emotions after being drafted a few years ago by the Broncos, "I just wanted to come in and be the best Von Miller I could be. When I was a rookie I had dreams and aspirations. But what got me through everything was just keeping my head down, just focusing on what I needed to do. I just focused in with my teammates."

Within those three quotes lies some wonderful secrets to building a remarkable learning experience, if you know where to look.

Can you see them?

Do you understand them?

Do you know how to apply them to your virtual school?

houston@figment-consulting.com

Do you have Service Values?

If you have not developed a Service Theme, then start with yesterday's blog post before reading this one.

Service Values are the practical plans that allow you to implement your Service Theme through your employees, through setting, and through processes.

They

* Provide each administrator, teacher, and staff member a road map to follow

* Offer you guidelines to give you a disciplined approach to serving your students and families

* Identify those areas of vital importance to you that allow you to define your ethos

They are active, predetermined, aspirational, measurable, and when you take the time and energy to define them you then separate yourself from other virtual schools.

houston@figment-consulting.com

What's your Service Theme?

Define

What do you stand for?

Why do you exist?

How do you want to serve?

A Service Theme is not a mission statement or vision statement. It is deeper. It is real. It is lived out each day with each interaction.

Start here and your students and families will know the difference without you having to tell them.

houston@figment-consulting.com