Howdy Lab Members!
This is the first official update Members update message! At the time of writing we have 10 members who have joined! We’re glad you’re here 🙂
This post is meant to cover some of the recent updates around Learn Adventurously, and highlight some of the planned goals for the month. I try to keep everything updated in the Public Roadmap, but these posts will let me contextualize everything together. Additionally, I hope it opens a forum for discussion. Ultimately this membership is for you! If there is something you want to see, please let me know!
With that, lets get into it.
Backend Updates – Saved Money!
I’ve been absent the past couple weeks because I’ve been restructuring everything around the LAB! For those who missed it, I converted the entire business model of Learn Adventurously from a “pay per course” model to a monthly subscription for access model. Its been a massive update that I explained in this blog post (and accompanying YouTube video).
However, many of the plugins, email services, and software that I used to run Learn Adventurously with didn’t really fit in with the subscription model cleanly. I had a lot of moving pieces that were sort of lumped onto the blob of resources. It all worked, but precariously.
Additionally, these plugins are expensive! I was paying ~$200 a month just to send emails and Instagram DMs (Manychat + Mailchimp + Integrately). I spent about a week researching, testing, and centralizing everything into a CRM. Bascially a piece of software that manages data, sends emails, and connects all the apps that I need to use.
With the LAB, we’ve really grown up from a blog with a couple courses to a full membership platform running events. Efficiency and monthly costs matters! Luckily, I was able to migrate everything to Zoho, and drop that $200 a month to ~$40!!
Great for me, but what this means for you is that a few small things will change on the website as I full integrate Zoho. For example, the RSVP form for webinars is now connected to Zoho instead of Mailchimp and has a different procedure. I also need to completely rework the library and all my email automations. Currently, they are all deactivated while I build them within Zoho.
But, that just means more personalized emails and blog updates for the time being!
Webinar – Evolutionary 4 Forces
We have a new webinar scheduled for Tuesday, April 29 1 pm EST. We are going to cover the 4 fundamental forces of evolution! Genetic drift – How random chance affects evolution; Natural Selection – Is it the major driver of evolution?; Mutation – the fundamental unit of change; Gene flow – Isolation and homogenization.
Make sure you RSVP here. These meetings are also now scheduled through Zoho! Please let me know if you encounter any difficulties or trouble. Its a new platform for me as well.
Future Courses + The Biologist Toolkit
The webinar is related to the program I am developing on the 4 fundamental forces. Right now, the courses in the program include Intro to Evolution, Evidence for Evolution, Mutation, Gene Flow, Genetic Drift, And Natural Selection. The Intro and Evidence courses would be freely available, while the latter 4 are for members only and go in greater depth for each topic. For example, Mutation covers the types of mutations, how mutations are random and why that matters, and instant speciation through polyploidy. Natural Selection would cover the different types of selection, caution for the adaptationsist view, and some common misconceptions.
Sort of an intro to evolution course, but for graduate level evolution. I know what sections I want for sure, but am still working on piecing it all together. I have an outline for each course and several in the draft phase. Hoping for a ~3 week turn around on getting that added to the LAB. Content will be released as I finish it!
But now I want to pivot and announce a new part of the LAB course ecosystem: The Biologist Toolkit.
I’ve been toying with this idea for a few months now. It comes from me melding 2 truths:
1) My (assumed) ADHD loves new shiny quick to produce projects.
2) There are a ton of side skills that biologists need to know, but have to teach themselves. Word formatting, how to make a poster in PowerPoint, how to pack for a 3 day hike, how to design a research project, how to organize all your files etc.
The Biologist Toolkit is the fortunate love child before us.
In short, I’m making a separate vault of courses that holds short tutorials on these side skills. Random tutorials which don’t really warrant a full course, but we are still expected to know! I plan to start filming and putting those up this week, probably starting with organizing files or formatting a thesis in word. I’m collecting feedback on what courses you’d like to see in there, so feel free to shoot me an email or fill out a request on the public road map!
A Ramble on the Whole Picture
Okay. That’s a lot of changes in one update!
Overall, the LAB is still in its infancy. I’ve always wanted Learn Adventurously to be a community, and I feel like we’re on the early stages of that. So right now I’m looking at what’s sustainable for the long term, what I can do now, and what can we do later. The plan is to offer a single webinar and a single “fun” event once a month. Throughout the month, I want to spend my time creating more material for the LAB.
I want to be very transparent about my goals and what I want with this platform. In terms of why the LAB? Its simple. Biologists around the globe possess an extremely varied skillset. Yet, most of what we are expected to know, we teach ourselves. Or we just have that one person in the department whos really good at R.
The goal of the LAB is to bridge that knowledge gap and help every biologist become that one person whos really good at everything.
Additionally, many biologists lack community. We’re often relocating, leaving for months at a time, or are introverts who struggle in social settings. I really want the LAB to become that kind of place for biologists to connect with one another. Im looking into using HyHyve to run social events and I want to figure out a forum or an email chain that is for members only. Any ideas or feedback is appreciated!
But to end on a little business big picture.
This stage of the LAB is growth. I want to grow the number of resources the LAB offers. Courses, guides, webinars etc. But, I want to focus even more on growing the overall member numbers. That means a greater focus on marketing, onboarding, and methods to increase membership. My thinking with marketing is that creating more resources is advertisement in itself and making a good community experience leads to word of mouth and repeat memberships.
I fully acknowledge we’re a little rough around the edges at the moment, but incremental progress towards great change! Once the coffers are more filled, the next major stage will be looking for a home base for the LAB. Land where we can film ecology focused courses, run backyard experiments, and do genuine conservation work alongside this educational platform.
The LAB is really just one step of many. Becoming a LAB member gets you access to the courses, resources, and webinars, but it also support ALL the educational work I produce. It supports the future conservation goals alongside this educational platform. A platform I hope to connect to research stations, schools, and organizations around the world.
Thanks for being here!
-D