The boats at Ceningan Divers are not operating. Since the beginning of April, Indonesia has closed its borders to almost all foreign visitors, there are no guests on the island, and no one can say when this will change. This month, in the midst of these circumstances, we launched edu.ceningandivers.com, an online Education Centre offering free conservation workshops, Project AWARE courses and PADI eLearning.
The concept is not new; last fall, we described how we were designing it. What has changed is the timing. It was intended as a complement to the diving. It is now the only way we can teach anyone.
Why offer courses for free during a crisis?
It may seem counterintuitive to offer content free of charge when revenue has fallen to zero.
The alternative, however, was to remain silent for months. People who have dived with us, those who were planning to visit, and those who simply care about the ocean are all at home. Many have more free time than they have had in years, and they are looking for something other than following the news.
A free workshop on reef ecology, or on the actual situation regarding plastic in the ocean, gives people a reason to return to a business and keeps it present in their minds. It costs mainly time, which every tourism business has in abundance this spring.
The same applies to any small business with knowledge people value and an unavoidable quiet period. Teaching is one of the least expensive ways to remain visible. A closed restaurant can teach a recipe. An outfitter can teach how to read a topographic map. A garden centre can explain what to plant in May, which will arrive regardless of the lockdown. None of this requires a studio; a phone and some confidence are sufficient.
We can't take people diving, so we're teaching them about the ocean.
How does free learning keep a dispersed community connected?
A dive community is dispersed by nature. People visit for a week, return to Europe, Australia or Canada, and contact usually ends there, apart from an Instagram photo and perhaps a holiday message. The Education Centre gives them a reason to stay in touch that is not a sales email.
It can also reach people who have never visited the island, a benefit that is easy to underestimate. Good free conservation material spreads. Someone completes a workshop and sends it to a friend who teaches biology, and the material reaches a classroom in a place the business has never heard of. With schools closed and parents seeking useful activities for their children, we expect this to happen more often than anticipated.
The certification component is also available, with PADI eLearning and the Project AWARE courses. Some of this content is paid, and we consider the balance appropriate. The free material builds trust, while the paid courses serve those who want to go further. Learners can complete the theory at home now and finish the in-water training with us once travel resumes, whenever that may be.
Why structure online lessons as a course rather than a blog?
This is the practical aspect, and it is the one most businesses get wrong when publishing learning material online.
A blog is a stream: the newest content appears at the top and older content moves down. This suits news but not learning, because readers cannot tell where to begin or when they have finished. They read one post, then another that assumes knowledge they missed, and they lose interest.
A course has a clear entry point. It states what the learner will know at the end, shows the components, and presents the first one. It has an order, even if people move between sections, and it has an end. Completing something is satisfying, and people remember who provided that experience.
What does this look like in practice?
- A plain title for each workshop that states what will be learned, rather than a clever name.
- Lessons grouped so that a person can see the whole course before starting.
- Each lesson able to stand on its own, for someone arriving from a search or a shared link.
- Course pages on their own subdomain, separate from the booking site, so the learning does not resemble a sales funnel.
The last point involves a trade-off. A separate site is clearer for the learner. It is also a second site to maintain, and Google treats a subdomain somewhat like a separate site, so the main domain does not receive full credit for the quality content. For most small businesses, we recommend keeping learning content on the main site, in its own section. In our specific situation, at this time, the separation is the better choice. Both approaches have valid arguments.
What are the risks, and what is the long-term approach?
The first risk is saturation. Many businesses are launching online initiatives this month: livestreams, virtual tours, Zoom events, nightly Instagram live sessions. Much of it is produced in haste, and we expect little of it to last beyond the summer. Screen fatigue will set in, and content that only made sense during confinement will disappear.
We are therefore building material that is useful with or without a pandemic. People wanted to learn about reefs before this began, and they will continue to do so afterwards. If the Education Centre only works because of the shutdown, it will not have been designed correctly.
The second risk is maintenance. A course cannot be launched and then left unattended. Links break, platforms change their rules, and certification material is revised. An online learning centre is a small product, and every product needs a dedicated owner. Five workshops that remain current are preferable to twenty that become outdated.
For a small business with knowledge people want to acquire, a platform like ours is not necessary to begin. A few well-constructed pages on your own small business website, in a clear order, with a beginning and an end, already constitute a course. We recommend starting with one and observing the response.