In the recent mastermind group Terreeia and I joined, we learned that all education in the future will be online. I think it’s a stretch but suppose it makes sense given everything seems to be going that way.
I met someone recently who teaches a university course and said only parts of it are online. I’m sure those of you taking courses in college or university can relate. Even over 10 years ago, Terreeia’s one-year university course Executive Coaching Certificate was online with 2 week-long residencies.
Some training can be 100% online and some, like coaching or service requires a true experiential learning. Those of you who have attended my live courses know first-hand that my training has experiential tacit learning.
However, after 12 years of writing this blog, I’ve recently started to receive even more
emails and questions about my live workshops going online. Many from long time readers from all over the world who just can’t get to North America to attend one of my live workshops but from the US and Canada as well. So, I’m wondering now if this Spring could be the last time I’m touring the country. I will have to weigh the experiential hands-on versus online distance learning.
Last Spring in 2019 when it became supremely obvious that trends had dramatically moved from the grey trend to the black and white trend, where you couldn’t drive through a neighbourhood without seeing one white house after another, I knew I had to create a training like never before.
So I did.
To give you an idea of how good the content in this training is, I have a confession.
You ready? Here goes.
The first exterior training course I created a few years ago took me three weeks to complete. I spent two weeks taking photos and gathering information, and one week writing.
This new masterclass took me and my team four months to complete! Plus, in every city I toured throughout the country last year we drove around neighborhoods while I took photo after photo of exteriors just for you!
It’s not like anything I’ve ever done before and I’m so excited to share it with you!
When I was a brand new colour consultant, I stood in front of an apartment building that needed a new colour scheme and I’ll always remember thinking “I can hardly wait until all the possible colour schemes flash before my eyes”.
Well, 20 years and thousands of consultations later, that’s exactly how my brain works.
What would you say to a client who wanted to paint this peach house from the Tuscan trend?
If your client was tired of the stucco colour and wanted a new colour, what would you choose?
Look closely, is the stone green grey, violet grey or taupe?
Which colour would you specify for this exterior?
What would you say to a client who wanted to paint this house (below)?
Is the cream stucco working or would it look better in a pale green grey to relate to all the stone. Which green grey would you choose? What about the columns? What do we do with them? You’ll learn that in my new exterior masterclass!
In fact, by the looks of the orange and grey driveway, this house might previously have been a similar colour to the house we just saw (above).
I talk about driveways too and which colours are best (not this one, below).
Stay tuned, my next post will launch the masterclass, all kinds of great emails and training coming your way whether you need it or not.
I’ve also created step-by-step instructions for everything — as well as templates, worksheets, my bonus book of colours, and examples, examples, and more examples.
All of that — my Exterior Masterclass — is available Tuesday!
Be sure to check your inbox Tuesday afternoon. I’ll send you a link to a page with the full information.
Over to you my lovelies, how much training do you watch online already vs. in a real live classroom?
Related posts:
The Best Colour Advice on Painting Your Exterior
A New Build Conversation about Exterior Stone (It’s All in the Undertones)
The Best Kept Secret to Dramatically Improving Your Curb Appeal
I do think most learning will end up online but in instances like your course, I believe physical course materials are needed as screen resolutions and colour differ.
My husband did his complete 4 year university degree (BA history/economics with a Bachelor of Teaching) online 17 years ago. He had one 4 day residential and 3 x 4 week pracs as the total contact time in 4 years.
I love learning online and given the current CoronaVirus situation our way of learning is long overdue for a huge change in how material is presented. Currently, with schools and work places closed due to this virus the use of online school and conducting work is now in progress. Just maybe through this very real very scary situation we can gain the use of a whole new way of living, learning, and working using technology.
Just look at what’s changing with solar panels, solar glass roof tiles (Tesla) for our home and offices and electric cars (Tesla) we drive…very very positive changes.
I absorb information quickly and read a lot on my iPhone more that on my laptop. For me, my iPhone (which is always with me) is like a stack of modern day flash cards that enables me to study and “BE” a lifelong learner anywhere as well as:
~ make lists
~ take, edit and save photos
~ voice memos, voice assistant
~ draw, text, share
~ calendar, contacts, iMessage, FaceTime
~ watch videos, take online courses,
~ make phone calls, it’s my car key…etc.
there are endless possibilities as long as you are open to learning new things and absorbing information.
What I enjoy most about online courses is its portable, you can review material repeatedly, and select the best time for your schedule and travel needs to educate yourself on specific topics, and keep well informed in the field of your choice.
Maria may I suggest you strongly consider creating a companion “Color Me Happy App” with the valuable information you have given us over the years this would allow us to watch your teaching videos, take online courses and include your undertone Colorwheel to use on those projects in the wild.
Many universities have the option to study online and I took all my math classes online while studying for my Interior Design Degree. I realise I am very forward thinking in the way I process information. However we have such great tools at our fingertips why not try something new.
Thank you for all you do and I’m looking forward to learning more from the generosity you and your team have shared.
Oh gosh, I really hope you don’t go all online in the future! The experience of learning amongst other enthusiastic individuals, hands on and IN-PERSON was invaluable. I love online shopping and training, it is quick and easy, but wouldn’t have traded my in-person training with you for the world. I believe in it so much I have encouraged my new business partner to take your class so she can also be a True Color Expert! Keep up all the excellent and hard work! You are the only blog I consistently read.
I’ll admit my initial response was “Noooo!” But that’s mainly because I’ve really been wanting to do your in person course, but it’s not in my city. I don’t enjoy being on screens at all. And I question whether one can really learn the undertone lessons on screens. I’ve read your e-books, and while I can recognize when something works or not, I can’t go directly to what I need in the fan deck, and that’s the skill and confidence I’m interested. In person, you can ask questions until you’re sure you understand the material. It’s hard to imagine how that would work in an online situation where there’s still only 1 of you, and possibly dozens (or now hundreds depending on how it’s structured) of people in the class asking questions.
On the other hand, if you think you can teach that through an online course, I say go for it!!! The bulk cost of the in-person seminar and the travel has been the primary hurdle for me. If the seminar were available as 3-5 online courses that add up to the equivalent of being a graduate of your in-person seminar, payable when you do each part, I’d probably have blown through it in the last 3 years easily. The ability to get direct feedback from you seems important. And if in the end one didn’t feel like they got the skills they were hoping for, it seems like a refund policy for online learning is a lot easier, since the overhead per student is a lot smaller.
One of the big things I’m interested in that currently only comes with the seminar is the community online forum to bounce ideas off of other color expert graduates, so that one can continue to hone skills. So gaining entry to that would need to be part of the package for me to bite.
Thanks for considering this! I hadn’t thought about it like this, but it’s a step towards more equitable access to education, and I can see how it makes your course available to more people who are dying to take it.
I love in-person learning because of the immediacy of class discussions and questions being answered, plus meeting people in the same field. But on-line can work too. My concern is the inaccuracy of computer/tablet screen colors.
A client once told me she loved the photo of the gray room on my website. I didn’t include a gray room. Looking on her computer it was, indeed, gray. On mine and in real life it was a grayed (sage) green.
Similarly, when you ask what color the stone is in the first photo, I can’t be sure. And I bet it will look different on my PC than on the tablet I’m on right now. So can on-line be combined with real life packets of chips and photos? If so, wonderful! I’m mostly retired now but still might participate just because my color obsession will never go away.
Hi Beth, all eDesign should be done with a MAC because the colour calibration is much better. I do a lot of online, eDesign all around the world and seeing colour is not a problem! Thanks for your comment! Maria
Nothing replicates hands on learning with human interaction. Magical, organic things occur when we are face to face. I hope we never stop learning together in that way.
I work 4 a management training firm & we’ve been hearing for yr’s that eLearning is the way of the future. We’ve had large clients implement crazy expensive eLearning systems only to find it does not uptake – employees do not sign up.
People learn & benefit from the participant-driven discussions that take place during in-class sessions. We’re seeing a slow shift towards blended learning – where it’s mostly in-class w some online delivery for reference & refreshing.
We’re 12.5 yr’s old & our business keeps growing so if it’s going to happen at all, I think we’re a long ways off from “all” learning being online. Having said that, I’m sure ur new eCourse is amazing, Maria! 🙂
Hi Maria,
I’m retired and have no intention of doing design for a living, but I am so happy playing with decor for my own home. I have also redone the interior of a guesthouse for my sister, and helped my daughter-in-law work through her kitchen re-design. In other words, I’m an enthusiastic dilettante without any training. My question is which, if any, of your training sessions would be the best one for me to take to inform and educate in the future? Many thanks!
My exterior masterclass is the brand new online training that will be fabulous! The rest of it will take some time to be launched for sure! Maria
Maria – Here’s my perspective. I have done workshops for over thirty years and in that time they have evolved. I will let your other readers discuss the pros and cons, but I just want to say that as the instructor, I am more inspired and fulfilled with my in-person presentations. I need that. It energizes me. I think in your field a mix would be ideal, perhaps leaning more heavily on online offerings, but doing a smattering of live workshops. I no longer work full-time, so I limit myself to three in-persons workshops and then one on one phone/online consultations.
Online education has been around for decades. There is a place for it, and it serves an important need. But it does not replace face-to-face interaction, which is just as important in learning as in any other area of life. The less actual human interaction people have, the lonelier they are. Substitutes such as online education, social media, and online shopping will never fill the fundamental human need to see and touch other human beings.
If I were to take your class, I would want to see you and my other classmates, hear your voices, and see the actual materials rather than representations onscreen. I simply do not believe that all education will eventually be online, any more than I believe that physical stores will disappear or that people searching for a mate online will find one and form a relationship without ever being with them in person. What do we want, a dystopian future in which we inhabit cells and all our contacts with people are mediated by electronics?
One thing I learned when I administered online education for a major university is that many people who attempt it find that they just can’t do it: they need a classroom with actual people in it.
So no, I think it’s a terrible idea to do away with in-person training. You can supplement that training with online classes for those who have no other option, but I believe you would lose a lot of people if you went online entirely.
In my humble opinion online courses will never replace hands on learning. Yes I can see that happening in such instances as informational learning. I do not see it as visual creative art class. We need feedback from the instructor immediately in order to grow. The human aspect is very important otherwise we will become robotic spewing out just what we are told. Ideas are built on human interaction and a way to see something new. We all gleaned so much from your hands on instructions and camaraderie that I hope it won’t totally change. Besides not everyone can buy a Mac computer.
Maria–
You seem to be someone who is ENERGIZED by interaction with others. Do the in-person workshops bring you JOY?
I love teaching live workshops! It’s my favourite thing! Thanks for your comment, Maria
I’m an old Millenial and I do not like full online learning! I agree with others who have said that there’s something more absorbed and understood when using physical materials and in-person discussion. I’m a visual learner like so many and I have definitely learned something from online video courses, but it doesn’t seem to sink as deep as when I have my body and all my senses physically in a room, practicing with physical things. It works more like short term memory cramming somehow, best for bite sized bursts of information or review.
Please don’t make it online only!!! I can take an online color class from anyone. But for an in person class from a Subject Matter Expert, that is harder to find! For a skill that is so visual, I feel online learning is the wrong direction.
Yes, we can learn online, but one of the most valuable life skills is meeting people face-to-face in real-time and making interpersonal connections.
I would LOVE an on line class.!!!!!! Just do it!! ❤️
Hi Maria,
OH, I have to use online learning resources all the time, but that’s because of necessity .. 💻 If I was a house owner and was going to make a dream designer house, I would have definitely attended your live workshop.. 👩🏼🎨🏡 Some information and practices is impossible to teach through the internet, especially related to colors!! 🌼🌸🌺 Also, this is a great opportunity of meet with like-minded people and simply have fun .. 😍😍✈️
If the future of training decorators will soon be entirely conducted online, I fear for the future of the industry. No thanks. I can visualize elements of training a decorator that could be handled online but I think the hands-on part of the training cannot be taught online. There is nothing better than dealing with a well-trained and experienced decorator one on one and conferring in the location with all its unique qualities of light and so on. I just can’t see it. Maybe I don’t want to!
Hello Maria
I was really excited to hear that in the future I may be able to learn your system online. I live in the UK and, even though I would love to, travelling to the USA to do the course is not possible for me, though nothing would beat doing this course in person.
However, without this option, an online course would be a great substitute. I’ve bought your books and colour wheel, read all of your website, follow you on Instragram and had you choose colours for my kitchen. That was done online and the results were fabulous. I did enquire as to whether you would be coming to the UK to do a course and was told there was not enough interest from the UK. 🙁
I’m sure there must be others like me in the UK who would love to do your course, even if it is online. I just spent £50 on two Benjamin Moore fan decks to use alongside your books, unfortunately a couple of the colours you refer to in your booklet were not in my fan decks and I can’t get your colour boards here in the UK either or the paint chips. So frustrating for me as I’m such a fan. I know you do a private Facebook page for those who have done your course. What about a private Facebook page for those who have used your services? I would love to share pictures/information with others, in the UK especially where our paints are different. Better still, come to the UK, Maria and Terreeia, we’d love to have you!
I also see the trend moving towards more online education for a couple of reasons: technology continues to evolve and make amazing things possible, more people have access to technology, more people are seeking education than many schools can accommodate (scheduling, classroom availability, , teacher availability, etc). While it is wonderful that online education can reach so many and expand capabilities, I’m still old school and believe there is such value in being there in person, especially for your classes. Although I’ve not attended your live class (my girlfriend did – and I would love to!), I can see how valuable it would be to interact with others directly, see colors live/in person, and it seems much easier for you to be able to wander a room, give advice, share what others are doing, etc.
For sure things will be different in the future and you are wise to continue to create online courses to keep up and/or move ahead, but please don’t stop touring with your live course! I want to make it to one someday. 😊❤️
This is so exciting!! I live in a small town and travel is challenging for me so I do ALL of my training online and can’t wait to see what else you decide to share online!!
I understand not everyone can travel or afford to travel due to work, kids or other such restrictions, However training in class with other like minded people has its own perks. So I would say there should always be an option. Plus online — takes away from jobs and affects economy in so many ways.
I have taken quite a bit of training on line as well as in person. While I think a version of your class could be taught on line, I believe the classroom offers the best experience. One of the biggest issues would be color variance on computer screens.
Hi Maria, I think online classes are great for those that can use them. But definitely continue your live workshops–that way you can reach everyone! I hope to attend a workshop.