There is an interesting technology and pedagogy push today that dabbles  in the reinvention of teaching and learning.  With some of our most revered entrepreneurs noted for dropping out of school, a number of students are wondering if they can DIY (do it yourself) their education, starting their careers earlier and minimizing higher ed. debt.  Online courses, video to supplement courseware, and spending time in digital subject matter communities are free options and often a lot more hands on than facing a blackboard, a text book and number 10 pencil.  It’s a thing. Trust me.

Similarly, the web has spawned a number of people who consider themselves DIY marketers. The old axiom that marketing requires Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action (AIDA) – all of which use to require separate marketing tools – today, can all be accomplished on a single website.  One website properly organized can fulfill the entire continuum of a sale. Ergo, many people in small businesses and start-ups are trying to do their own thing. Those will stellar products are making do.  Those without, not so much.

Marketing and learning cannot be automated. Or hacked. That’s not to say hands-on educators and marketers are always efficient and effective; they are not. Learning and marketing are done best when full-duplex. Bi-directional. Doc Watson never would have been the picker he was as a DIYer. Peace to Doc’s family.