The NewCampus learning ethos and how it reflects our changing world

How we built our colearning curriculum to inculcate a lifelong learning mindset

We rebranded QLC and pivoted our business into NewCampus out of an innate need to bridge a learning gap.

Education plateaus after school and college. Workshops and conferences at the workplace do not transform us into future-ready individuals. So, we decided “to be the change we wish to see in the world” and started to work on the solution that we desired.

Enter, NewCampus: A school for curious people who never want to stop growing and are eager to learn about current topics from global change-makers.

“I knew that if you moved around, your mind worked faster, because you were constantly seeing new things that you had to respond to.”
― Fatima Mernissi

Establishing a new-world school such as this one was no easy task! From finding the right kind of class hosts to defining a holistic curriculum, we had our hands full. The latter especially took a lot of our time and attention. Questions such as “should we compete with universities and schools” to “how do we ensure that we are not discussing the same dated topics” plagued us now and then. We had to find a way in which learning was cyclical, holistic and future-proof.

This meant that we had to define a learning ethos. In a changing world where yesterday’s trends are defunct today, our ethos had to be inclusive and relevant.

What exactly is a learning ethos?

“If the folks sometimes observe the vastness of the universe their narrow-mindedness dies.”
― Lord Robin

While we could have introduced a lot of trendy topics like blockchain and sustainability and attracted a lot of footfall, we weren’t looking for short-term gratification. Our end goal has always been to “empower people to become broader thinkers, more empathetic leaders, creative innovators, better communicators and global citizens.”

Achieving this required thought, process and structure. We needed to establish the why, what and how we will learn before we define our curriculum. This is what we call “the learning ethos.”

The word “ethos” comes from the Greek trio of ‘artistic proof’ words ‘Ethos, Pathos, and Logos’ coined by Aristotle. They were modes of persuasion used to convince an audience to a certain point of view. Ethos otherwise referred to as “an appeal to ethics” was a way to ensure that you sound credible to the audience. It made them accept your authority and agree with your perspective.

In our case, the learning ethos helps give a structure and credibility to our curriculum, making it bullet-proof and relevant. It directs us to develop an unbiased vocabulary and select the right themes and topics for what we want to learn together.

To put it simply, our learning ethos is a distilled skeletal system on which we could flesh out our curriculum.

Here are the three learning ethos on which we have built our curriculum.

Important and relevant

Learning helps us stay relevant despite constant shifts in the world around us. Our colearning curriculum pencils in trends and innovations that are shaping and reshaping the global culture and knowledge economy so that our colearners will always stay in-tune to the current landscape. This would transform them into creative innovators equipped with all the latest tools and technology. And their ideas and products would have a worldliness and context that helped progress the world in the right direction.

Adaptive

Our curriculum moves and adapts at the speed of the news. This helps break rigidity and inculcate flexibility in every colearner. They approach the future with openness and a lifelong learning mindset. This will always help our colearners recalibrate, unlearn and relearn with the times.

Diverse

Our media is full of reports of hate crimes, strife and wars. This calls for the immediate action of shutting down our echo chambers. We need to allow global voices to bring in varied perspectives into our lives. Our colearning curriculum ensures that we don’t restrict our learning by geography, race, culture or interests. We infuse diversity into every aspect of your learning — from finding class-hosts from across the world to introducing globally relevant subjects unlike what you encounter in your everyday life.

It takes all kinds of people to make this world and the first step to inclusivity is to attempt to understand others. Our colearning curriculum enables this by helping our colearners get acquainted with diverse lives, thoughts, cultures and ideas. This helps imbibe new ways of conceptualizing and solving problems. And as broad-minded global thinkers, we will all create an inclusive world.

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today. — Malcolm X

Like we mentioned above, the NewCampus colearning curriculum is always going to be a work-in-progress. We regularly take feedback from our colearners on what they would like to learn about and our team of experts scan the world and beyond for relevant topics to introduce into our curriculum.

There is nothing worse than ignorance. It is the root of all destruction around the world. The more we open our minds and allow new ideas and perspectives to float in, the better a world we create. At the end of the day, we want to establish that learning should not be restricted to a small period of your life. Learning should be a lifelong exercise that we engage with.

Join our Partner Ecosystem

We're always looking for partners to help us in our mission of building human-centric businesses in Asia.
Learn more about becoming a partner

Other News Releases

All you needed to know about NewCampus's FastFwd Festivals

How NewCampus is exploring the unknown future and what it holds for us through the FastFwd Festivals

NewCampus Spurs Entrepreneurial Spirit for SMU Students in Bootcamp‍

SMU's first successful Entrepreneurial Mindset Bootcamp, where a cohort of SMU students underwent an intensive program to equip them with entrepreneurial skills for the 21st century

Welcome to the All-New NC App

You might have noticed that the NewCampus app has had a complete makeover, but the changes aren’t merely cosmetic.

Dubai Future Accelerators with NewCampus

Changing the future of cities and modern leadership

Meet the NewCampus Team: Sandhya Ramachandran, Head of PR & Communications

Meet our resident content writer, armchair detective and Potterhead

Meet the NewCampus team: Will Fan, co-founder and CEO

From pasta recipes to brand partnerships, Will infuses everything with his creativity and drive
View All News Releases >