What Netflix Taught Us About Teaching: 8 Key Takeaways From the Saga of Streaming

Audience Level: 
All
Session Time Slot(s): 
Institutional Level: 
Higher Ed
Streamed: 
Onsite
Special Session: 
Blended
Abstract: 

What Netflix Taught Us About Teaching: 8 Key Takeaways From the Saga of Streaming

Almost everyone recognizes or has subscribed to Netflix, even if only to watch the latest season of Stranger Things. Almost everyone has also chatted or complained about Netflix’s brand identity, decreased membership, investor skepticism, or lack of new content. We love it; we hate it. We subscribe; we unsubscribe. From a cynical perspective, one might similarly characterize the current state of academia with the same dichotomously ambivalent labels. Narrowing even further to online and blended learning, the perspective and quality gets even murkier, blurred by the “buffering” of nationwide academic integrity concerns, post-pandemic oversaturation of the market, our own decreased membership, and “tv/zoom” fatigue.

We would be wise to consider how we learn from Netflix to both mimic their successful strategies and steer clear of their bad habits. How do we generate content that is not just another boring series? How do we create courses that are worth the price of tuition? How do we tailor our content to an increasingly impatient audience? This conference presentation will focus on 8 key takeaways from the streaming giant’s 2+ decades of online consumption that can help us refine our own online content.

 

Extended Abstract: 

What Netflix Taught Us About Teaching: 8 Key Takeaways From the Saga of Streaming

Almost everyone recognizes or has subscribed to Netflix, even if only to watch the latest season of Stranger Things. Almost everyone has also chatted or complained about Netflix’s brand identity, decreased membership, investor skepticism, or lack of new content. We love it; we hate it. We subscribe; we unsubscribe. From a cynical perspective, one might similarly characterize the current state of academia with the same dichotomously ambivalent labels. Narrowing even further to online and blended learning, the perspective and quality gets even murkier, blurred by the “buffering” of nationwide academic integrity concerns, post-pandemic oversaturation of the market, our own decreased membership, and “tv/zoom” fatigue.

We would be wise to consider how we learn from Netflix to both mimic their successful strategies and steer clear of their bad habits. How do we generate content that is not just another boring series? How do we create courses that are worth the price of tuition? How do we tailor our content to an increasingly impatient audience? This conference presentation will focus on 8 key takeaways from the streaming giant’s 2+ decades of online consumption that can help us refine our own online content.

This presentation will take well-known Netflix-ism's and partner those phrases or experiences with key practices in Teaching and Learning that will help any attendee focus on how to customize, brand, and tailor their online or blended course to the needs of current day students. Examples include references to password sharing, "are you still watching" phraseology, logo sounds, and important partnerships that lead to success.  The presentation will test the audience via interactive software on sound recognition, attention span, and engagement level. The end goal is to give attendees 8 real, implementable strategies to improve online learning at any level.

Conference Session: 
Concurrent Session 7
Conference Track: 
Teaching and Learning Practice
Session Type: 
Education Session
Intended Audience: 
Administrators
Design Thinkers
Faculty
Instructional Support
Technologists
All Attendees