How Next Learning Valley once began

Two entrepreneurial men with an extraordinary vision of learning, who happened to strike up a conversation. "This is how Next Learning Valley began In 2013," Jos Maassen and François Walgering recount. "I was working at an organization that seconds educationalists and had an appointment at defense, with one F. Walgering at the barracks in Utrecht," Jos explains. François: "A few months later we were in the car together to London, on our way to meet the British Ben Betts and his new learning platform."

"Ben Betts, the CEO of Learning Pool, is a valuable partner with whom we continue to spread our vision of learning in the Netherlands," François continued. "Jos and I believe that learning should be more social, data-driven and personalized. And above all: innovative." Jos: "We want to create impact with innovation. We are both inspired, like to work fast and want to shake up the way we learn in the Netherlands (and beyond)."

François: "That is only possible if you pioneer. If you dare to break new ground together. I can still see us on the way home from London. Together we came up with the logo, the name (Next Learning Valley already became our trade name) and we decided to join forces. Both of us thought: this is it. We're going for it."

Growth and development

"We started facilitating MOOCs and SPOCs: Massive Open Online Courses and Small Private Online Courses. An innovative way of social learning, where the learner uses an online learning platfom. And - perhaps even more important - a way of learning in which the learner is central, rather than the 'expert' who is broadcasting in front of the class. We believe that you can also learn a lot with and from each other. Whether online or in the workplace, or both. That idea caught on. We got assignments from educational institutions, organizations and larger corporates," Jos says.

François: "From day 1, Jos and I further developed our vision of learning and the learning world, thanks to the innovative learning technology we were able to offer in collaboration with Ben Betts. The great thing is that this learning world is constantly changing. As a result, we keep pioneering, experimenting, developing and putting away new concepts in the field of Learning and Development. Exactly what we love doing the most."

Social, data-driven and personalized

"As more and more organizations started using social learning and the learning platform, we saw beautiful data streams about learning and development emerge in the learning platform," Jos continues. "We could do something with that, we thought. And so we started working with Learning Analytics."

François: "That data provides wonderful new knowledge for organizations and institutions. Once you analyze how pupils, students or employees prefer to learn, then you can measure the impact of your learning interventions: how do you present your content? How often do you send a reminder? How do you ensure that your employees really learn on the shop floor? And further optimize them.

From there, the step to personalization was quickly made: based on that data, you can establish a Netflix-like way of learning in a platform, in which learners are given suggestions ("you might also find this interesting") and learning experiences tailored to their needs. The possibilities are endless. That's crazy, isn't it?"

Next Learning Valley as an ecosystem

"We prefer to work with clients who are happy with innovation, who are quick to respond and want to grow with the latest developments. Who believe in an ecosystem around learning and development," François continues. Jos adds: "In an organization, you have to deal with an awful lot of tools and instruments within Learning and Development. Often those tools are separate from each other. We do not believe in separate tools, but in a learning ecosystem: how do you organize your learning landscape as an organization in such a way that your employees enjoy developing themselves as much as possible? In a way that contributes to their personal or professional growth, so that your own organization flourishes along with them? And we think about that from start to finish."

Teamwork

Jos: "It's great to see how the golden partnership we started in 2014 with Ben Betts and Learning Pool has transformed into the most innovative version of Next Learning Valley that we are today. The digital platform itself has evolved from 'just' social learning to a beautiful learning experience platform (LXP). And the Next Learning Valley team is also constantly evolving."

François: "By now I dare say that we as a team also form an ecosystem. Kim is the face of social learning, Max of learning analytics and Ernst-Jan focuses on personalized learning. And recently Evy has been dealing with communications and marketing."

Jos: "Really a super team, in which there is a lot of cross-pollination. We also learn so many new things again. I'm really proud of where we are together now. And we can't wait to develop further." François laughs, "That is the connecting factor within NLV: nobody knows where we will be in a year. And everyone on the team finds that very thing to be awesome."

Want to know more about Next Learning Valley?

Contact owner François Walgering.