Democratizing Knowledge: Ashoka Learning Ecosystem, eLearning with Social Impact

Ashoka, founded in the United States in 1981, is the world's leading non-profit organization in the field of social entrepreneurship and has a community of over 3,800 Social Entrepreneurs in more than 90 countries. In Spain, it was established in 2006, and today it has 48 Social Entrepreneurs, along with 21 Changemaker Schools and 90 young social innovators.

Ashoka's purpose is to ensure that everyone is aware of their power to improve the world and uses it. Therefore, it empowers leaders of social innovation through scholarship and training programs, creating the world's largest international network of social entrepreneurs and innovators.

With this goal, Ashoka challenged us to conceptualize, design, and develop an eLearning platform that allows this knowledge to be democratized throughout the Spanish-speaking world, taking their purpose to the next level. The result of this challenge is ALE (Ashoka Learning Ecosystem), a learning, inspiration, and connection ecosystem open to everyone, which in its first version offers an educational journey through the world of systemic change, a key process for social innovation.

The process

We started with a very abstract challenge: to take Ashoka's knowledge in the field of social innovation beyond its borders. To shape it, at Runroom we worked with a cross-functional team composed of digital business consultants, researchers, AI experts for the educational world, interface designers, and front-end developers, who integrate with the Ashoka team to co-create the final solution.

Based on a strategic design approach, we proposed the execution of a project in two clearly differentiated phases:

Phase 1: Research and design of the pedagogical model

Throughout this first phase, we conducted a series of co-creation sessions between the Runroom and Ashoka teams, as well as in-depth interviews to design a training model that meets the needs of the main identified user archetypes, ranging from social entrepreneurs to employees of companies committed to social innovation.

We structured these sessions with various Design Thinking tools applied to strategic planning, such as the “Course Canvas”, which allows us to define both the learning experience and the content itself.

Phase 2: Design and implementation of the first course on a digital platform

Based on the research conducted, we shaped a first version of the Ashoka Learning System that includes the visual and brand identity of the new ALE, inspired by Ashoka's visual identity but with its own personality.

We worked in an Agile format with a dedicated product team to design and develop both the public part of ALE and the configuration of the chosen LMS, Thinkific, as a platform to deploy the produced courses.

Another challenge we loved about the project was participating in the creation of content for the different learning paths: from the idea to the creation of scripts to the production of videos, presentations, and platform documentation, respecting the defined style guidelines.

For these tasks, we leveraged the potential offered by generative AI, setting the context of a personalized ChatGPT instance through Ashoka's own content, and endowing it with a specific style and tone, with the aim of homogenizing the style of the content and thus ensuring the quality of the final result.

Results

We launched ALE with a first learning course in systemic change organized into four different paths that allow personalizing the experience based on the specific needs of different users:

1. Fundamentals of Systemic Change
2. Strategies for Systemic Change
3. Collaboration and Leadership for Systemic Change
4. Scalability of Social Impact

In just one week since the product launch, we already have hundreds of registered users from 12 countries, of which 91.89% have started a personalized learning path. And very soon, new journeys and new training paths will be added for the change agents of the future.

In the words of Rosa Ricucci, Knowledge Director of Ashoka Spain, many lessons have been learned during the project:

"This process has taught us that anyone, regardless of their previous experience, can learn and develop as a change agent. But the truth is that when we talk about democratizing knowledge, we must work with a diversity-focused approach, constantly challenging ourselves on how accessible and relevant the content we offer is for different audiences.

On the other hand, democratization involves a very broad idea of growth and magnitude. For this, it is important to think about scalability from the very beginning. Investing efforts in creating systems that allow capturing, decoding, and disseminating existing knowledge, rather than focusing on creating new ad hoc content.

Finally, democratization implies a horizontal and evolutionary approach. In this sense, a true knowledge ecosystem has to be fluid and allow people to navigate it, who today can be learners and tomorrow content creators. This means gradually relinquishing control, fostering an open and dynamic space."

It has been a pleasure and an honor to be part of this project in the world of social innovation, in the company of pioneers in social entrepreneurship capable of transforming the way the world works to generate positive change in society.

Ashoka Learning Ecosystem: launch