Training and constant growth have always been a staple of 24Slides’ work culture. Employees are encouraged to take courses to improve their technical and soft skills to become better professionals, gain access to promotions, and develop their career path organically.
In 24Slides, we believe in the power of education to change lives and improve the communities all around us. And, as a company looking to support the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, we’re committed to constantly asking ourselves, ‘How can 24Slides as a company contribute to creating a world with no poverty?’.
For us, the answer was pretty clear: using all our learnings and training resources for people outside 24Slides was only the next logical step in our journey to continue empowering people in emerging markets.
That’s why we began an ambitious project to enable access to our 24Academy platform for people outside the company. We believe that, through education and training, we can give people the tools they need to improve themselves and, in turn, improve their possibilities and increase their livelihood.
24Academy first external course, “Introduction to Presentation Design”, first began on May 15th and was an overwhelming success, with 7 of the first ten students successfully completing the training.
But, of course, this was only the beginning.
Going one step further
This pilot project showed us the amazing opportunity we had to provide free quality education and allow people to learn new marketable skills and do good beyond our own people.
After a successful first course, the 24Slides team worked immediately to expand it. And the same year, on November 27, we could start 24Academy 2.0, enabling access to free quality education to even more people.
“The instructors are awesome. Their responses in the classroom threads were quick, and the explanations were as clear as crystal. Their creativity and skills in presentation design were beyond expectations. They are also willing to share their experience and views on our exercise”. – Rizal Pratama Nugroho
The course consisted of a 4-week learning program, in which 24Slides provided educational material for each of these, along with weekly exercises for students to practice their new skills. The students were also required to join two mandatory online sessions, which allowed them to discuss and ask about any issues or insecurities during the course.
In addition, 24Slides learning sessions included review sessions for the students’ weekly exercises to give feedback and tips on how to improve to give their new skills practical application. The participants were expected to spend approximately 5 – 10 hours a week to fully learn and complete the course.
By the end, students received a final assignment consisting of a presentation deck design, a one-pager reflection, and a design concept description to evaluate if they had completed the course objectives and gained an official certificate of completion by 24Slides.
“I got many insights about presentation design. Especially from the design task I submitted each week, the designer’s review was detailed and showed better ideas for the design and layout.”- Ikrimah Nurhalimah Susilo
The power of education
While the pilot project was enabled for only ten initial candidates, for 24Academy 2.0, the number of students almost tripled, with 25 students participating in the program, from which 12 of them managed to complete the course successfully.
The reach of 24Academy 2.0 was also broader, open for students from all over Indonesia instead of just the Malang region. As a worldwide company, our experience in working and training remotely gave us a unique opportunity to create actionable, practical online courses.
And it paid off: after a final review, students who participated in this reprise of “Introduction to Presentation Design” gave the course an overall score of 9.1 out of 10.
“Thanks to 24Slides, this course gave me a purpose. It gave me a reason to practice more. Those non-mandatory exercises were powerful tools to motivate me to apply what I learned. Even after I submitted the final assignment, I still want to keep practicing by myself.” – Rizal Pratama Nugroho
While 25 students are still a small number, the results of 24Academy 2.0 have been incredibly encouraging, and we’re looking forward to continuing to make the project grow over time. We believe that generating better opportunities, no matter where you come from, is key to empowering people and giving them the tools to help their communities.
This course was designed to remain suitable for individuals of all backgrounds and professions, whether students or full-time workers. We wholeheartedly believe that, through quality and free access to education, we can make a difference in the world and give people new opportunities to improve their lives.