MOOCs: A great resource for leaders and educators in the kink community

If you’ve never heard of them before, a MOOC sounds like a weird video game. But, the acronym actually stands for massive online open course. Unlike KinkLeaders (which is an online course, but neither massive nor open) these courses are often huge! They tend to be taught by faculty at Universities, some of which are the top-tier research institutions around the world. You can find courses on almost any subject! I’ve realized that there are often classes that may be pertinent to kink educators. The thing that makes these courses great is that they are open to anyone regardless of prior education, they are flexible in that you are accountable for only as much of the material as you personally wish to engage with, and they are FREE!

One of the most popular and active platforms for MOOCs is Coursera but there are several others as well. Here is a list of classes that are either currently available on Coursera or will be starting in the next few months.

I know that many of us are looking at teaching in the community and these classes represent a way to get at least undergraduate level training in a variety of subjects and disciplines. A cursory scan of the list reveals the following classes that might be interesting for kink leaders/educators:

Those are just the ones that jumped out at me from scanning the list through the lens of my own interests. I’m sure you can find many more. There are a few of these that I might be interested in studying in a smaller group so if any of you are interested, please let me know.

What I learned from Collectives, Burningman, Rogue Raves, and The Fetish Fair Fleamarket by @bendyogagirl

his is the first post in what will be a 3-4 part series of pontifications on the different relationships at events (producer-presenter, presenter-producer, presenter-attendee, attendee-presenter, producer-volunteer, etc..) and my opinions about ways to create harmony, good sportsmanship and happy events.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m one of a handful of people who are the primary drivers of this little event, which attracts approximately 3000 people annually.  I say one of a handful or primary drivers in so far as there is a core group of 10-15 of us who manage everything from the relationship with the hotel, to booking presenters, to scheduling the hundreds of volunteers who make the event run, to bringing in vendors, to managing the finances, insurance, contracts, logistics, special events, etc.  The Fetish Fair Fleamarket (TM) is a major event.

Tara Mohr Talks About Mentoring (handy resource)

Hey!
 
So I just had a coaching session with someone fabulously Woo (Sofia Wren, if you’re interested) who pointed me towards the blog of another life-coach type – Tara Mohr. And Tara has a post up about Mentoring With Excellence.
 
Some of it is stuff we’ve discussed on Kink Leaders before (teaching with anecdotes or from personal experience, but being up front about doing so), some of it is new material. I particularly appreciated the explanation of “coaching questions” and how they work.
 
Anyway. Since mentoring is a sort of one-on-one, open-ended (Socratic Method?) type of teaching, and since a whole bunch of us are on the educator path (by the looks of things), I though I wouldn’t be the only one who found it helpful. Consequently, I’m linking it here.
 
Go forth and read. :-)
 
 
TTFN,
Ms Syren.

Kali Williams – Kink Coach [Interview]

1. Can you explain what type of coaching you offer?

My focus is on relationships with a Dominant/submissive dynamic as well as those who like to explore “kinky play” at any level. I help couples and individuals discover what they’re really looking for out of these experiences and provide them with concrete suggestions on how to make them happen. Focusing on “real life” solutions to bringing kink into a relationship, I use a playful approach to keep things sexy and fun.

Continue reading

Graydancer – Educator & Founder of the GRUE [Interview]

Originally posted on BeASexEducator.com

How long have you been teaching

That’s kind of a loaded question – I’ve been teaching in some capacity or other for pretty much since childhood, from Sunday school to Marine Corps Practical Knowledge to music lessons to dance & technology workshops at the University Level. But I started working in the Kink field around 2002-2003, first just as a volunteer at various conferences and then gradually as a presenter.

 

When did you start to identify as an educator? Was it the same time, or was it later?

I honestly don’t remember my first “presentation”, but I remember very clearly the moment when I walked out of an “Intro to Kink” workshop thinking “I could do that…

Continue reading