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Local Startup To Educate Professionals About Social Issues
< < Back to local-startup-educate-professionals-about-social-issuesA local startup is helping employers from a select group of professions train their workforce about social issues in today’s diverse and technology driven world.
Cory Frederick started the Athens-based company, iEd Worldwide, to educate workers in the helping professions. This includes most who are employed in the industries of education, health care and social work.
“These professionals need to have their license recertified every so often, so by taking courses with iEd worldwide they’re able to meet those needs,” Frederick said.
The organization provides online seminars to educate and train professionals on social issues like bullying, LGBT rights, abuse and diversity. Seminars are conducted through live chat so trainees receive feedback instantly from instructors.
“Our method for conveying this content is experiential so that means not only are they reading text but they’re also looking at videos, they’re hearing interviews, again, from people who have experienced these issues first hand,” Frederick said.
Gregory Janson, a professor at Ohio University’s College of Health Sciences and Professions, says Frederick’s company helps professionals taking the courses but also opens dialogue on the social issues themselves.
“People don’t realize what you miss when everyone is not at the table and when those people share what they have to share, its often not easy to hear it but its always valuable learning,” Janson said.
The company plans to take their services live next week after beta testing is completed.
Frederick said he hopes to make the program available to area business but is looking forward to taking it, as the name says, worldwide.