44 Dan Brodnitz on democratizing education at LinkedIn Learning

Change Lab: Conversations on Transformation and Creativity

Dan Brodnitz didn’t set out to join a revolution in online education. He saw himself changing hearts and minds through his novels and poetry. Fate, however, had a different plan for Dan’s talents — but one no less transformative. It placed him at the helm of global content strategy at LinkedIn Learning at a time when the entire world migrated into digital classrooms. Never has his expertise in creating meaningful virtual learning experiences been more valuable than it is right now.

Dan found his way into this fertile field through his own natural inclination to understand how things work and, crucially, how to make them work better. He’s applied this iterative mindset far and wide — from his desire to improve his own creative practice as a writer, as well as to the learning process itself.

He began his career in publishing before joining the pioneering online learning site, Lynda.com, which was founded by former ArtCenter faculty member Lynda Weinman and alum and now trustee Bruce Heavin. It was there that Dan honed his skills in this emerging arena and found his passion for democratizing education by making it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

His role today at LinkedIn has scaled considerably to keep pace with the growing market for knowledge in today’s information economy. And his enthusiasm for the work is contagious. He sees LinkedIn’s 16,000-plus course library as a resource for nothing short of personal transformation. And his work, as he eloquently puts it, is to “orchestrate the beautiful, thoughtful whole.”

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