Education at Starbucks

I was at Starbucks in Zurich the other day. As Starbucks offers free WLAN, which I think is great, I brought a mobile electronic device with me. Sitting at a table at the cosy café enjoying a cup of fine coffee and a delicious piece of fruit bread, I was suddenly asked by a couple of people, whom I had not met before, if I could help them out with an assignment they were doing as part of an education. They had gotten a little stuck with a question. Fortunately, I was actually able to help the 2 people which they expressed their gratitude about.

Reflecting on this education experience, I find it quite interesting that education also takes place at other places than in a room in a physical school building. Besides using cafés, try experimenting with the use of other physical places for doing education. Here are some examples: Work places of people, people's homes, various types of shops. By combining a number of different places for doing education with the use of the Internet, for example blogs, I experience that even more value can be added to education.

By the way, I read here that the Starbucks mission statement is “To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”