“Always two there are: a master, and an apprentice.”

Those were the words of Yoda in the movie Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The little green Jedi master was talking about evil emperors and their light saber-wielding sidekicks, but he accurately described a learning model that has been prevalent for centuries: the master/apprentice model, in which a highly skilled and proven craftsman passes his trade or art on to a learner. Eventually, the learner becomes knowledgeable enough to claim the title of master for himself and take on students. As the cycle continues, the passing of knowledge is guaranteed, to the benefit of all: the master benefited from some cheap labor and the apprentice got an education.

As skilled labor has gone overseas and craftsmen have been replaced by robots and assembly lines, this venerable model is seldom seen today. However, what if we could reinvent this model for the digital era? And what if we didn’t bother with the master?

For example, I love Zumba, the high-energy fitness program filled with pumping Latin, hip-hop and  international music. I was hoping to get a girlfriend to come with me to a class, but she had never done Zumba before and was afraid of making a fool of herself. So went online and learned some Zumba moves.

That’s a simple example of e-learning: a curious person taking in a few YouTube videos to learn a new skill. In this case, the supposed master was the person who posted the instructional Zumba videos and my girlfriend was the apprentice. But let’s take it a step further and place it in the 21^st-century world of bottom-up learning, massive open online courses (MOOCs) and social media. Who’s to say the creator of the video was truly a master? And what happens in six months or a year when the Zumba moves change or the next fitness craze hits?

In a MOOC, the participants themselves establish the credibility of what’s being taught. If the group deems the information to be valuable, then it is, and a master isn’t needed. Further, the apprentices are free to expand on what’s being learned, to take it in new directions and create a living, breathing document through all forms of social interaction: comments, links to websites, videos created in response to original content and so on. The information is no longer stagnant.

In the Middle Ages, a cycle of cobblers and apprentices might pass on the same method of making shoes for hundreds of years. In the digital age, a few hundred days is long enough for theories to be born, thrust into the limelight, be torn apart and die, to be replaced by whatever is next.

The virtual apprenticeship is a reality and a viable means of learning valuable new skills that will take today’s workforce far beyond the Zumba studio and into the challenging decades to come.