Where Ideas to Advance Learning Grow

Welcome to Nectary Solutions’ Greenhouse—where we cultivate new ideas by prototyping solutions, catalyzing change, and co-creating new initiatives that transform how people learn through work.

As collaborators at heart, we believe helpful innovation happens best through meaningful and agile partnerships that start small, but dream big. We engage with others in co-designing and testing ideas to ensure new solutions address real needs and advance meaningful social change.

Explore our current initiatives, and join us in shaping the future of learning through work.

  • When work is broadly defined as “activity involving effort to achieve purpose or result,” learning through work and contribution creates powerful opportunities for learners and employers!

    However, what we learn through the act of working too often goes unrecognized in traditional education or workforce systems. 

    Melanie is the designated U.S. Chartered Convenor for the Council for Advancing Work-Based Learning (CAWBL) to explore changing this in the United States.

    Together, we're working to:

    • Advance thought leadership through research, resources and toolkits, and publications that elevate work-based learning as a system in policy and practice

    • Prototype real-world applications of CAWBL's recognition system in the United States to test and demonstrate how learning and work-based contributions can be recognized and valued, addressing urgent talent needs and opening up doors to opportunity

    • Design a "third space" where learning through contribution is recognized and celebrated alongside traditional educational credentials, creating new pathways to work

    Interested in advancing the recognition of work-based learning? Contact us to join this initiative.

  • New models of work-integrated postsecondary learning opportunities are emerging every day, yet many start small, are customized to unique community contexts, or do not receive the attention or recognition they deserve.

    Some models are theoretical; some have begun but struggle to make it through the lines of approvals, authorizations, and accreditation; and some are situated entirely outside of formalized educational systems.

    #CommonSenseCollege is both a movement to amplify and recognize these game-changing approaches, and a set of specific activities and services we provide to help design, develop, and amplify these models of postsecondary learning that meet the needs of today’s learners and employers.

    Examples? We’ve got examples! Here are several leading the way:

    Follow the hashtag #CommonSenseCollege on LinkedIn or contact us to learn more.

  • In 2011, we co-founded the International Heutagogy Community of Practice—a global network advancing heutagogy, or self-determined learning.

    Unlike traditional pedagogy, where instructors direct learning, heutagogy empowers learners to drive their own learning journeys, determining not just why they wish to learn, but what they learn and how.  Additionally, learners become the meaning makers, connecting their learning to their past and future experiences and opportunities.

    We're reinvigorating this community to expand these principles and practices through:

    • Championing learner agency as a core principle of the #AllLearningCounts movement, ensuring all learning experiences are valued and recognized

    • Integrating heutagogy into educational resources like the Learn & Work Ecosystem Library, making self-determined learning frameworks accessible to educators

    • Developing practical tools that help integrate self-determined learning and enhance learner agency in meaningful, sustainable ways

    • Applying heutagogical principles across all our collaborative projects, modeling learner-determined and centered approaches in what we do

    Ready to explore principles for advancing learners’ agency? Contact us to learn more.

  • Have a transformative and brilliant idea that needs momentum? The Nectary Commons is an immersive multi-day retreat where innovators come together to accelerate their ideas while also contributing their wisdom and expertise to others.

    Think of it as a pop-up think tank group of consultants—a space where generosity, experience, contribution, and collaboration fuel breakthrough thinking.

    During this facilitated time together, we:

    • Co-create a community to accelerate your brilliant idea through diverse perspectives and collective wisdom

    • Contribute our collective talents to advance each participant's vision, creating a rising tide that lifts all boats

    • Engage in reflective practice and expand our collective learning through structured dialogue and creative exploration

    • Build a lasting community around creativity and the commons, fostering relationships that extend beyond the retreat

    • Celebrate each other's generosity, wisdom, and contributions, recognizing that our greatest innovations emerge from shared abundance

    Have a brilliant idea worth catalyzing? Contact us to explore co-organizing or participating in an upcoming Nectary Commons retreat.

Join Us in Fueling Change

These initiatives represent Nectary Solutions' commitment to transforming how learning connects to work, how learners direct their own growth, and how ideas become reality through collaboration.

Contact us to learn more about these and other initiatives we're involved in. Together, we can create transformative change in education and workforce development.