Pros
Easy and quick hiring process. This tends to be the case for companies desperate for staff and Spider Learning was no exception. Skeptically high salaries.
Cons
Spider Learning was hands-down the shadiest ‘business’ I have ever experienced. Let me set the scene: Greedy men holed up in a golf course ‘office’ looking to make a quick buck at the expense of actual educators. Most employees were dazzled by the proposed salaries – I was! But how do they get so much money from selling their educational ‘products’? This was my experience: Step 1: Hire a subject matter expert to organize nonsense ‘lessons’ written by someone else and to serve as the ‘certified teacher’ within the whole process so that Spider Learning can say the product is made by ‘certified teachers’. Step 2: Seek out independent contractors to produce a hodgepodge of documents that resemble educational materials. Contractors were originally required to be K-12 certified teachers, but too few applicants were certified and it became required ‘teaching experience’. Contractors are paid very little and are kept at an arm’s length (contractor = no benefits = easily let go). Step 3: Bring on people in curriculum management roles within various institutions to serve as ‘consultants’. Simply have this person sign off on using your rubbish product as THE product that all teachers will somehow have to incorporate into their instruction. Step 4: Organize and submit your nonsensical lesson material by certain pre-set dates and voila! Spider Learning is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars (in the end, millions) for producing garbage. Everyone is happy because everyone gets a cut and the process repeats. The only losers are the actual teachers who are forced to use this terrible product. We were told that, if teachers complain about quality or functionality, that our stock answer should be, “Thank you for your suggestions. We will take them into consideration at a later date”. Considerate, right? Do not trust any positive, seemingly external review of Spider Learning. They may either be receiving some kickback within the whole scheme or be owned/operated by Spider Learning management (Education Elements being one of them). I was a serious teacher looking to stay in education without being in a K-12 environment. Spider Learning was a temporary fit for me financially until I looked behind the curtain. If you are like I was, apply and accept employment from Spider Learning knowing you too will only be in it for a quick buck. This questionable, unethical business model cannot be maintained much longer.
