Trained With Us Before? Here's Why Alumni Might Want to Join Us Again
A few weeks ago I got a message from someone who took my coaching course years ago:
“Good evening Gretchen,
I hope all is well. Are you offering any coaching courses? I need to reboot my academic coaching business.”
And I thought: Oh! Yes! But also...where do I even begin?
Because I get versions of this question from alumni fairly regularly. Someone trained with me back in 2018, or 2021, or somewhere in the blur of years before the Learning Lab existed in its current form. They know I’m still here. They may even know I’ve kept building. But they don’t necessarily know what I offer now — or how it connects to what they already learned.
So, dear alumni: this post is for you.
If you trained with me years ago and are wondering what’s here for you now, here’s what’s changed, what you already have a head start on, and why I recommend most pre-2024 alumni come back through.
You don’t have to start over. And there’s a lot more here than there used to be.
A Little History, For Anyone Keeping Track
Let’s start with a history lesson.
I became an academic coach in 2010, created my Anti-Boring framework for stressed-out students in 2013, and started training educators in 2015.
From 2015–2023, all my offerings were listed on gretchenwegner.com, and the flagship course was called The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically. There was also Launch Your Biz for coaches building their practices, and a community called the Anti-Boring Educators’ Club. Any of that sound familiar?
In 2023, everything shifted. I had major surgery and stepped away from the business for six months to recover. During that time, the business went through a significant rebrand and moved onto a new community-based platform.
That shift mattered more than I expected. For the first time, I could build a community where members connected directly with each other, not just with me. Before, I was the center. Now, increasingly, the community is the center.
The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically became the Anti-Boring Toolkit. The Anti-Boring Educators’ Club became the Anti-Boring Learning Lab. Launch Your Biz became Rock Your Biz.
But these weren’t just name changes. The structure of what I offer changed too.
The Anti-Boring Toolkit Has Grown Up
If you took The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically, you’ll recognize a lot of what’s now called the Anti-Boring Toolkit. But there are some significant additions.
The biggest is an entirely new module called Academic Coaching 101. In the old training, I mentioned the Consent Burger for maybe five minutes. Now we dig deeply into it, along with:
the difference between a teaching and coaching mindset (and why students need both)
how to ask 3 different kinds of Empowering Questions, to unlock student motivation
A deep dive on all three stages of the Consent Burger, and
A new process called the Academic Coaching Decision Making Tree, which helps you figure out where to start when working with a new student.
There are updates peppered throughout the rest of the Toolkit modules as well:
Based on feedback from folks who know more than me, I’ve upgraded the science in the Working Memory mini-lecture,
Added new coaching videos of me working with students,
Moved my famous “Habit & Grades Tracker” process into the Toolkit itself. Some of you may remember that one from the old business resources; I’ve come to see it as so fundamental to Anti-Boring coaching that it now serves as the final Toolkit module.
Phew! That’s alot. But yes… there’s also more.
And Now There’s an Actual Certification Process
This is another big change: in the old days, The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically was a course. A training. I didn’t actually certify anyone.
But too many people bugged me saying they wanted certification, and I succombed!
Now, becoming an Anti-Boring Certified Coach involves more than moving through the Toolkit. I ask you to practice and apply what you’re learning, collect Empowering Questions, hone your own Toolkit notes, participate in a coworking session, and write a paper reflecting on your learning and coaching experience.
So if you completed the old training, you absolutely have a head start. But you haven’t already completed what now counts as Anti-Boring certification.
And doesn’t that sound lovely that ‘Anti-Boring Certified Coach’ could be in your future?
The Anti-Boring Educators’ Club Has Become Something of a “Living Lab”
The other big change is what used to be called the Anti-Boring Educators’ Club.
I’ve recently started thinking of this part of the Anti-Boring Learning Lab as the “Living Lab.” I’m not sure yet whether that name will stick, but I like what it captures.
The Anti-Boring Toolkit has increasingly found its form. I’ll keep updating the science as I learn more, of course, but the Toolkit is now a coherent, foundational body of knowledge and tools.
The Living Lab is different. It’s supposed to keep living, growing, and morphing according to what our members — and the students they work with — need next.
Sometimes that means I create something new: an advanced micro-credential, a semester masterclass, or a guest speaker. Sometimes we practice together through Mini-Lecture Practice, Community Calls about real students, or coworking.
And increasingly, the new thing comes from members themselves. Someone starts a Special Interest Group. Someone offers a Show-and-Tell. Someone shares a resource they’ve created. Someone says, “Would anybody like to read this book with me?” and suddenly we have a No Pressure Book Club.
That’s the “living” part. Unlike the Toolkit, this part of the Lab isn’t supposed to be finished.
We Share a Language, Not the Same Job Title
The people in the Learning Lab aren’t all academic coaches. We’ve got tutors, school-based educators, educational therapists, reading and math specialists, OTs and SLPs, college educators, parent coaches, and tutoring and coaching business owners. Some specialize in autism or ADHD; others work primarily with younger students, college students, or particular communities.
We’re becoming more diverse in other ways, too. We have more younger coaches than we used to, more cisgender men, more queer and nonbinary folks, and more people of color. We’re still a majority-white community, and I’d love to see all of those kinds of diversity continue to grow. We also have identity-based Special Interest Groups, including a space specifically for BIPOC members.
One of my long-term goals is to have qualified coaches in our community who can serve students across every identity marker. We’re not there yet. If you hold an identity that doesn’t feel well represented in the Lab, please know that we want to hear that feedback — and that we strive to create a community where everyone has a voice and a place to belong.
With all those differences, you might think the community would feel scattered. Instead, the Toolkit gives us a shared language. We can talk about Working Memory, retrieval, regulation, planning, the Consent Burger, or what it means to Make Time Visible — and then bring very different professional and personal perspectives to the same student problem.
That cross-pollination has become one of the most valuable things happening in the Lab.
Cohorts Are Back
One more thing that may feel familiar to some of you: we’re bringing cohorts back.
Back in 2017 and 2018, one of the things that worked especially well was having a group of people move through the training together. We lost some of that structure during the Anti-Boring Educators’ Club years, and I’m excited to be bringing it back.
Our next cohort starts September 9.
You absolutely do not need to join a cohort. If you’d rather be a solo sailor and move through the Toolkit on your own schedule, you can.
But if you’re someone who gets more momentum from knowing that a group of people is starting alongside you, moving through the material at roughly the same time, and showing up together for practice and community, please come join us.
Launch Your Biz Has Become Rock Your Biz
Back in the olden days, many of you came through a training that also included Launch Your Biz, my program for building an academic coaching business.
If that’s you, guess what? We have a special treat for you: no need to pay for it again!
Just join the Anti-Boring Learning Lab at the regular membership rate. Once you’re in, send us an email reminding us that you were part of Launch Your Biz back in the day, and we’ll open up Rock Your Biz for you at no additional cost.
And in case you need a reminder of what the business side looks like these days, your Rock Your Biz access includes:
Updated Rock Your Biz Resources, including new material on making videos for referrals
A new masterclass on how to build a referral network
A monthly biz-focused Community Call
Weekly ROAR (Rock Your Reachouts) coworking sessions, where we work alongside each other on the outreach that keeps our businesses growing
Additional business-focused coworking, support, and connection with other Lab members building and running their own practices
So if you’ve been thinking, I really need to dust off my business and get some momentum again, you don’t need to buy another business program from me. Your old Launch Your Biz purchase still counts. Come back to the Lab, and we’ll welcome you into Rock Your Biz too.
So, What Would I Recommend You Do?
If you trained with me years ago and asked, “Okay, but what more is there for me?” here’s what I’d actually tell you.
First, come back and get certified. Work through the current Toolkit in full, but skim the sections you already know well (although honestly, a refresher is rarely a bad thing. Do you remember the formula for how to learn anything?! If so, you’ll remember how important variation and repetition are. If not, well then, you’ll benefit from learning it all again carefully).
Also, pay special attention to the Academic Coaching 101 and the Habit & Grades Tracker modules, since those will be substantially different — or entirely new — for many alumni.
And come to the three required Mini-Lecture Practices. Brush up on your ability to explain the “least students need to know” about the science of learning, and get some practice translating that science into something a real student can actually use.
Then start exploring the Advanced Micro-Credentials. You don’t need to do them all. Choose what would be most useful for you and the students you’re working with now. If you asked me where to start, I’d probably point you toward:
Emotional Regulation — this would be my first pick. Students always need more tools for regulation, and this is where we’re really building out the “Feel” part of the Toolkit.
Executive Function 101 — a great introduction to the science of executive function and how it shows up in our work with students, taught by the great Crista Hopp of Connected Pathways Academy
Time Awareness with Sarah Ward — a must-see exploration of time awareness and how we can help students make time more visible.
Three years of coaching one student — a brand-new micro-credential that lets you watch the arc of my work with one student over several years, including full coaching sessions rather than just polished examples.
The latest science of studying — we’re also gathering our recent masterclasses into a new resource that brings you up to speed on what we’re learning about retrieval, note-taking, planning, and more.
But learning is only half of what I’d recommend.
Participate. Let people meet you.
Show up when you can. Ask questions. Answer other people’s questions. Bring a student you’re puzzling over to a Community Call. Share what you’re learning and bring your own expertise into the conversation.
And once you’re certified, try the Certified Coaches Hangout. Get to know the other coaches. Make sure you’re listed in the Certified Coach Directory. Become someone other members know well enough to think of when they have a referral they can’t take themselves.
You certainly don’t have to do everything. And you don’t have to come back forever.
In fact, one of the things I’ve learned is that people move in and out of the Lab as their professional lives change. Sometimes you have the time and headspace for deep professional learning; sometimes you don’t. You might come back for a quarter to refresh your skills and see what’s new, stay for a year while you deepen your practice, or discover that having this community of colleagues is something you want to keep around longer.
But if you’re coming back because you want to reboot or revitalize your work, I wouldn’t just quietly work through another course.
Come back and become an active, engaged, visible part of the LabFam. We can’t wait to have you.
Why Join Us NOW — Fall 2026?
And if you happen to be reading this in early September 2026, there’s another question worth answering: Why come back now?
Beyond everything I’ve shared above, we have some especially fun things happening this fall:
No Pressure Book Club: Autism Edition — we’ll be reading and talking together about books related to autism.
Beyond Cornell — a new masterclass digging into the latest science of note-taking and what it means for how we teach students to take notes.
Beyond the Highlighter — a never-taught-before masterclass where I’ll walk you through my “charting” method for reading a book. We’re not just going to talk about it; we’ll actually read and make a chart together!
A special 90-minute training with Seth Perler of TEFOS — Seth will walk us through his coaching framework for students. He rarely teaches directly to coaches, so I’m especially excited to get a peek inside how he thinks about the work. And at a time when I’m finalizing my own framework, I think there’s real value in hearing how another coach who has been doing this work for more than a decade has made sense of his.
All of these fall events are included in your membership — along with the Toolkit, Community Calls, Mini-Lecture Practice, Advanced Micro-Credentials, and everything else happening in the Lab.
So come test the waters for $349! Spend the fall with us, see what’s changed, and decide whether you want to stay longer.
And, frankly, sometimes I can’t believe I don’t charge more for the Lab. A professional training this chock-full could easily cost thousands of dollars.
But I’ve made a deliberate choice about that. I’m committed to keeping the Lab as accessible as I reasonably can — and I’m committed to building community. I don’t want this to be a $4,000 course you take once and then leave. I want it to be a place that is chock-full of value and can grow with you over time: a place to learn, yes, but also a place to belong.
So try us for a quarter. Or dive in for the full year at $999. I don’t know exactly what we’ll be cooking up for spring and summer yet — that’s part of the whole “Living Lab” thing! — but there is always something new and special happening here.
Alumni FAQ
Is the Anti-Boring Toolkit the same as The Art of Inspiring Students to Study Strategically?
It grew out of that training, and you’ll recognize a lot of it. But the Toolkit has grown substantially since then, including the new Academic Coaching 101 module, updates to the science, new videos of students learning the tools, and the Habit & Grades Tracker.
I already completed the training years ago. Do I really need to go through the Toolkit again?
If you trained in 2023 or earlier, I recommend it — but you definitely won’t be starting from scratch. Skim what you know, enjoy the refresher, and slow down for what’s new. I’d pay particular attention to Academic Coaching 101 and the Habit & Grades Tracker.
I thought I was already certified. What changed?
Back in the olden days, I offered training, but I didn’t actually certify anyone. Today, certification goes beyond completing the Toolkit and includes practice, application, and reflection.
And yes, you get a fun badge for your website showing that you’re an Anti-Boring Certified Coach in study skills and executive function strategies!
Do I have to join a cohort?
Nope. You can be a solo sailor and move through the Toolkit on your own schedule. But if you know you’re more likely to follow through when other people are moving alongside you, join a cohort! Our next one starts September 9.
Is there an alumni discount?
There isn’t a separate alumni rate. Learning Lab membership is $349/quarter or $999/year for both new and returning members.
I know the natural question is, “But didn’t I already pay for this training?” Yes! What you’re joining now, though, is the Learning Lab as it exists today — with the current Toolkit and certification process, advanced learning, practice opportunities, community, and resources available to active members.
And remember: you have a significant head start. Skim what you know and spend your time on what’s new.
If you previously took Launch Your Biz, you also get a pretty significant alumni perk: you’re grandfathered into Rock Your Biz at no additional charge whenever your Learning Lab membership is active.
What if I don’t want to get certified?
Totally fine. Certification is optional. You can learn from the Toolkit, explore Advanced Micro-Credentials, participate in the community, and use the Lab in whatever way is most useful to you.
Do I have to attend a bunch of live calls to make membership worthwhile?
No. Some members love showing up live. Others watch recordings, follow conversations, work through resources, comment in the chat lounges, and participate mostly asynchronously.
That said, if you can participate, I encourage you to! Ask questions. Answer questions. Bring real students you’re puzzling over. Let other Lab members get to know you. The people here — and what we learn from one another — are a big part of what makes the Lab the Lab.
Ready to come back?! We want you!!