Six Tips to structure an online course |
Whether you're building the first or your 10th or 10th grade course, these 5 strategies will assist your viewers to benefit the most from the experience.
There's an abundance of courses available online. It's true... A LOT.
A few are excellent. Some are okay. Some are terrible.
The rise of online courses means that a lot of people try to make money through their own online course and that's great! However, too many online instructors have created courses with poor quality that do not serve their students.
There's a science to creating the perfect online course. Even with all the competition an organized, well-thought out course that offers the transformation they need is still able to do very well.
In this piece in this article, we'll be talking about how you can structure your online course to make sure students are getting the best of the experience. The following tips will assist you in gaining clarity on the transformation you're taking your students through and learn how to help them get there. If you follow these, you'll be well on your way to being able to deliver a high-quality course as well as reviews from students who absolutely love it.
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The piece...
3. Test for knowledge retention
Start with the ending
We can explain the problems that is causing too many online courses?
Too many course creators start with a list of what they have learned and would like to impart. Things they enjoy to talk about. And they start plotting out the plan.
This is a mistake.
Effective courses don't start with just brain dumping every thing you've ever learned. The secret to an AMAZING course is to make sure you are crystal clear about the message you wish your students to take away out of it. Which place will they be after it's done?
Begin with the goal keeping the end goal in mind. If you are building communities online the way we define that end as a Big Purpose assertion.
"The" Big Purpose declaration is like this.
The Big Purpose for the course isn't the same. It's about bringing together a group of people who want to get a certain result. It's the reason you're in your course. for.
It's not:
- The sharing of everything you know
- You can impress them by demonstrating your skills
- Making them expert in their field (unless it's a masterclass)
The single goal for your program is to bring your members to a transformation in some way. These could be big dramatic, life-altering changes. They could also be simple, personal and fun.
Here are some examples of transforms:
- Learn to go from having no knowledge of guitar, to singing in a campfire
- Change from a couch potato to a slow and uninspiring running
- From being a floral designer into having a successful floral business
- Go from knowing the basics of marketing to knowing how to master YouTube ads
People want transformations. So, define the transformation that you would like your students to be able to complete. It is then possible to reverse the process and build into the course EXACTLY what your perfect student would need to do to complete that transformation: no more, no less.
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Concentrate on the steps
If you've established a clearly established goal for the course, you can start making a plan of the course you want to include. This might take some research OR, if you're instructing something that you've already learned, it might just mean taking a seat and thinking about the lessons you've learned.
Take a blank piece either paper or paper. Note down your final. Then ask yourself "What are they actually requiring to accomplish this transformation ?"
One of the risks here is the "curse of knowledge." It's hard to know how to instruct a novice even if you've been able to master something and it's been a while since you were an absolute beginner. Remember glazing over at trigonometry as your instructor was talking about hypotenuse, but without giving a reason for it?
That's probably the curse of knowing in the workplace. This happens when you think that somebody knows something that you take for granted.
The answer is concentrate on the process. Ask yourself "what actions would you need to take for me to understand this?" And include everything-whether you think you know the answer or not.
Let's say, for instance, let's say you've got the beginner guitar program. You've selected a catchy name, and you're going to refer to it as: "Campfire Guitar Mastery: From 0 to Leading a singingalong ."
What would someone who's never had a guitar have to know in order to move from playing 0 to a campfire?
Here are some steps that could be logical:
- What is the best way to select the right guitar even if you do not own one
- Parts of the guitar
- How to find & read chord charts
- Strumming patterns
- Playing your first song
- What can you do to use it efficiently
- Where to locate song chords
- How do you sing when playing
- How can you gain the confidence to play in public
When you've identified what your purpose is, you'll have a clear roadmap for the best way to design an online course to help your students achieve the objective. These can be your lessons or modules.
DON'T GIVE THEM ANYTHING more than they need!
We discussed a little bit of this earlier. One of the biggest mistakes teachers make is to cram a course full of everything they've learned. It's tempting to do this due to a lot of reasons, however, most often it's because it gives us the impression that our students will value the class more when there's everything in it.
Resist the urge. Offer them the things they need instead. The satisfaction of students doesn't result from an extended course. It is a result of a well-designed course.
Also, in the campfire guitar class above you'll see that it does not have:
- An in-depth study of the development of the guitar
- Guitar lessons across the globe
- A guide to understanding music
- Extensive explanations on why it is important to master the game (from the course description, they understand exactly why)
- instructions on how to make a campfire
Focus on the steps that they'll need to take. And pitch everything else.
Tips: After you've got your course laid out, take a look at every step to see how you can take any off. If you can get rid of modules, and still believe that your students will get the results they want take it!
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Test for knowledge retention
If you're planning to include exams or assessments attached to your course ensure that your tests also stick to what they'll need to remember going forward. A lot of courses see tests as an opportunity to test whether students are listening, and ask stupid questions like "In Module 2 who was the queen of England we mentioned ?"
If you're planning to take a test, ensure that it's reviewing and strengthening the information they must take into consideration instead of ensuring they remembered irrelevant information in the course.
Here are some examples of bad and good questions:
Facebook ads Course:
- What is the color of the color of Facebook logo? (bad)
- What does "audience" translate to in your ad? (good)
The Business Course
- What color pants were Jake wear during the 2nd lesson? (bad)
- How can I increase membership retention? (good)
Check that all questions are linked to the information and skills they'll actually be required to complete the tasks of the course.
Create projects
One alternative method for how to organize online course materials is by having students build projects. This can be done instead of requiring tests and exams.
If you're able to see your students reach the conclusion of your class and they've already got some tangible results It's great! Also, they'll be able to have higher retention rates by actually doing it anyways.
In case you're teaching a course with the goal of creating something practical or artistic and guiding students in the process of creating portfolio pieces or projects might be the best method to take.
Here are some instances of projects that could come from an online class:
Training: Web Design for Beginners
Website: Project
Course: Ruby on Rails
App: The first project you'll ever make.
Training: Master Watercolor Painting
Project: Your first painting
Course: Intro to Lettering
Project: A portfolio of letters
Course: Pitching Magazines
Project: A completed pitch sent out
Many courses instruct students on how to accomplish things and then leave them to use the information by themselves. If you SHOW them how to do it, walk them through the process, and offer them something to take away, they'll have gained the most value from your course.
Mix mediums
The last thing that will really aid in the structure of online courses is mixing delivery mediums. People learn differently. Thus, adding a variety of courses helps to serve people who have different learning styles and makes the class accessible.
For instance it is possible to create a course with pre-recorded, online videos. The students will have the opportunity to either watch or listen and to the ability to pause and start whenever they want. You might add a text summary or transcription of the video to those who prefer reading or have handicaps that render video or audio inaccessible. It is also possible to add live chats where course participants meet to talk about the course content and ask questions as well as do some activities in a group.
This form of mixed delivery provides a lot of value for students and allows them to be taught in the manner that they are most comfortable learning.
Select the appropriate platform
Last, but not least the most important thing is to pick the appropriate course platform. There are many alternatives available, however, only a few will allow you to do the things we talked about above: mixing up the synchronous and asynchronous classroom as well as leading live discussion and questions, conducting evaluations, and letting students share their class projects.
So, choosing the appropriate platform is an essential decision. So if you're looking for an opportunity to create an online course, try it ! It's got an intuitive, elegant course engine which lets you present content in just about any way imaginable PLUS provides all the necessary tools to market your course. Each course has its own community, is customizable as well as mix recordings and live events.
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Conclusion
In the end, the best way to design an online course pretty much comes down to understanding the changes students require and how to get them there. If you can do this, you'll be ahead of many of the online courses available.
So if you:
- Define the transformation you're looking to grant them,
- Figure out how they can get there,
- Walk them through it,
- and make sure it was successful...
Your course will be one that your students will love and talk to their friends about, plus the community of students waiting to take your next class!
and if you'd like to try building your course on , you can check it out for absolutely no cost - and with no credit card required.
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