6 Tips for How to Design an Online Course |
If you're creating the first or your 10th course, these 5 suggestions will allow your students to benefit the most from the experience.
There are a lot of online classes available. Let's say it again... There are a lot.
A few are excellent. A few are decent. Others are awful.
The popularity of online courses indicates that lots of students are trying to earn money by offering their own online courses, which is great! But too many online teachers create courses of poor quality, which don't serve them or their students.
There's an art to building a great online course. Even with all the competition A well-constructed, well-thought-out course that offers their desired transformation will still be able to perform really well.
In this post in this article, we'll be talking about the best way to organize an online class to ensure that your students get the most of the experience. These 6 tips will allow you to have an understanding of the transformation you're taking your students through and learn how to achieve it. If you implement these steps, you'll be well in the process of having an effective course and feedback from students who appreciate it.
If you'd like more assistance for building your online class and community, come join OUR Mighty Community for free and get to know other newly established community owners! We'd like to get to know you. Register for membership for no cost!
This post...
3. Test for knowledge retention
Begin at the beginning and at the
We can identify the issue that is causing too many online courses?
The majority of course creators begin by describing what they are familiar with they want to share with students. Things they enjoy to talk about. Then they begin to plot the course.
Here's the reason this is an error.
The best courses aren't created by just brain dumping all you've learned. The secret to an AMAZING course is to make sure you are specific about what you would like your students to take away out of it. Where will they be when it's done?
Begin with the goal with the end in your mind. For people building online communities the way we define that end as being a Big Purpose assertion.
A Big Purpose Statement appears like this.
The main Purpose for a course isn't the same. You're bringing together a certain number of individuals who wish to attain a particular outcome. This is what the course you're taking for.
It's not:
- Sharing everything you know
- You can impress them by demonstrating your expertise
- The goal is to make them expert in their field (unless there's an introductory masterclass)
Your primary objective for the course is to get your members to a transformation in some way. These could be big transformative life changes. It could also be personal, simple, and enjoyable.
Here are a few examples of the transformations:
- Learn to go from having no knowledge of guitar, to singing around the campfire
- You can go from being couch potato to slow and uninspiring runner
- From being a floral designer into owning a successful floral business
- Learn the basics of marketing to becoming an expert in YouTube ads
People want transformations. Therefore, you must define what transformation you wish your participants to achieve. You can then work backward from this and build into the course exactly what the ideal student NEEDS to achieve that transformation: no more, no less.
Start Your Free Trial There is no credit card needed.
Focus on the steps
When you've got a clear defined goal for your course, you can start drawing out an outline of the course you want to include. It may require some investigation or, in the case of teaching something you've already master It could just be taking a seat and thinking about how you learned.
Find a blank piece of either paper or paper. Write down the end. Next, ask yourself "What are they actually requiring for this change? ?"
One of the risks here is known as the "curse of understanding." It's hard to know how to instruct a novice, especially if you've mastered something and it's been a long time since you've been at the beginning. Did you ever get caught up the trigonometry class when your teacher started talking about the hypotenuse-without explaining what it actually is?
It's likely to be the curse of knowing working. You assume someone knows something you take for granted.
Therefore, to answer the question concentrate on the steps. Ask yourself "what steps will it require to learn this?" Include everything, regardless of whether you believe you know the answer or not.
Let's say, for instance suppose you're taking the beginner guitar program. You've selected a catchy name which you'll refer to it as: "Campfire Guitar Mastery: Go from 0 to Leading a Singalong ."
What would someone who's never played the guitar before require to learn to get from playing 0 to a campfire?
Here are some of the steps which could make sense:
- How to choose an instrument if you don't own one
- Parts of the guitar
- How do I find and understand chord charts
- Strumming patterns
- The first song
- How to practice efficiently
- Where to locate chords for songs
- Sing when playing
- How can you gain the confidence to play in public
When you've identified what your goal is, you've got an idea of how to structure an online course that helps your students meet the goal. These can be your lessons or even your module.
Don't give them anything more than they need!
We talked a bit about the subject earlier. The biggest mistake teachers make is to cram the course with everything they know. We're tempted to do this for a lot of reasons, typically, however, it gives us the impression that your students are going to appreciate the class more when there's everything in it.
Beware of the urge. Give them what they NEED instead. Students' satisfaction isn't a result of lengthy courses. It's a direct result of an efficient training.
Also, in the campfire guitar class above you'll see that it does not have:
- An in-depth background of the history of the guitar
- Guitar lessons across the globe
- A step-by-step guide for reading music
- In-depth explanations of the reasons it is important to master the game (from the course description, they are aware of the reason)
- instructions on how to construct a campfire
Focus on the steps they need. And pitch everything else.
Pro Tip: Once you've laid your plan out, go through each step and see whether you are able to scratch one off. If you can get rid of a module, but feel confident that students will achieve the results they want, do it!
Get your free Trial No credit card required.
Test of knowledge retention
If you're going to have exams or assessments attached to your course ensure that your tests adhere to the information they'll need to remember going forward. A lot of courses see tests as an opportunity to determine if the students are attentive, but then ask dumb questions, such as "In Module 2 who was Queen England that we discussed? ?"
If you're planning to check your test score, be sure that you're reviewing and strengthening the information they have to carry forward, and not checking that they retained irrelevant details of the class.
Here are some instances of good and bad questions:
Facebook ads course:
- What colour is the Facebook logo? (bad)
- What does "audience" refers to for your advertisement? (good)
Business course
- What pants color did Jake wear in the second lesson? (bad)
- What are some strategies to boost retention in membership? (good)
Be sure that all questions are linked to the information and skills they'll actually be required to complete the tasks of the course.
Create projects
A different method to organize online course materials is for students to create projects. You can even do this instead of requiring tests and exams.
If you're able to see your students reach the finish line of your lesson with something to show for it It's great! Also, they'll be able to have higher retention rates by actually doing it anyways.
So if you're teaching a class that has a practical or creative output teaching students how to build an assignment or portfolio may be the way to go.
Here are some examples of projects that could come out of an online training course:
The course focuses on Web Design to Beginners
Website: Project
CourseDescription: Ruby on Rails
App: The first project you'll ever make.
Training: Master Watercolor Painting
Project: Your first painting
Course: Intro to Lettering
Portfolio of letters
Course: Pitching Magazines
Project: A completed pitch sent out
There are a lot of courses that TELL students how to do tasks and let them implement the skills independently. If you show the students how, walk them through the procedure as well as provide them with something they can keep, they'll be able to say they've gained the most value from the course.
Mix mediums
Another aspect that can really help with online course structure is mixing different delivery methods. People learn differently. So adding a mixture of courses assists students with different learning styles, PLUS makes the course easier to access.
So, for example, you could build a course with pre-recorded, online videos. This gives the students the option to view or listen to the video, and also stop and resume as required. It is possible to add an outline of text or a transcript of the video for people who read or have handicaps that render video or audio inaccessible. You could also add live chats where course members come together to chat about their course materials, ask you questions, and complete some tasks in a group.
This kind of mixed delivery provides a lot of value for your students, letting them learn in the way that they learn best.
Select the correct platform
Last, but not least, you need to choose the right course platform. There's a myriad of options out there, but the majority of them won't let you do all those things mentioned in the previous paragraphs: mixing Asynchronous and synchronous instruction, leading live discussions and Q&As, running evaluations and having students present the work of their classes.
That's why choosing the right platform is an important decision. If you're searching for the right platform to develop your course an online course, try it ! It has an easy-to-use sophisticated course engine that lets you deliver information in almost any way imaginable PLUS provides all the necessary tools to sell your course. Each course has its own communityand can be custom branded and can be a mix of recordings and live events.
Get Your Free Trial There is no credit card required.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the best way to design an online class boils down to understanding the changes students require and how they can get there. If you can do this, you'll get far ahead of other courses out there.
So if you:
- Define the transform you'd like to offer these,
- Figure out what they need to reach their destination,
- Walk them through it,
- And check to make certain that it worked...
You'll have a course which students cherish and love telling their peers about it, and the community of followers waiting for the next course!
And if you want to test building your course , you are able to test it out nothing - without credit card needed.
Do you have the right tools to begin your online course?