If you believe learning just happens in schools, think again. Learning how to create an online course and helping people to learn valuable lessons is an effective business. These days, there are online courses available on anything from becoming a copywriter to learning woodworking skills.
An online course is an amazing way to gain knowledge or a new skill from the comfort of your own home. These courses can be offered or free or for a price, and they can be spearheaded by experts, and some are produced by educational institutions. Whatever the online course topic is, it should be engaging.
Online courses can be delivered through a website, and they can be viewed using a web browser, a tablet, or even just a phone. This way, the students can have access to it every time.
More About Online Courses
Online courses can have many forms, such as audio files, photos, worksheets, videos, and other documents. Most courses also have community groups, messaging options, and discussion forums that allow the students to communicate with the educator or their fellow students.
Usually, the lessons of online courses are pre-recorded and uploaded on a course website platform, where it is arranged based on the lesson and module. The courses are laid out in order, and there may also be a grading system in place just so the educator can measure the performance of students. There are also self-guided online courses.
How to Create Online Course
Imparting your knowledge online is harder than it seems. But when you know the steps in how to create an online course, you can finally cater to the rising demand for online courses in your niche. This will help you generate more revenue.
Choose a good topic
The topic you want to teach ultimately depends on you. It can be about anything under the sun, such as gardening, software design, and even baking. Sixty-nine percent of online students are experienced professionals, and most just want to learn more about their hobby.
The possibilities for topic choices are endless. You must be passionate about the topic of your choice because it will be very obvious if you fake your interest in it. This will make your training collaterals flop.
Because you don’t have to teach a topic that is being taught in universities, you need to think about your talents, life experiences, and other knowledge you can share with others. Think about what you do best and ask yourself what you wish you knew sooner about it. This is the only way you’ll become an amazing teacher.
When choosing a topic in learning how to create an online course, make sure it’s also something other people are interested in. Before you commission a professional to do the online course collaterals, ask your peers their opinion of what you want to teach. You can do this by sharing polls on social media, as well as online forms. You can also make a short tutorial and see how it performs.
It is also recommended to do some research about the topic of your choice. If you find other courses about it, that’s a good sign. Do not be worried about competition because that means a lot of people think the topic is very relevant. Chances are, there is someone that will be interested in your course since there are almost 7 million students that are enrolled in distance education.
Test it out
Learning how to create an online course is not an easy feat. It needs effort and determination. This is why running a little test before creating it will let you determine whether or not it’s something that can be profitable. To do this, you can create a page for your online course. You can get a freelance writer to make an engaging description of your course. Here, you also need to explain to your future clients what they will learn from it. A designer can also help you to have great images that will reflect your course’s topic.
Do not forget to invite people to sign up for your course or pre-purchase it. After promoting it on various social media channels or email marketing over a short period, take a look at the data you have collected and assess if it built up interest.
Do some research
Even if you think you’re an expert in your field, you still have to do a deep dive into your topic of choice. This way, you’ll learn everything there is to know about the topic. Do not hesitate to go beyond what your future students will find on Google, and go the extra mile to find various sources.
It also helps to do keyword research, so you know what people type in search engines when they are looking for a resource for the topic. This way, you can have a better understanding of what your students want to learn more about.
If you want to stand out, be on the lookout for subcategories of your topic. For instance, if you plan on releasing a course about cooking Filipino food, you may only want to cover dishes that originated in certain regions. To give students the best value, you can also widen the scope of the course and include some food preparation techniques.
Create an outline
Now that you’ve done your research about the topic, it’s the perfect time to think about your curriculum. Have a piece of paper ready and write what you plan on teaching your students. Each lesson should have at least one major topic you should cover. Sequence the lessons and make the ideas flow naturally from one to another. This will ensure that your students will have a smooth learning process.
Keep in mind that a big part of teaching is guiding your students with every step, so make every idea very clear in your outline. If you have time, you should also write down an objective for each lesson you want to teach.
Continuing with the Filipino dishes example, you may want your students to focus on pork-based dishes in one lesson and learn the history of each dish. Make sure to have an introduction and conclusion for each lesson since reiteration helps in the learning process.
With the cooking course, encourage them to cook the dish and make their friends or family try it. These small assignments and activities are an important part of your outline and will help your students apply the knowledge they have learned.
Make or outsource the content
If you’ve taught your chosen topic in schools, seminars, or universities before, you probably already have content about it, such as blog posts, webinars, or even YouTube videos. If so, review these materials and repurpose your old content so it can be part of your online course. This will allow you to save more time.
Based on the outline you have created, you can finally create your actual online course. Keep in mind that most courses are in video form. So you may need to hire a talented editor. This is important because 65 percent of the population are visual learners. Some courses have audio recordings done by voice-over artists, written content, slides, and a mix of everything.
If you use video as your medium, you can do it with relatively easy-to-use equipment. While you can hire a production team to create your high-quality course, you can also skip it if you can film yourself. After all, the lessons you will put out are what matters. Simply film yourself speaking in front of a camera with a clear background. Then, you can send the videos to a video editor. This is essential because your online course needs to have seamless editing, or else your student’s attention span will be affected. The editor will also be in charge of adding titles and descriptions.
Finally, create assignments for your lessons. These can be downloadable files that students can view on their devices. Other options include games, quizzes, and many more.
Publish your course
Once your content is finally ready, it’s time to bring it all together. Choose the right distribution method for your course because if it is a hassle to access, people will not like it.
By distributing your online course well, you can enjoy a range of tools that will help students understand your topic. Having a dedicated website for your course is quite expensive but if you want to invest in hiring a website developer, do it. This way, you can have freedom in how you want to sell your course.
Evaluate the success of your course
At the end of the day, it is vital to know whether or not your course has succeeded or failed. One key step in knowing how to create an online course is to see how much you have earned from it, how many subscribers and participants you have gained, and how many people are interested in taking another course with you.
Knowing how to create an online course is a big deal, but now that you have all your details set, you need to set a deadline for yourself. For instance, you can give yourself one week for the research step and another week to build the outline. Make sure you are always on time with your deadlines.
Are You Excited to Have Your Own Online Course?
Learning how to create an online course is a heavy commitment, so you need to plan every step of the way to save yourself from stress. When you choose a topic you love, and you invest time and effort in your online course, the demand for it will follow. With the help of BunnyStudio, it is easy to hire an e-learning creator.
