Six Tips to Structure an Online Course |
Whether you're building your very first or 10th class, these five strategies will assist your viewers to get the most out of the course.
There's an abundance of online classes available. It's true... A LOT.
Some are good. A few are decent. Certain are horrible.
The rise of online courses means that many people are trying to cash in by offering their own online courses and that's great! However, too many online instructors 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 gives people their desired transformation can still do really well.
In this piece we'll talk about how to structure an online class to ensure that students are getting the best of the experience. These six tips can assist you in gaining clarity on the transformation you're taking your students through and learn how to get them there. If you implement these steps guidelines, you'll be on the way to being able to deliver a high-quality course as well as feedback from students who appreciate the course.
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The article...
1. Start with the close of the
3. Test for knowledge retention
Start with the at the
Do we have the ability to explain the problems that is causing too many online courses?
The majority of course creators begin by listing what they know and want to teach. They decide what they want to talk about. They begin to plan the course.
Here's the reason this is a mistake.
Good courses don't come from simply dumping your brain with everything you know. What makes an amazing course is to make sure you are clear on what you want your students to take away out of it. What will they do when it's done?
Begin with the goal keeping the end goal in your mind. When it comes to creating online communities the way we define that end as a Big Goal declaration.
The Big Purpose statement looks like this.
The Major Purpose for the course isn't much different. It's about bringing together a set of people that want to achieve a specific outcome. That's what your course is to be used for.
It's not:
- Sharing everything you know
- You can impress them by demonstrating your knowledge
- Getting them to be expert in their field (unless it's the case of a masterclass)
The single goal for your course is to get participants to undergo a change of some sort. They could undergo massive dramatic, life-altering changes. They could also be small, intimate, and enjoyable.
Here are a few examples of the transformations:
- You can go from not knowing anything about guitar to playing songs around the campfire
- Change from a couch potato to a slower AF running
- From becoming a florist into running an enviable floral business
- From knowing absolutely the basics of marketing to knowing how to master YouTube ads
The most sought-after transformations are those that people desire. Therefore, you must define what transformation that you would like your students to accomplish. It is then possible to reverse the process and incorporate into your course EXACTLY what your ideal student NEEDS to achieve the transformation you want them to achieve: nothing moreand no less.
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Concentrate on the steps
When you've got a clear set goal in mind for your class, you can start to sketch an outline for what your course needs to contain. This might take some research or, in the case of teaching something you've already mastered It could just be contemplating how you learned.
Take a blank piece paper or a blank piece of. Note down your final. Then ask yourself "What is the actual need for this change? ?"
One of the risks here is known as the "curse of knowledge." It's difficult to figure out how to teach a beginner even if you've been able to master some thing, but it's been a while since you were a beginner. Do you remember looking confused the trigonometry class when your teacher began talking about the hypotenuse without explaining what it actually is?
That's probably the curse of knowing working. This happens when you think that somebody knows something that you take for granted.
So, the answer is concentrate on the steps. You should ask yourself "what steps would it take to master this?" Include everything, regardless of whether you believe that they are aware of it or not.
For instance suppose you're taking a beginner guitar course. The name you've picked is cool that you'll name it: "Campfire Guitar Mastery: Start from 0 and lead a singalong ."
What does someone who's not played guitar in their life need to know to go from playing 0 to an open campfire?
Here are a few steps that might make sense:
- How to choose a guitar if you don't have one
- The guitar's parts
- How to find & read chord charts
- Strumming patterns
- Your first song
- How to practice effectively
- Where can I find chords to songs
- Sing while playing
- How can you gain the confidence needed to play in the public
If you've determined what the purpose is, you'll have the right direction for the best way to design an online course to help your students meet the goal. This could be your classes or even your module.
DON'T GIVE THEM ANYTHING more than they need!
We talked a bit about this above. One of the most common mistakes teachers commit is to fill an entire course in the space of all they've ever heard. We're tempted to do this due to a lot of reasons, typically, however, it gives us the impression that the students would appreciate the class more when there's everything in it.
Resist the urge. Let them have what they want instead. The satisfaction of students doesn't result from a long course. It comes from an effective program.
For our campfire guitar course above You'll note the absence of:
- A detailed study of the development of guitar
- Guitar lessons around the world
- A guide to understanding music
- Long explanations of why you should learn to play (from the description of the course they know exactly why)
- instructions on how to make a campfire
Concentrate on the steps that they'll need to take. And pitch everything else.
A tip: When you've laid your plan out, look at each step and determine how you can take any off. If you can get rid of modules, and still feel confident that your students will get what they need take it!
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Test for knowledge retention
If you're planning to include exams or assessments attached to your course Make sure that the exams adhere to the information they'll be required to recall in the future. Many courses view test as a way to determine if the students are paying attention, or ask silly questions like "In Module 2 who was the Queen of England that we discussed? ?"
If you're going to test, make sure it's evaluating and reinforcing knowledge they have to carry forward, and not checking that they remembered irrelevant information from the course.
Here are a few examples of both good and bad queries:
Facebook advertising course:
- What is the color of the color of Facebook logo? (bad)
- What does "audience" translate to in your advertisement? (good)
Course in Business
- What color pants did Jake wear for the 2nd lesson? (bad)
- What are some strategies to improve retention of members? (good)
Be sure that all questions relate to the knowledge and the skills that students will be required to complete the tasks of the class.
Create projects
Another option for you structure your online course material is for students to create a project. You can even do this instead of doing tests and quizzes.
If your students make it to the conclusion of your class and have some tangible results It's great! They'll also have better retention rates if they actually do this in the first place.
If you're teaching a class that has a practical or creative output, walking students through building portfolio pieces or projects could be the most effective option.
Here are some instances of work that might be derived from an online course:
Training: Web Design for Beginners
Website: Project
The course: Ruby on Rails
Project: Your first app
Course: Learn Watercolor Painting
Project: Your first painting
Course: Intro to Lettering
Portfolio of lettering work
Course: Pitching Magazines
Project: A completed pitch sent out
There are a lot of courses that instruct students on how to accomplish tasks and let them use the information by themselves. If you show the students how by guiding them through the steps, and provide them with something they can take home, 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 different delivery methods. People learn differently. Therefore, adding different resources to your class will help students learn with different learning styles, and makes the course more accessible.
So, for example it is possible to create an online course using pre-recorded asynchronous videos. Students have the ability to watch or listen, plus stop and resume as required. It is possible to add a text summary or transcription of the film for those who prefer reading or those with handicaps that render audio or video unaccessible. You could also add live discussions where members come together to chat about course material and ask questions and complete some tasks in a group.
This type of mixed delivery offers many benefits to your studentsby letting them be taught in the manner that they learn best.
Select the correct platform
Last, but not least it is important to select the right course platform. There's a myriad of choices available, however only a few will let you do all the tasks we mentioned earlier: mixing the synchronous and asynchronous classroom, leading live discussions and questions, conducting evaluations as well as allowing students to share their class projects.
So, choosing the appropriate platform is an important choice. So if you're looking for a place to build an online course, try it ! It's got an intuitive sophisticated course engine which lets you present contents in any way imaginable PLUS provides all the necessary tools to promote your course. Each course has its own community, is customizable, and you can mix live and pre-recorded content.
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Conclusion
At the end of the day, the best way to design an online class boils down to focusing on what students want to change and how to get them there. If you are able to accomplish this, you'll get far ahead of other classes available.
So if you:
- The transformation that you want to give them,
- Determine how they can reach their destination,
- Let them go through it,
- Check to be sure it was successful...
The course you teach will be one which students cherish and love telling their classmates about, as well as a community of eager students waiting to take your next class!
If you'd like to build your own online course with HTML0 , you can try it for absolutely no cost - and with there is no need for credit cards.
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