If you want to share your expertise with the world, but for one reason or another, you can’t do it in person, then online courses might be just what you need. And if so, the good news is that creating an online course is easier than ever before! We’ll show you how to create an online course in this blog post. We’ll cover everything from the basics of starting off with a quality curriculum and website to technical details like recording sound and video footage. We’ll also take a look at how to market your course efficiently and find paying students–either through your site or external sites like Techmint.
How to create an online course
1. Test your idea
2. Decide on your course structure
3. Choose your approach
4. Add resources
5. Finish up
6. Research the topic extensively
7. Market your course
8. Make money with your course
9. Avoid making beginner mistakes
10. Use the right tools
01. Choose the right subject matter
You’ve heard it said many times: “Content is king”, and it’s true. It doesn’t matter how great your course is if you don’t have compelling content. Just because you are knowledgeable in a subject, that doesn’t mean that you can teach it effectively to other people. You may be able to create a successful blog or website, but do you see yourself as an online teacher? That’s the bottom line here.
02. Decide on your course structure
This goes hand-in-hand with the previous point–if you’re new to teaching, then start by creating smaller courses (rather than full-fledged online programs). Try to teach a topic that you’re passionate about, and that you feel could be taught to others.
03. Choose your approach
Do you want to take the whole “instructor” approach, or will you simply be the facilitator? Will your content have structure and a lesson plan, or will it be more of a freestyle approach? Consider these questions early on in the development process, as they might influence your whole course design.
04. Add resources
you’re creating an online course for public viewing, then make sure to add some resources for students. For example, you could use official syllabi and course notes. And if you’re going to be using recorded lectures or video, then make sure to properly label it and make it easily accessible (and of course, don’t forget to add the copyright notice).
05. Finish up
Most of the work involved in creating an online course is in the planning stages. You’ll definitely want to take your time when designing your website and recording what you need. Test out your site on various devices (including mobile phones) so that it’s easy for everyone to access your content.
06. Research the topic extensively
Now that you’re planning out your online course, it’s time to do some research. That means reading up on the topic to see what others have done in the past (i.e., courses from other universities, materials from out-of-date college courses, etc.).
07. Market your course
Since online courses are largely online courses and not a traditional classroom experience, it’s important to do some additional marketing for your site (like advertisements elsewhere). Don’t forget that your main market is going to be individuals and companies–not colleges or universities! The goal here is to get paying customers, so treat them as such.
08. Make money with your course
Even if you’re not making a huge amount of cash, you can still make some money by offering less expensive online versions of your course. For example, if it’s a two-month project and you charge $100 per student in the “group version” of the course, then you can sell those $100 modules to others (like through an online store). You may not see much money from selling basic courses, but you’ll be happy that all your hard work has paid off!
09. Avoid making beginner mistakes
Most beginners have a lot of questions about creating an online course–such as how to sell online courses, what platforms to use for videos and discussion boards, etc.
10. Use the right tools
You may have heard that you need a lot of expensive tools to create an online course. That’s simply not true! These days, all it takes is some basic video and audio recording software (Windows Movie Maker will do just fine). You can also use the popular question-and-answer discussion forum tool, Discourse.
