how to create your own online course 100 tools guides and resources

by Audie Prosacco I 6 min read

What tools do you need to create your own eLearning course?

Many provide all the tools you need to create screens, add graphics or video, include interactions, and ultimately compile your course. If you want to pay extra for more advanced features, Articulate 360 and Adobe Captivate are among the industry-leading authoring tools. For some, DIYing your own eLearning course won’t be worth the time or effort.

What authoring tools do I need to create a course?

Many provide all the tools you need to create screens, add graphics or video, include interactions, and ultimately compile your course. If you want to pay extra for more advanced features, Articulate 360 and Adobe Captivate are among the industry-leading authoring tools.

How can I ensure student learning during my course?

Surveys, polls, quizzes, and other assessment tools can help you ensure student learning during your course. Great options for getting started include: A few leading authoring tools provide free options for creating your own custom eLearning course.

What are the different tasks involved in creating a course?

This task can often take place while you have your subject matter expert (SME) or writer creating the course script. Visual tasks include defining which images, colors, fonts, movements, or animations you’ll use to create a course that looks cohesive.

How do I create my own online course?

Here's how to create an online course for free in 10 steps:Choose Your Course Topic.Identify the Target Audience.Gather and Structure Your Knowledge.Create an Online Course Outline.Choose Your Online Course Software or Platform.Create the Course Content.Make Sure Your Content is Engaging.More items...•

How can I create an online course for free?

How to create an online course for freeThinkific: Software to create an online course for free. ... Canva: Free and low-cost design tool. ... Beaver Builder: affordable WordPress page builder. ... Camtasia: Cheap software for editing online course videos, with a free trial. ... Vimeo: Free video hosting.More items...•

How do I create an online learning module?

How to develop an online training moduleKnow your audience. First up, you need to focus on who'll be taking the course. ... Break your topic into modules. Now you've identified your audience, it's time to think about how to organize your course content. ... Plan your content formats. ... Add knowledge checks. ... Responsive course content.

How do I create a self guided course?

7 Tips To Create A Self-Paced eLearning CourseCreate Personalized eLearning Plans. ... Cultivate A Supportive Online Community. ... Focus On Accessibility. ... Incorporate Social Collaboration Activities. ... Create eLearning Content That Is Easily Digestible. ... Assess Online Learner Progress Periodically.More items...•

How much does it cost to create an online course?

It can cost anywhere from $200 to $10,000 to create an online course. The main source of expenses is the labor involved, followed by the equipment and software. If you are creating the online course yourself and not paying someone else to do it, this means that other than your time there are very few expenses involved.

What is the best platform to teach online?

11 Free Online Teaching PlatformsEdApp. Teaching online has never been easier with EdApp, a top-tier online teaching platform applauded by several organizations and companies for its advanced but ultimately user-friendly tools and features. ... ProProfs LMS. ... Blackboard. ... EasyWebinar. ... CourseCraft. ... LearnCube. ... WorkWize. ... Arlo.More items...•

How do I create a course content?

Four Steps to Create Course Content that FlowsConsider your goals in teaching this course. Decide what you would like your students to accomplish from taking this course. ... Develop topics and subtopics, then narrow down further. ... Structure the course with what you have finalized. ... Plan your content types.

How do you create a course module?

Here are our recommended steps to follow when building effective training modules:Step 1: Establish your training objectives. ... Step 2: Define your audience. ... Step 3: Decide on the right content format. ... Step 4: Create your training module template. ... Step 5: Test and test again. ... Step 6: Upload and launch your training module.

How do you create a self-directed learning module?

Responsibilities in the four-step processSelf-assess your readiness to learn.Define your learning goals and develop a learning contract.Monitor your learning process.Take initiative for all stages of the learning process — be self-motivated.Re-evaluate and alter goals as required during your unit of study.More items...

What are some examples of self-directed learning?

Without taking a formal course, you have a variety of options: read a book, download a recipe, or ask someone. And within hours or a few weeks, you have figured it out — pretty much all on your own. These are all examples of self-learning. Whatever it was, you had an intrinsic motivation driving your learning process.

What is a self-paced online course?

Self-Paced Online (SPO) classes are entirely online courses that allow students to set their schedule and deadlines as they move through the content at their own pace. Students log into Canvas to view their course syllabus and instructions on how to complete lessons, assignments, and exams.

1. Teachable

The most important tool in your arsenal will be an online course platform. You’ll need it to host your course and build your online school website.

2. Screencast-O-Matic

To make screencast videos for your course, you’ll need screen recording software, and the one I recommend is Screencast-O-Matic.

3. Google Docs

Google Docs is the most popular tool for writing text content for any purpose, and online courses are no exception. So you’ll be using it pretty extensively while creating your online course.

6. Canva

Canva will be one of the most important tools in your arsenal as an online course creator.

7. Unsplash

Stock photos can be an important part of your course creation process. You may want to add stock photos to your course lessons, presentation slides, course videos, or even use them to design your Canva graphics.

8. TestMoz

Although Teachable allows you to create quizzes to evaluate students, it offers only the basic features on the free plan.

9. Zoom

Creating blended learning experiences by introducing live sessions in your course is a great way to boost learner engagement.

How to create an online course?

What does that mean? It means combining a concept with actions and results—think class topics or homework assignments—then, offering all of it in a community of fellow students or members.

Why are people motivated to take online courses?

People are motivated by transformation and they are willing to pay for it when it comes in the form of an online course (delivered by the right instructor, as you’ll see in the next point). Therefore, it’s not just the topic or content of your online course that matters. It’s how that topic or content attracts the most motivated people to it.

What is an ideal member?

Your ideal member is the person who most needs your online course topic taught by you. They are motivated by what the topic will help them achieve and the way that your story makes it feel accessible and doable for them to achieve it.

Why do you need a community component in an online course?

That’s a huge missed opportunity: Establishing a community component alongside your online course gives your course members the opportunity to build relationships with each other, navigate challenges together, and get that much closer to your goals. And in the end, it spurs the growth of your business too, since your course graduates won’t be able to stop raving about their experience to everyone who will listen.

How many people do you need to start a Mighty Network?

What’s different about a Mighty Network? You only need 10 people to get started.

Can you learn by watching videos?

While this may not feel like much of a difference—aren’t teaching and learning opposite sides of the same coin?—people don’t actually learn by just watching your beautifully produced videos or reading your articles or posts. That might be what you teach, but it’s not necessarily how someone learns.

Do you need to be an expert to create online courses?

That’s right. You don’t need to be an expert to create online learning courses.

Our recommended tech stack

These are the course creation tools we use to run ClickMinded, our online course business which has over 30k students and has generated more than $2m in revenue.

Learning management systems (LMS)

Use an LMS to host your course (video, text, downloadables, quizzes, etc) and manage student access. Some of these also include built-in checkout and billing features.

Content management systems (CMS)

Use a CMS to create your "marketing site". This is where all your sales pages, and blog will live.

Checkout software

Create checkout funnels and manage affiliate programs. Use this if you need more than the checkout features included with your LMS.

Email service providers (ESP)

To use as a customer-relationship management tool (CRM) and to send automated email marketing campaigns.

Other online course creation tools and resources

Just some of our favorite tools that we couldn't fit into any of the other categories.

Course marketplaces

We actually recommend against hosting your course in a marketplace — we’ve explained why it’s usually a bad deal for course creators who want to build a sustainable business. If you’re still interested in checking them out, here are some of the most important ones.

What are some assessment tools that can help students learn?

Surveys, polls, quizzes, and other assessment tools can help you ensure student learning during your course. Great options for getting started include:

What to do before moving into development steps?

Before moving into development steps, ensure your SMEs or other company stakeholders have approved the content.

Is DIYing your own eLearning course worth it?

For some, DIYing your own eLearning course won’t be worth the time or effort. Or, you may want an expert to jump on board to help you create a large-scale strategy or pick up certain development tasks. At EdgePoint Learning, we know that creating effective and remarkable eLearning programs takes work. We offer a variety of options to help you with your development tasks, including:

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Choosing An LMS

  • The most important tool you will need is an online course platform or a learning management system. An LMS is an essential tool to host and sell your online courses, you will need to choose the right one to grow your elearning business. You will need an LMS which is: 1. Able to host online courses 2. Highly customizable 3. Scalable to your needs 4....
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authoring Tools

  • Instructional designers know the elearning course creation tools as authoring tools. They are software to combine different elearning materials into a course package. Instructors can customize the learning experience to suit their specific needs, teaching style, or course requirements. Authoring tools are used to provide high-quality courses that can be uploaded into your preferred LMS for hosting. The usual format is a SCORM, HTML5 or TIN CAN file. …
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Educational Content Editing Tools – Video & Graphics

  • 3Free Stock Images
    There is a range of websites that offer free stock photosand this is an additional help to every online instructor who wants to use business and professionally-looking photos on their online school. Stock images can be used in your school and when they are free to use or editing means that they don’t have any copyright restrictions or are …
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The Best Video Recording & Editing Tools

  • A list that you need to keep with you at all times and especially when creating a new video course, is the video recording and editing toolsresource. This list points you out to a wide range of video production and editing tools and equipment that are helpful for you to use. Depending on the educational videos you are creating, you will either need a professional video editing tool or a screencast creation toolif you are presenting your screen. Here …
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Webinar Software For Live Training

  • Many instructors have chosen to use webinarsas part of their online training and have not regretted doing so. Why should they consider that creating webinars offers valued and useful content and helps them work with their students better? Webinars can also be reused and offered as on-demand training with little to no editing. If you want to create your own webinars, you might want to use the following tools:
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Marketing & Sales Tools to Grow Your E-Learning Business

  • Operating an elearning business requires a lot of work in marketing & sales. Having the right tools to sell your online coursesis essential. You will need to monitor your visitors, send emails, collect leads, run campaigns, and manage your customers. Here are some of the tools that will help you grow your business:
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Productivity Tools & Other

  • To keep up with your online business efforts, you will probably use a number of tools and organizational appsto manage your work, documents, and other files. Here are some of the most popular tools you can choose from:
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Zapier – Connect Your Favourite Tools

  • Zapier gives you the ability to link it with more than 1000 apps you use every day to automate tasks and save valuable time. With Zapier, you can automate tasks such as course enrollments, syncing leads with your favorite mailing application or one of the top CRM software, sending coupons, recording sales in your accounting software. When linked with LearnWorlds you create Zaps that can automate your repetitive workflows and take c…
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Resources

  • Lastly, we wanted to leave you with some of our own resources to help you while creating and selling your courses. We have been creating content for edupreneurs for a while, and we have some sweet resources you shouldn’t miss:
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