online course how

by Libby Schuppe 6 min read

  • Choose Your Course Topic. In all significant endeavors, you need to plan. Your plan for making an online course should begin with choosing the primary topic of focus.
  • Identify the Target Audience. After choosing the topic for your online course, it’s now time to identify your target audience. ...
  • Gather and Structure Your Knowledge. Once you’ve determined what you’re teaching, that you do have people to teach, and that you can teach them something useful, then you can get ...
  • Create an Online Course Outline. Creating an outline for your online course will not happen in one day - be consistent! So, you’ve got your knowledge all organized – fantastic!
  • Choose Your Online Course Software or Platform. Where are you going to put your stuff? On a website of your own? Or on an existing platform like Udemy?
  • Create the Course Content. Congratulations! With the structure out of the way, you’re all set to start building your online course!
  • Make Sure Your Content is Engaging. Engaging the students who enroll in your online course is absolutely crucial if you want to become successful in the e-learning industry.

Full Answer

What are the best online courses?

How Does Making An Online Course Work For A Creator? Pick Your Topic. Make sure you’re creating a course about something you enjoy and have a strong interest in. You’re... Decide On Your Learning Outcomes. You need to set the learning outcomes for your course. People won’t want to hand over... ...

What colleges offer online courses?

Learners can also explore tricks for specific topics, such as Stanford Online's How to Learn Math. The edX team also offers a course, How to Learn Online, to make learning in this unique educational platform easier. Columbia University's Learning Success course teaches metacognition strategies designed to help students succeed.

Where can I find free online courses?

Feb 23, 2021 · 2. Start with an outline of the material. With online courses, it will be more difficult to control the flow of information as students can chose how much time to spend in a given sitting and what order to go in. Because of this, it is especially important that your content is organized consistently and with purpose.

Which are the free online courses?

These popular free courses all have top ratings and can be completed in 8 hours or less, and are among Coursera's most completed courses in 2020. Take the course for free and decide whether or not you'll choose to pay for a certificate.

What is an online course?

An online course is a way to learn a new skill or gain some new knowledge from the comfort of your own home. They can either be paid or offered for free. Some are offered by educational institutions, while others are produced by experts in their field. The most important thing for an online course is for it to be engaging ...

What is the most common thing that online courses have in common?

At their most basic level, the thing they all share in common is that they teach knowledge or skills to the person taking them.

Why do companies use online training?

Many companies now use online training courses to get new hires up to speed instead of devoting staff resources to teaching them.

Why should online courses be finely tuned?

An online course needs to be finely tuned so that students are neither overwhelmed nor bored. Information should be broken down into lesson sizes that make sense. If there any projects in the course, enough time needs to be given to complete them to avoid making students anxious or stressed.

How often do you meet for hybrid classes?

This means that some or most of the learning is done through online courses. But you might meet once per week or month for an in-person class. Tests and exams are often conducted in person as well.

Why is online learning important?

Above all, an online course needs to be engaging so that the person learning enjoys the lessons and is able to retain the information and apply it in their own life. A great course is one where the student feels invested in the learning process and has a sense of community with fellow students and the teacher (s).

What is the importance of a course?

Above all else, a course needs to have high-quality content and deliver what it promises. Without this, you might step away from an online course not feeling like you received the knowledge and skills you expected to. Or it might just come across as bland and boring without any real insights.

What is the most important thing to have when creating an online course?

Perhaps the most important thing to have when creating an online course is some skill or knowledge that you can share with the world.#N# ​It could be literally anything - computer programming, painting, dog training, personal fitness, cooking, or any number of other skills.

How to search for courses that already exist?

Use Google ​to search for courses that already exist about your topic. You can also search on online course platforms like Udemy.

What is the difference between a blog and a video?

The difference is that blogging uses the written word instead of video format . Your aim while blogging is to use SEO (search engine optimization) to get your blogs to rank high for various Google searches, which will get people viewing your website and hopefully clicking through to your course. This is also called organic traffic.

What is a webinar?

A webinar is a live video presentation or conference where you deliver some useful information to people that relates to your course.

What platforms do you use to promote a course?

That means using various platforms at your disposal like Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and others .

What happens when you stop paying for a course?

When they stop making their monthly payments, they lose access to the course materials. It costs less to students up front, but over time could earn more money if students stay with the program.

Why do online courses use video?

Most online courses use video format because it's engaging ​and enables your students to hear and see you and you can illustrate your points visually.

What is the most important part of creating an online course?

One of the most important components of creating an online course is setting a learning goal for the course . However, there’s more to it. Every online course consists of various sections, and each individual section also needs to have a clear learning goal.

How to make an online course more engaging?

An easy way to make online courses more engaging is to stimulate the student visually. This means pictures and videos. The simplest method of using picture and videos in an online course would be constructing your online class more like a PowerPoint presentation:

What does it mean to get started teaching?

Which means you need to get your knowledge together.

How to keep students engaged in a course?

One way to keep your students engaged is to provide an early return on their investment. If a student feels they’ve learned something just from the first module alone, they’re a lot more likely to stick around. Nothing gets someone down faster than them feeling stupid or unproductive, which is very easy to do in a learning environment. Give them feedback, and an ongoing sense of accomplishment, and they’ll stick around.

What is the target audience of an online course?

The target audience is the group of people to whom you are writing your course.

Why is it important to break down your body of knowledge into individual pieces?

Remember our point about structuring knowledge? This is why. Breaking down your body of knowledge into individual, learnable pieces means that students can look back and see actual progress. It’s also the reason quizzes and tests are a useful tool: they help to measure learning and improvement.

What do you need to teach a class?

Ideally, you should have demonstrable expertise on the subject you are teaching. That could be either by education or practical knowledge on the subject. Having real qualifications to show to your students makes a big difference in establishing trustworthiness for yourself.

What should the topic of an online course be?

The topic for your online course should be either a subject that you’re already knowledgeable about or are willing to invest in learning thoroughly. Either way, you need to be passionate about the subject.

How to develop a curriculum for online classes?

Now is the time to develop the curriculum for your online course. On a piece of paper, write down a list of the different lessons you plan on teaching online. Within each lesson, break it down to the main topics you want to cover. Go in a logical order and try to make your ideas evolve naturally from one to the other , to ensure a smooth and frictionless learning process.

What does competition mean in online courses?

Having competition means that people find the topic relevant and helpful for them. It’s also a good idea to create content that can comfortably fit into an existing, tried-and-tested space.

What to do if you already have professional experience with your course topic?

If you already have professional experience with your course topic, it’s likely that you’ve put together content about it in the past. Have you ever written a blog post or created a webinar about the subject? Maybe you host a podcast or run a YouTube channel for your business in which you’ve discussed similar themes? If so, go back to these materials. Repurposing existing content into your online course will help get you started and save a lot of valuable time.

What to do after a video is filmed?

After you’ve filmed your content, invest some time editing your raw footage. There are many free video editing software available, from iMovie, to Lightworks, and the Wix Video Maker. Try to craft a nice rhythm to your video by breaking it up into digestible bites.

How to get your audience to work on a topic?

Ask a group of friends, as well as your existing audience, what they think of the subject you had in mind. Test it out by sharing polls or online forms for your audience to fill out. You can make a short tutorial first, and monitor its performance. Then, follow up on the tutorial on social media or via email marketing campaigns, asking your audience if this type of material is something they’re interested in seeing more of.

How to test your idea?

In order to test your idea, use a landing page builder to create a page for your upcoming online course. Although you haven’t created the course just yet, you already know what it’s going to be about. Include a concise description of the course explaining what people can expect to learn and add eye-catching imagery to further reflect the concept. Check out these fully customizable landing page templates to use as a starting point.

How to host an online course?

There are a few different routes you can go. Check out my guide on online course platforms for more info, but in essence it boils down to the following options: 1 On your own website: you can host your online course on your own WordPress website. You’ll need to choose a WordPress LMS plugin to do this, configure and install it, which is an entirely different lesson in itself! 2 Online course platforms: these websites allow you to upload your full course and provide the tech setup to market, sell and deliver your course. You usually pay a monthly fee and in return you have an easy to use system with all the administration including billing students, web hosting, and more taken care of. 3 Online course marketplaces: the other option is to host your course on a online course marketplace like Udemy. These marketplaces already have lots of students and take care of the marketing, but they also usually impose strict guideline on how much you charge for your course and how you interact with students.

How to launch a course?

The best way to launch your course is to build an audience of people who are interested in what the course teaches and offer them a discount and collect feedback from the first batch of students.

How does a video course work?

In essence, the way it works is that you create a set of videos on a specific topic, host these on an online course website and then sell the course to students who want to learn what you are teaching.

What is an introduction in a course?

Courses usually have an introduction that will give you an overview of the course and how you’re meant to work through it. Follow along, and it should all be quite intuitive.

What happens if you aren't clear about your course?

If you aren’t clear about your course’s learning outcomes, you risk ending up with unhappy and frustrated customers when the course didn’t meet their expectations. Don’t leave any grey areas. Explain exactly what your course is all about and what they’ll learn!

What to make sure you're creating a course about?

Make sure you’re creating a course about something you enjoy and have a strong interest in.

How long should a video be?

Try to make your content into bite-sized chunks that people can sit down and complete in just 5 – 10 minutes at a time. An hour long video can be overwhelming and lowers the chances of people actually completing it.

What is EdX course?

The edX platform offers courses designed in partnership with leaders and thinkers in the field of education, psychology, and neuroscience. Students take coursework on their own schedule and can meet and collaborate with learners from around the globe. Most courses are free to explore for personal development.

What do students learn in school?

Students learn study skills like chunking and interleaving, problem-solving, active reading and notetaking, and better memorization techniques. Even in challenging subjects, these tips provide clear strategies for the learning process.

Why is learning how to learn important?

Even if you're great at learning, there are always tricks to help make the process more efficient and more effective. Learning how to learn offers a path to better professional and personal development and less frustration along the way.

How to organize online courses?

Because of this, it is especially important that your content is organized consistently and with purpose. Divide the core subject matter into major units or modules and create further subdivisions that guide students through the content.

Why do people prefer online courses?

Many prefer online courses because of the convenience while others note challenges for interactive and engaged learning. Before you start designing your course, it’s important to recognize the differences that will make lesson plans originally designed for an in-person class an imperfect fit for your online class. By focusing on ease of use and emphasizing interactive activities, you can adapt those lesson plans more effectively or even design your own online lesson plan from scratch.

What are the accommodations for LMS?

Most LMS systems will offer accommodations like out-loud readers or text enlargement for the sight impaired. [12]

What is learning management system?

Understand your Learning Management System. A Learning Management System (LMS) is the software that you and your students will use to navigate the course. Each LMS has unique features and understanding their strengths and weaknesses will guide you in terms of what types of content you can or should use.

Why do you outline some rule of engagement in the syllabus?

You’ll want to outline some rule of engagement in the syllabus to ensure that everyone on the message board is respectful and refrains from personal attacks. It may help to stay away from questions that involve particularly hot button political issues unless they’re directly related to the content.

How to help students adjust to the pace of the course early on?

Try to be consistent with the amount of information, the amount of time required, and the number of assignments for each module. This will help students adjust to the pace of the course early on and prevent confusion.

How to get students to get out of a course?

Determine learning objectives. Decide what you want students to get out of the course as a whole and out of each individual unit. These outcomes should be explicitly stated to the students and guide your development of the content. Start with objectives for individual units.

What should students expect from online courses?

Online course assignments depend largely on the discipline. But in general, students should expect assignments similar to those in on-ground programs, such as research papers and proctored exams in addition to online-specific assignments such as responding to professor-posed questions in a discussion board.

What is online class?

Online classes are typically a mix of video recordings or live lectures supplemented with readings and assessments that students can complete on their own time. But nothing is typical about education in 2020 as the coronavirus has forced a sudden migration to online learning with little time to prepare for it.

How many hours does ASU take?

At Arizona State University 's online arm – ASU Online – students typically spend six hours a week on coursework for each credit they enroll in, Joe Chapman, director of student services at the school, wrote in a 2015 U.S. News blog post.

How many hours do you spend on online classes?

Many online learners say they spend 15 to 20 hours a week on coursework. That workload, of course, may vary between full-time and part-time students. A lighter course load likely means less study.

How many weeks are there in ASU online?

ASU Online courses, for instance, are structured as seven-and-a-half week sessions rather than 14-week semesters.

What is competency based online learning?

For instance, in competency-based online learning, students move quickly through the material they already know and may spend more time on unfamiliar topics. In some programs, students may also earn credits for past work or military experience. Some universities even offer a subscription-based model, which allows students to sign up for various self-paced classes over several months.

How does online class work?

Online classes are typically a mix of video recordings or live lectures supplemented with readings and assessments that students can complete on their own time.

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What Is An Online Course?

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There are many different forms that an online course can take. At their most basic level, the thing they all share in common is that they teach knowledge or skills to the person taking them. Online courses are delivered via a website and can be viewed on a mobile device, tablet, or web browser. This lets students convenientl…
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What Makes For A Great Online Course?

  • Online courses vary widely in quality. Some are obviously thrown together in an afternoon, or are super boring and don’t provide the education you expected. Others are on par with lessons you’d get at some of the world’s most prestigious universities, and some will even teach you things you can’t find in any conventional educational institution! Here’s what I think separates a great onlin…
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Types of Online Courses

  • There are tons of different kinds of online courses out there. For a broad overview of your options, check out my Ultimate Guide to Online Learning. Here are just some of the online course options you might come across.
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Related Questions

  • What is the difference between a synchronous and asynchronous online course?
    A: Synchronous means “at the same time.” A synchronous course is one where the class takes place at a specific time and all students watch it at once. Normally this takes the form of a livestream where a teacher is sharing information in real-time. This is useful for interaction and …
  • What is hybrid distance learning?
    A: Some schools and other institutions offer courses will have hybrid learning. This means that some or most of the learning is done through online courses. But you might meet once per week or month for an in-person class. Tests and exams are often conducted in person as well.
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