Three Steps to Create an Online Course That Works
Step 1: Get Your Journal
The Online Course Journal (OCJ) is fully-focused on helping you create more effective online courses, while streamlining your effort (work smarter, not harder, yes?).
OCJ arrives monthly to your inbox. It covers new strategies to improve participant success, more efficient development strategies for course creators, new technologies that may be worth exploring, and much more- all focused on helping you efficiently create more effective online courses.
Step 2: Learn the Model
The Online Course Model is a step-by-step, scientifically sound system to create a course that works. It's the system that I've developed and used with my own courses and client courses for nearly a decade.
It's a model that aims to make you a more confident course developer and anchor your course in the science of behavior change and learning. It also helps you bypass the common pitfalls and struggles that other course creation approaches bring. That means you'll create a quality course you can be proud of.
I'll walk you through the Model through a series of video lessons complemented by the course workbook. If you work through all the lessons, you'll end up with a robust course skeleton. That skeleton is the necessary tool to create a course that works. It will lead you smoothly into course production (filming, writing, audio) and will enable effective evaluation and later iteration of your course.
Step 3: Get Your Lab Tools
I've used them all. And spent too much money on most of them.
Please learn from my mistakes.
Lab Tools is a key resource to help you choose the most effective support tools as you move into course production, delivery, marketing, and sales. These tools are the ideal complement to your work in the Online Course Model.
Of COURSE it's a Blog About Online Courses...
Learn the science of how to create online courses that work.
Why You Need Science in Your Online Courses
If you want folks to do better, then it's a no-brainer (scientifically speaking). Simply put, your students will do better if your course has a theoretical base and integrates current best practices. Obvious bonus: When your students do better, your course will be easier to sell/share.
Nope. That's an amateur, short-term strategy to take money from people and burn bridges. That doesn't mean you can't charge premium prices. Professional course developers can charge whatever they feel is appropriate (and what the market allows for) because they can be more confident that the course foundation is strong and the desired outcomes are far more likely to occur.
Maybe. Some courses only need well-communicated information provided sequentially to succeed. These are courses that:
- Teach something that is all reward and no risk or extra effort for the participant. AND
- The participant believes the change is worth it. AND
- The participant believes they have the skills to make the change and the change requires no or very little additional skills beyond passively consuming the information.
For example, if you're teaching folks how to load a dishwasher more quickly and effectively for dish sparkle and reduced water use, then just give them the steps. No extra science needed.
However, if you're teaching something that requires a behavior change or shift in thinking that takes some work and/or convincing, then it's essential you understand how folks learn and how behavior change works when communicated through online courses (or hybrid models).
Course Science translates the research to help you confidently create a scientifically sound course. There are three areas of focus:
- Define clear and appropriate objectives for specific populations/customers.
- Create content delivery plans that incorporate behavior change and learning theories along with best practices to optimize adherence and engagement.
- Develop, collect, and interpret simple evaluation systems to enable meaningful course corrections (punny, but true).