Ever wish you could sit down with a super-accomplished person and ask, “What does it take to break into your industry? What’s it like to be you? And when you’re looking to hire someone, what does it take to impress you?”
With Pick My Brain, that’s exactly what we do. Enjoy this week’s installment featuring author, e-course creator and workshop leader Andrea Scher.
Question:
You create highly-successful online courses (called “e-courses”) on topics like goal-setting, creativity and living courageously.
If I want to create an online course, what’s the very first thing I should do?
Answer:
First, hooray for you!
E-courses are a great way to take what you know about a particular topic (say, photography, writing poetry, or how to cook healthy meals on a college-student budget) and package all of that knowledge into a class that you can sell + teach online, at an affordable price.
With an e-book, people just read your ideas on a digital page. But with an e-course, you get to be a “teacher” and play a more dynamic role in your students’ learning experience.
You can create a forum where fellow students can meet one another, chime in to offer feedback, give congratulations, issue challenges … even dole out prizes!
It’s a beautiful way to distill your teachings into something really vibrant and alive.
First thing to do? This is a big question. When my clients ask me this question, we usually begin with the “helicopter perspective” of the e-course.
We start with questions like:
What is the journey you want to take people on?
What do you want them to come away with?
What will they be learning?
Once we understand what the big picture looks like, we can focus on the “how.”
How will you take them there?
Knowing “how” will help you create your table of contents, or “curriculum” — the exact steps that you want people to take as they move through the e-course.
And once you’ve done that?
I’m also a big fan of beta-testing your e-course before you release it to the world. Start by inviting a small group of friends or colleagues to take your e-course, first.
A few weeks in, you can check in and ask them questions like this:
What have you learned so far?
Is the pace too fast? Too slow? Or just right?
Do you have any requests for me?
They’ll give you valuable feedback that will help make your e-course even better!
Remember this: The beauty of online courses is that nothing is set in stone — or print. You can change things up right in the middle of class! You can take sections out, add new material, or decide to throw an in-person party for fellow students to meet, face-to-face … just for the heck of it.
Everyone has something to teach — whether you’re 10 years old or 100.
And thanks to all of the new technology out there, everyone (with Internet access!) can teach online, reaching dozens … hundreds … or potentially thousands of students.
What a world, right?
Excited to create your first e-course? Check out these neat resources: CourseCraft, Ruzuku and this article on how to make money with an e-course. And don’t miss this post on how to market + promote your new e-course.
Happy teaching!
Images: In Her Image Photography