If you haven’t known by now, the e-learning industry has become one of the most successful sectors in the market as of recently. That is not just a bold claim either as the industry has earned revenues up to $160 billion as of 2016 with a chance of reaching the quarter trillion mark before 2025.
With that amount of money going through the sector and the number of success stories in it, it would be understandable if you yourself want a piece of the action. But how do you make yourself successful here? Fortunately for you, there is no harm in copying what the best online courses did there to succeed and to do so, here are 5 tips that you should remember.
1. Go to Where You are the Most Compatible With
As a starting course creator, you might think that going to popular sites like www.Udemy.com and www.academyofmine.com is the best option as they tend to draw in a lot of potential customers and have a lot of tools to make your courses stand out. The truth of the matter, however, is that students do not actually do not mind which online course platform they head to so as long as your course is functional.
When picking a host to publish your courses at, you should consider whether or not your course is compatible with the tolls provided with the platform. For example, if you are designing a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course), then head on to platforms like www.coursera.org as the tools there are ideal for such a highly academic, college-level format. On the other hand, if you are offering short courses on technical solutions, then any of the popular online course platforms would do.
2. Be Specific as Possible
As far as topics covered go, the best online courses out there do not provide broad, sweeping solutions to equally broad, sweeping problems. They focus on one particular problem and then provide a handful of effective solutions to it. For example, a course that offers a guide on “How to Market Your Business Online” is not going to sell better than a course that offers tips on “How to Take the Best Picture” or “How to Mentally Prepare Yourself for Studying”.
Think of it this way: your students are looking for a specific solution to a problem since rarely do they encounter a problem that is quite broad that any general solution would apply to it. They want specifics in solving certain problems which means that your course should be able to identify such for them and lay out a clear path that they can take to reach a desired goal.
3. Diversify Your Content
There are a lot of types of content available for you to use for your online course right now and the best-selling courses uses most of them, if not all, in their programs. This does not mean that you should include all manner of content in your online course to make it interesting. Just make sure that you don’t stick to one content for too long or rely on it for the entire course. Diversifying the manner of which you present data can actually lead to better retention in your students.
For example, a course that effectively uses texts, charts, video, and audio, is more appealing to students than one that solely uses any of them. Also, you can add some Internet memes here and there to add levity to your content. Just make sure that you don’t force it if not applicable to the module.
4. KISS: Keep it Short and Simple
Believe it or not, the best-selling courses out there, even the highly technical ones, rarely use academic-sounding words in instruction. The goal here after all is to impart new information to your students in a manner that is easy to digest and retain in the brain. Try to design your course in such a way that it speaks at the level of your students’ comprehension and not down at them.
Also, try to stick to the shortest possible schedule in your modules. If everything within that portion of the course can be taught within an hour, by all means do so. By keeping your course as short and simple as possible, you can allow your students to get their money’s worth and apply their learnings in the soonest possible time.