Over the last few years, I’ve taken over 50 online courses, so by now I have a good idea of what works well and what leaves me cold.
Of course, learners have different preferences in learning styles. What works for one might not work for another. So how do you make a course that everyone will like?
If you’re on a budget or have time constraints, you may be tempted to take the easy option and keep repeating the method you prefer. Often, repurposing a webinar or some existing video and blog content can be the smart thing to do. But at the same time, you want to deliver value to your students. Nobody likes to feel like they’ve been sold a shoddy product by someone just out to make a quick buck.
Here are 5 easy ways to make your course feel more high-end.
1. Use graphics
I’m thinking of a couple of courses I recently took. One was based around audio recordings from a webinar. Each module was literally just a play button for the audio recording, and a download button.
Another was quite dense and detailed written text. There was a lot of content in every module, but the only thing to break it up was red or green coloured outlines around some paragraphs.
In both of those courses, it would be so easy to add a branded header graphic at the top of each page. If you’re incredibly short of time, you could use the same template for every single graphic, just changing the title for each page. If you have a bit more time, you could swap around your brand colours to make the templates look more tailored. For top marks, you could include a relevant stock photo in each graphic.
Graphics like that make a page feel more pulled-together and professional. For a minimal effort, you give students more visual interest and a much better impression when they arrive on each course page.
2. Add handouts
However you’re providing your course content, think about putting the main points into handouts.
Still thinking about the audio recording course I recently did, the first module went through a list of 15 key questions to answer. As a student, if I wanted to remember those questions or work on them after listening to the module, my only option was to write them down or type them up while listening.
In no more than 15 minutes, you could create a branded document in Word or Google Docs, add key information from your module, and upload the document as a PDF for students to view or print. For top marks, you could spend another 15 minutes making the handout a fillable PDF.
Handouts greatly increase student engagement. Students who get distracted when listening to materials can use the handout while listening to help them focus. Students who miss a point while listening can pick it up from the handouts. Students can reread the handout in their own time as a refresher, or to work on course content.
All these examples make it more likely that students will understand, relate to and recommend your course. Who doesn’t want that?
3. Use more than one modality
Ideally, courses should have a written and an audio element, to make them more accessible. If you feel like you can’t afford that for now, at least switch up your modalities a minimal amount to reach people with different learning preferences.
If your course content is all audio or video, using handouts as detailed above will help some students. You could also add some text below your audio or video: learning objectives, key takeaways, even just the topic of the module. Top marks if you provide video captions and a transcript of your audio.
If your course content is all text, look for areas where you could add audio or video content. Many modules naturally have an introductory and/or a summary unit, both great places to add video. You can increase your know, like and trust factor by showing your lovely face to your students! Or if you’re not in a video-friendly space, recording a voiceover with a slide using a screenshare recorder like Loom will do.
4. Check your work
Particularly if your course is text-heavy, give yourself at least 24 hours before writing and publishing anything. If you check it any sooner, you’ll probably still read what you meant to say, even if that doesn’t match what’s on the page.
Read your text from start to finish once, slowly. Ideally, read it out loud as well, to identify bits that don’t quite sound right.
If in doubt, use a tool like Grammarly to double-check your grammar and spelling.
Learners can generally be split into three groups:
- They don’t realise you’ve made any typos, spelling or grammar mistakes.
- They notice but don’t care or feel sympathetic.
- They notice and think you don’t care about your product.
You won’t know in advance what group your learners fall into. So it makes sense to polish your work as much as possible before releasing it into the wild.
5. Edit audio/video content
If you’re repurposing an existing webinar or audio recording, see if there are any places you can trim it to make it feel more professional.
Did you spend 2 minutes at the beginning of the webinar saying “Add your name and where you’re from in the chatbox”, and then reading out people’s names and locations? That doesn’t need to be in your course.
Did you spend 30 seconds in the middle, clicking on the wrong page while sharing your screen and then apologising while you looked for the right one? Or repeating something because of a technical difficulty? That doesn’t need to be in your course.
Did you spend a minute at the end, thanking everyone for joining you live and telling them about the next webinar you’re doing? That doesn’t need to be in your course.
Editing out elements that were only relevant when your webinar was live, gives students an impression that your course is custom-made material.
Want an example of courses that feel high-end?
Have you ever done one of Ramit Sethi’s courses? Here’s a screenshot from Success Triggers.
- Video content
- Explanatory text below the video (highlights the key learning points and gives visual learners something to focus on while listening to the video)
- Transcript of the video which you can download (good for accessibility)
- Audio of the video which you can download (good for flexible learning)
The course content can be accessed in several different ways, giving learners lots of choice in how they go through the course.
Could it be improved? There’s always room for improvement, right? Captions on the video would also help accessibility (although since the video is just Ramit talking, learners are not missing specific visual content if they read the transcript instead of watching).
The study questions on the page could also be in a downloadable handout, so learners could work on them at other times and be able to write or type their responses. But overall, courses like this are ticking a lot of boxes.
OK, you might not have Ramit’s budget or team, so maybe you just can’t spend a lot of time and money on your course. But whatever you’re teaching, of course you want your course to feel high-end. You want students to love your materials, give you a great review and recommend you to others.
Maybe you think “As long as my content is good, what does it matter how I present it?”. Yes, if what you’re teaching is great, a good percentage of your students will take some value from it. But why miss out on a higher percentage, if a small amount of time and effort can help more students to absorb your content?
Try these five easy ways today, and let me know how your students respond.
Photo by Artem Sapegin on Unsplash