5 things to do

All creators have spent years as students. But that doesn’t mean you’re an expert in front of the classroom in person or online.

Online course creators who net six or even seven figures have learned what goes into successful teaching, and it starts with a great course format. The right presentation encourages students to stay engaged, motivated to continue, and excited to recommend your course to friends and colleagues.

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall chatted with online course creators to find out what works. Here are five things they recommend you do:

1. Outline the course: The Tilt’s Marc Maxhimer, a professionally trained educator and former schoolteacher, says he develops a simple outline around a single question. Then, he details the takeaways or learning outcomes for the students.

Marc shares excerpts of the outline at the beginning of the course. He cites the learning outcomes to get students in the mindset to learn. Then, he wraps up the course by reiterating learning outcomes.

“Good teaching is telling them what you’re going to learn; tell them about it; help them through it, and then remind them what they learned,” Marc says.

2. Avoid going long: Zoom fatigue is real – a fact backed up by this study from Stanford. Be mindful that hours online to take a single course can be a heavy lift for attendees.

Many course creators chunk their courses into more digestible spurts of learning. Simran Kaur, founder of Girls That Invest, runs her investing class over six weeks. She divides the two hours for each week’s content into multiple sessions of about 10 minutes or so each.

“That’s really my attention span,” she says. “Anything more than 20 minutes, I would definitely just chop into small videos.”

3. Let them attend whenever: Your students don’t live in the same time zone or have the same learning preferences. Some may watch your video at 1¼ speed. Others may need to replay parts to soak in your teachings. That’s why asynchronous delivery – no required time or place to participate – usually works best.

That doesn’t mean you must record it once and let it live forever. Simran publishes asynchronous courses but records them the same week because she ties her lessons to current events. “At a price point of $299, I didn’t want to give people a stock standard you make with some old videos,” she says.

4. Assign some work: Nobody loves busy work, but homework or activities can help reinforce the instruction.

Simran builds quizzes into the platform, and students answer questions based on the videos they just watched. Nothing is too in-depth, and they don’t have to print anything or get out a pen and paper.

“I found it really helpful to give people something that they can [use] … to measure their own learning and feel like they’re getting something out of it,” she says. “And watching it, knowing there is going to be a quiz at the end, I think you’re a little bit more likely to hold onto the information more.”

5. Help students to keep learning: Some participants are done learning when they finish the class. Others are hungry for more information or need opportunities to be active learners.

Some creators include digital files with information that goes beyond what students learn in the course. Content entrepreneur Christina Rozema, the founder of New Wellness Perspective, offers links to TED Talks, her ebooks, worksheets, and other sources so students in her classes of healthcare professionals can continue to lead healthier lives.

By doing these five things, you will create courses that always keep your audience top of mind, and that will pay off by keeping them engaged and wanting to return for more.

Supported by:

You finally decided to take the leap and transform your unique knowledge into a dynamic online course to share with the world. The issue? You’re the only one who knows about it.

Education is the top revenue driver within the creator economy—but to maximize success of your course, you’ll need to build some interest first.

Teachable is offering free expert marketing tips to help creator-educators like you generate necessary buzz before a course goes live.

Head to the Teachable blog to learn more and download an exclusive guide courtesy of Carole Bardasano of The Digital Buzz.

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5 things from the tilt

Join Joe and Team Lulu on the How to Create a Multi-Million-Dollar Business From Your Business Book webinar next week (Wednesday, February 21, 12 p.m.). Register here.
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Joe talks about how one key decision in the early days of his content creator model led to his success. (Content Inc.)
Joe and Robert discuss how marketers and creators can build a standalone content brand. (This Old Marketing)

5 things to know

Money

Ad picks: X will soon let advertisers pick the creators whose feeds will include their ads. It’s a move to entice advertisers who left to avoid having their ads appear next to pro-Nazi and other despicable content. [Tech Crunch]
Tilt Take: They can’t pick any creator, just those from X’s curated list. But on the plus side, those creators get a revenue share. But who knows how much?!
Not really surprising: A standard payment process would get cheers from creators who usually wait 30 to 90 days after their work is done to get paid by brands and often have to chase down payment. [Digiday]
Tilt Take: Deposits can help alleviate payment pinches, but a better strategy is to dedicate a portion of each check tobusiness savings. That way, you can pay the mortgage on time even if the brand hasn’t paid you on time.

Audiences

DM determination: Instagram lets people filter their DMs based on those who follow them. [Lindsey Gamble]
Tilt Take: Good idea to help creators prioritize their reply time.

Tech and Tools

Not just videos: YouTube launched a posts-only feed for mobile devices. Creators and audiences can now see the increasingly popular community posts without having to dig deep into the video stream. [Social Media Today]
Tilt Take: YouTube recognizes the value of community interaction in part to keep creators operating their businesses on the platform.

And Finally

Wonky press: WordPress’ user and developer survey finds 63% agree the platform is as good or better than other site builders. That’s a 5-percentage-point drop from the previous year. [Search Engine Journal]
Tilt Take: Original research – especially when not favorable to the organization commissioning it – can go a long way in establishing credibility and trust with audiences.

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