The following is a guest post written by Mary Walton, blogger at Simple Grad and resume proofreader at Resume Writing Service. If you would like to submit a guest post, please contact us.
Online courses are becoming one of the most popular forms of learning for higher education students from around the world. This is why it’s such a great time to be starting out in the industry of developing online courses.
However, there is so much to consider when designing a higher education course, which is why many people may be put off by the idea. However, if this is something that appeals to you, fret no more. Here’s a 12-step guide on how to start, write and create your very first online course.
#1 – Choose Your Topic
Of course, the very first step you need to take it deciding what your course is going to be about. Thankfully, you can choose basically anything you care to name or that you’re interested in.
However, you also need to find a balance by making sure there’s a market for the topic that you’re going to be working on. Make sure this is a topic you understand well.
#2 – Decide on a Platform
Next, you’ll want to start thinking about where you’re going to host your online course since this will dictate how you’re going to design your course. There are many different platforms out there, Udemy being one of the most popular, but you could even host on YouTube or your own website if you choose.
#3 – Start Planning Your Course
When you’ve chosen your platform, it’s time to start thinking about the actual content of your course. Start by planning the format and structure of your course. In short, you can get a piece of paper and write an introduction, and then start to list out all the topics and themes you want to cover in your course.
#4 – Write Your Course
Once you’ve listed and organised all the subjects and themes that you’re going to cover, it’s time to actually start writing your course. This is the exciting part, and you’ll have true creative freedom with how you present yourself and the information for your course.
#5 – Edit Your Course Content
After you’ve finished writing your course, it’s recommended that you take a break from it for several days. This is so you can clear your mind before returning to the editing process.
The editing process is where you’ll go through your content, making sure everything is correct and factual. You’ll also want to edit your content to make sure that it reads well and flows professionally.
#6 – Proofread Your Course Content
When you’re happy that you’ve finished the editing process, it’s time to move onto proofreading. This means going through your content while looking for spelling mistakes, typos, poor grammar, misplaced punctuation and more.
This part of the process is all about making sure that your content is perfect for the reader and the highest possible quality. When it comes to the writing, editing and proofreading stages, you can guarantee quality by using some online tools to help;
- Via Writing / State of Writing: These are two websites full of writing guides you can use to improve your general writing skills.
- Paper Fellows / Academized: These are two professional proofreading tools, as recommended by the HuffingtonPost.
- Grammarix: This is a free online grammar checker to help you polish your content.
- UKWritings: An online writing community where you can meet writers and find leading writing tips, as suggested by Best British Essays in UK Writings review.
- My Writing Way: This is an online blog full of content you can use to answer all your writing-related questions.
- Let’s Go and Learn: A site dedicated to teaching you everything you need to know about grammar and punctuation.
#7 – Design & Add Extras
Once your course content is perfect and you’re happy with it, it’s time to start thinking about designing and adding the extras. This will include video content, downloadable worksheets, expert interviews and any other content you think will enhance your course and provide value to your readers.
#8 – Market Your Course
You could create an absolutely incredible course, perhaps the best in the world, but it won’t matter if no one is using it, hence why marketing is such an important aspect to consider. For maximum impact, create and host your own website, create a blog, start social media pages, build an email mailing list and contact your target audience.
#9 – Generate Feedback
As your course goes live and people starting enrolling in it, you’ll want to pay attention to how higher education students are responding to your course. This means asking them for feedback and advice on how to improve, what they found difficult and how you can tweak and improve your content so that it is the best it can be.
#10 – Consider Your Next Course
As students finish your course, the chances are that they are going to have questions about different subjects and different areas that you didn’t previously have time to cover. The more students engage in your course, the more likely you are to get a suitable average for which questions are popular. These are the questions you’ll want to think about answering in your next courses.
#11 – Expand On Your Course
Now that your course is in full flow and attracting users, you’ll want to start thinking about the next steps that you want to take.
“Are you going to start creating and designing your next course? Maybe you want to specialize your chosen topic and offer private tutoring sessions to students around the world? The choice is up to you,” shares Thomas Hardy, a course writer for Boomessays.
#12 – Keep Things Updated
This point obviously depends on the course topic that you’ve chosen, but things can get old or updated, such as facts, figures, definitions, statistics and other elements of your course. Make sure that you’re returning to your course, perhaps every six months, to make sure that your content is accurate and factual.
Author’s Bio:
Mary Walton is a blogger at Simple Grad, her website for college students. She works as a resume proofreader at Resume Writing Service.
Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Touro College.
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