Are you sitting
on a gold mine of knowledge, ready to shape it into an online course?
But you're feeling like you're about to climb Mount Everest without a map?
Well, you're not the only one. Here's the twist.
Creating an online course can be more like a fun filled trek than a daunting climb,
especially when you've got the right gear and a trusty guide.
So buckle up and join us on this adventure when we turn the complex into simple
and the overwhelming into doable.
I'm Aaron Morin from Thinkific, the best tool
to help you start and grow your online education business.
And in this video, we'll be walking you through the process
of creating your online course lessons and enhancing your student experience.
Using Thinkific.
We’ll delve into the best practices, and then we'll get into a step
by step tutorial on how to leverage thinking to your advantage.
Let's kick things off with the best practices
When you're putting your course together, you have two main strategies to consider:
pre-selling and selling your course as an MVP.
Pre-selling is a fantastic strategy if you want to test your course idea
before investing a lot of time and effort into building out the full course.
We're doing a whole video
dedicated to this strategy, so hit subscribe so you don't miss it.
On the other hand, selling your course as an MVP
is a great option if you're confident about your course’s demand
and you want to have your course completed before your launch.
This approach involves creating a leaner course
that you can refine and expand in future iterations.
Remember, your first course doesn't have to be perfect.
It just needs to deliver value to your students.
Think about creating your course as an iterative process
rather than a set it and forget it exercise.
Now, when it comes to creating your lesson content, consider the format
that best suits your material and your audience.
Video lessons are really good for demonstrating techniques or providing
real life examples.
Text lessons work really well for technical or even straightforward
material.
And audio lessons are perfect for language courses
or if you prefer a more podcast style of teaching.
Make sure to use tools that you're already comfortable with to create your content.
If you're just getting started, there are many learning curves to get
slowed down by and adopting a new tool is a surefire way to get stuck in the mud.
That said, if you'd like some suggestions, we're always happy to recommend some.
You can check the link below for a list
of our favorite content creation equipment and software.
Just remember your lesson content should be engaging, informative,
and interactive.
Break down complex topics into digestible chunks.
Use visuals to aid understanding
and incorporate quizzes or assignments to help reinforce the learning.
Now that we've covered the best practices, let's dive into a Thinkific tutorial.
If you don't have a Thinkific account yet, you can get started for free
by going to Thinkific.com and signing up.
To create a new course on thinkific, start by going to manage learning products,
select courses, and then click on new course.
You'll be presented with a choice of course templates each
designed to cater to different learning experiences.
You can choose one that suits your needs or start with a blank course
and build it from scratch.
Once you've created your course, it's time to start adding content.
Thinkific offers a flexible and intuitive platform for you to add
individual lessons, or you can bulk import all your existing course material,
you can then drag and drop lessons into the order you wish.
You can add a variety of lesson types, including video,
text, PDF, audio lessons and others.
For example, if you're adding a video lesson, simply go to the curriculum
tab, click on Add Lesson under the relevant chapter.
Select video as your lesson type and upload your video.
Thinkific also
offers a free preview option on lessons which allows potential students
to view a portion of your course content before making the purchase.
This is a great way to entice potential students
and give them a taste of what they can expect from your course
On-lesson discussions are another great lesson option.
These discussions allow students to engage with each other and with you,
fostering a sense of community and enhancing the learning experience.
You can enable on-lesson discussions in the settings of each individual lesson.
In the Settings tab, you can adjust various
settings for your course, including the course name,
the URL, instructor, security and access preferences.
You can also customize your course image and description to make your course
more appealing to potential students on search and social.
The course player appearance section allows you to customize
the look of your course player to match your branding.
You can upload your logo, select the default theme of the player,
and even choose a primary color and font to ensure
a consistent and professional look across your courses.
Thinkific has a few different progress and completion options built in.
But the certificates feature allows you to award students
with a certificate of completion when they finish the course.
This not only provide students with a sense of achievement,
but also adds a sense of credibility to your course.
And you can customize your certificates to match your branding
and even include the student's name, and course completion date.
One of the powerful options
for your student experiences in Thinkific is the drip schedule.
Drip schedules allow you to release course content over time
rather than all at once.
This can be particularly useful if you want to guide your students
through a course at a specific pace, or if you're still working on parts
of your course and want to release them when they're ready.
You can set up a drip schedule by going to your drip schedule tab
in your core settings and specifying when each lesson should become
available after the student enrolls or by the course date.
Once you finish uploading content
and crafting your student experience, it's time to publish your course.
But remember, publishing is not the same as launching.
Publishing just means that you're making your course available
to be bought and taken when people find it.
It's important to
go through the entire customer and student journey yourself before publishing,
make any necessary changes, and maybe gather some feedback from beta testers.
And yes, your mom or your kids count as a beta tester here.
You can also check out Thinkific’s publishing checklist.
We'll link that down below too.
This handy checklist ensures that you haven't
missed anything important and that your course is ready to go live.
And there you have it.
Creating an online course does not have to be a daunting task.
With the right tools, the strategies and a bit of guidance,
you can create a course that not only imparts valuable knowledge,
but also provides an engaging and enjoying learning experience for your students.
Thanks for watching.
And if you found this video helpful, please give it a thumbs up and subscribe
to our channel for more in-depth tips and tutorials.
We'll see you in the next one.