How to create online course content

So it’s all well and good having an idea for a course and choosing a platform that suits you but how do you create online course content?

This is an area course creators find really difficult as they have a general idea but then worry they are not going to have enough content to turn that idea into a course or they have so much content they don’t know how to break it down.

How to create online courses content the simple way!

Ok, so what you need is a simple way to plan this all out. First of all grab a piece of paper, turn it landscape and write your course title at the top of the page.

Stuck with a course title?

It doesn’t need to be fancy or full of fluff it just needs to do what it says on the tin. So for example, my main course is 60 steps to website success and it includes 60 steps to a successful website. There are no awards for names and the more you over think it and try and come up with. aclever name you could be spending time making your actual course more amazing and helpful to students. It will be your sales page and course content that will encourage people to part with their hard earned cash!

Underneath write the aim of the course, so the outcome they would achieve once they complete the course. Word it as:

By the end of this course the user will achieve xyz.

People like results and it’s the outcome that will also help sell your course (and help you with your course title. ifyou are still stuck).

Now use the rest of the page to brainstorm. Write down any content you already have, topics you would like to cover, questions you may have about what potential students might like to learn, things a student would need to know to achieve the outcome, methods in which this would be taught (text, infographics, PDFs, audio, video or a mixture) and so on.

Write down everything you can think of, including whether they will just achieve the outcome at the end of it is a less tanglible outcome will they need to submit an assessment or complete a quiz to show their newly earned knowledge.

Once you have done this grab another piece of paper and write Welcome Intro at the top. Now look at your first piece of paper and use coloured highlighters to highlight certain themes. So for example, in my course we cover WordPress, Planning, Mailerlite etc. Write down these themes underneath welcome intro and then any further sub themes underneath. Now number the themes as to which needs to be taught first, second third etc.

You now have your course plan!

These themeand sub themes will make up your lessons and topics.

OK, so it will need a bit more work to tidy it up and you may realise there are some holes that you need to fill in that are missing but literally this is all I had when I first started my course. A title and 8 themes.

I ran my first course live so I just picked. a topic a week and taught it. But if you are pre recording your course, this is now where you can expand on each theme. Take a word doc for each theme/lesson/topic and give it a title, method of delivery and make notes on what you will cover.

And that’s your simple way how to create online course content!