eLEARNING: Create a Course with Impact

by Alex Genadinik

Given the powerful eLearning tools available today (Adobe Captivate, Articulate Storyline, and TechSmith Camtasia to name just a few of your options), it's easier than ever to create eLearning. What’s not so easy is creating a course that will have a positive impact on your learners and, if you’re making your content available commercially, make money for you.

 

For an asynchronous course to have both impact and sell well, you should ensure the following:

• Your course has clear, achievable learner goals
• Your course has good videos and high quality audio
• The eCommerce page where your learners will purchase/take the course is easy to use and provides a positive learner experience
• You are marketing your course (if you just throw your course up on a Learning Management System or web server, it's not likely that anyone will actually find it)

While there are additional aspects that go into the creation of a quality eLearning course, let’s focus on the learner and what is most important to them.

 

While some people take online courses to improve at their hobbies or explore interests, most eLearning students take courses for practical purposes. Those practical purposes range from acquiring skills to getting a job, switching careers, growing faster at a current career, starting or growing a business, or making side income. 

 

When planning a course, you should take the learner’s career or business goals into account by planning to create a course that helps them with a specific skill or set of skills that they can put to practical use. That means staying away from too much theory and aiming for the course to be practically applicable.

 

That will not only help your students get the most out of the course, but it will also help your marketing. For instance, when you begin to promote your course, you will immediately have a compelling headline for it. If the premise of your course is compelling, it will naturally attract students. Conversely, if the premise is bland, then not only will the course likely be mediocre in terms of helping your learners, but it will also be unlikely to sell very well.

 

For example, I recently created an eLearning course that helps people sell products on eBay (the course is available on AliExpress). Whether you agree that selling stuff on eBay is great business model or not, such a strong premise for a course has made it compelling to many people, and the course is selling far beyond my expectations. (If you are interested in this course or any of my other courses, here is a link to several Udemy course discounts. The courses include business, marketing, entrepreneurship, and some technical courses.)

 

If you keep the words “impact and learner benefits” in mind when planning your next eLearning course, you will go a long-way toward ensuring a successful course (for both the learner and for you).

 

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Alex Genadinik is a successful entrepreneur and a prolific Udemy instructor (he's created more than 120 courses) teaching business, marketing and entrepreneurship. Alex is also a bestselling author on Amazon.com. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from San Jose State University.