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I recently created my first course, and it was a real challenge. The outlining part took me ages — and I want you to save your time and energy. So here’s a template you can use, based on my experience. It’s designed to help you create an engaging 30-minute-or-so course that will really bring value to your audience. Let’s get started.
Step 1: Sell a project not a course
What do you want to teach? What’s your theme?
Hint: you want your students to walk away with a tangible takeaway. A project rather than a mere “course.” For example, instead of teaching a French course, you could narrow it down to the “basics of French conversation.” That way, people know that after taking the course, they’ll be able to engage in a basic conversation. It’s less blurry than just “French basics.”
Think of the “class project” you would ask your students to complete at the end of the course. What would it be? In my case, it’s a Notion template overseeing all the areas of a content creator’s life.
I wanted to teach a course for content creators. My initial title, “Thrive as a Content Creator” was way too broad, so I narrowed it down to “Build a Powerful Tool to Manage Your Content Business.” That way, customers know that they will walk away with something tangible.
So, what project are you selling?
Step 2: What’s the impact?
Why this class project? What value does it bring your students? Why should they put time and energy into it?
As stated above, my students are meant to create a Notion template to help them manage their content business by the end of the course. This template is designed to help them optimize their results.
How is your project impacting your customers’ lives?
Step 3: What do you want to teach in this course?
Now that you have a destination (your project), it’s time to design the map that will guide your students there. Take a piece of paper, and jot down any ideas you think are worth integrating into the course. Don’t limit yourself. Have an anecdote you want to tell? An interesting fact you think is worth mentioning? Write them down.
As you can see, some of this stuff is completely unrelated to my topic. Try this exercise and keep only the ideas that are really relevant to completing your project.
Step 4: How do you get to your destination?
On another piece of paper, I want you to draw a map. On the left side of the sheet, write “INTRO” and on the right side, write your project name. Then, add all the necessary steps that your students need to take in order to get to the end. Make sure that these steps allow them to:
Understand the concept
See how they can use it to make their lives better
Engage
Let’s take a look at my map:
A course built based on this map would make sure customers understand how the project can enhance their lives and walk away with:
a clear understanding of their business
clear goals to work toward
actionable productivity tips to speed up the process
a tool that will help them manage their business in an effective way
In short, a student goes from understanding her business to creating a handy tool to manage it flawlessly.
Your turn: draw your map.
Step 5: Engage, engage, engage
Do you know what’s missing on the map? Opportunities for students to engage with the course. In other terms, opportunities to practice. Giving a chance to your students to practice is essential to keep them engaged because it gives them value. It reminds them why they bought it in the first place.
Based on my map, here are some exercises I could add to the course to make it more engaging and valuable:
Exercise 1: Fill out your business model canvas
Exercise 2: Set 3 SMART goals
Exercise 3: Try one productivity technique
Come up with 3–4 exercises you can add to your course as well.
Step 6: Final touches
Each “step” on your map should correspond to a video of approximately 5–8 minutes (apart from the introduction which shouldn’t take longer than 2 minutes).
Now that you have the topic of each video, write a short script or list bullet points of what you want to say — it’s up to you and how comfortable you are in front of the camera.
Record yourself and edit your course with video editing software.
Congratulations, you’re done!
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