Where to start when creating your first online course

A quick reference is a concise summary of information on a specific topic. It helps you quickly get the information you need without having to delve into details. Quick references can be used in a variety of fields, including education, business, and technology. These materials are useful for students, professionals, and the general public who want to quickly understand the basics of a subject. An effective brief should be clear, concise, and informative, allowing the reader to quickly grasp the main ideas and facts.

Tatyana Sukmanskaya is an expert in online education and develops courses at the Skolkovo School of Management. She founded her own school and accelerator for food startups, known as the "School of Gastronomic Business." Tatyana actively promotes the development of entrepreneurship in the gastronomy sector, offering unique training and support programs for aspiring startups.

Educational Project Team

Several specialists are involved in the development, promotion, and support of an educational course, each performing their own key tasks. The team typically has six essential roles.

Producer, also known as the project manager. This is the person who organizes all work processes, sets tasks, and is responsible for their implementation.
An expert is a holder of scientific or practical knowledge. For example, a biologist if you are teaching a biology course, or a chef if it is a culinary course.
A methodologist is a specialist who understands how the human brain perceives and assimilates information, how the learning process occurs at different ages, and is proficient in educational techniques and methodologies. A methodologist helps the expert structure their knowledge and experience and present it in a format that is convenient and understandable for students.
A marketer studies the market and audience for the future course and helps determine who exactly the educational product is being created for. Marketing research results can influence not only the positioning and promotion, but also the content of the course.
Designer — deals with visual design, helps "package" the course so that students can easily obtain information.
Technical support specialist — is responsible for the operation of the LMS platform and all necessary technical tools.

Course creation does not always require the participation of six specialists. On small projects, one person can often combine several roles, for example, a producer and a marketer. It is also possible that several specialists perform similar functions, distributing tasks among themselves. For example, several experts or methodologists can work on course development. This approach allows for the efficient use of resources and optimizes the process of creating educational content.

Course Concept

The concept is the main idea and a brief description of the product you are creating. To formulate the concept, it is useful to answer four key questions. These questions will help you better understand the essence of your product and its uniqueness in the market. A well-formulated concept contributes to more effective promotion and development of your business.

Who are we teaching?
Why should they learn?
What are we teaching?
What competitive advantages does the course offer?

The answers will form the basis for developing the content and structure of the course, and will also determine the strategy for its promotion.

This two-month blended educational program, aimed at preparing for public speaking, combines offline and online learning formats. Participants will have a unique opportunity to develop effective communication skills, learn to manage anxiety, and create persuasive presentations. The program includes theoretical classes, practical seminars, and individual training, allowing each participant to receive a personalized approach. The program also provides access to online resources where you can further study materials and practice skills at a convenient time. This is the ideal solution for those who want to speak confidently in front of an audience and achieve success in their professional careers.

Who do we teach? Students and schoolchildren, startup owners, speakers who present at conferences and other events.
Why do they study? To improve their academic performance, get investment, overcome shyness when speaking.
What do we teach? Rhetoric, stage presence, improvisation.
What competitive advantages does the course offer? During each lesson, students practice presenting in front of each other, and at the end of the course, they perform at the Olympic Stadium.

Target Audience

Target audience analysis begins with the question, "Who are we teaching?" After that, other important aspects should be considered, such as age group, educational level, interests, and needs of the students. It is also important to determine what goals they pursue by studying with us. Understanding these factors will help us create more targeted and effective educational content that meets our audience's needs and expectations. This, in turn, will increase engagement and learning outcomes.

What do we know about our audience?
What are their problems and interests?

Information about socio-demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, location, and income level, is key to the successful promotion of an educational product. This data is necessary for optimizing pricing and effectively targeting advertising. Understanding the target audience allows you to develop marketing strategies that best meet the needs and expectations of potential clients. This, in turn, helps increase the conversion and sales success of your educational offering.

First of all, it is necessary to understand the motivations for consumption: what exactly a person wants and what their needs are. Learning English can be relevant for both a student from the provinces and a retiree from the capital. Despite differences in socio-demographic characteristics, their motives for learning a language can be similar, for example, the desire to communicate while traveling or to expand their horizons. Understanding these motivations is key to developing effective English language teaching methods. Consumption motivations play a key role in course design. If your audience is interested in learning English for travel, you can integrate relevant materials into your course or even dedicate it entirely to this topic. Furthermore, elements based on consumption motivations should be used in promotional materials and on your landing page. This will help attract potential customers and increase conversions. Identifying the needs of your audience and adapting your content to these requests will allow you to create a more effective and in-demand product.

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Motivating adults to learn is an important task, since adult students often face various barriers to gaining new knowledge. First of all, it is necessary to understand that adults learn for different reasons than young people. They may seek professional growth, personal development, or simply to satisfy their curiosity. To successfully motivate adults, it is important to create a comfortable and supportive atmosphere.

One key factor is setting clear goals. Adult learners should understand why they need to study and what benefits it will bring. Using practical examples and real-life cases will help demonstrate how knowledge can be applied in life and at work.

It is also worth considering the individual preferences of learners. It is important for every adult learner to feel that their opinion is valued and that the curriculum is tailored to their interests and needs. A flexible class schedule and the ability to choose topics to study can significantly increase motivation.

Furthermore, creating a community of like-minded people can be a powerful motivator. Networking with other students, sharing experiences, and support from instructors contribute to deeper engagement in the learning process.

Finally, regular feedback and recognition of achievements play a crucial role in maintaining motivation. Adult learners need to see the results of their efforts and feel that their progress is noticed and valued. Therefore, to effectively motivate adults to learn, it's necessary to consider their needs and interests and provide support at every stage of the educational process.

To clearly represent students' tasks, benefits, and challenges, as well as the solutions we can offer them, it's helpful to use a special table. It's recommended to begin filling out the table from the right side, first analyzing the situation from the student's perspective and then developing the most appropriate responses to their needs. This approach allows us to better understand students' needs and offer them effective solutions.

An example of filling out a table for a course on public speaking. Infographics: Maya Malgina for Skillbox Media. Source: Tatyana Sukmanskaya

There are many effective methods for audience research. Using various approaches, you can gain valuable insights into the preferences, behavior, and needs of your target audience. Popular methods include surveys, interviews, focus groups, and social media analysis. Each of these solutions allows you to gain a deeper understanding of your audience and tailor your marketing strategies to improve customer engagement. Using a comprehensive approach can significantly improve business results through more precise targeting and the creation of relevant content.

CustDev, in-depth interviews. This is the most reliable way to deeply understand your target audience, but it is also time-consuming. For example, we have an idea: launch a three-week public speaking course and price it at 10,000 rubles. To test the demand for such a product, you need to survey 5-10 people who might be interested in it: have they studied online, do they have a problem that your course could solve, are they interested in the topic, and what is their income level. Based on the information received, you can decide whether to launch the course or explore a different concept. However, responses from a few people are not always enough to make a definitive decision, and surveying 50-100 people is a very resource-intensive procedure. You can read more about this audience research method in Robert Fitzpatrick's book "Ask Mom."
Search query analysis using Wordstat and Google Trends. The search engines Yandex and Google collect user query statistics. This data reflects the problems people search for online ("how to reinstall Windows," "how to tune a guitar"), as well as their interests ("ancient philosophy," "string theory"). You can use this to check whether your chosen topic will interest potential students.
Reports from educational companies. Many EdTech companies publish statistics or talk about their products on official websites, social media, and in media publications. With the help of such materials, you can assess how saturated the market is with educational products on the topic you are interested in and whether they are in demand.

Learning Structure

The structure of an educational course is directly linked to learning outcomes. These outcomes represent the knowledge and skills that students should acquire through completing assignments, lessons, courses, or educational programs. Effectively designing the learning process with a focus on learning outcomes promotes deeper assimilation of the material and improves the quality of education. Establishing clear learning outcomes allows both instructors and students to understand the learning goals and assess progress in acquiring the necessary competencies.

For a student to successfully complete a course, their path from start to finish must be clearly defined. It is important to consider what actions they should perform in each lesson, what exactly they should learn, and what results they should achieve. For example, one of the key outcomes of a public speaking course is the ability to confidently speak in front of a large audience. In the first lesson, the student will learn how to recognize filler words and how to effectively eliminate them. This approach will ensure focused and high-quality instruction, which will lead to significant improvement in public speaking skills.

Learning outcomes should be distinguished from learning objectives. Learning outcomes are determined by the needs and achievements of students, while objectives are formulated by the instructor. For example, the instructor might set the goal of explaining the concept of filler words to students, providing relevant exercises, and organizing practical training in class. This will help students better understand the material and develop the necessary skills.

Learning objectives and learning outcomes are key components of the educational process that are interrelated and influence each other. Learning objectives define what exactly students should achieve during the learning process. They serve as the basis for developing curricula and assessment methods.

Learning outcomes, in turn, represent the specific knowledge, skills, and competencies that students acquire by the end of a course or program. Effective learning objectives help clearly articulate expected outcomes, allowing both faculty and students to understand the learning process. Aligning learning objectives and outcomes creates a holistic approach to the educational process, ensuring high learning effectiveness and facilitating the achievement of set objectives. Thus, the correct formulation and implementation of learning objectives directly impacts the quality of learning outcomes, which, in turn, determines the success of the educational process. When designing educational experiences, it is important to focus on student outcomes. Bloom's Taxonomy, a framework for human perception and information processing, is useful in this context. This methodology was developed by a group of researchers from the University of Chicago led by educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom. Taxonomy helps to structure educational goals and objectives, which contributes to more effective learning and the achievement of high results.

Six levels of educational goals according to B. Bloom - the 2001 version. In the classic version of 1956, the levels were arranged as follows: knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation. Infographics: Evgeny Rybkin / Skillbox Media

The hierarchy of thought processes allows you to clearly define the learning outcomes to be achieved at each stage of information acquisition. For any course, these outcomes can be expressed through key verbs that reflect the level of understanding and mastery of the material.

The effectiveness of learning depends on the stage and the goals set. It's important to select the right materials and assignments for students in each lesson. For a clear overview of the course structure, we recommend using an educational product map. This is a table that details the required resources, objectives, and expected outcomes for each educational unit, module, or lesson. This approach will allow us to organize the learning process more systematically and purposefully, which will improve the level of material acquisition and student satisfaction.

learning objective ("to teach...", "to familiarize...", "to reinforce...");
learning outcomes (what the student will learn and what he will acquire);
block/lesson/module topic (detailing for individual blocks of learning);
format of communication with students (synchronous, when students all study together with the teacher, or asynchronous, which involves independent work at a time convenient for the student);
knowledge assessment formats (test, quiz, project defense).

Rework the text, maintaining the main topic and avoiding adding unnecessary information. Optimize the content for SEO, increasing the volume of text if necessary. Do not use emojis or unnecessary symbols. Eliminate section numbers and symbols.

Reading is an important aspect of personal development and broadening horizons. It not only enriches knowledge but also helps improve critical thinking skills. In a world where information is abundant, choosing quality sources is key. Read books, articles, and research to deepen your knowledge in areas of interest to you. This will help you not only in your professional life but also in your personal life, opening up new horizons and opportunities.

A student journey map is a visual tool that helps track and plan the educational process. It is a diagram that displays the stages of learning, key skills, and student achievements. Creating a student journey map involves setting goals, selecting the necessary courses and resources, and planning intermediate outcomes.

To create a student journey map, start by defining your educational goals. Determine what skills you need to develop and what knowledge you need to acquire. Then, create a list of courses, activities, and resources that will help you achieve your goals. It is important to include intermediate stages and outcomes in the map to track your progress.

Using a student journey map not only helps you organize your learning process but also increases motivation. It helps you visualize your achievements and adjust your plans promptly if necessary. Thus, a student journey map becomes an essential tool for successfully managing an educational career.

Project Business Plan

Once you've determined the concept, target audience, and structure of your course, you can move on to budgeting and producing the educational product. At this stage, it's important to factor in all potential expenses, including content development, technological support, and marketing. Careful budget planning will help avoid unexpected costs and ensure the successful marketing of your course.

It's important to consider that in addition to production costs for copywriting and video recording, as well as staff salaries and expert fees, total costs typically include promotion costs, fees for using technical platforms and tools, and space rental if your course offers both online and offline formats. All of these aspects significantly impact the overall project budget and its success. Proper budgeting will help ensure effective promotion and high-quality distribution of educational content.

Revenue is generated primarily through sales and advertising integrations.

Creating an online course requires considering several factors that influence its development timeline. First, the volume and complexity of the content to be prepared is an important aspect. The more materials required, the longer the process of creating and structuring them. Second, it's important to consider the level of training of the team working on the course. Experienced specialists will be able to complete tasks more quickly. Furthermore, the availability of the necessary technologies and platforms for online learning should be considered, which can also impact the timeframe. In conclusion, the timeframe for creating an online course can vary depending on the unique characteristics of the project and its goals.

The composition of the team (a fully equipped team will complete the task faster than a couple of people performing multiple roles);
The expert's availability;
The production specifics (a simple course in the format of a chatbot in Telegram can be created much faster than a course combining different formats, platforms, tools, and so on).

During the launch phase, it is important to minimize resource expenditure to avoid a long wait for return on investment. In some cases, the course may not gain popularity, and you risk wasting money and time. Create a simple landing page using a free builder and conduct webinars instead of professionally recorded videos. This will help you determine the audience's real interest in the topic before investing in course improvements. This approach will allow you to use your resources more efficiently and increase your chances of a successful launch.