Coaching You to Online Course Success

Tim Cooper

Jan 10 2016

In the first episode for 2016 I'm going to cover some questions that I have received over the last couple of weeks relating to topic selection, online course navigation and course structure and organisation.

Topic Selection

Over the final few days of 2015, something really weird happened. The downloads for Episode 3 - Getting Started: Topic Selection went through the roof, taking the episode to 2nd spot for the year.

This sent a very clear message that this was indeed a topic of interest, and I can assure you, you got my attention.

There is more to topic selection than science. It isn't black and white. You have to consider a number of factors, use your intuition and gauge intangible factors.

In this episode, I'm going to share the audio from a video I posted on YouTube a little while back. It looks at topic selection from the student's emotional standpoint. How urgently they need to find a solution to the problem.

Course Navigation

Keeping navigation simple and straight forward is very important when it comes to setting out your lesson page structure. I use an OptimizePress Course template as a starting point and customise from there.

The layout is very clean and navigation is clearly identified. Users have the option of moving back and forth through the lessons in order or they can jump to any part of the course using the buttons and navigation panels provided.

Organising Content

This is a massive topic and probably one better suited to a course all by itself. I use mind mapping software (MindMeister) to simply enter all the information I wish to share in the course. I start out just typing the points out as they come to me. I then look at the logical steps and move the points under the relevant steps. The steps become the course sections and the points become the lessons.

Need help getting started with the creation of your online course?

Pick up “Creating Successful Online Courses: Expert Interview Series” for just $27

If you have a question about any aspect of online course delivery, from concept to market, please feel free to send me an email at [email protected]. I'd love to hear from you and your question could very well feature in a future podcast.

I want to deliver relevant material so keep those emails rolling in.

Want More Help?

Are you looking at creating an online course but don't know where to start?

Have you started but got stuck along the way?

I'm here to help.

Contact me today to book your free 20 minute one-on-one Skype coaching session. The session will be laser focused, aimed at solving your problem and we won't try to sell you anything. Sounds good? Email me today at [email protected]

If you enjoyed this episode please like, share and comment below. Help get the news in the streets. If you could take a moment to pop over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review I would truly appreciate it.