9 Tips To Get Started With Your eLearning Course

9 Tips To Get Started With Your eLearning Course
Summary: In this article I will share 9 key tips on how to create an interesting eLearning course that engages and inspires your online learners.

How To Get Started With Your eLearning Course 

It’s time to start planning your next eLearning course. You’ve got the knowledge, and you are ready to share it. You can follow this guide to carry out the task with little stress, making sure you don’t leave anything out.

  1. Choose Your Topic.
    Of course, the first step in creating an eLearning course is to choose a specific subject for the course. What do your students need to know? At this stage, consider how you learned about the topic at hand, but how the information related to it may have changed since then. You can do a little research on available data while deciding exactly what you are going to teach.
  2. Create A Course Outline.
    You have your topic and first round of research complete. Now you can move on to coming up with an outline for the course. This outline can be used in the course creation as well as any syllabus you might create. Your outline is a means to organize the information in a way that makes it all come together as a perfect unit while highlighting your main objectives.
  3. Decide Which Programs To Use.
    There are several eLearning platforms; some are setup for simple integration with your choice of presentation software. Choose your platform based on ease of use with the programs you are most familiar with, or those that will be most convenient for you to learn. Authority tools, those that are established and trusted, provide the most ease for instructors and learners. If you are perplexed at this stage, take a look at different options and reach out to product representatives with any questions you might have.
  4. Know Your Learners.
    You should know as much as possible about your readers before creating your course. Who is your target audience? How can you best help them? Some ways to find out about them include profiling, as in market research and simply asking. If you can integrate a student introduction into your course, you will have a better understanding of what you should be teaching and how to best teach it. Student introductions also provide value to other readers. For example, if you have students with similar interests, you can team them up with one another for group projects.
  5. Come Up With An Engaging Introduction.
    The introduction to your course is going to be the piece that pulls the students in and gets their wheels turning. Take the time to make sure your intro, whether a presentation, a video, or a brief paragraph of text, provides a summary of what will be taught in an engaging way. Learning online can be more difficult for some than a traditional classroom setting. For this reason, keep in mind while introducing your course that any extra motivation is extremely helpful. Explain why learning about this topic will enhance the lives your students.
  6. Compile Your Course.
    Follow your outline to create your course. Remember that students learn in different ways, so varying your presentation mediums is key for a successful eLearning course. Use videos, PowerPoint presentations, links to valuable articles and websites, PDF documents, and audio files to send your message. Using only one delivery method will stifle the potential of your course.
  7. Delegate Practical Projects.
    At the end of each section, students should be given projects to complete. Set deadlines on these projects when you need to have time to grade them. Choose the best way for your learners to deliver their completed work to you, and provide steps for them to follow. They should be able to easily deliver their work in a way that is convenient for everyone. If one method isn’t working, you can provide them with a backup plan. Foresight is key here. eLearning should be practical. Therefore, set your students up, whenever possible, with real world projects that give them experience and portfolio items to use once the course is complete. This is especially important in the final project.
  8. Create Quizzes.
    Tests and quizzes shouldn’t make up the entire evaluation process, but they are trusted way to ensure comprehension of the materials. Quizzes should be created in a reliable, user friendly platform. Make sure you test the quizzes yourself before sending your students to them.

    • Tip: Create a course evaluation quiz for your students to provide helpful feedback. This is one of the best ways to make improvements to your course creation process over time.
  9. Use Original And Established Materials.
    Course material should be neither entirely created by you nor solely outside information. Create some of the coursework yourself, and provide students with information from other sources. By variating the source of the information, sticking with a theme, trust is set. This makes your course more trustworthy.

By following these steps, you can create an interesting, and relevant course for your learners. You should have enough information to get rolling with your next eLearning course right away. So get out there and start planning today.