8 key steps to creating a course from scratch

It doesn’t matter if you are a first timer, or even a seasoned veteran, creating a whole new course from scratch can be daunting, it’s a big task….

However, it doesn’t need to be that scary. There are 8 simple steps you can follow to create killer content for your learners, content that sticks, content that sells, content that is actually useful.

And trust me, these steps work for all courses:
You might be building accredited training unit by unit, or just taking all of the “stuff” out of your head and putting it in a sellable format – follow the same steps.

8 Steps to creating your course

1. Get your students attention
It is vital to grab the attention of your student’s right at the beginning, if you lose it now then you’ll really struggle to get it back. Start with a hook, make an emotional connection to your students and make sure you tell them the all-important WIFM…What’s in it for me.

2. Cover your objectives
Make sure your students are really clear on what the course is about and what they are going to cover.
I like to consider objectives as outcomes – what will your learners be able to do by the end of the course. Think about both their physical abilities and their knowledge base.

3. Consider what your learners already know
Your students come to you already knowing stuff – often lots of stuff, so make the most of it.
It’s important to review any content that you are assuming your students know, before you jump right in. It gives you an opportunity to build a connection with them, to allow them to share their knowledge and experiences and give them some quick and easy confidence boosters at the beginning of the session.

4. Break your content into chunks
Work out what you need to cover – I like to go through my head/or a unit and just write down a huge list of all the things I need/want to cover. Then I can organise the content into groups of things that go together, content that flows and makes sense.

Then for each chunk, after covering the content

5. Tell a story or share your own experiences
Sharing your personal experiences is the best way to continue to build a connection with you students, and help to support your point. If you don’t have a personal experience in this area, you can share the story of a friend, a past student or someone else that you know.

6. Make THEM do it
After each “chunk” of information you need to ensure that you get your students to DO something. Taking action straight away is vital to helping information stick, and to getting your students the best outcome. This could be an activity, an assessment item, role play, practical…. Anything – just get them doing!

7. Provide feedback on their performance
Providing students with constructive feedback is a pillar stone for their growth. There are a couple of keys to good feedback:
– Keep it balanced and constructive. I’m all for being positive, but no matter how good the student I look for something they can improve on. They can’t grow and develop without knowing which way to go.
– Keep it frequent. Don’t save all of the feedback for the very end of a course, deliver it in little bits, wherever and whenever you can.
– Always look for new opportunities – where possible I ensure my students get feedback from me, peer evaluation and get really good a giving a balanced self-evaluation of things.

8. Give additional resources
Follow up a chunk of information by showing students where they can go to get more… this could be a suggested reading list, homework, videos, a follow up email program or even one on one support.
You continuing support is a vital component of making sure that your training is sticky.

So there you go – an 8 step plan to help you on your way.

Each time you need to start a new course, be it online or offline, try following the steps above to make your life a little easier.

Your tough love specialist and ass kicking training buddy,

Sam