Once you’ve decided to create an online course, you might start thinking about the type of content to include within your course. How to know what will be the best fit for your idea and audience? Review these content ideas for digital courses to get some inspiration!
These days we truly have plenty of options when it comes to presenting our content. It can be presentations, screencasts, videos, worksheets and way beyond!
Through this article, we will review each of these options and see which of these content ideas for digital courses could be the best fit for you!
What type of content to create for your course will depend on several factors. For example:
- Your skills. What CAN you create? Or what are you interested in learning more about? Surely, you can always outsource as well but most new course creators wear all the hats themselves! Therefore, keep in mind what type of content you’d actually prefer to create!
- Your audience. What will they prefer? What is their attention span and how much time can they spend on learning every day?
- The type of information. Are you providing loads of in-depth technical or theoretical information? Or is it short & actionable? Will your content be visual? This will indicate what type of presentation will be the best fit.
Keeping all of that in mind, you can move on and see what might be the best fit for you!
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Content ideas for digital courses
IDEA #1: Presentations
One of the best content ideas for digital courses is slide presentations.
First of all, it provides visually attractive material that holds the attention of the student. Besides that, visual material can help to learn and provide helpful information (for example, samples to preview).
Visual learners definitely prefer presentations since they like to learn by SEEING. Others might not even pay as much attention to the presentation, keeping it in the background. In any case, it’s a win-win situation since presentation can work for different types of audiences!
There are different ways to present presentations. You don’t even have to be present if you don’t want to.
However, the most common way is with the presenter being shown in a small corner picture. You can also mix and match – show presentation and get back to full-screen you from time to time if that makes sense for you!
Related read: Blueprint of the bestselling online course
IDEA #2: “Talking head” video
For those who feel comfortable in front of a video, creating “talking head” videos can be the best fit.
By showing your personality, you can ease people into learning the content more easily. Besides that, some people actually prefer looking directly at the presenter.
In this case, once again, the video can also be left in the background. Therefore, it works for audio learners as well as visuals.
Video content should be combined with at least some eye-catching elements for visual learners. For example, some slides within the video content or subtitles for those who prefer reading.
Video content creation can be quite time-consuming but it also brings some more luxury to the content since not everyone chooses to do it.
IDEA #3: Screencast
Doing a screencast is a useful content idea for those who show HOW to make things happen.
For example, designers, illustrators, developers or anyone else who’d require showing exact step-by-step tips on the screen.
Such content should be combined with some other material for easier learning, for example, text transcript. Therefore, those who can’t follow the screencast as easily can later re-do it in their own time.
IDEA #4: Readable material
Readable material is not as common for online courses because those who enroll in courses expect at least some kind of action or interactive learning material.
However, readable material can be a great supporting element that helps people to review the content within the video or presentation without making them to write it all down on their own.
Readable materials – like PDFs – can be provided as bulletpoints or as full text/transcript of the presentation.
Such PDFs can also be helpful in situations when there’s a lot of technical language or terms that should be learned and reviewed.
IDEA #5: Worksheets
Another great interactive element to improve the involvement of the students is worksheets!
Worksheets should also be a supportive element of any other type of content. Worksheets can be based on understanding the topic more clearly or engaging the student – making them tackle any possible problems, embracing the journey or learning.
IDEA #6: Quizzes
An amazing feature that would help your students to learn the material more in-depth is quizzes!
Not all courses need a quiz tho. And if you are adding them, make sure to consider the frequency of them. For example, add a quiz for each Module, instead of each Lesson.
IDEA #7: Live classes
Either as a bonus OR part of the course, you can also provide some Live classes. This will be especially valuable if you have decided to do group coaching instead of an evergreen course!
This gives some more present feeling and might make your students more involved. However, it will also take more time and planning in advance.
Most course creators offer some Live classes within the course, later providing the recording of the lesson. In which case, there is no need for additional video or presentation lessons! (P.S. You can also present your presentations Live instead of having them pre-recorded!)
If you’re considering doing a lot of Live content, make sure to check out if Circle might be the best platform for you! (Yes, you can set up courses, go Live and have a community space, all in one platform).
What to choose for your course?!
Remember to choose the type of presentation that you can make + your audience will like + makes sense for your material.
For example, if you’re a designer, creating a course on how to make social media banners but you choose to create videos with yourself instead of a screencast of a presentation – that might not be the most convenient way to learn your material.
Besides that, remember that you can always mix and match different types of content ideas for digital courses to make your user experience as fulfilling as possible.
To learn more and stay connected:
- Connect with me on Instagram @coursecreationlab
- Explore Your Course Creation Membership
- Listen to the Savvy Offer Hub podcast
