One of the most important things to consider as you’re working on your online course idea is – how to provide the best user experience and share your expertise in the most convenient way? Here are 6 types of learning materials to add in a course!
Let’s start with a quick disclaimer – depending on the scope of your course, you absolutely can stick with only one style of educational material within. For example, if you’re doing a quick how-to guide that will have 5 video lessons in it – you don’t have to go the extra mile to add in more learning materials.
Also, your course DOES NOT need to have every possible learning material included, nor does it need to answer all of your audience’s questions…
However, it’s important to provide a thorough learning experience and serve as much of your audience as you can. Keep in mind that we all have our own preffered learning style, therefore, using several types of learning materials can be a great added value!
And through this post we’ll explore exactly that – what type of learning materials to add in a course to help your students to get even more value out of your content.
Related read: 4 steps to create a course curriculum
Consider different learning styles
As you’re creating your online course, it’s important to consider different ways how we learn new information.
This includes:
- Auditory learners. These are the people who will prefer to LISTEN to the material and will learn the best if they hear it. In the course setting, this means that the overvoice of videos or audio content alone would be their preferred go-to.
- Visual learners. Visual learners (like myself!) will primary receive the information they SEE. In the course setting, this means that they’ll prefer looking at slides or reading through PDFs.
- Kinaesthetic learners. For these type of learners it’s important to put the knowledge they learn into ACTION. In the course setting, this would mean having clear to-do’s or added worksheets to use.
When it comes to creating a course that serves different learning styles, there are many different types of learning materials you can use within your offer.
To provide a thorough and truly guided experience, I suggest combining all of these into your course (most courses do it naturally by having a slide content with the overvoice in a video format plus added worksheets).
Related read: The best way to create a course (as voted by you!)
6 types of learning materials to add in a course
Welcome “talking head” – so your audience can get to know you!
An often overlooked part of the online course is the overall user experience you create.
Your course experience goes beyond the learning materials you share! So make sure to kickstart it with a relevant welcome material.
In most cases, it’s a great idea to do a “talking head” video where you show up for your audience even if the rest of your materials will be slide-only.
It’s your chance to build more trust and give your audience a chance to get to know you.
Slides with voiceover for a combined learning experience for visual and auditory learners
As mentioned above, many boxes are ticked in your user experience if you create slide-based videos with the voiceover guidance.
This is not only one of the most popular ways how to present the content but also – a major preference amongst course students!
Slide-based videos give your audience a chance to both SEE and HEAR the content. Plus if you’re showing up as you’re presenting it as well, it can give that additional trust factor too.
Walk-through how-to videos (screencasts) for a more immersive experience they can follow and implement
Screencasts can be especially useful if you teach anything tech or on-screen related.
You can use screencasts to guide your users through the exact process of doing what you’re teaching. For example, how to design a graphic in Canva or edit a video.
You can also do a walthrough with any relevant samples. For example, I often to Sales page walkthroughs with additional comments from myself.
Workbooks with questions for those who learn through the process of writing and exploring
It’s always a good idea to add in a supportive worksheet if it might complement your offer.
One of the core things to remember about workbooks is to have them as functional as possible – make it as easy as possible to fill in the information and don’t make your audience to jump through loops to do it.
In Your Course Creation Membership, I teach how to create workbooks both with Canva as well as Google Docs – the last one definitely is my own preference as it’s just so easy to use!
Checklists with video references for the added feeling of accomplishment and easier process management
Here’s a fun idea for your audience – create a checklist with the to-do list that follows your course and add link to the relevant lesson along with each point.
Although most course platforms support easy lesson tracking, added Checklist can help your audience not only to go through all the key lessons but also make sure that all steps along the way are done.
Real-life sample reviews / student work audits for more personalized support and fun learning experiences
One of the most fun types of learning materials to add is SAMPLES.
Showing samples of do’s and dont’s can create an amazing learning experience for your students as it makes it a lot easier to understand how the knowledge they’re getting will apply in the real world.
Screencasts (screen recordings) can be a great way to easily to this but if you have any real-life samples, they can also be shown through separately recorded videos or pictures.
Keep in mind that we learn in many different ways and even though not everyone will always use all of the provided content, by providing various options you serve a bigger part of your audience in a better way as they are not left out of the learning experience.
Choose the most suitable types of learning materials for your audience and go with that!
If you’re ready to start working on your digital offers, join us in the Savvy Offer Hub and let’s make them happen together!
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