How to Create Digital Courses? (Step-by-Step Guide)

The definition of the learning process has evolved over the period. Creating online courses or digital courses is the new way of teaching. In this blog, you will learn how you can create digital courses & what are multiple platforms you can choose from!

Gone are the times when people used to get themselves enrolled in classrooms and coaching sessions to grasp a new skill. With the advancement in technology and the pandemic making it even more of a need, the uprising of online courses has boosted even more.

The central education system itself took a stroll in search of various ways to deliver knowledge to the growing youth of the country. This hint of need was picked up by smart educators which later manifested in of global digital education movement. A few years back it was a “Want”. Now it’s a “Need”.

Various educators and investors are coming up with centralized learning platforms to sell courses digitally, providing a global platform for many to learn under the same stage but with different roofs.

Today we will look into a few ways on how we can be a part of this global educational movement by knowing how to create digital courses and what goes behind the very thought of it to the final product.

So before jumping straight into the technical part, let’s play this out. Let’s start by understanding what kind, of course, do we put out.

Great! Now think about all the businesses and startups, what do they sell? what do they all have in common? What makes them successful? Well, there are major 3 things

They sell the solution to a problem
They present the solution well
They ensure the quality is worth the price

Digital courses also work like that. You must see what people are looking for to learn, see the audience what they seek and what they want to invest in for their next great promotion at work. 80% of the time that should be able to narrow down the search for you.

The remaining 20% of cases are for those who are interested in knowledge and are there for fun learning to keep their time productive. That’s when your style of teaching and engagement comes into play. Hooking the audience to whatever you are teaching is important. We will look more into that in a while but first, let’s sketch out the schematics for us to have a stage plan in our head.

Things to do before launching your first online course.

3 steps to create digital courses

Pre-Production
Production
Post-Production

Pre-Production: This is a stage where you do the groundwork before getting on with recording your online classes for the course. Processes like topic research, current trends, polishing expertise, research on course hosting platforms, and all the other homework come into the picture at this stage.

Many at this stage spend hours gaining dense knowledge on the concept, researching the scope of topics and ways to create digital courses. I am guessing you are at this stage, right? Well, I am glad I could help. Read along there are still more interesting things to be heard.

Production: Then comes the production stage where you record your sessions and related technical processes.

In this stage, trials and demo sessions take different takes, the camera work, lightwork, expressions, presentation style, tone of delivery, choice of word, pronunciation, annunciations, everything comes to the picture.

The production stage is where maximum manpower gets involved if you are professionally shooting the course otherwise if you are a one-man army when it comes to creating content or course, you know you are amazing already!

Post Production: A stage where the clubbing of recorded clips, editing, titling, touch up of the final product is defined and given a shape. During this stage, depending on the budget of the course, one spends hours and hours refining the edits ensuring everything is crystal perfect and clear.

The quality must be ensured as well as the market of digital courses is getting more and more competitive day by day, whether we like it or not the visual appeal of any digital content for that matter has become an important factor and key selling point for any product.

Now since we have brushed across the stages of creating an online course, let’s dig a little deeper into the practical route chart to see how it all comes together. Read along to follow along the journey!

Table of Contents

Goal: Create Digital Courses

Pre-Requisites: Topic Research, Expertise in the Topic, Digital Teaching Tools, PC or Laptop, Camera, Mic, Good Lighting, and Video Editing Software.

Steps:

List out the trending topics.
Find which topic you are good at among the listed ones.
Prepare well, study well, do deep research and prepare yourself for any cross-questions.
Prepare the module for your course, list the learning curve in a proper sequence.
Present a demo class online with your close circle and take feedback
Implement the corrective feedback.
Do the demo Recording, see how you feel on camera
Decide your budget for the project and hire the tech team accordingly.
Record your first class.
Playback and listen to how it is perceived by the audience.
Note the errors and redo the recording
Repeat the previous two steps until you get it in a presentable condition
Once you are all set, start recording the classes.

These were the steps to kickstart your digital course creating process, there are much more things to it and as you get more invested, you will enjoy the whole rush of it, read along.

Next, we will be looking into what happens post-production, which is getting your digital course out there in the world. Unlike a few years back, these days there are various options for you to publish your course online.

Platform to create and host your digital courses

Direct Selling through Website
Selling via Digital Course Marketplace
Bidding the digital course to institutions.

Direct Selling through your own course platform

These days most entrepreneurs and service industry personnel own a website. The same goes for online course creators. As the website ensures that the profit collected through the course doesn’t split the money here and there among the middle man. You get the whole payment. Graphy is one such course platform that allows you to create digital courses and market them, all in one place. You can get your branded course website & mobile apps to host your digital courses.

Selling via Digital Course Marketplace

The second option of Selling via Digital Course Marketplace is more convenient if you are just getting started as you get a pre-existing audience there. You do not need to hunt much for the sales but here the drawback would be the saturation. Competition is quite high as the learners have hundreds of courses on the same topic by different educators and to climb the chart to outshine others and be noticed by the learners is quite some challenge.

Bidding the digital course to institutions.

The third option which is bidding directly to the institution is another very less explored way that can be beneficial at present but some months or years from now, even that may get saturated. Here the drawback is the limited audience and less exposure. But you do get a hefty amount if your production is good enough and you approach a well-established institution that can afford your quote.

So, this is how you plan to create a digital course and execute it to output your masterclass. Although certain aspects of my logic and steps would differ depending on the type of class or digital course you are planning to produce, the core principles and morals will remain the same.

Make sure you research your topic well and work on the expertise in its area. Keep the updated information about it and follow the latest trend.

To give you a kickstart, let me give some pointers on how to create a stellar presentation while you create digital courses

Always look into the camera while you talk
Try to go at a natural speed
Ensure the clarity of words while delivering the lecture
Post an engaging body language
Establish a fun and have a little humour
Expect any type of questions
Be accurate on details, cross-check every information you fetched from the internet. These days anybody can post any things online so ensuring the relevance of information is important.
Be well dressed
Smile often and do not have a poker face when interactive via camera.
Be Precise to the content, do not drag and extend the simple concepts more than is required.
Keep the sessions short and dense.
Do not use long paragraphs in your presentation. People would buy books if they want to read the concepts. The digital courses must make learning fun.

What is the result of all the dedication and work that you had put up to achieve this?

If you follow some of the above given key points, it will help you to put out one of the best courses that have been produced and recorded well.

Nothing can be perfect the first time, but you will get a headstart with this blog!

CREATE DIGITAL COURSES