6 Steps to Bringing Your Course Ideas to Life

Creating a course outline is crucial for ensuring a clear, organised structure, which helps in effectively conveying the message and achieving the learning outcomes.

Let's go over the steps you need to follow when creating a course outline:

1. TARGET AUDIENCE

Knowing who your audience is and who your course is aimed at has a massive impact on their learning. Identify their demographics, knowledge level, goals and pain points. This is also where you want to identify their VAK learning style – Visual who prefers seeing or observing things, Auditory who prefers the transfer of information through listening, or Kinesthetic who prefers practical hands-on experiences. Here is a free VAK learning style test you can get your audience to complete before the course. Understanding your audience will help in crafting the course outline and selecting appropriate activities and resources.

2. WRITE THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE

Learning objectives are statements that are focused on the learner outcomes. They should cover the knowledge, skills or attitudes the learner will be able to demonstrate after they have attended your session. Use Bloom’s Taxonomy Verbs as they indicate explicitly what the learner must do in order to demonstrate learning.

For example:
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Demonstrate turning the iPad on and off, navigate your way around and open a few apps.

- Complete a download and install of Zoom on the iPad.

After creating the learning objectives, make sure you:

a. Use them as a reference point when creating your course content and assessments.
b. Clearly mention them in your course description and syllabus

3. BREAK DOWN THE COURSE INTO MODULES

Now break the learning objectives it down into smaller bite sized chunks or key topic areas. Keep modules short and sweet to keep them motivated and gradually increase the level of difficulty. This helps to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed with too much information all at once. Structure the course with a Course Introduction, key topic modules, activity or assessment and a conclusion. Make sure you specify timing for each module, including breaks for learners if applicable.

4. CHOOSE THE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

This is where you select learning activities based on the course content and delivery preferences. Consider repurposing existing materials like Facebook Live sessions or blog posts. Choose the delivery mode (face-to-face, webinars, videos, blended) based on the audience’s learning styles and course content needs.

Use a variety of learning activities to keep learners engaged, such as presentations, discussions and hands-on tasks. This helps you to address the different learning styles within your group. Also ensure activities align with the course objectives. Anything that doesn’t directly support the learning objectives should be offered as additional / supportive learning resources. Why? Because bombarding participants with a mountain of videos and eBooks can cause learning fatigue and overwhelm.

5. PLAN FOR INTERACTIVITY

Remember that what separates a great course from a good-enough one is interactivity. Interactivity enhances course quality and engagement. Incorporate real-time sessions or create an online community for discussions and knowledge exchange if real-time sessions aren’t possible.

6. INCLUDE KNOWLEDGE CHECKPOINTS

Finally, choose effective assessments to gauge learner progress and understanding. Use methods like mini quizzes, trivia style games, demonstration of skills and participation in discussions to keep assessments engaging and informative.

Remember!
Creating a clear and structured course outline helps to share your expertise with your audience. Be creative so people
enjoy learning the new skills and knowledge, and keep it light and fun by avoiding technical jargon.

Have fun creating and good luck!

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