How to run a training course and start on it to make

March 20-21, Moscow will host the first conference on online education EdmarketConf-2018. Expertise in the field of training products will share the most famous Russian educational brands. And readers Layfhakera today will receive practical advice on starting your own training course from one of the key speakers at the conference Alexey Polehina.

Any professional who has attained some success in their field, think about how to share their knowledge with others by creating their own educational programs. Why not, it's not only a great way propiarit yourself as an expert, but also an opportunity to capitalize on their knowledge. I made a step by step guide that will help you start your training course from scratch.

Choose a theme

Despite the fact that you are well versed in their subject area, do not try to make one universal curriculum right about everything. You should start with a small program for beginners. What are the basics of your profession? What skills should have a specialist to qualify for, or even dzhuniorskuyu stazhorskuyu position in your field? Answer these questions and that it dedicate your first course.

Beginners in any subject are less demanding, and the chances of success of the first program for this choice increase many times. Also, starting with the basics in your area, you leave yourself an obvious opportunity for the future development of your educational project.

Make a draft program

You can already imagine the future curriculum, but it is always better to formulate its description in the document. Start with the formal aspects: a memorable name, a portrait of the target audience, duration in hours, presentation of the program experts.

If you have enough competence and time trying to hold at least one program run on their own, do so. Additional experts should involve exclusively for the study of bottlenecks, in which you may not be strong.

Give a short description of the program: what topics it will be disclosed and, more importantly, what they had taught graduate.

Then the most important thing in this document - structured description of the theoretical part. Start with clusters, etc. Details description to employment, and in classes write down as many of theses on a particular topic.

The optimum amount of the program looks like this: 3-5 clusters of 2-4 sessions each. Total optimum volume entry-level course - 10-12 sessions for two hours for humanitarian issues and an hour for the complex technical and mathematical occupations.

In the same document describe separate, how do you see the practical component of the course. Sometimes it is necessary to begin from the first class, and at the end - what could be the final result of the work of the student on the course. For example, the strategy, the presentation, layout design, project, analytical calculations, software and so on. And the result is already fixed, you can try to spread his achievement on the steps in reverse order.

Create a landing page

Exactly at this point, it is worth thinking about how to make landing page describing all the benefits of your training program and start collecting applications. You may say that early, because nothing but a document with the exemplary description of the program, we do not. But more information to rate the page and do not need. And to test the hypothesis whether your educational product will be in demand, it is advisable before you spend a lot of time on his detailed study.

Put your course starting date in about two months from the date of publication of the announcement. This time you should be enough for it to work out the material employment.

Since you recognized expert in your field, we will not tell you how to advertise your course. I note only one thing: at first it is you personally have to deal with your product sales. Processes applications personally communicate with prospective students, ask them more questions as possible. This allows you to specify the portrait of your target audience.

Begin work on materials

Thus, the announcement is started, applications started to arrive - it's time to program materials. By default, we'll choose a synchronous learning format - this is when there is a start date, there are timetables, formed a training group and all its members will be watching webinars. This format is the easiest to implement and provides additional motivation of students to learn.

As part of the webinar, you can either tell the material, based on the presentation, either via the desktop demo shows a real operational processes in services and applications.

In order not to waste time on webinars to explain the basic principles of working with the applications and services, or to demonstrate the settings anything, I suggest you record a screencast with comments and offer it as a supplementary material for classes. But remember that it is not visible on screencast keys that you press, so try speaking either them or displayed in text form. I can recommend the service Camtasia Studio - is a little more than just capturing images from the screen, but you need and a little more.

Working on presentations for classes, try to stop itself in the desire to cram everything in a lecture, you know on the subject. This is the most common mistake!

Remember that the amount of information that you give to students is not equal to the volume of information they learn.

To figure out how much time you take a lesson in the finished presentation, calculate the time based on the ratio of "one slide - 2 minutes." Thus, Lecture at 1 hr figures should consist of 20-25 slides. Do not forget about the time for questions and chat with the students!

Make technical support

a sufficient number of LMS (learning management system) exists in the market that you can choose as a platform for the course. But they are all in one way or another require adjustment, adaptation, integration with other services, so long as you can do without them, use familiar tools. It can be as google DocsAnd any familiar to you task-manager.

One session can include a link to a video (or a link to the next webinar), additional Materials in the form of presentations, papers, tests, the description of the practical tasks questionnaire collecting feedback communication. Maybe something else, but all this can be done in Google Docs or Trello cards and Basecamp. Keep it simple at the first stage presentation of the student's personal study.

You will need vebinarnaya platform. Webinar.ru or Clickmeeting.com - both services are working fine, choose any. If you're not going to send a letter to each student manual, you need the service to work with mailing lists. It works with almost any. For example, Getresponse.ru with a simple and intuitive interface to any newcomer.

Also consider separately whether any services your students need to perform practical tasks. It is always better to learn in the real world, not to expound a theory on paper.

Now you're armed with everything you need and are ready for their first lesson.

Prepare for the webinar

Since the webinar - it is your main point of contact with the students, everything in it has to be perfect.

Preparing for your first lesson

Congratulations: a group of students gathered and just a couple of days will pass your first webinar. Now is the time to send students to a small installation letter. In it you can include a short description of what will be on the course, as will be based theory and practice, to acquaint students with colleagues in support of the program. And yet this is a great time to check with the students their expectations of the program. Create a simple questionnaire which will include questions about the purpose of teaching students, as well as general questions that will help you make a group portrait.

References to the webinar should send a couple of hours before its start, and be sure to 10-15 minutes before it starts. So you will ensure maximum attendance. Send a link of the day there's no point.

Picture

I recommend to get a HD-camera and a good headset or microphone. Do not assume that your laptop built-in camera and microphone will ensure good quality. If the budget allows, buy a simple light - a small LED-panel will be enough.

Monochrome background - it is not discussed. Even do not try to go on the air on a background of home interior or office shelf.

Frame

Make sure that the camera is installed you about eye level. You can use a special stand for your laptop or just under the base of the stack of magazines or books. Try to make a shot with you close to the television: between your crown and the top edge of the frame should be a small gap. It is small! A lower edge of the image to be held in the middle of the chest.

The most common mistake in the selection of the frame: the speaker looks at the laptop camera downwards. The students created the feeling that the speaker is hanging over them, and it clearly does not add comfort.

communications test

The worst thing that can happen - this unplanned technical problems: the camera is connected wrong, the microphone does not work, students do not see the presentation, and so on.

So do not be lazy to test the link 30-40 minutes before the lesson that there is time to troubleshoot.

Also check the connection speed. To maintain the usual webinar presentation it should be at the level of 2-3 Mb / s. If you plan to do a demonstration of the desktop, then 4-5 Mb / s. Also I recommend for the webinar to connect to the Internet via cable. This will give additional guarantees stability.

keeping webinar

If you have no experience in conducting webinars, at first you may seem odd to talk with the monitor in an empty room. However, remember that you are not alone. Can feel the presence of students. Ask them questions, kidding, ask at the beginning of class is not shy and more to express emotions in chat.

From you need as much as possible to look at the camera while doing exercises. Also try to avoid pauses, all the time saying something, even if you just comment on what is happening on the screen as letspleyschik. And do not hesitate to contact the students by name, they like it!

Keep community

In order to have your students a good impression of conected time, need to be concerned about what you will occupy their attention outside the classroom. Create a private group in Facebook, add to all students and participants in the process with you. But do not expect that the chaotic management of the group will give results.

Plan the content plan for your gated community.

That you can include: a reminder of the lessons, thematic articles for classes, provocations on the discussions and so on. Try to hold competitions in the group, it always gives an additional momentum. A start should always with love: Tell us a little about yourself and ask to do the same thing your students.

When you have a stable place set for the set and you have to watch is not for one but for several groups in Facebook, start using the services of deferred posting. You store them in your content materials plan, specify the desired date of publication and are no longer worried about the materials your closed group. Very comfortably! For starters, you can use a simple and convenient service Kuku.io, you should have enough of its free capacity for the first time.

Prepare practical tasks

None of the training program can not do without the practical component. Think about and describe each practical assignment. We begin with a description of the purpose and skill that worked through the assignment. Next, describe in plain language the essence of the job and the algorithm execution. The detail will be described concrete steps to achieve the goal, the better. Be sure to add to the assignment example of the commentary.

It is not necessary to try to bind to each class a practical task, but the more they will know better. At the same time each task should not take an unprepared student more than 1-3 hours.

The rate of response to the practical tasks of students is critical. Optimal student waiting time - 1-2 days, then it either starts to get nervous or lose interest in the job and the whole training. Therefore, as soon as you feel that you can not provide the required speed feedback directly involved in the process of assistants.

Provide a graduation project

Thesis project - it's a good opportunity for each student to summarize learning, ask questions about the past, to fix the experience and put an end to learning. Therefore, do not neglect the step of writing a diploma, give the student the opportunity to feel the significance of the moment.

Assignment for a graduation project can be either a preparation of a kind of compilation of the work done in the framework of training work or complete work on a new project under the guidance of a mentor. Students with less motivation can choose a simple first way, and assiduous guys will make a choice in favor of a new integrated project.

Graduation before the commission, though exciting time, but he is remembered as something positive.

Give each student the opportunity to defend their jobs. Invite your colleagues to protect, it will give significant events.

students will also be interesting to visit the back of the webinar - it is also an additional experience that they can come in handy.

Remember your "lawyer"

In any group there is always particularly involved in the educational process of the students. Try to make friends with them. In the case of the success of your training program, you can invite them to participate in future sets as mentors for new students. They also can help you with routine matters in support of the program. This is an excellent example of a win-win-relations.

In addition, create and maintain a community of your alumni. After all, they pledge the good reputation of your training program.

Even if your course takes place entirely online and the students live in different cities, find an opportunity to hold regular face to face meetings. This is a very good tool for keeping in shape your community of graduates.

What's next

I am sure that you treat your project seriously and as soon as the idea was formulated, has spent time building business plan. If not, do it now. This is no big deal. Write down on the periods of planned expenditures separately, and then try to guess which one is to be profitable part to all your business make sense.

If you do this exercise honestly and include the expenditure side, not only the direct costs of services, marketing and fees experts, but also the cost of their time maintaining the project and taxes, it is likely you will not be delighted greatly arrived. But do not worry. Profit becomes more noticeable when the project begins to grow, and part of the cost begins to divide between different groups.

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If after reading this article, you decide you want to make your own educational product, then you should visit EdmarketConf-2018Which will be held 20 and 21 April in Moscow. This conference on online education, where the top managers of leading education companies will tell you how to clean slate to create educational courses, market and sell them. Come to a conference in Technopark "Skolkovo" or watch it online.

get on EdmarketSonf 2018